Episode Transcript
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Hi. Welcome back to another episode of deepen your yoga practice. I'm Lauren Leduc, the founder and owner of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And today I have a special guest with me, Elena Mobley. And Elena teaches at True Love. She teaches our Hatha and Qigong class, which has become really popular in the last few months, and also is doing some qigong workshops. So what I wanted to do today is get to know Alina a little bit better and also get into this topic of qigong and what it is, how it relates to yoga, and how it might help you deepen your own practice. So welcome. Elena, I'm so happy you're here.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me. I am excited to be here and talk more.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm super curious, so I'm excited to learn more.
I know you, of course, but I don't feel like I know this whole story. So what I want to ask you first is how did you fall in love with yoga?
[00:01:09] Speaker B: Okay, I love this question. So I found yoga pretty early on. In my, like, I would say my late teen years, I found yoga, and I think yoga's impression on me was just the, I think, energy in the body right when we slow down or we intentionally breathe. I was really moved by that and always kind of thought, okay, this is something that I, you know, can give to myself. It's a space. It's like a. As someone who's experienced a lot of trauma in my life, there's been a really big mind, body disconnect. And so I think as a teenager discovering yoga or yoga finding me, which is how I feel like it went, it helped me to, I think, start to move through trauma in a different way, but also come home to myself in a way I think a lot of people can relate to.
[00:01:57] Speaker A: I think that's really cool. A lot of people, A lot of people come to yoga, I think, for emotional healing, but a lot of people also come just for exercise, and then they discover this deeper, energetic layer. I think, you know, no matter the reason, if we keep practicing, we find this. This beautiful core piece, which is really the whole point of Yoga.
So in 2022, you did our yoga teacher training with us, and then in 2023, you assisted training. I'd love to know just a little bit from your perspective on the teacher training program. Like, what was that process like for you?
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, my gosh.
You know, it was again, prefacing that when I found it initially I thought, oh, yoga will always be my practice. I never saw myself in the wheelhouse of, you know, getting certified. If I did, I thought it would be more for my own wellbeing. And I think that teacher training for me was very much this process of coming into myself and my practice in a deeper way. And what I mean that by that for me is I think, starting to realize, oh, gosh, like, I can teach this. I'm allowed to, like, be a facilitator of this for other people. I think personally, I ran into physical roadblocks, which, again, like, coming deeper into the body, I think I know a lot of people get into YTT and like, oh, gosh, like, you know, for me personally, I slipped a rib. I have, you know, a weaker core, which is okay. But that was highlighted in that. In that process for me. And it was another reminder that I want to obviously come deeper into my body and listen more to those subtle cues.
And that's what I loved about yoga teacher training at True Love is that it is trauma informed. So I felt like I had the space to say, oh, gosh, like, I can't do this today, or, oh, I need to focus in more on this and make it my own thing.
So while, yeah, it felt like it was a little bit rocky, it's also funny that things in my life started to really turn up as I was really committing and becoming more devoted to it. And I think that that's all connected as a spiritual person, at least, was like, it felt like I had to really fully choose my practice in a way I never had before. And I think that that's something I tell even, like, the newbies is like, yes, go for it. And then really be aware of how your life will shift around it as you consciously choose you and your practice in a new way, you know?
[00:04:29] Speaker A: Yeah, it's really interesting how the shadows can come up during the process. As a facilitator, it's certainly not my intention to stir those up, but I know that it is a natural byproduct of this inner inquiry of really getting to know, you know, all layers of the body better.
And then it's an honor to be able to help guide people through that particular process because I know how hard it was for me, and I feel like. I don't know. I think part of everyone who signs up for the program knows that that is a part of what they're getting into, because, yes, it is career development training, but it's so much more than that. It's so personal and spiritual. And, yeah, I think sometimes when we're like, oh, this we're going to have this spiritual journey. It's going to be so wonderful.
Yeah, that's like half of it. Right. There's also the things that, whether it's physical, emotional, et cetera, that get sort of churned up or discovered, that are being asked to be healed. And oftentimes those things, whether emotional or physical, like your rib, end up being our biggest teachers. So, yeah, we might not feel grateful for them in the moment, but I think in an introspective way, we certainly develop that over time.
