CONNECT with Sheila Botelho Podcast

Rest-Fuelled Leadership with Tami Robinson - Episode 408

• Sheila Botelho

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Welcome to Interview Day on the podcast!

Tami Robinson is a Yoga Therapist, Coach, Author...Helping evolving professionals feel rested, focused, and inspired.

Listen in as Tami shares her powerful story of transitioning from a high-stress career in the US federal government to becoming a wellness advocate. 


In this episode, we explore how small, consistent actions can regulate your nervous system and promote mental health. We discuss the mental health advantages of incorporating yoga into your routine, potentially enhancing brain health and reducing cognitive decline.


You’ll learn about the multifaceted benefits of the yoga wall, from its secure design and accessibility to its role in improving balance and aiding those with physical limitations. 


Tune in to feel motivated and equipped to take your self-care to the next level!



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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/connect-with-sheila-botelho/id1527363160 I would really appreciate it. Thanks!



Tami:

If you keep giving, you're not gonna have anything else to give. And what's gonna happen to all those people that you love and that you care for when you can't give anymore?

Sheila:

Hello ambitious entrepreneurs, Sheila Botelho here. I am a self-care strategist, host of the Connect with Sheila Botelho podcast, and I am creator of this season's self-care strategist host of the Connect with Sheila Botelho podcast and I am creator of this season's self-care app. And today we're talking all about how to improve with your wellness, your worth, your wellbeing when it comes to your overall health, and I'm so excited to have my guest join me today and I'll be sharing a little bit with you about her when I see her accept the, the joining little push, little join button, and we're just going to allow people to to get on to this live as well. And in the meantime, I want to ask you a question. I want you to take stock about where you're at in terms of your goals, how you feel about the progress that you're making in your business goals, your financial goals, your relationship goals and your wellbeing goals, because sometimes we separate everything out and we compartmentalize all of those different things happening in our lives and we realize that sometimes we put more weight on some goals than others. Do you find that to be true? So how is it going for you? Do you feel like you're going really full force in a few areas, or maybe one key area, and then another part of your life is suffering. Well, this is something that is really common. So if this is you, you're in good company.

Sheila:

A lot of us, when we are building something really exciting in our life, when we are wanting to grow and expand and see that we can actually make advancements in our lives in one area, we kind of put all the other areas on the back burner very often or we don't give them the attention that maybe they need, when really, in fact, some of those things could help us get further faster, and one of those areas is your wellbeing, your wellness, how you're caring for yourself, and it looks like Tammy is here. That is my guest, tammy Robinson, and it's wellness with Tammy is her handle. I'm going to add you into the room in a moment, welcome, welcome Now. Tammy is a yoga therapist, an author and a coach, and she is really inspired to help professionals who are very busy in their lives with big goals go after those things, but from a place of overall wellbeing, and you're going to hear her story, you're going to hear where she came from, where she went to, and we're also going to talk about the women worth and wellness piece because it's so important and wellness piece because it's so important if there's all inextricably linked.

Sheila:

What we allow for ourselves is often based on what we think of ourselves. Right, our worth. It's very interesting it. It helps us to make decisions in every area of our life. So I'm gonna bring Tammy on now and it'll just pause for a quick moment. But here we go and here she is, tammy.

Tami:

Hi, so good to see you. Oh, my gosh, hi so good to see you.

Tami:

Oh my gosh, it's so great to see you. Thank you so much for having me here. I'm just, it's such an honor.

Sheila:

Oh, thank you. I'm just so glad that you were able to make this happen, because it's been a while since we've actually connected and we spent a lot of time in Zoom rooms together over the last several years.

Sheila:

We sure did, and we spent a lot of time in two rooms together over the last several years, and so, tammy, I've let everyone know a little bit about who you are, but I would love for you to share what is your like in your own words, describe who you are, what you do, and then maybe tell me how you came into this work, cause I know you have a really interesting story. I'd love for people to hear it.

Tami:

Absolutely yes. So I currently am a yoga therapist, as you mentioned, and a coach and author, and I help busy wellness professionals and yoga enthusiasts take better care of themselves, feel better in their bodies and minds and do things they didn't think they could do, and I do that primarily through coaching, meditation, breath work and yoga postures featuring something called the great yoga wall. So just a couple of words about what that is. If you've ever seen aerial yoga before with silks hanging from the ceiling, it's a very similar concept, but instead of silks hanging from the ceiling, we have adjustable belts that plug into different spaces in the wall, which allows for an infinite possibility of different variations of the poses that you can modify to suit your unique body. So that's what I'm doing now.

