Yoga, Meditation and Essential Oils for Healing with Asha McLaughlin

Interview Episode with Asha McLaughlin

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[00:00:26] we've all gathered along this journey. I invite you to join in the fun as we uncover the unique wisdom, we each carry within us. Ready? Let's get curious. Hello, friends and welcome to the Curiously Wise Podcast. I'm so happy to have you here today with us. And I am excited to bring one of my dear friends and this amazingly wise, creative, exceptional woman who came into my life a few years ago and was part of my Wise Women Circles, where I originally met her.

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[00:01:23] Asha: Well first, I just want to say thank you so much, Laurin. This is such a delight to be here with you and spend time with your community. And I just want to say to the listeners that Laurin is one of my favorite people when I moved to this neck of the woods, which I am not originally from this area. She really stood out to me.

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[00:02:11] I'm just realizing that, saying that about growing up in a house with the boys that it really did have an effect. I was a very creative, curious kid and they used to call me for going on 40. So I was kind of a big thinker and always trying to like move things along at a nice clip. And I think that came out of being curious and excited about the universe.

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[00:02:55] It's hard. I can just ramble on and on, but I'm a very creative person. I'm a healer, I'm an intuitive, I'm a meditator, yoga teacher, health coach. I also run a business. For 35 years I've been a designer, art director, photographer. And I specialize in conscious intuitive branding.

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[00:03:28] Laurin: Yes, and you're really good at that. I did not realize Asha redesign my website a couple of years ago now. It was a process that I didn't really expect, but it was really empowering and really useful to me as I was looking to rebrand or bring a more professional way to my branding. Cause I had done it on a shoestring when I first set up my business and Asha took me through this whole series of questions and we played with words

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[00:04:15] And I did it myself because I'm a computer geek, but I had never had the branding or the art part of it, the design part of it behind it. it's really interesting. And I know that we're going to get to that later, talking about what you're doing now in terms of how you're bringing everything together.

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[00:04:47] Is there one or two things that you can tell us about that you remember from a child being a passion or a talent that you still see very present and important in your life these days?

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[00:05:19] very passionate at a young age about very bizarre things. Like I had mentioned to you earlier that I had this obsession with the country of Mongolia as a child. Growing up in a kind of conservative Catholic household, it was just weird. And I didn't quite understand that until years later when I recognized who Dalai Lama was and what Tibetan Buddhism was and the importance of Mongolia and that the Dalai Lama was from Mongolia.

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[00:06:06] So those are just a couple things.

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[00:06:12] Asha: I have a degree in Communication Design, which I think is pretty cool because one thing that's interesting to know about design is that it's a very intellectual art form. It's a marrying of message and image. One is not more important than the other. It's a way that they come together.

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[00:07:02] Everybody who has a computer can now whip out a logo or a website. It doesn't mean you can't do it. Of course you can do it. But when you partner with an expert or someone who's trained in this field, you are going to go way deeper

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[00:07:20] Asha: into the core of what your mission is about, which this will not happen on your own.

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[00:07:43] clarity is paramount and your path unfolds with ease. And so one of the things that I think can happen to people as they're building a business, and as they're starting to get clear about things is, they're not clear because there's so many choices and there's so much to do, and then it gets stressful.

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[00:08:11] Laurin: It really was fascinating. And you gave me so many tools to work with in terms of brand, I don't remember what you call it, but I go back and look at, it's got all the colors and all the words we came up with and all these kinds of things and this, and I go back and now you reminded me not too long ago to go back and look at it, but

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[00:08:30] Laurin: There you go, your brand essence deck.

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[00:08:56] It's been really, really helpful as I, really am sort once more I'm constantly, but once more seriously re-imagining what I want my business to be what I want my clientele to get from me. And so many of those words are true to both where I have been for the last couple of years, but also where I see myself leaving into, not leaving behind anything, but just growing into.