Um, it was so. I loved watching you go through the process. I know you had some hard things come up. Um, I was determined to see you through it personally because you showed up with so much presence and earnestness and this, like, willing to. Willingness to be introspective. And so I knew that all of those qualities would translate into being an excellent teacher. And that definitely has come to pass. And it's. It. It's so nice having you at the studio now as a teacher and having been able to work with you in different capacities.
I'd love to now hear more about your journey into qigong. So how did your yoga journey lead you into qigong? And I guess, as you tell us this, if you could also let us know what qigong is, because I'm sure there are a lot of listeners who are unfamiliar with it.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. Well, first, I just want to say thank you for being a phenomenal teacher. I think without you as the guide, I don't know that I would have finished it. I don't think I would have felt as seen also being a single parent. So I just want to say thank you.
Now, my qigong journey, you know, it's interesting because I. So to start, qigong literally translates to energy work, and then a secondary translation is breath work, or like a moving meditation, if you will. So it's very heavily like vinyasa breath led.
And in this way, that's a. It's a bit more, I think, relaxing, but also really energizing. So we'll go into it.
So I actually discovered qigong at the same time as waititi. I was taking a kung fu class and we would always start and finish the kung fu martial art class with the qigong. And I just always remembered in my body feeling the qi moving or the energy moving and the energy rising and falling with my breath and the move. And so I really, you know, honestly, it was hard because I was like, I was so committed to yoga, but I was like, I feel the qigong and I think it was towards the end of YTT when we're talking about teaching and structuring classes, that I felt a bit lost because my heart was super torn and my spirit was really feeling pulled to this internal sensation that I had just discovered. Right. And so how I came into that is I started to take courses online through White White Tiger Qigong and then thankful for social media as I found my secondary teacher, Stephanie Nasko, and she focuses solely on the spiritual aspects of the five element theory. So I was doing more of the very physical five element qigong. And then Stephanie took me deeper into the body and focused a lot more on the organs and the spirits associated with them. And when I say spirits, we're talking about really like embodied emotional aspects of things that each and every one of us has in our body at all times. And they just happen to live in our organs. You know, they've got different behaviors, they bring different medicines or virtues. And I just really became embodied in that process. And I got my five elements spiritual training earlier this year and that, you know, equipped with already my foundations and martial arts yoga being trauma informed. And then now this last piece, I felt fully ready to start teaching and create it or craft it in a way that's accessible for everyone. There's a lot of inaccessible postures in qigong. This is an ancient, we're talking 10,000 year old tradition that has many different branches like yoga. So I teach a Buddhist branch because the Buddhists believe that qigong should be not just a martial art, but it should be accessible to all because we're all spiritual intrinsically. So it's, it's the most accessible branch. So I fuse medical qigong movements with more traditional qigong as well.
[00:10:01] Speaker A: That sounds really interesting.
I like how when you talked about your journey with yoga, you talk about feeling the energetics of it even way back when, when you're a teenager. But it strikes me maybe that in qigong it feels a lot more directive.
And yes, there are areas of yoga, for instance, the values where we're feeling like the prana move through the body. But I know qigong is a lot more involved than that as far as directions of the energy and where you're moving the chi. Just a really simple question.
Got a bot? But what is chi or what is it to you?
[00:10:41] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. So you know, the most simple translation to chi itself is life force energy. So with the values like and even kundalini, there's a real, there's a real bridge. Those are synonymous in my mind now in terms of just the energy that is stored within the body at the base of the spine. Right.
And so I think that movement, for me, I do feel that in yoga. Whenever I do yoga, I'm feeling that maybe it's the tingling of the skin. Maybe it's when we're doing the Breath of Fire and you feel that opening of your chest and the real heat, all of that is qi Led. And then two. Qigong teaches us as well that we both get qi from our breath, but we also get it from food and our surroundings. Right. So we're constantly in exchange with energy. And so I say in my class a lot, I am training my students in being able to feel that subtle sense, the sensations that I just think take a little bit of time and an intention, for sure, to be able to cultivate.