Tami:

Where I came from and why I'm so passionate about helping people take better care of themselves and feel better in their bodies and minds is that I came from a place of burnout, after having had an award-winning career in the US federal government, doing national security-related research and analysis, as well as leadership development training there, and it was a, you know, really, really rewarding career. I loved it and at one point, my colleagues and I we kind of solved the problem that we were working on, and so one of my bosses said Tammy, you might as well retire now. Usually, you know you work on your problem for a career and it never gets solved.

Tami:

But here you guys have solved it so you might as well just retire now. And he was joking, but I kind of, you know, said Hmm, well, you know, I'm pretty, I'm, I'm feeling kind of worn out and maybe it is time to do something different. And while I had had an impact on the macro level, kind of the world, global level, I realized that there are always going to be problems there as long as we are in ourselves, not taking care of ourselves and not feeling peace within ourselves. That old Lao Tzu poem of you know there has to be peace between states, cities, neighbors and within the self first before we can have peace in the world. So I really took that to heart, and that's when I started doing the leadership development training and then from there I was practicing yoga off and on all of my life.

Tami:

My little studio that I was practicing in at the time got this thing called the Great Yoga Wall, and I absolutely loved it. It gave me deeper stretches than I've ever been able to have before. I had been doing a lot of weight training, and so those deep stretches were something I really needed, and the owner of the studio said you love it so much, how'd you like to go study with the guy who does the training on this and who is part owner of the company, and come back here and teach? Well, I ended up going for the training and then within a year, I had gone back several times for more training and left my stable, yet hectic job with the US federal government to move to California, which is where I'm originally from, to go and study with him full time and begin my journey in the wellness space.

Sheila:

I just I I know I've heard the story before but, oh my gosh, it never gets old because it's like literally two completely side, at different sides of of work and of a lifestyle like completely different. I do love that you had yoga kind of through the process. I can only imagine the type of stress involved when you're dealing with national security, hello, especially in the last couple of decades, my goodness. And so what a beautiful story. And so I know that you have come through this and you've served clients and you do workshops and you have all these different ways that you've served people.

Sheila:

And when we were spending our time in the business incubator we were in, it was about how do you leverage your time some more, you love what you do and how do you get this word out to more people, and so you were really rethinking what your offering was, and so maybe share a little bit about this is. This is interesting, share a little bit about that time and what you were thinking like the process in your mind, of what you, where you were at, where, where you wanted to go next. Now that you had found this new passion of yours and also part B, I'd love for you to address that whole the worthiness and the wealth portion, because that's really. The series is about this, because we know people working in wellness spaces, especially yoga. Thinking about profitability is not really the first thing that comes to mind, so maybe speak to those two things.

Tami:

Absolutely so, um yeah. So let me address the worth one first, because I've really been thinking a lot about this since we set up this call. It's so important and I was really lucky in that the teacher that I moved to California to study with through him I met my teacher who's in India, his name is Jahangir Prakibala and he really kind of blessed me in a tough love moment conversation where he was like getting kind of getting on me for not putting myself out there more because I was, I was hesitant, I was, you know, I was like thinking I wasn't worth it, I needed to learn more. And he said, tammy, you are enough. You know enough and you are enough. Just share what you know. Just share what you know.

Tami:

And you hit on a really important point in asking this question, which is that in the wellness industry that's so uncommon for people to really bless you with that and to really kind of feel that and take that in. We run ourselves ragged going from class to class as yoga teachers all over. You know different spaces. If you own a studio it's really really a labor of love and you know, just often so challenging and, as we've seen, you know, the industry change over and over through the pandemic times and beyond now. But what I see primarily coming up in the people that I work with are two different categories of you know kind of how worth plays into what we do, and one I'm sure you see this with your people as well. One is that we don't put ourselves out there and we put everyone else first because we don't feel that inherent worthiness, and so we end up running ourselves ragged. And the other is working so hard to prove our worth that we run ourselves ragged. And so those two like if there's one thing that people that I wish that people would ever take away from me, it's to know that if you keep down that path you won't have anything to give, you won't be able to help anyone, and that's just such an important, such an important part of what I do.

