Episode 212: Feeling the Sunshine with Jessamyn Stanley
“Feeling the sunshine sometimes makes such a difference. It can turn the ship around.”
- Jessamyn Stanley
Kate and Doree reflect on the two year anniversary of Here For You and the pandemic. Then, Jessamyn Stanley (Dear Jessamyn, Yoke, The Underbelly) comes on the pod to talk about cannabis as self care, why she f*cks with celebrity skincare lines, and how sunshine and working outside can turn her day around.
Photo Credit: Jade Wilson
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Transcript
Kate Spencer: Welcome to forever 35, a podcast about the things we do to take care of ourselves. I'm Kate Spencer,
Doree Shafrir: And I am Doree Shafrir
Kate Spencer: And we are not experts.
Doree Shafrir: No, but we are two friends who like to talk a lot about serums.
Kate Spencer: Hello and welcome. If you want to find out more about the show or learn about anything we mentioned here, you can visit our website forever35podcast.com. You can find us on Twitter at forever 35 pod and Instagram at forever 35 podcast. And on Facebook where the forever 35 Facebook group password is serums. You can also sign up for our newsletter@thirtyfivepodcast/newsletter.
New Speaker: foreverthirtyfivepodcast.com.
Kate Spencer: Oh, I forgot that part. I forgot that important part of, of a website.
New Speaker: I Feel like that's kind of implied, but I just wanted to make sure that, you know, people were in the loop as they say, but if you do want to call or text us, you can do that at 7 8 1 5 9 1 0 3 9 0. You can email us at forever 35 podcast@gmail.com. We do always appreciate a rating or review at apple podcast. And I believe Spotify now has podcast ratings. I have not investigated this situation so I could be wrong, but I had heard that they were starting them. So check that out,
Kate Spencer: Keep us posted Spotify. I let us us
Doree Shafrir: Know posted. Yes.
Kate Spencer: I, I tend to listen to my podcast on apple podcasts. Now that's where I've like migrated. I used to be on like a app called I think downcast. And now I'm over on apple podcast,
Doree Shafrir: You know, it's funny. I, so I listened to my music on Spotify,
Kate Spencer: Me too.
Doree Shafrir: And I was like, well, I could just listen to my podcast on Spotify. That would be easy. And I find that listening to podcasts on Spotify is fine. As long as you know, what you wanna be listening to, like if you search for a podcast and you're like, okay, I'm gonna subscribe to this podcast. But if you're just like poking around and you wanna like find a new podcast, Spotify is not great for that. I actually do find that apple podcast is It is kind of the best for discovery. In my opinion. I also, I did also used to use pocketcasts and I do really like pocket casts. But, um, I don't know. Sometimes I'll just like look for a new podcast on apple podcast. Cause it's like, I dunno, sometimes I just want something new to listen to.
Kate Spencer: It's fun to search around, you know, it's fun to,
New Speaker: It is kate! it is!
Kate Spencer: Wow. you're so adamant.
Doree Shafrir: I mean, there's also whatever I don't wanna get too wonky. There's some things about the, the way that Spotify plays podcasts that like, I don't love, but whatever,
Kate Spencer: It's fine. Oh my gosh. I could get wonky about podcast players also really? Because apple pod. Yeah, because apple podcasts, if you're listening to a podcast that you're not subscribed to and you like close out of the app, it doesn't pick up where you were listening. It makes you restart the episode. And that makes me, oh my
Doree Shafrir: Gosh, bonkers.
Doree Shafrir: That Is so annoying
Kate Spencer: Me bonkers. Now I try to subscribe to podcasts cuz I know that it's actually very important to the, you know, the success of the podcast. Yeah, of course as a podcaster. But like sometimes I'm just like, oh, check this episode out. And then I like go back to get to it and it's gone anyway, Doree. That's my wonky podcast commentary.
Doree Shafrir: Okay. Okay. Well, you know, I think we can continue this conversation.
Kate Spencer: Yeah. Off air
Doree Shafrir: Over, over a cup of Coffee.
Kate Spencer: Okay. Okay. Or on air, We'll dedicate a whole episode to this. What do we like and not like about podcast players
Doree Shafrir: Indeed.
Kate Spencer: So we received a message this week, uh, with a listener suggestion that we thought might make for an interesting conversation at the start of this episode to us, you know, it is, it is mid-March. And as we do now, we reflect every mid-March about how like, oh wow, we've been at this pandemic thing for, you know, two years now, you know, mid-March for, for those of us in the United States, I should say, this is different where you are located. But for those of us, uh, and most of the United States mid-March was when things just kind of shut down and, and started to feel very, very hairy, so a, a listener wrote to us and said, oh my God, y'all should do a two year anniversary here for you podcast episode and talk more about what has stuck and how you've evolved. Imagine if you, you were still doing daily episodes, but I think you can be grateful for things that came out of the pandemic. I used to always go to the bar or out to eat with friends. And then in lockdown I couldn't and started running and found a deep love for it. I'm running my first half marathon on Sunday and now would rather spend my free time running rather than drinking. I don't think I would've found this passion without the pandemic and I'm grateful I got here. Hmm.
Kate Spencer: Hmm.
Doree Shafrir: Hmm.
Kate Spencer: So to refresh your memory or for those listeners who maybe have only just started listening to us recently for about a month in the pandemic, I know two months Doree, do you remember two months? Yeah.
Doree Shafrir: Um, we did it for two months.
Kate Spencer: We did a daily podcast.
Doree Shafrir: We did a daily podcast. Well, first we were like, we're just gonna do this. I think we said four weeks because we thought lockdown, one's gonna be two weeks long.
Kate Spencer: LOL. We thought we would, it would get fixed.
Doree Shafrir: We did
Kate Spencer: Two non doctors slash non-scientists. We really thought it would be over quickly or just that we would like get back to life.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah, yeah.
Kate Spencer: Yeah. Jokes on us.
Doree Shafrir: The joke is indeed on us. So
Kate Spencer: We, we started doing this daily podcast, I believe around like March 22nd or 23rd and did it for two straight months. And then it kind of became clear like, oh, this is not ending anytime soon slash sustaining a daily podcast was, it was a lot of, it was, I mean, it wasn't, it wasn't a lot of work, especially because you did the production. I was just along for the ride. Cause I think I said to you, like, I can't, I have two kids who I'm supposed to like teach, I can't do this. And you were like, I've got it. Yeah. And so you were doing the like editing and production?
Doree Shafrir: I was, but you know what? We, we were doing like minimal editing. Okay.
Kate Spencer: Right. Okay.