[00:11:42] Speaker A: So, yeah, thank you for explaining that. And I love that, really, every system in the world, including modern Western science now, I think has some form or some idea of this life force energy of this chi, of this prana. Maybe it's the myofascial system, whatever it might be.
I think we can all agree there's some sort of, like, animating force in a way, and we can feel it when we tune in with these more subtle practices.
I'd like to also ask about, because I know you focus on these five elements. I know that they're different than the system that we're introduced to in yoga and Ayurveda, where in yoga, we have earth, water, fire, air, and ether. Yes, five elements, but they're different elements. Right. Or some of them are different in traditional Chinese medicine or in qigong. What are these different elements?
[00:12:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Great question. So the five elements that I am working with. So right now we're in the metal element.
So it goes metal then to water, water, then to. Let's see how to think about it. Because they all feed into each other. So that's how I.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: And you're talking about, like, seasonally, how they.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yes, it's vast. I don't know if this podcast will be able to unbox. This really is the five elements. They nourish and regenerate each other. So it goes from water to metal, I think metal to wood, wood to earth, and then earth to back into metal. I'm sorry, earth. Sorry, Earth into fire, and then fire into metal.
[00:13:23] Speaker A: Okay. So, yeah, we're looking at wood and metal as these different elements that differ from the system. Maybe our listeners are a little bit more familiar with. You say right now we're in.
[00:13:36] Speaker B: You said we're in metal.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: We're in metal. Okay.
[00:13:40] Speaker B: Spinning into water. And so metal is embodied in the autumn time period. So obviously our seasons are very funky. But, yes, traditionally we would be at the tail end of the late autumn as we transition and really fully slow down, and then we'll enter into our water element for several months before we reemerge into the wood element of spring.
[00:14:03] Speaker A: Okay, yeah. That is fairly similar to the Ayurvedic system.
I had an episode on autumn Ayurveda, so I don't mind going over this just a little bit for our listeners, but you might recall that we're in a vata season right now, which is air and ether. So we do a lot of grounding practices, and then we'll be going into kapha after this, which is like late winter, early spring, which is really wet and dense and heavy. So we need a lot of fire to get things moving.
Do the elements work in a similar way to that? I know you just did a qigong workshop working with the metal element at the studio, and that you're going to be offering one for the water element soon. How do we just invite, like, the simplest terms you can think of, kind of balance? What. What are these? Sorry, what do these elements point to? Like, what are their qualities and how do we find balance within them?
[00:15:02] Speaker B: Absolutely. I love your reminder that we are in a vata season with this autumn, because the metal element, it is embodied in the lungs. Right. So it's. It's teaching us about how we hold on to things, how we also let go. And it's very much all about kind of reaping your harvest as well and making sure that you have stores as you go into winter. Right. Because so many of us can really become depleted or bogged down.
Because the metal element alongside the wood, they're called transitional elements. They are often the hardest ones because we're quickly transitioning from, you know, that vata to kapha, that's a big jump. It's a very different energy, and it's the same with the metal. So I think the metal really is reminding us, okay, now is the time to be clearing space. Anything that's no longer working, whether it's a passion project or not, it's got to go.
It's really talking about starting to go inward, slowing down your schedule, carving out the restorative time, and cultivating silence. The metal element and the water element need quite a bit of silence and space to really regenerate, because these are the two elements that are the most internal and the most connected to our intuitive Force.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: Thank you for that answer. I love how there's so much overlap, not only through these more intricate ancient systems, but really through most cultures. I think there is this inner knowing that this is the time to slow down and go inward. But it's interesting because there is so much cultural pressure to be doing the opposite. We. This is airing, like, mid December, so we're looking at, you know, a time that's likely really busy. For a lot of people, it's a holiday. And then we go into January, and it's like, let's set our goals for the new year and start kicking ass. And, you know, our bodies and our. And our spirits and our prana, our chi is asking us to please slow down so that we can refill our cups. Right. So it's. It's so important to take time aside to tend to these practices so that we can be more aligned with, I think, our own nature.