Sheila:

Yes, I am so happy that that is something that you're speaking on and modeling. I know you take impeccable care of yourself and you invest in yourself, your wellbeing and the things that you're passionate about, like things that maybe people on the outside may think really like, and it's helping you be more and share more and be able to help lead people better. I agree, it's that whole adage of you know you can't pour from an empty cup Exactly, and we know that right, but doing it, putting it into practice, is so challenging sometimes it really is. So what is it For someone sitting here listening saying yes, yes, yes, but you don't understand. Tammy, I have all of these different things that are going on in my life and I'm the one, I'm the person. What would you say to them from a practical standpoint?

Tami:

Yeah, I mean really like, if you're the only person, then that's a problem, because if you keep giving, you're not going to have anything else to give. And what's going to happen to all those people that you love and that you care for when you can't give anymore? What's going to happen? I would ask them that question and then we would problem solve to see what else can we do. If you can't drop everything and go take a nap, okay fine, but who can you ask for help so that maybe you can get some rest? Who can you hire in your business? Or how can you change your pricing structure so that you can do less and have more?

Sheila:

How can you?

Tami:

focus on the activities, of course, as you know, that are bringing in the 80%, the 20% of activities, that are bringing the 80% of your return. All of those things, but the main message is if you keep going, you're not going to be able to give, and then you're really going to be leaving those that you care about high and dry.

Sheila:

It's almost like playing the movie to the end. Right, okay, if I keep going, how how much more can I go? How sustainable is that? And what is the end result? Like, if you look at where you're at right now, like, are your relationships really where you want them to be? Are they thriving? Or do you feel like, okay, you just need to get past this next launch, or I need to. You know, I just need to push harder for a few more months and then I'll be able to invest.

Sheila:

And what's very interesting, and so many times where you know relationships that are not not invested in them because they're in that push, I'm all the time. Sometimes it's too late to say, okay, now I'm gonna backpedal. Okay, now, hey, because, frankly, it's like a muscle, would you agree, like we've, we've been practicing flexing this muscle of going hard, that to just say, now, now I'm going to do it differently. That's a nice thought, but I think it's a little different, right? So, yeah, I think that's a great question.

Sheila:

And and and what do you think about the whole? Uh, you know, as we talk about nervous system healing and things, any kind of shift, making a big shift, can be, so, you know, cataclysmic for our nervous system that we actually freeze and then we don't make the change or we crash. What are some small things that we could do to actually practice like? I love the idea of practicing for help like. What could that look like? Do you think like? What is? I mean? And we've experienced our groups together maybe share some of your favorite ways to practice getting help in small ways.

Tami:

Yeah, absolutely so. I'm a, of course, you know if you're, if you're a wellness business owner or any other business owner.

Tami:

Hiring people is super, super important To me. Getting the right kind of coaching is also super, super important and I, you know, as we have learned from our other times together, I do a lot of those just little snacks of nervous system healing throughout the day where I can, just of nervous system healing throughout the day where I can just, you know, jump on my yoga ball and hang if I need to just let things go, or if I feel like super high energy and I, um, I'm a little too stimulated, maybe I might dance it out or shake it out. Um, if, at same point, if I'm like feeling uh, dysregulated and kind of too slow and brain foggy, then I might do something similar to that, I'll do a pose. I'll often also just sit and reflect on some of the yoga philosophy that really helps me in these moments. So, getting back to that, you know that person. What would you tell them if you know they're saying that's not, yeah, that you know that person.

Tami:

What would you tell them if?

Tami:

you know they're saying that's not, that's you, tammy, I can't do that. What would you say to them If they're someone who practices yoga? They know the importance of what we call the yama, the restraints, which are how we interact with the world around us, and the very first one is violence. And you can't expect or not. It's not violence, it's anti-violence, non-violence, peace, right. And so what we try to practice is to be peaceful and non-violent and kind towards everyone else. But people forget that piece of being kind to themselves. They're not kind to themselves, then they're. They're at the same time being not kind to someone else. So touching base with those kinds of things are also some of the little snacks that I do throughout the day.

Sheila:

I love that, wow. It's like really getting foundation and you're right, it's. We can feel on top of how we want to present ourselves in the world and how we're treating people Like we often will. You know, many people will put themselves at the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak, and the you know the you get the scraps at the end of the day for what you know, caring for yourself. But even something someone told me once is they like to.