Doree Shafrir: Fair. Um, like I think we had decided that we were gonna kind of like edit as we, um, recorded. So like if we had something that we were like, oh wait, no, let's take that out. Um, I would take it out later, but I was not going through and like editing each episode, like we would with an episode of forever 35. Cause I was like, I don't have the time to do this. I was like, basically just like slapping the episodes together and posting them.
Kate Spencer: So we did that for two months, I think it was, it was a good experience for us because we got to talk to someone every day. Right. Like we got to have human connection And it was nice because listeners were checking in and sharing.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. It was really it. You know, I, I remember like right before we started doing here for you, we had done some stuff on the regular pod about COVID and we had talked to, I think we had talked to people in like Italy.
Kate Spencer: We had a list, we talked to a listener in Italy. We talked to, there was a person in New York who had called in because they were already quarantine quarantining in early March.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: We were definitely starting to hear from people who were, you know, who were ahead of where we were in California. Um, and we did a, we did a whole episode about it right at the start. Cause I remember at the beginning I was like, I don't know, like, do we, we didn't know what was happening. So it was like, are we gonna talk about this?
Doree Shafrir: It wasn't
Kate Spencer: Early in January. Wasn't
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. It wasn't clear.
Kate Spencer: Then it became very clear. We were gonna talk about this.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. So I don't know, Kate, what do you think about what this listener wrote? Um, that you can be grateful for things that came out of the pandemic.
Kate Spencer: Okay. So I, oh, I was reading a front that this is actually, I was reading someone's private Facebook post about grief. And they said something that really resonated with me, which was they, we wouldn't, it was basically like over the loss of a person. Like I wouldn't be who I am without you. And I also wouldn't be who I am without losing you. And that felt very profound to me because one thing I've had a hard time articulating personally and kind of grappling with is that like, you know, with my own moms passing away, I grew in a lot of ways from losing her and changed and developed for the better as a person. Like it shaped me in ways that are positive, but it was incredibly awful. You know, I wouldn't wanna go through that, but I did. I had to. So anyway, I think that the same thing can be said of the pandemic is that it, it changed us. And part of the ways that it could have possibly changed our lives are for the better, even though the experience was bad and is bad and has hurt so many people. And I think this is like a confusing aspect of grief and loss and all these kinds of things is that there can be growth from a really shitty thing.
Doree Shafrir: Mm.
Kate Spencer: So that's something I've thought about a lot personally. And I think kind of, I hear being echoed and what this listener is saying.
Doree Shafrir: I really, I mean, that's, that seems like such a good way of looking at it because I do think the initial, like my initial reaction to this is like, even if I felt that way, like I would never wanna say it because yeah. You know, so like horrible things have happened, but I think you're right. We can like hold space for both of those things.
Kate Spencer: Yeah. Because we, we, you know, we have to honor, not honor, but we have to acknowledge the fact that there has been rampant loss of life and continuing complications with health or ways of, in which this has impacted people financially or, I mean, just it's the implications of this pandemic are devastating. And you know, I, I think we wanna make sure we, we note that, but I think you, like you're saying Doree, there is also space that for some people they've experienced things, you know, this has changed them in a way kind of like how it's possibly changed the American work week and the expectation of going into the office and the nine to five, like there is real pushback happening right now. Like finally employers, like, it's like, no, I'm not gonna go sit in an office from nine to five. Like I can get my shit done on Thursday night of if I need to, and I can get some shit done from home and you can't argue any different now.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: So there, there is interesting things that would never have happened without this freaking pandemic.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. I mean, I, and, and I think that we're only just like we have not even begun to sort of grapple with the ways in which society has changed. We'll continue to change because of COVID.
Kate Spencer: Yeah. I it's going to keep rippling, um, and pot keep changing. I mean, we are not out of, we are not out of this, you know?
Doree Shafrir: No, we are not out of this at all.
Kate Spencer: Has, has, has the last two years of the pandemic changed anything for you? Like similar to how this listener like got into running? Have you had anything
Doree Shafrir: Like that? I mean, yeah. I've like, I've talked, I feel like I've talked about,
Kate Spencer: Yeah, you've talked about this. You do more activities.
Doree Shafrir: I got into tennis, I got into piano. I got into poker. I got into Majong. I like,
Kate Spencer: Look at you,
Doree Shafrir: Yeah, I got into, well, I mean, I got into Peloton, um, you know, we got our Peloton bike three months into the pandemic, so yeah. I mean a lot, I feel like a lot about my life has, I mean, a lot about my life has changed. Um, things are just, things are, things are different. My day to day is very different. Yeah.
Kate Spencer: Wow. I mean, I, you know,
New Speaker: what about You?
Kate Spencer: Well, it's, you know, it's hard because the year that my kids were home doing remote school for an entire year was extremely hard.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: And, and so many ways that are, you know, not appropriate to even get into you on the podcast because they're, you know, private and personal to our family. But like, it was, there are no ways to really capture how hard it was. And I think I've said this before, but like, and I'm, I'm a very privileged person coming from a person who is financially able to handle it, who had a school district that was able, you know, I mean just the, the amount of privilege I had in the situation is like never ending. And even with that, it was really, really hard. And I feel like I'm still kind of grappling with that, but it also, I, I do think made our family closer. I mean, I've spent more time with my kids and my husband than I ever expected to. And that has been really, like, we really do feel like a family unit for better or for worse. And that's been really a wonderful, even though, like we all drive each other nuts. Um, and that's just been interesting. Like, that's just, I don't know what, what it would've been like over the last couple of years, if we hadn't had all this very intense, weird time together. Um, in terms of me like, personally, I haven't had like, like I didn't like pick up a hobby. I feel like, you know, me, I pick up a new hobby every week and then I put it down.
Doree Shafrir: But you like have been writing books.
Kate Spencer: I have, well, it's been, it's weird because it's been a time of like professional growth for me. I mean, I sold my novel in like April 2020. And so when my book just came out and I have a other one coming out, so that's, that's also been kind of interesting to like emotionally re like reckon with where I'm like, I'm having the like, career I've always wanted. And like, I can do it in this shitty nightmare pandemic and like, yikes. You know, I don't know. So that's been interesting. I think also just, you know, there is a deeper appreciation for what we have at least I try to remember that like a way really try to tap into gratitude if I can, because oof baby.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. I mean, I feel like I've been, I've been grateful that know no one in my family has suffered like health wise. Like people have gotten COVID in my family, but like knock on wood. Like, it doesn't seem like anyone has long COVID and no one has died. And so like, I'm very grateful for that. Um, yeah, I mean, and I did, didn't have to deal with having two kids doing remote school because my child was so little. Um, but I feel like we are, we are kind of navigating, um, you know, the fact that he was pretty isolated from other kids for a while. Yeah. Um, but you know, he's like, he'll be fine. He's I'm not worried about him. Um, but yeah, I don't know.