[00:17:17] Speaker B: Yes. There's a seasonality. I love that you say that, because I think that that's what I love about Five Elements is that it's. It is connecting us back to our purpose. It's bringing us back into who we are outside of all of this rush and kind of like predisposed expectation, not from necessarily our beings, but from the world and our environment. That energy always coming in.
[00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's such a good point.
So for students who this qigong practice is brand new, maybe they have some familiarity with yoga. What would you tell them to expect? Like, the first time coming to a jigong class?
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I love that kind of beginner's mind that, if you will. I think, you know, for the. For the newcomers coming in, I do a pretty good job at explaining what we're doing and why we're doing it. But I think in terms of, like, that. That experience, I think you can expect a slower pace.
You can expect to take up more space. At the same time, I really encourage my students to slow down in these postures and to make it your own. I think the biggest thing as a teacher I want to do for my students is to guide them back to themselves. And we'll do that through breath, and then we'll fall into these very slow, organic movements that I think for most of what I've heard from my students, it's a very relaxing, but also energizing. A lot of our postures are done standing so that you get a real sense of the energetic movement from top to bottom or through your feet coming up. That's the yen rising or the Feminine energy coming up from below.
And then we always ground our practice in a hatha or yin posture so that you get to feel that circulation and that movement that we've stirred up. You could think about the qigong to almost feel like touching base with the inner winds or inner highway of energy in your body. So it's definitely, I think, very internal. But I've heard too, it's very energizing. Folks leave ready to do stuff. Folks leave with, you know, a more peaceful mind. So I think if you're looking for something that's still activating but very deeply relaxing, I think it's for you. Yeah.
[00:19:40] Speaker A: Well, that sounds perfect.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:42] Speaker A: I'd say for any student who is not as familiar or maybe hasn't felt this, like, inner energy or these highways that Elena is talking about, that it's one thing to hear about them and maybe to imagine them, and it's a whole other thing to experience them. And that's really the only way that you can get to know your prana, your energy, is through these experiential practices. So I definitely recommend just giving it a try and going in with an open mind, a beginner's mind, and just seeing how it feels and how it. How it carries through to other aspects of your life as well. Because these aren't just meant to be these isolated things that we do within a studio. They're meant to inform and enhance, I think, the rest of our lives.
So, yeah, just just diving in and feeling it is, is such a beautiful thing. So you have your weekly hatha and qigong class on Tuesday evenings that are for anybody in Kansas City. And you this water element workshop coming up on January 11th from 2 to 4.
And will you tell us about what's going to happen there?
[00:21:01] Speaker B: Yes, absolutely.
So the upcoming workshop is really a deep dive. There is only so much that I can really talk about in terms of theory and lifestyle practices in that Tuesday, like one hour class, realistically. So I think expectations for that hourly class would be more movement. And in the workshop we will have a practice, but then we get to go into what is qigong. I'm going to take you through some basic terminologies, like what are the three treasures? What are the kind of three guideposts for each practice? And then I thought it was really important because these are embodied practices to talk about, you know, what's the emotional aspect of this, specifically water is it's in the embodiment of our fear. Right. So it very much these qigong practices are great for dispelling fear so that we can move forward with more towards our purpose, towards our wisdom. And so we're going to deep dive into that quite a bit. And then we'll talk more about the organ itself, which is the kidneys. So a lot of us, you know, we know about the kidneys, but in qigong and Chinese medicine, the kidneys are very important. Those are vital organs that need to be nourished in a certain way, and they are where we hold all of our energy. All of our chi is stored in our kidneys. So we'll go into a lot more of why that's important.
Obviously, qi postures for that. And then, you know, I leave my students with these questions, these journal entries, to dive deeper into the emotional aspect and start to look at fear in a different way. I mean, I say fear, and I think a lot of people are like, oh, God. But that's the thing about fear is that it often presents in different ways, and it really can be a doorway. And that's. That's what qigong teaches us, is that fear is a doorway. And if we can muster, that's what's going to lead us to our wisdom, is if we can really walk through that doorway of fear in a different way and hold it differently in our bodies, it's a great teacher for us. So that's a little bit of what to expect.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: I love the way that you explain that. And it's so we're so blessed, honestly, and lucky to have these ancient practices, you know, 10,000 years old, you're saying that help us deal with very universal modern human experiences. And I would say, like, January 2025, for those of us in the US is likely a time that's stirring up a lot of fears. Right? And we want to be able to continue being effective humans and living. Living our lives and, you know, living with love and our power and all of that. So how great is it that we can pull from this ancient wisdom and really, like, tell our fear where to go?