Sheila:

While they're brushing their teeth in the morning, before they're about to start brushing, they'll just say right, and there's actually a mary j blige song that I love and you know it gets you teary depending on how you're feeling. It's called good morning gorgeous. And it is really just like talking about those things that we say to ourselves sometimes and then, saying so, I look in the mirror and I tell myself good morning gorgeous, you know. And and she goes on song. But it's like framing ourself, like okay, say some nice things to yourself and start to really believe these things by practicing them over time. But I love how you have shared the embodiment piece, because I think we hold, we might think all these great things, but if not, if we're holding on to so much stuff that has not felt good, that's never been released in our bodies, then it's really hard to make progress. I love these, these embodied power.

Sheila:

Is there a specific um like? Because the yoga wall is so, it's so different, it's I'd never heard about it since, you know, actually before meeting you or since actually it is very uh, it's its own niche. So what would be um, something that you actually guide people through one of your programs, where people can get an idea of how a how it works? Maybe you can describe that a little bit more. Get an idea of how a how it works. Maybe you can describe that a little bit more. And then, what kind of practice would be really good for someone in this situation that we've just been discussing?

Tami:

absolutely so. This also kind of gets back to that other question you asked about what have I been doing since we were together? Yeah, so I have created an online course. Finally, it was something that I wanted to do for so, so long but was unsure of which topic to focus on, and this yoga ball training kind of fell into my lap my teacher that I moved to California to study with.

Tami:

Unfortunately, he passed away in 2019. And his wife asked me. She now has his half of the business and she asked me to, just, you know, continue his legacy. And you know as much as I as I wish he was still here because he taught the yoga wall like no one else ever can as much as I wish he was still here. It's just such an honor to be able to try to fill his shoes, and so one of the ways that we've done that is through, or that I've done that is through creating this online course and so, typically, the training in the past and still we do these live sessions. They're three days, 18 hours over three days of intense yoga posture practice where we cover all different kinds of postures that you can do with the yoga wall, all level one, but during that time.

Tami:

We never get through everything, and Brian was the same way Whenever he taught the courses. It was different every time and we never got through everything in the manual. And so what I did is I created an on-demand course that includes all of the standing poses, called Stand Strong, and it's the on-demand courses. We have live sessions, we have a community. We do it in a cohort fashion so that we all go through this experience together and really what people get from that is they get a sense of what it's like to create safety working with the yoga wall. That's the very first thing we do is go over the safety principles. They learn all of the different equipment so that they feel safe with it and start to become familiar with it. They learn where to put the belts on the wall on themselves and how to do all the different variations of the postures.

Tami:

And so you know, back to this theme really of nervous system regulation and worth, this embodied practice of learning how to best stand strong in your own individual, unique way based on your body, and not just your body but your nervous system, your mind, where you are in life, because that changes over time and the yoga wall is a really great tool for helping us to be able to change our practice with it. It just it's a wonderful, wonderful way to really get that embodied sense of feeling strong and stable.

Sheila:

That is so great. And I'm looking at your background. Is that a yoga wall behind you? It?

Tami:

sure is.

Sheila:

That is so cool.

Tami:

And so there's, like you hook different types of. Now what is it? The red ones, because they're a little bit easier to see, and you just plug them into the wall like so, and then pull down.

Tami:

It snaps into place. The prototype was safety tested to withstand 1,500 pounds of pull, and at that point the plate is still fine, but the plywood starts to fail. So I always tell people unless you weigh more than 1,500 pounds, you're going to be safe on the oval wall. So it just plugs in like that and then you could do all kinds of different things with it. You can move it around. I'll just back up and show one quick pose. Yeah, sure, that's okay.

Sheila:

This is so cool.

Tami:

So you can do something like.

Tami:

Half-move pose. Oh, you can't see me? No, I can, let me turn it down. So the nice thing that I love is you can do things that maybe you can't do on your own. So some people, like with a balancing pose, might have trouble balancing, yes, yeah.

Tami:

Something like this and then, instead of being like, this and all wobbly in the center of the room. You can actually stretch more and get that lift and that length all through different ways of the. You know that you can stretch in the pose.

Tami:

Oh, that is so cool, yeah, yeah, you're at your studio right now, then, yes, yes, I just have a small space in my home on our first floor and this is where I work with people oh, that is so great and so okay with the yoga wall.