Kate Spencer: I mean, the other thing is like we did, we've done this podcast through the pandemic
Doree Shafrir: And we did it before the pandemic. I know, you know, so it's like interesting to just sort of look at it and see the, see the changes and see the evolution of it from before the pandemic, through the pandemic now, like I, I mean, I think we're still in the pandemic, but it seems like we've entered a different phase of the pandemic. So.
Kate Spencer: it feels Like we've entered a phase where like, this pandemic's gonna keep going, but we just wanna get back to life.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: I'm kind of, I'm, I'm offering commentary on America, not necessarily my feelings, but yeah. I mean, cuz you know, Europe is having a surge, like there's a surge again on the horizon for us Doree.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Yeah. So I guess it's just gonna be like, how do we, how do we sort of navigate all of the us? Um, and, and it does, it does sort of feel like the thing, like it's going to be with us for a long time, but like maybe it's not, I mean the, you know, the, yeah, the flu pandemic of 1918, like did last for a few years, but then it went away, you know,
Kate Spencer: Like yeah.
Doree Shafrir: It, it will probably end. Yeah. But um, it's just, it's hard to think about now.
Kate Spencer: it Is. It really is. Yeah. I mean the other thing I think is that I do think it made us appreciate the people in our lives a lot more because the second access to them was taken away for so many of us. Um, that really like, I just miss, I miss not only like my friends who are far away, but just like the, the ease and casualness of like a last minute get together or like grabbing a coffee or seeing your friend at your like co-working space. I mean, all that was just gone, you know, seeing, seeing other parents at school drop off and the people I like to chat with. Yes. Like all those things that human interaction, which I do think is so necessary for us to thrive. Um, But that being said, I do think that's what made podcasts so amazing in this pandemic and getting to like be the person who makes one, just the fact that I got to talk to you all the time and still do.
Doree Shafrir: I know that was great. And like, we got to keep going, even though we weren't, you know, we don't record in person anymore. We record remotely.
Kate Spencer: I know that's, what's so wild to think about. We used to get together like two times a week with Sammy too.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: And record a podcast and eat lunch together and all that jazz. And so that is Yeah. Someday soon, maybe we'll get together and do that again. But I don't know the ease of just being like I'm hopping on my computer. Like I don't have to drive, you don't have to drive to my house. You know, all that stuff is, it's very interesting. Well, I'd love to hear how things have changed for listeners. If they have thoughts or reflections on the last two years. And we should say, we're still here for you.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah, we are. um, Kate, we have an amazing guest today.
Kate Spencer: Doree. I don't even know where to begin about this conversation we had.
Doree Shafrir: And I know we say that a lot.
Kate Spencer: We do, but can we talk like talking about like our, the privilege that we have doing this podcast, we get to speak to the most amazing people.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah.
Kate Spencer: Like it's just been incredible getting to do this podcast and the people we get to talk to. So if we say that all the time, it's just because like every conversation we have just feels amazing. Well, we talked to Jessamyn Stanley this week and I don't know Doree. It was like, I could have, I wish we could have kept her on the phone for like five hours.
Doree Shafrir: Same
Kate Spencer: If you are not familiar with Jessamyn's work. She is an internationally acclaimed voice and wellness highly sought after for her sites on 21st century yoga, an intersectional identity. Her first book, everybody yoga, let go of fear, get on the mat, love your body has global audiences to discover the power of yoga and set forth on a path for personal development. And her second book is called yoke my yoga of self self acceptance, which was released in June, 2021, which has just a series of really funny, honest, gritty, and thoughtful kind of autobiographical essays about self-love body positivity, race, sex, sexuality, cannabis, all through the lens of yoga. In addition to being a yoga teacher, she is the co-founder of, we go high NNC, which is a Southern cannabis justice organization working to increase cannabis across cannabis access and prohibition states and highlight the natural connection between cannabis consumption and prison abolition. It's really, really interesting. It was really, I mean, she's just an incredible human. I don't even know what to say.
Doree Shafrir: I, I know, I know I
Kate Spencer: Loved, I loved our conversation so much.
Doree Shafrir: I did too. Um, so all right, we are gonna take a short break and when we come back, we're gonna be talking to Jessamyn. All right. Well, Justin, we are so excited to be talking to you today on forever 35. Welcome to the show.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Thank you so much for having me. I'm honored to be you here with y'all.
Doree Shafrir: Um, well we like to start all of our conversations with our guests by asking them about a self care practice that they have. Oh my goodness. So, uh, we would like to know what is kind of currently going on for you in the realm of self care.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Mm oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for asking, because I, when you first said it, I was like, I have a lot of self care practices, so I don't really know like where to even start with that. But I think the thing that has been, that's like a slight shift for me is going outside to work when I can, that feels like a really important, like, just like, um, because I'll get into these circuits with work where I'm like, I have to finish this. No, after that next thing, then I can go outside. Or like, I'll I isolate the being outside with like, this is my outside time, not, this is my outside working time. And so like just being able to say this work is fine to do outside. And like, I can just go out there and just feeling the sunshine sometimes makes such a difference. It's like, I can, it can turn the whole ship around. So that definitely is a big one for me. But I have so many, I'm curious what y'all's self-care practices are, but
Kate Spencer: Oh no, no, no. We're not turning this around on us. Tell you later you in the hot seat today,
Jessamyn Stanle...: You know, my tricks,
Kate Spencer: Um, podcaster sees podcaster, right. I Mean exactly. You know what it's like to be on the other, other side of things. So I love that though, because as living in California, there is like, it it's such a bounty. Like it's just so amazing to be able to be outside in the sunshine. And I, I love how you reframe that because so often I do the same thing where I'm like, my reward will be sitting in the sun and it's like, I could do both, but I never let myself
Jessamyn Stanle...: Literally. And I mean, actually that was a huge part of why my girlfriend and I decided to start full-time RV was that we wanted to spend more time outside. Well, I don't wanna speak for her. That's why I needed it because I felt like I spent so much of my life in boxes. Like just like you go from one box to another and they're temperature controlled. And like that creates for me a feeling of not being connected to the earth at all. And so that shift to like living mobilely and living on campgrounds and like just being in nature all the time was really crucial and really helpful for me. Like just managing through the end of this past year. But, um, we just recently started renting a house in Northern California and the shift with that, even though like I still live much of my life in and around the RV going into the house all the time. There's still this thing of boxes where like you end up just being in a box all day and remembering that like, oh, I'm not a robot I'm meant to be in the sunshine. I'm a primal animal actually like that's feels really helpful.