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[00:09:27] Asha: No, no, no. This is really common. And the thing is, is that it's not meant to box us in, in any way. It actually gives us a foundation and a framework to grow, to evolve. But when we have these guidelines of professionalism, it's not just about the image, it's about intention and clarity. So your intention, that was the root intention for the business,

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[00:10:13] Laurin: Yeah. Well, and even just in looking for a better URL for the website, cause I had Heartlightwellness.net, which was a mouthful. And Heartlight.com I guess, was taken whatever Heartlightwellness.com we went back and forth and we finally started bouncing words back and forth.

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[00:10:45] Asha: Yes.

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[00:10:51] That's what I want to bring to people. It still remains very powerful to me, the work that we did together on that. Partly because it's in my face every day, I'm in and out of my website and, and doing things all the time. I would be a voice of, say, yeah, what's you're talking about is very powerful.

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[00:11:23] It's a real gift that you have to bring together that whole, not just the design side and the communication side, but also the heart of things.

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[00:12:25] There's the design skills and then there's the people skills, but then there's also looking deeper into helping people figure out the real nuggets in there, the things that sets them apart and will make them really attract who's meant to work with them and how.

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[00:13:01] Asha: Thank you.

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[00:13:10] Asha: Okay.

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[00:13:13] Asha: I know, first I want to say, I know it might sound very different that I also am a natural health coach, but the truth is that, I'm 55. And so I've been around the globe, you know, many circles, many times, and there are chapters, there are seasons in our lives and there are different things that strike us in our life that are…

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[00:13:56] And so I've studied Ayurveda when I lived in India and I've studied acupressure and Chinese medicine and I've studied naturepathic medicine, and I'm being mentored by naturepathic physicians. And so I love to work with natural solutions. I'm very passionate about plants as medicine. In all different aspects, whether they be supplementation, different things to boost us, or really pure potent essential oils I like to work with also. I believe plants can speak to us and heal us…

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[00:14:55] And so here, you know, it's so cool that it is happening. It is happening where Western and old-timey sort of plant medicine is coming together and you're going to be hearing more and more and more about this in the next five or 10 years, but there's so much we can do.

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[00:15:34] I'm not saying I love my doctors. I am not a totally crunchy granola. I don't use doctors at all person. They are absolutely part of our team. But the truth is there are many, many things that we can take care of at home. Or I like to call it, nip it in the bud. You know, for example, like if you have a sore throat, there's something you can gargle with.

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[00:16:05] Laurin: I will say that you've taught me a lot about oils specifically, and I'm still very much a neophyte with that. I wanted to just bring in for a moment my mom passed a couple of years ago and Asha was so supportive with me. She sat down with me and went through all the oils that might help, not only mom, cause she had dementia and cancer, which is yeah, not an interesting combination.

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[00:16:49] And it was amazing to me because I could see how it affected my aunts. I could see how it affected my mother. I could feel how it affected me, cause I was just a nervous wreck at the time, for all kinds of reasons, including menopause.

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[00:17:04] Laurin: But so it's not just illness. But there was support for emotional support.

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[00:17:32] I'm not taking pills, I'm not worrying about interactions with other things. And so I wanted to just bring that other piece into this because it’s great for illnesses. But for me, that was an even more profound use of them.

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[00:18:11] But like you said, the people in the room…

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[00:18:14] Asha: …everyone else, everybody matters and everybody counts.

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[00:18:17] Asha: And there's so much we can do with essential oils for emotional wellbeing in grounded-ness and also brain health. I've been working on in a class. It's kind of a joke because I've been working on it since before COVID.

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[00:18:53] I'm also a certified breath coach. Breath, plus the oils is a profound calming, focusing grounding bunch of tools and they go beautifully together. And the reason aromatics of essential oils are so powerful is when we breathe them in, there are these little old factory nerve endings that come down and pull the chemical constituents, the aromatics right into the limbic system in the brain.

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[00:19:48] Laurin: Yeah. It's fascinating to me. I love learning about all the different modalities that people use in this kind of work. In this alternative medicine work. And it's one that I really had no contact with until I met you. I was just remembering, I hadn't thought about that in a while, but I was remembering how grateful I was first of all, that you spent so much time with me saying these, you need to get, this is what they're for. This is how you use them.