Sheila:

Then are there different places all over North America where they like. Where how would we find? Do you have like a location finder in your in your information.

Tami:

So that is something that the yoga wall company has on their website. So I should also just give a quick, you know, affiliate disclaimer. I don't get any money from the yoga wall company. If someone takes training with me and then goes by and buys more equipment, I don't there's no affiliate link or or relationship in that way. But if you do buy something from them and you decide you want to find some training, they'll link to me and, you know, refer you to me. So that's that. They also have a page on their website with studios that have the great yoga wall. That list, I do have to say, is a little bit out of date since the pandemic.

Sheila:

Oh yes.

Tami:

So if you're looking for something nearby, I would just do a search for yoga wall near me, that kind of thing and it's worldwide. People all over the world have this. In fact, the last training I did, I had someone who was in Indonesia and calling in in the middle of the night for our live session. I love that so much, yeah. So it's a beautiful, beautiful tool that you know people all over are getting some benefit from.

Sheila:

Yeah, well, I think this is just such another interesting, fun way for people to get the exercise happening. And you know what? What I really understand, like we know, about weight training. Like you had said, you did a lot of weight training and you might still do that. I probably do.

Sheila:

Our muscles are strong, along with our, along with our tendons tendons although I really think you know yoga is, it takes so much strength. Anytime I do it, I'm like this is more of a workout than what I'm doing my way. Right, so it's all good, um, but what I was going to say was in relation to um, to people going through and doing these that are good for their body, like physically, the mental benefits are incredible because I understand, like lifting weights and doing like rock climbing, doing anything different, it helps your brain continue to be building new connector points. So if you have a concern about you know well, mental health is one thing, but Alzheimer's or any kind of you know degradation of brain health later on, which is big in my family, it's like trying new things, but physical things, it really helps support the health of your brain. So this is a really fun way to do it?

Tami:

Absolutely yes. In fact, I just wrote about that recently with respect to meditation and the links between cognitive decline and how meditation can help with that. And what the yoga wall allows us to do is come into more of a meditative state when we're in a pose, because we're not so worried about all the other things we have to do to stay in the pose, which are beneficial. Right, it's beneficial to practice in the center of the room and, to you know, have to use those muscles and, to you know, have to find our strength in order to do the pose.

Tami:

And there are other ways to practice too, which is just one of the great things that I love about the yoga wall is that it helps you do the pose in the middle of the room after you've practiced it with the wall. But if you're needing something different, you can use the wall for more support.

Sheila:

Or if you're like you've just come off of a trip and you've been gone for a while and you're like, hey, I gotta get my sea legs again. Or if you're just, you know, maybe you're just wanting to practice really gently and maybe at a certain time of your life getting back from an illness, maybe postpartum or or whatever just cyclically, where you want that actual support. It's so nice to know that it's there, and I love that concept that you mentioned about being more meditative, because you feel supported, like, oh, I'm not gonna fall over so good, tammy, I love this so much and I would love for you to share Obviously, they can follow you here on this channel You're also on LinkedIn and maybe tell them where to find how to work with you in terms of your programs, et cetera.

Tami:

Yes, so the best place to find out where to work with me is my website, which is wellnesswithtamicom, and Tami is spelled T-A-M-I, so wellnesswithtamicom. And then, of course, I'm available here on. Instagram and on.

Sheila:

LinkedIn, check it out I myself, now that I've seen because it's interesting. We've talked about it, but I never had actually gotten to the place of seeing practice it. This is something I'm going to be doing a little research on after my travels. So thank you for being here. I'm looking forward to being in touch again, obviously offline as well It'd be fun to do that and just continue to grow and thrive for you and your love and for all the things that you're doing in the world.

Tami:

Appreciate it. Thank you so much, Sheila. It's been just such an honor to be here and so fun to just get to chat with you about these topics that I know we're both so passionate about.

Sheila:

Yeah, thank you so much for sharing those insights. I think they really go a long way for us all being able to finally just shine our light, get out there, feel good and give ourselves that permission that really only we can give ourselves, and, in doing so, be inspirational, just like you are too. Yes, yes.

Tami:

Thank you, Sheila.

Sheila:

So great to see you. You too, and thank you everyone who is watching the replay, anyone who joined live. Have a wonderful rest of your day. Big blessing, bye.