Kate Spencer: Did you find that? Oh, sorry, Doree. I just wanna ask about the RV journey. Did you, did you find that that helps you reconnect to the earth? And then I guess my second question was what were some of the challenges within your relationship if there were any kind of taking it in this new, having it in a new space, like RVing, that is, that is an intense journey.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Yes it is. And I did. I mean, okay. So to the question of, did it help me connect to nature more? Definitely because like the places that we chose to park were very much like away from it all which has its pros and cons. Yeah. If you run digital businesses. So there are a lot of like cons I would say to being so far from, um, modern civilization. But, um, the benefit is that you're like always within a stones throw of a stream, there's always a hike around, you have to hike just to like do basic stuff, like making a fire is a necessary part of keeping warm in certain parts of the country. So like, it was it's, it asks for things that I think living indoors doesn't and like, it really is that like you live outside. So like the front, our front yard or our front, um, like under our awning is like a room in the house.
Jessamyn Stanle...: So like you have to be outside to even be in the house. And that, for me, it's just really nice. Like, it's nice to remember that I, the best things in life are free. Ultimately the, the beauty of this, um, of this land and just being able to appreciate it, which especially like, when you think of how fucked, so much of this world is in so many parts where like, it's not safe to be yourself. Like you can't people can't just, they can't go outside and feel safe, you know? And so to live somewhere where that is the case, like just feels like something that I wanna take advantage of. So that has, that's definitely a benefit of it. Um, but the transition to going to living in a 59 square foot RV from living in like an over 2000 square foot house was massive.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And it was further complicated by the fact that my girlfriend and I were living in that house with my other partner who still lives in North Carolina and who I had been with, uh, for like a decade, um, before that. So the transition of like my other partner living by themselves and me and my girlfriend moving into this very small house and just like moving constantly, because that's another thing with full-time RV is that you're in a constant state of motion, like, unless you decide to be stable, you have to move a lot. And so, yeah, it caused a lot of chaos and it's actually all, um, my podcast, dear Jessamyn, which you can find anywhere that you listen to podcasts, but yeah, so many things for sure.
Doree Shafrir: I was just gonna ask, uh, as someone who also moved from the east coast to the west coast and personally found, like, I felt like my whole sort of perspective shifted. Have you found that as well? Like what other kinds of shifts have happened for you?
Jessamyn Stanle...: First of all, I'm so curious. What part of the east coast you moved from and did you move straight to Southern California or was there? I, I, okay. I'm not supposed to twist the question. Well
Doree Shafrir: We, no, no, no, you, I grew up, I grew up in Boston, but I was living, um, in New York when I right before moving to, uh, LA. Yes. And I, and I moved directly to LA
Kate Spencer: and I had the same path. I also grew up in Boston.
Doree Shafrir: We did not know each other though.
Kate Spencer: Didn't know each other lived in New York for 10 years and then moved out here. Yeah.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Interesting. Did y'all move to New York for school? Were you like in Boston and told them
Kate Spencer: No, I was in Maine for school and then moved to New York just to try to have a, you know, have a new life. And uh, and then I loved it, but we moved here for career reasons, but, but I also like, it California's it. I had this similar experience as Doree where it felt like my shoulders kind of went down an inch a little bit. And I don't know. I don't know what that is. I don't know if you felt the same.
Jessamyn Stanle...: I definitely think that if I had come from a place like New York or Boston, there would be a dramatic shoulder release upon arrival here because the energy is so fundamentally different. Like, yeah, it's it. I think a lot of it is weather related, honestly. Like it is. So even the warmest that it gets in new England is like, not, it's not the same thing, like the whole, and then also like the way, because of the way that the cities were, uh, planned or lack thereof and on the east coast, it's so different. Like, so, um, yeah, that's really interesting to me. So I came from North Carolina, which I think in more specifically from, um, I was living in Durham, North Carolina, but I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina and North Carolina. Part of the reason that I stayed there and grew my businesses there was that it is so chill. Like everybody is just living their life, like just trying to get by. There's a sense of,
Jessamyn Stanle...: I think, I, I don't know really how to ti I think there's a sense of heritage because of the, um, um, lower population, the lower density, me and less people like moving in and out more people who are from that area. I think that that all contributes to like people just being like, it's less power driven than some of the cities, um, in up north in particular. So if it was like really a crucial part of my identities being from North Carolina and like that, and carrying that ethos and coming here, it is so interesting to me cuz okay. I, I spent a good amount of time in California, but in, um, in Northern and Southern California, more in Southern California, but the sunshine here and the consistency of the sunshine and the way that it just, it will beat a bad mood out of you ultimately. Like if you can just be in it, that to me has been so heartening and healing and I've just been so grateful for it. And even up here in Northern California where like, it is pretty fucking cold actually like low key, like we really cold I, and
Doree Shafrir: The houses like aren't insulated. Right. And
Jessamyn Stanle...: Not at all, like it's not built for weather. Right. Other than I think, like 65 degrees. Yes. So that is interesting, but it, I just feel like the, um, the diversity of like to, rain, there's just like mountains and ocean and bays and like all kinds of shit just right. Immediately within reach. And like, I think also cannabis being legal here has a very spec. It has a deep impact on the way that people engage with one another and like just how everybody shows up. And that has made a really big impact on me. Also the Hills here are really interesting to like, I feel like everybody's just got kind of a, suck it up attitude because it's like, you might have to go up a 90 degree hill in a moment, like, and you just get used to it. Definitely.