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[00:20:12] Laurin: And then being able to see, you know the effect was really lovely.

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[00:20:26] Laurin: yeah. Yeah.

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[00:20:55] It's a presence is what I like to call it. It's a very light touch, but the combination of plant essence and point is really powerful.

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[00:21:12] Asha: Yeah. That's another whole call.

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[00:21:31] Asha: Yes. Yes. I'm a Yogi. For over 30 years, I've been practicing yoga. Honestly it sounds so corny, but I say it all the time knowing my students. Cause I teach yoga as well. Yoga is magic. There's no other word for it. I mean, it sounds corny to say that, but the reason I say it is because it is very transforming on all levels on the physical level, the emotional level, the spiritual level.

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[00:22:20] So, when I describe how transforming it is, I'm not talking about going and doing an aerobic class in a hot room. You know, there's different kinds of yoga that go deeper longer. And the effect on the nervous system in the mind can be very calming and grounding and releasing.

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[00:22:43] Laurin: Yeah,

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[00:23:02] And these there's nothing wrong with these people. There's no, I'm not putting anybody down. It's just that if you want a big experience, go for somebody who's very seasoned. Who's been practicing for a long time. Who's really integrated it into their lives too. So it's not just on the mat, but it's how you feel in their presence if you bump into them. Yoga is amazing. Absolutely amazing and meditation as well. Right? Because they go hand in hand often.

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[00:23:50] I could not bend over and touch my toes at that time. I could not sit down, you know, in, was it, I can't remember what it's But I can kneel down on the floor and sit back on my heels and it's not a problem. And I sit like that all the time without even thinking about it.

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[00:24:05] Asha: wow.

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[00:24:23] And it was the same 12 people that showed up all the time. And so there was that community. The teacher was very well-versed in anatomy and physiology, in yoga, in meditation, all of that. So, there was a really beautiful collection of skills that she brought to it. She had the knack of telling stories.

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[00:24:58] Asha: yes

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[00:25:06] Asha: And so great. Yes. Just breathe while I'm talking,

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[00:25:33] Asha: right.

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[00:25:43] Asha: Oh my gosh, Laurin. I'm so happy. You just told this story because hundreds of years ago, this is why yoga was created. This is why the postures were created by the sages in the ratios, in the caves and the Hemali is, was so that they could sit for meditation.

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[00:26:03] Asha: And not have pain in their hips and their back and their thighs. And so the combination of moving the body with intention and breath in specific alignments does, you want to going back to the magic word, quiets your mind.

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[00:26:29] Laurin: Yeah.

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[00:26:45] Laurin: Oh, I love that.

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[00:27:22] Laurin: just the best.

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[00:27:42] If anybody would like a drop, please raise your hand and I'll come around and I'll give it to you whatever. We had Shavasana at the end, this woman came up to me and she said, Asha, I just want you to know I've been practicing yoga for 25 years and I've never had a Shavasana like that. And, and I looked at her and I said, I don't think it's me just so you know, I think it was that drop I gave you because you have, you've been having final surrender for a long time.

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[00:28:13] Laurin: Yeah.

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[00:28:27] Laurin: Yeah. And meditation is one of those that I love and yet there days I don't do it. And at the end of the day I go, I should have started the day with meditation, but then my brain goes, oh, I got so much to do. I just gotta dive in and get this done. And I'll do it later.

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[00:28:42] Asha: That’s why the first thing in the morning is the best. And actually, from India and from the yoga traditions, the most auspicious time is right around sunrise and sunset for meditation.