Right, yes.
[00:23:57] Speaker B: Pulling away from it because that, you know, fight or flight is real. We can get really basic with it. But it's like if we can move through that, if we can move through any hard emotion, I think that's where our power and our potential as humans really is, is to be able to harness our emotions in a more embodied way. And I think that's really what I love about qigong, is that we're taking these emotions, whether it's anger, fear, whatever, and saying, okay, I'm gonna move with you, you're gonna guide me here and through those motions and movements that I teach. I think for some students, they can really feel that transfer of energy. It's cool.
[00:24:39] Speaker A: I love that any embodiment practices are really so helpful in connecting all these different aspects of ourselves and realizing that fear isn't just this, like, thing that's sitting on our shoulders or that's in our mind, that it really is something like all of our emotions can be felt throughout the entire body. And, yeah, knowing how to move the energy is such an important life skill, I think. So I'm really grateful that you have dove into this work and that you have this willingness and openness to share it with others, because I think we need it probably now that more than ever. Not to be dramatic, but let's be dramatic.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: I think now more than whether it's yoga or qigong, I think we all need a breath and embodiment practice that feels good to us.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Absolutely. Yes. So, again, that's January 11th here at True Love Yoga. Elena, I'd love to ask you before we wrap up, how can our listeners deepen their yoga practice? What's your advice?
[00:25:44] Speaker B: Oh, so I didn't touch on the fact that I'm also a coach as well, but I think that something I say to all my new clients is that whether it is five or ten minutes a day, starting to create a routine around it is the biggest thing. I'm a single parent, so I understand that I don't have time for it. And I think five or ten minutes a day to sit and breathe, whether it's hands on your heart, just deep breathing, whether it's your favorite posture just to fall into, you know, it's just that gentle reminder to come back to yourself, you know? And so I just. That would. That's what I would say. I would say put it on your calendar, set a timer. You know, start to understand how five minutes or ten minutes a day can really impact your whole week.
[00:26:33] Speaker A: You know, I love that so much. Such a part of our teacher training, too, is helping our students or encouraging them to develop a sadhana, which is a daily spiritual practice. And it doesn't have to be 3 hours long. Like Alayda said, 5 minutes, 10 minutes can hold so much potency for the rest of your day. Day. I'm actually doing an episode really soon that'll come out in the new year about developing consistency in your practice, because that's such a hard. I think as a coach, you know this. It is so hard for people to maintain consistency.
They lose enthusiasm. Life happens and suddenly we're not taking care of ourselves anymore.
So I think that is such great advice and I'm excited to speak more to that later because it's something that took me a long time to figure out how to do for myself.
[00:27:27] Speaker B: It just really does. You know, it's not a one size fits all, but I think that the container of time that we set aside with our intention, the intention is going to lead you through. It's going to be that needle and thread moment of just getting you there, whether it's to the mat, the treadmill, to your breath work. That's it, you know.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Thank you so much for that. Elena, how can our listeners connect more with you?
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Well, obviously I would love to see everyone at my class. I'm hoping in the new year to try to step more into hybrid or maybe even different pop ups. But I think the best way to stay connected with me at this time is Instagram. It is be encouraged coaching and yeah, I'll keep it pretty current for folks. But yeah, give me a follow. Stay tuned. There's some really beautiful things happening in the new year I'm excited about to share.
[00:28:22] Speaker A: Well, we're excited too. Elena, it was so nice touching base with you today and I'm so happy that our listeners and students had this chance to get to know you a little bit better. Please join Elena January 11th if you're here in Kansas City. And yeah, maybe we'll have some online opportunities to connect as well through the new year. Elena, thank you so much. Thank you everyone so much for listening. Om Shanti Om.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: Peace.