Doree Shafrir: Um, you brought up cannabis and I was hoping you could talk a little bit about cannabis as self-care
Jessamyn Stanle...: Totally that I should, I could have said that as the, um, the selfcare practice that is just like the most The one, the unsung hero of my, the, my self-care practices. Um, it is something that I did not know was so healing. Like my understanding of cannabis when I was in college and high school was like weed is a party drug. Like if I never knew, I never knew anybody who had the weed, honestly, like it was, I would only come across it in very specific settings and it wasnt a big part of my life at all. And then when I was in graduate school, my, uh, partner was, they had been a daily cannabis user for a long time and they introduced me to it in a different way. And that paired with my yoga practice, which I got into yoga around the same time they together really transform my understanding of why I'm even here on this planet, like why we exist as people.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And a lot of it has to do with just like being able to find a laugh. Like it's so hard sometimes. Like, I don't know. I'm so curious about y'all's astrology, but I'm Virgo rising And that Virgo placement can make it hard for me to let shit go. Like at all, where I'm like, I have to be right. I need to win. This is it's important. And like cannabis just helps me, like, just let it go. You're fine. It's not that big of a deal. And on top of that, it's kind of funny that you were pressed like that. So being able to just find that laugh, whenever shit is not funny is really, really helpful for me and why I think cannabis ultimately like that's what it offers all of us in, in different forms. So a laugh might come in different forms and, and it can be a physical sensation or physical relief, but it can also be an emotional, mental and ultimately spiritual release.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And it's just, it's so powerful. And it's something that, um, I think offers us, um, clarity of thought and independence in a way that is really scary to any government system. And that's why cannabis is. So that's why people are so persecuted for it, even in places where cannabis is legal, there's still a stigma about what it means to use it. So I hope that through talking about it more and focusing less on like trying to legalize anything and really just trying to destigmatize things, then that will shift. And that's actually the focus of my organization. We go high is really just empowering cannabis users to feel like what we do matters and, um, who we are as people is important
Kate Spencer: For someone who's cannabis curious, but is, you know, has existed. Like I think many of us have in a space where it's been so stigmatized, how do you suggest people not only dip a toe into the cannabis space, but do so in a way that is, uh, responsible because there's so much racial injustice with just within cannabis. Um, and we've been even been called in by listeners on this, even just learning to use the term cannabis was eyeopening to me personally, is there a way for someone to kind of try it and, and do so in a way that, um, supporting the, the, the, not the movement, but supporting the industry in a positive way?
Jessamyn Stanle...: Yeah. I mean, I think it's always helpful to know who you're buying from and where like what, who, who, if you can know who grew it, which if you live somewhere where it's not legal, that's all the, this is shit for people who live in places where cannabis is legal, because if you don't, it's the wild west and you're just doing what you can. But if you live where it's legal and you can get things easily, like first of all, research as much as you can, because there are so many organizations that specifically focus on like writing all the wrongs of the drug war. The last prisoner project is the first organization that comes up in my mind, but there are a lot of different orgs that even if you don't use cannabis that you can donate to, or that you can, um, just find out more about that are doing what needs to be done.
Jessamyn Stanle...: But if you can know where your weed is grown, if you can know who is selling it, that is really important because a lot of dispensaries are it's. There are very few minority owned dispensaries and very few minority owned farms. And it's really important that we support, um, those who have like done the work to be in the legal market. And just knowing as much as you can, I think is important. And, and then learning just that's the, that's the place to lead from, but like the medicine is meant for everybody. And ultimately, like, it shouldn't be such an issue. It should be something where like, you just have some plants in your backyard and the same way that you have, like thyme or mint or tomatoes or whatever it is that you grow. Like, this is just another herb that you grow and learning that history and learning about like the way that cannabis has always been used by indigenous people. And that it is such an integral part of like all spiritual practices. Like there's no spiritual, um, there's no spiritual path that I can think of that does not have some sort of tie to cannabis somewhere. So just learning about that really will open your eyes to this much bigger world than what maybe the billboard or the ad for like this type of edible or whatever. Like it's gonna open your eyes a little bit more than that will.
Doree Shafrir: Um, I was watching a video that you and Ash did last year. I think of your, like your favorite products and a lot of them were cannabis related. Um, I also really laughed when you said CBD is diet weed. Um, but Yeah,
Jessamyn Stanle...: It isotally.
Doree Shafrir: Um, I was hoping for our listeners, you might be able to share what some of your favorite cannabis related products are right now.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Oh my goodness. Okay. Um, it's this company, I think they're called best buds either. They're called best buds or the pipes are called best buds and I'm, well, it's not video, so I won't try to go get them, but they're just the cutest little, one hitter pipes that you ever did see. And there's two of them together and they come in, they look like curly fries actually. And they just like line up next to each other, but they're like, COVID friendly. So you can like share a bowl with a friend, but they're just like very tiny bowls. I can't really, you have to look them up, but they're just so cute. And I, I love them very much. Um, what else am I enjoying? Um, oh my God. My favorite thing, absolute favorite thing is a company called old pal. I think that they are probably specifically Northern California and they do packs of ground weed that, um, they do them in like five gram, five gram packs in seven gram packs.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And they are like, I don't know if y'all y'all aren't from the south. So maybe tobacco culture was not as big for y'all as it was in North Carolina, but the company American spirit used to, I'm sure they still do do packs of ground tobacco, which if you smoke cigarettes is a very handy way to just have tobacco at the ready. And old pal does these packs that are very similar to that. And this is not, I, I feel like I'm, I'm talking about tobacco, which is like the, the danger zone of talking about smoking. But I really feel like for me, it is the best way to just have my weed at the ready is to just like already have it ground up. And it's in a neat pack and the papers fit neatly in the top of it. And it's just like my most favorite thing.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Um, and I also love the case smell proof cases that are made by damn, I cannot think of the name of the company if I do, I'll send it to y'all. Yeah. Let us know. Yeah. There's smell proof cases that are excellent for just like putting your pipe in or your vape or whatever your dab stuff, whatever the things are and just like zip it up and throw it in your bag. And like, it doesn't smell like anything is super safe for travel. Um, yeah. I have a lot of favorite weed things, but those are maybe my favorite right now.
Kate Spencer: Do You also incorporate CBD in any of like your skin care or body, or is that not something that you are into?
Jessamyn Stanle...: I'm not that big into it because I don't care that much. I don't know how else to say it. Like I do. I have experienced incredible benefits from CBD skincare specifically from cure leaf skincare. I think they'd make a excellent, hemp products really, really, really good, but, um, I don't focus on it just because I have other skincare stuff that I really like, and it's just not the benefits have not been so extreme for me that I've like, like wanted to invest in that way. But I will say that, um, my mother, the way that I was first introducing her to, um, to cannabis was through CBD topicals and, um, transdermal patches. And she really loves the company, marries medicinals. They do THC products that she really likes, but the C like one to one ratios, stuff like that, that I actually think is a really excellent way to, we were talking before about like, how would you dip your toe into cannabis? Yeah, I would definitely say dip your toe with C B D. And, um, and even like a little, like if you get a strain of something, like just put in just a sprinkle of THC product and then a sprinkle of CBD is a nice way to ease into smoking, but especially if you're not interested in smoking CBD, literally anything edibles, cuz there are some very strong, extreme, potent CBD gummies and stuff like that. So like, you know, it's not for me all the time, but I definitely see the benefit.
Kate Spencer: Okay, well let's take a quick break and we'll be right back.