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[00:28:55] Asha: And so if you can spare and I'll tell people, honestly, you don't have to sit there for 20 minutes or 30 minutes or an hour. I mean, it's great if you can, but I'm telling you, if you commit to five minutes a day, It’s like sowing a seed. It builds with time…

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[00:29:13] Asha: …and it becomes something that you will crave and really recognize as it is such a gift. So I just say, make friends with the process, if you're interested,

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[00:29:42] And I love it when I, follow through on that. So,

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[00:29:47] Laurin: Yeah. And then there are a lot of days where I go, I got so much to do. I'm going to take 10 minutes. I'm just going to take 10 minutes and sit in my chair where I meditate and do that. And it makes all the difference in the world. It just, it calms me down. It calms that aaahhhhh kind of feeling. Yeah.

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[00:30:21] Laurin: Yeah. Yep.

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[00:30:26] Laurin: Yeah. right.

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[00:30:45] Asha: Awesome.

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[00:30:50] But it's totally worth it. I'm a big fan of meditation. So I'm glad we got to talk about that.

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[00:30:56] Laurin: . I think we will move along to the rapid-fire questions. So just, whatever comes to mind first is a good answer. So don't try to get the right answer or the best answer. We just want what pops up.

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[00:31:23] Asha: I am going to say my granddad, my mom's dad. And if Hamilton Parsons, he was British poet and he was truly one of the kindest people on the planet. He would talk to anyone and everyone and everybody loved him. He was just amazing. And I don't know, I just, I loved him so much. He was just such a sweetheart, but he taught me how to be kind and how to treat people.

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[00:31:56] Laurin: Okay, great! What's your favorite go-to self-care practice?

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[00:32:04] Laurin: Is there a particular pose that you really love? like if you really need to calm yourself down.

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[00:32:39] It's just a series of breasts and movement. It's very simple. And I try and make my breath last as long as I can. And literally, I mean, if you could just do three of those in the morning, it's like you almost get the whole practice just from that. It's really powerful.

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[00:33:02] Asha: Oh, I love it.

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[00:33:08] Asha: This is so great that you're asking this. Isn't something I've, asked people my whole life. always love to ask. What brings you joy? What brings you joy? Cause I'm a joy ahead too. And I think that's one of the areas we, we resonate on so nicely. I love friendship. Friends are really important to me.

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[00:33:44] And so I love to connect with women, with friends. And I've started this thing during COVID, which I call a walk and talk. A lot of my friends are they're all over the world, actually. They're not in my town. So I try and just go out for a walk, put my headset in and call people. And sometimes we schedule and that lights me up.

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[00:34:17] Laurin: Nice. And the last one, what is your favorite mantra or affirmation?

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[00:34:53] And if you repeat that over and over and over, and you align with that with the highest vibration within yourself, major transformation is going to happen.

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[00:35:04] Asha: yeah, I'm going to go with own the Om Na Shivaya,

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[00:35:12] Asha: The easiest website would be bloomwellness.info. And from there, I will have a link on there for my other conscious intuitive branding site. It's just being launched. I was redoing it, so I'm not going to give that URL out yet, but if you go to bloomwellness.info, you can find me there or on Instagram it's bloomwellness.Asha, A S H A.

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[00:35:41] Asha: Anybody that's in the vicinity where we are in Virginia, the first weekend in June, I'm teaching a bunch of classes at this Women's Wellness Weekend at the four H camp in Williamsburg, Virginia, June 4th, fifth. I'm going to be doing one class is called Calm Is My Superpower. I'm going to do a breathwork course and I'm going to do an aroma point essential oil class as well.

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[00:36:30] Laurin: Yeah, she's a great teacher too. All right. I think we have come to the end of our conversation. I knew it was going to be fun. This is great. I love it. And I just want to, again, thank you Asha for joining us today. It's been really great to reconnect with you cause we've been not as well connected during the pandemic as we used to be, but it's one of those things that we're, we're not letting go of each other.

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[00:37:05] Laurin: No, they don't. Well, it's been a wonderful day with Asha. I want to thank everybody for joining us here at curiously wise, and I hope that you too have fun conversations and stay curious

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[00:37:42] So you don't miss future fabulous conversations. And if you had any ahas, please share them in a review so we can continue to pay forward. The unique wisdom we all have. If you want to know more about me or my intuitive energy healing practice, please head over to my website www.heartlightjoy.com.

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