Kate Spencer: All right. We are back.
Doree Shafrir: I, I would, I would love to keep talking about cannabis, but we do wanna be respectful of your time and we do want to get into talking about yoga. Um, so let us switch gears. Um, you alluded a little bit to your, uh, kind of first foray into yoga, but I love if you could, for the benefit of our listeners, just kind of talk about how you got into yoga and just kind of generally how yoga has influenced your journey of self acceptance. If that's a fair thing to say
Jessamyn Stanle...: To it literally has. And I, I think that makes yes, absolutely. Um, so I got into yoga when I was in graduate school. I was going through a period of depression that honestly, if you've been in your early twenties or are human, then you have probably experienced some something similar. But um, a friend of mine who she's a classmate of mine then, and she's now chief of staff at my companies, she at that time was really into Bikram yoga. And she was like, oh my God, come to yoga with me. You're gonna love it. And I was like, I'm not doing that. Cuz I tried yoga once when I was in high school. Absolutely hated it. And I was like, this is not for me. I thought it was just for thin white women who were rich honestly. But I, um, I went and it, it was really difficult for me.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Every posture seemed impossible. The breathwork was really challenging. Like just even, and Bikram yoga in particular is a style of hot yoga. And even just being in the room, that's heated to like 104 degrees. That was the very challenging just to stay in the room. But I didn't realize until I started practicing yoga, just how many barriers and boundaries that I've created for myself, that things that I say like, this is, this is the line. Like I can't go beyond this line. I decided who I was as a human being and yoga really pushed me to consider other ways of seeing myself to be like, yeah, actually, maybe I can just try to do something. Even if everybody in the room knows that I don't know what I'm doing. And like the teacher is looking at me sideways, like that's okay, I'm still just gonna go for it.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And that idea of like, just do it, just go for it. That was really transformational for me, not just on the yoga mat, but in every other part of my life. And I started to see how it was cropping up in my grad program and in the way that I was approaching life in general. And so much of what yoga is about really has very little to do with like physical exercise or anything that happens with the physical body. To be honest, like every posture is just a vehicle to engage with your deeper self. And for me, what that process has looked like is actually having to accept the conflict that happens at the intersections of my identities. And everybody has this, like everybody has deep conflict at the different pieces of ourselves that go together. That don't make sense. And I think that typically we veer toward like shame in thinking that that feeling shouldn't be there like that.
Jessamyn Stanle...: We should always be happy that there's not that there's something wrong with us if we're not just like at ease all the time, but the reality is that life is conflict and chaos and that that's what has to be accepted ultimately. And so for me, yoga has been a really incredible facilitator of like just being present in this moment and accepting things as they are and accepting myself exactly as I am. And I feel like I still come back to yoga for all the same reasons that I went in the very beginning. Like it's literally just the space where I can be myself. It's okay to, to not have the right answer and to just be a child. It really is the space where my inner child is able to come out, but I never aspire to like be a yoga teacher. I really had no I'm telling you, I really did not care about yoga at all. And even now, like I feel like I identify more with the person who's like, yeah, I'm not gonna go to a yoga class. I'm like, I feel you do. Like I'm obsessed with it. I think it's, I believe that everything is yoga. My whole life is yoga practice. And at the same time I feel you
Kate Spencer: Well, that was something that always has resonated with me that some teachers have said, which is like not doing the yoga is the yoga. Like it's not, if you need to rest and not show up and put yourself through the postures, that is your yoga practice. And I think that can be hard, especially in Western culture to wrap our heads around.
Jessamyn Stanle...: It's such a hard concept and it's also like so deep and so simple at the same time. And it's just like, oh, it's this pivot point of like infinite, uh, infinite understanding and processing. And that is why there are so many different styles of yoga, so many different teachers of yoga because there are so many different ways to understand that idea and like, and that every day of this life is different from the next and that we're in this constant state of change. It's just a really, it's an interesting paradigm through which to see life. But I think it's also like more complex than just like go and do a yoga pose. And sometimes like you go to a yoga class and you're like, this is the worst. Everything about this is awful. And like, I don't wanna be here. And that not only is that the yoga and that's the whole, the whole point was just to have that experience. But like it's also okay. Okay. For that feeling to be there. Like it's okay to feel, not good. Like that's one of the things that happens in this life too, that that's okay.
Kate Spencer: When, when the physical practice like frustrates, do you shift to other, like, do you shift your focus or suggest people shift their focus to other elements of your yoga? Like you've written beautifully about pranyama, which I is breathwork and I, I feel like that's often, you know, like pushed aside and we're just grinding into the physical, but how, if it's frustrating for you in a moment or for a long period of time, what do you kind of shift focus to?
Jessamyn Stanle...: I'm so glad that you brought up pranayama because, um, and, and called it pranayama too, because pranayama is, I think a much deeper concept than just breath work, but that's how we always translated in English. And like it's, it's Pranayama is everything. It's the energy that connects prana is the cosmic energy that connects all of us. And ultimately every posture is just an opportunity to connect to that. So, so that my thought ultimately is like, if you're too focused on the physical, which we all get so focused on the physical cuz what you see and it's what you feel immediately. And it's what makes sense, but that when you get like really focused on it, just turning back to the breath is that's always the answer because like, and turning back to the breath might mean that you stop moving entirely. It might mean that you never start moving.
Jessamyn Stanle...: And ultimately the practice doesn't require that you move, it doesn't require that you have limbs or that your body looks in any particular way. But if you are alive on this planet as a human being, then you're breathing. And so that breath work is just, that's always the thing to come back to. And in the beginning of practice, like when you first start, that is a really hard concept to understand, because breathing is boring. Like ultimately it's so interesting. It's the most interesting, it's true, but it's boring. And so it's, it's not as interesting as saying I'm gonna do a scorpion handstand, right? Like what the fuck is that even you're like, I would like to know more about that, that what's Circ du sole looks fun sitting and breathing, not so much. So I feel like, and that's why, um, this style of pastoral yoga became so popular because it was used literally as a way to get children to calm down. It was like used for young boys. And so that whole, like that youth of practice happens for everybody no matter when you start practicing. So that I think everybody kind of comes to it with like, I wanna do the, the cool thing, you know, I wanna be
Doree Shafrir: Right. Yeah.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Big, but ultimately like the way to go deeper into the postures, the way to practice scorpion handstand, for example, is to just focus on breathing because the posture is really just asking you to breathe while you're in that shape. So if you just focus on breathing, then you're doing all the work that's going to allow you to allow your physical body to do so much more. But yeah, focus on breathing.
Doree Shafrir: You're just everything you're saying is just kind of, um, making me sort of rethink the, the way that Western culture kind of hierarch hierarch sizes. I dunno.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Hell. That's exactly right. Yes.
Doree Shafrir: Excellent yoga practices. And like the quote unquote goal is to, you know, do these harder, harder and harder quote unquote postures, you know, poses. And, and it's like, it's not thinking about what is actually hard. Maybe just sitting and breathing is hard.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Mm exactly. And that's the thing about it is that just to sit and breathe is so hard. And especially because we are always trying be we're in a constant state of motion, not even just physical motion, but thought like one of the things with meditation that it definitely stopped me in the beginning was like, and I say the beginning, every time I sit to meditate, this is what comes up. It's like, my mind is moving really fast. There are a lot of thoughts in here. Like, it's like, you try to get quiet and then you immediately, there's a cacophony of sound. And knowing that that cacophony is supposed to be there, it's a part of being alive. Like if your mind is moving, that means that your things are doing what they should, but that it's okay for all of those thoughts to be there. Yeah. That idea is so hard, hard to rest with. Yeah. And to just let it all be there to be in a state of calm while in a state of chaos, that is the hardest posture and you don't need to do anything more than just lie on your back to experience that.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it it's, this, it's so helpful to hear you say that because I really enjoy my restorative yoga practice, but there's always that little part of my brain. That's like, uh, what, you know, what's this really doing? You know what I mean? But
Jessamyn Stanle...: It's like, oh yeah,
Doree Shafrir: Actually.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Right, exactly. It's like, no, this is the harder practice. And also like so many it's that whole concept of restoration is so interesting to me cuz like what does it mean to restore ourselves really? And like, like what is, um, like what is depth and what is hard and like to actually just be in the tender places of ourselves, a lot of restorative yoga is postures that are like, like look relaxing on the surface, but are really asking so much of your vulnerability and like need for you to be, uh, tender in a way that is not cosigned in our world. Yeah. Like it is not, we're told to like put on suits of armor. So like that in and of itself is like this really intense, like, um, admission of self to just be that way to just be soft and tender.
Kate Spencer: I've never heard anybody articulate it that way. That's So
Doree Shafrir: I love that. Ugh. And it's just, it makes, I mean, it also makes me think a lot about what you've written about white supremacy and, and yoga, um, and things that I had never really thought about the ways white supremacy has imprinted on yoga. Um, in ways that just go so much deeper than just like, oh yes, thin white women do yoga. Like it's like, it's so much deeper than that.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Totally. Yeah. It's like, you know, white supremacy is they put that shit on everything it's in everything that we do. It's like kinda, you can just assume that it's there. And um, and I think that just the noticing of it is in and of itself. So much of the healing that needs to be done in our world and white supremacy is in yoga, just like it's in everything else. And I feel like the, uh, practice offers us this space, a deep compassion for one for ourselves. And then for one another, that like, we're all a part of this, it's a system that we're all co-signing on. And so to notice it and to notice the ways that, that some of us benefit that many of us do not benefit from it, noticing all of that and being present to it and not showing up in a space of like, like how can I fix this? Or like what, what can, why we assume that there's nothing to be done about it. And also that it's neither good nor bad. It just is. Mm. That as a question is so healing and it offers, it offers a lot of space for healing and for the conversations that I think otherwise are pretty much impossible because we get to a place of just competing with one another and fighting and that doesn't actually lead to healing. It just makes more, uh, sadness.
Kate Spencer: I love how you, you point out that confronting the white supremacy within ourselves is the, is the yoga practice and how that, that just sh that just really shifted my, my thinking on the way, I think about my own participation as a white woman in yoga and just, I, I loved the way you framed that.
Jessamyn Stanle...: It's a really beautiful opportunity that we have to heal in this way to be, um, to tune in. And I, I don't know how much I ended up, I don't know how much of this actually ended up in yo, but it was definitely a lot of my research was just thinking about like, why are there so many white people who practice yoga? Like just what, how, how did this come to be. And it's like, well, if you look at the scale of like, why someone would do a practice like this, it comes from like having some amount of, of spare time on your hands. Like there's some amount of like comfort and flexibility and freedom of time and energy. And so for me, this was my speculation that white people, especially in the United States and in the United Kingdom have had a lot, lot of have had a lot more time on their hands than other and flexibility and re access to resources than the rest of us.
Jessamyn Stanle...: So it would make sense that there would be a lot of white people who are able to practice yoga. And especially that white, that, uh, that yoga would be, become a hierarchical sport where like, it matters what mat you use and where you got your leggings from. And like all of these different consumerist ideologies that, and then like looking at how all things are sold and seeing the similarities between how yoga is sold and how everything else is sold. And just noticing the similarities that in and of itself to me feels like a step forward, because there's so much pretending that's happening. Like everyone's trying to act like I don't wanna talk about that. So let's just not talk about it. And it's like, I know it smelled, the trash smells bad. Like I feel you, but we have to at least look at it. If we're gonna take it out,
Kate Spencer: I know we need to let you go. And so I hate to shift gears in such an abrupt way, but I, I would be Remiss before we end things to not ask about your skincare product favorites, because I heard you mention that you have care products that you love. We talk about skincare a lot here. Would you share any favorites that you have with our audience?
Jessamyn Stanle...: I would love to. So right now I'm obsessed with skin here because I was, well, all the, all the people in my family have like skin different kinds of skin issues. And so I have been very conscious of it since I was young. And I used to get made fun of a lot when I was a kid for having really dry skin in particular. And so I developed a complex around it. So there's all this unpacking of that that has to happen to, but as a result, I now am like really obsessive about it and the products that I, I don't really like to use things that are not that I don't know what the ingredients are or like that I can't figure that I, I'm not, I don't like to use just a lot of random chemicals and it's cuz my skin is really sensitive and just really immediately reactive.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Like I can't even just change one or two products every once in a while. Like I have to go through a full like 19 day, like, let's see how it's looking. So all of that to say, but I have really been enjoying keys soulcare skincare products. And these are, this is Alicia key skincare line and I, you know, celebrities make products and you be like, I don't know how this is gonna go, but I'm not gonna lie. Like every celebrity product that I have tried, I've really fucked with like, even I'm thinking about like skims by Kim Kardashian and I'm like, Kim Kardashian knows about shapewear and her shapewear line shows you that. So anyway, um, but Alicia keys knows about skincare and she like that is really evident in the products. And I really like and use their golden cleanser, their, um, I think the exfoliator is called be luminous, be luminous exfoliator.
Jessamyn Stanle...: The, um, I don't remember what all the products are called, but I use the face cream, the lip balm and the, um, eye cream as well. And those they're all just like, and the harmony mask, which is like a charcoal, uh, type of mask that they do. I think it's amazing. Um, then I also really enjoy Sage wellness. They're um, they do essential oils, like as their main thing. So like really good essential oil Roll-ons and um, diffusion blends and shit like that. But they came out with their first skincare line last year and all, all the products I think are really great, but I particularly like the oils and the serums and I use, um, I just sort of rotate them, um, the different serums, but those I think are excellent cuz they really, they know their shit about oil. Those are my go-tos
Kate Spencer: Yeah. This is Saje. S a j e.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Yes.
Kate Spencer: Oh, thank You for those recommendations. Rushing out to Google.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Kate, I feel like we've, we've talked about Alicia. Key's skin Caroline, but we've never tried it. So this is, we tried it good reminder to go out and get some
Kate Spencer: I know.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Yeah. I'm curious to hear what y'all think of it. It's something that like I did not have. I didn't, I, I didn't know what to think. I was like, uh, we'll see how this goes. And now it's like, oh yes.
Doree Shafrir: I mean, I guess it, like, it makes sense. Right? Cuz she's like she famously, you know, doesn't wear makeup and exactly.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Yeah. So That's the thing about it
Doree Shafrir: Needs to make sure that her skin looks good.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Exactly. And it's all about like promoting your are inner glow and like really letting that shine out, which is such a huge piece of the puzzle. And I mean there's also hydration and sleeping that I think are probably like an environment.
Jessamyn Stanle...: They Do help. I guess what you eat too. Yeah.
Doree Shafrir: Well adjustment. I mean, I feel like we have a million we could have asked you so you'll, you'll just have to come back on the show sometime when you're not busy. And what, where are the best places for our listeners to find you and kind of follow along with what you do?
Jessamyn Stanle...: Totally. You can find me on Instagram at my name is Jessamyn. You can find my yoga studio at the underbelly,yoga on Instagram as well. And my podcast at dear Jessamyn and you can find links to all of that. My books, everybody yoga and yoke, my yoga of self acceptance. You can get everything jessamynstanley.com.
Doree Shafrir: Beautiful.
Kate Spencer: And thank you so much.
Doree Shafrir: Thanks again.
Jessamyn Stanle...: Thank y'all so much. Have a wonderful day.
Kate Spencer: Doree. I just, like I feel so lucky we get to talk to people like this.
Doree Shafrir: Me too. Also.
Kate Spencer: I was so glad I, when I heard hers say like early on in the interview, like there are other skin car care products. I like more, I was like, Bing, Bing, binging. I gotta ask, like I gotta know what she's using.
Doree Shafrir: I do know. I was glad, I was glad that you asked that. I
Kate Spencer: Just do love that. Like, you know, we contain multitudes as humans and we can all enjoy our skincare practice and also go on to do these amazing things in the world.
Doree Shafrir: Yes. Amen to that.
Kate Spencer: That's all I wanna say. And I I'm really glad also we got to talk about cannabis because that's something that listeners have written into us about and I don't feel qualified to speak on it. Um, yeah, same. And I just, I really am grateful that we got to kind of dig into that a little bit with her.
Doree Shafrir: Yeah. Yes. Yes.
Kate Spencer: All right. It is intention time Doree and I have just really not been getting nailing my intentions at all in the last few weeks.
Doree Shafrir: Well, Kate, you've had a few things going on.
Kate Spencer: I did have a book come out and I'm still in kind of the throws of doing press and events. I had wanted to microcurrent last week. I wanted to dig out my new face and try to microcurrent. Let me tell you how that went. I did not do it. I am like barely functioning at this point. I did not. No, I mean in a good way, but I just didn't, I didn't understand how intense this kind of week of book release would be like in addition to just doing a lot, like the kind of emotional release and the exhaustion. Like my house is a mess, like a mess. I can't even, there's just like food everywhere. So anyway, I didn't do this and my intention for this week is just to rest. That's it
Doree Shafrir: Rest? Yes. I love it. Okay.
Kate Spencer: All right. Take me on your intention journey for this week, Doree.
Doree Shafrir: Okay. So last week I talked about how I was starting the new power zone pack challenge and, and I I've, I've been doing it. So I, I did the first ride on Tuesday, the first ride for the week on Tuesday. And it was like, you know, I hadn't really been riding that much, like in between. I mean, I I'd done like one ride in between challenges. Like I was just not feeling getting back on the bike and now I realize like I do really like this structure.
Kate Spencer: Mm.
Doree Shafrir: I mean, I've known this, but like, this was like a really good, I mean, I also was dealing with some other, like I hurt my foot and you know, there were just like some other extenuating circumstances, but, um, it did feel really good to just be like back in it. Um, and then last night I was like, I was like, I should do my second ride. And I was like, I could just do it tomorrow. I have some time in the afternoon. And I was like, no, I should just do it. And then I was like, no, I'm tired. I was like, I should just do it. And I did it.
Kate Spencer: Okay.
Doree Shafrir: I did it and it, and it was like fine and good. And then it was done
Kate Spencer: Lesson learned, you know, I feel like we have to learn that over and over and over
Doree Shafrir: Again. Oh my God. Yeah. It just like doesn't it never stops. Um, so this week inspired by Jessamyn.
Kate Spencer: Oh,
Doree Shafrir: I wanna do a little bit more yoga. I have not like my yoga practice has really been suffering. Yeah.
Kate Spencer: I would say I hear you.
Doree Shafrir: Um, and it's just like, it just has so many benefits and Jessamyn just like reminded me of all of that. So I don't have like, I'm gonna do it every day or, you know, whatever. I, I just like, I wanna just kind of mindfully get back into, to yoga.
Kate Spencer: All right. Doree. I know talking to Jessamyn also really made me want to revisit my yoga practice in a meaningful way. Mm. You know, I mean, like I have, I'm like my yoga teacher training certification and stuff, and I like rarely practice anymore. And I just, everything she was just saying about what yoga is in her vision was just so powerful. Yes, totally. Okay. Calm down me. All right. Well, Doree always a pleasure.
Doree Shafrir: Always,
Kate Spencer: Always, you know, and I guess we just need to tell everybody that this show forever 35 is hosted and produced by us Doree, sh and Kate Spencer, and it's produced and edited by Sam Junio and Sami Reed is our project manager. Our network partner is acast and we thank you all so much for listening and for being with us over the last two years, four years, but you know, through the pandemic.
Doree Shafrir: Totally. All right.
Kate Spencer: Bye everyone.
Doree Shafrir: Bye.