Inspired with Nika Lawrie

Empowering Motherhood Through Yoga and Meditation with Desi Bartlett

• Desi Bartlett • Season 2024 • Episode 97

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Discover the transformative power of yoga and meditation with Desi Bartlett, as she shares her journey from Chicago to becoming a leading expert in prenatal yoga. Desi has created a wealth of resources for moms at all stages. Learn how yoga and fitness prepare the body for motherhood and enhance well-being through the parenting journey. Desi also shares how meditation can bring calm and better sleep, even amidst the chaos. Desi’s guidance covers the basics, emphasizing strength, flexibility, and mental health.

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Nika Lawrie:

Welcome to the Inspired with Nika Laurie podcast. Desi Bartlett, welcome to the show. I'm so grateful to have you here today.

Desi Bartlett:

Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here. It's always a joy to share information about feeling great from the inside out, especially with moms all over the world.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. I'm really excited to have you here. I think this is actually a subject that I don't tend to talk about a lot. We're going to talk about yoga and meditation, which is ironic because I think it's such a powerful. Both are powerful tools that I use all the time in my own life and I really recommend. I just haven't really had a guest or an expert come on and talk about it, so I'm really excited to have you share your knowledge on this subject today. Before we get into that, though, can you just tell me a little bit about who you are, what's your backstory and how did you kind of get into this health and wellness world and how?

Desi Bartlett:

did you kind of get into this health and wellness world? Yeah for sure. So I'm originally from downtown Chicago and my mother was a hippie and she was a disciple of Goswami Kriyananda at the Temple of Kriya Yoga in Chicago. So I was given the gift of meditation and my first mantra at the age of six years old. I later went on to pursue fitness when I was at ASU and I went on to get my degree in kinesiology, my master's degree in corporate fitness, and from there I moved to Mexico, which is sort of another long story, but I'm half Mexican and I really wanted to go and connect with my roots.

Desi Bartlett:

And while I was there, this amazing man came from Mexico City and he said can I teach at your studio? And I said sure, what's your name? And he said Tona Tiu. He's a yoga teacher. His name meant sun god. I'm like, of course it is. So, yes, but when I, when I practiced with him, it was like there was this core memory of my childhood and meditation and the connection came right back and I realized that I can be and I am very much a bridge between yoga and fitness and I bring both of those components into everything that I do, whether it's my career or my journey as a mom, that's beautiful.

Nika Lawrie:

So one of the things that you sort of focus on a little bit is yoga and meditation, really supporting women around times of pregnancy. How did you really kind of move into that area, that space?

Desi Bartlett:

So when I was pregnant, I was living in LA and I was teaching yoga and I started going to the prenatal yoga classes and not to put anyone down but I couldn't find the right fit for me. I felt like Goldilocks, like this one is too easy, this one is too hard, this one they don't say the name or the word baby at all. That's weird, right, totally. And so I realized that, with all of the tools and education that I have, that it was time for me to step up, and so I just went really deep into meditation and focused on my breath and my alignment and my body and I communed with the baby inside and I asked him, like, does this feel good to you? And so that was how I started teaching prenatal. Good to you.

Desi Bartlett:

And so that was how I started teaching prenatal, and from there I just fell in love with it. And I'm a little bit of a science nerd, a lot of a science nerd, and I get a little myopic. And so I went on to create two DVDs for prenatal yoga, one in English, otro en espanol. And then I wrote a book called your Strong, sexy Pregnancy, wrote a book called your Strong, sexy Pregnancy, a yoga and fitness guide, and I feel called to help other teachers learn this format as well. This has not been around very long, and so we've only seen, for example, prenatal yoga certification since the year 2004.

Nika Lawrie:

So yeah, it's only 20 years old and I'm so happy to be on the forefront of this movement. That's so cool. I mean I think, oh, wow, but talk to me about how can it impact women, one leading up to pregnancy, not just during pregnancy, but how can it help really prepare the body for pregnancy and then get into what that looks like a little bit during pregnancy too.

Desi Bartlett:

So it can absolutely help in terms of musculoskeletal strength. You know, we want to be flexible, we want to be strong, we want to make sure that you connect to your core musculature as well as your pelvic floor muscles, because those two are connected at the pelvic floor. And then we have a structure behind abdominis rectus called TVA. I don't want to get too technical, but think of a corset for your abs, right? So we've got this corset around the sides and then, at the bottom, the pelvic floor, which is like the hammock for our organs.

Desi Bartlett:

Now, most of us don't think about this as we're moving through the day, so what I'd like to do is just help women start to connect to these areas and start to invite in a baby. If you feel like you're ready in your mind, in your heart and in your body, you can start to envision a little bit more love and a little bit more light, prana and chi and attract that into your body, into your body and your mind Once we get into actual pregnancy. Now we also want to really, really focus on the breath. As you know I know you're a mom when we're pregnant it's hard to breathe right, especially third trimester. You know, baby's growing and pressing up against the rib cage, which puts a little pressure on the lungs. In addition to all of those fluids we're like were like I felt like R2D2.

Nika Lawrie:

I mean, I felt like a balloon and I had sciatica for like half the pregnancy and my feet were swollen all the time.

Desi Bartlett:

It was crazy. Yeah, there's so many changes in the body and so to be able to navigate those changes with grace and strength, yoga can be such a powerful tool. So, for example, swollen feet and ankles we have legs up the wall pose to help with edema. If you have sciatica, we have very specific techniques that we can work with so that we don't strain your lower back, because the lower back is so sensitive. It's compressed because the baby's growing forward, which makes sense. So creating some space in the lower back and breathing into our bodies is so important. Oh, absolutely.

Nika Lawrie:

I think sometimes women might have a little bit of a fear doing exercise or yoga when pregnant, worried that they're going to hurt their baby or the fetus. What are some of your thoughts around that and how do we address that? Maybe misnomer.

Desi Bartlett:

So exercise can be such a wonderful gift to both you and your baby. Not only is it going to help you through the pregnancy to carry the weight of the baby that's growing inside, but then when you're a new mama, you know you're going to be walking around with five, six, seven, eight, nine. My baby was, my second baby was 10 pounds. So you need some physical strength, plus the car seat, which is like another 25 pounds. You need some physical strength and where I see the fear coming in usually is around, like your abs, right.

Desi Bartlett:

Obviously, we're not going to do anything to compress what I call the baby's house. So no, like forward flexion. But can we work in such a way that we're stabilizing all of that musculature so that your posture is good, so that you can avoid lower back pain? Absolutely, can you work the extremities? Can you work the arms and the legs, of course? So you want to be really, really receptive to the feedback of your body and if you're doing, let's say, like a lot of cardio or something like that, if you need to nap longer than the time that you spent exercising, you've done too much.

Nika Lawrie:

Okay, good to know what about.

Nika Lawrie:

So, as we, you know, after we give birth I think this is where yoga played a huge role in my life was getting like just getting my body back to and I don't want to say like pre-pregnancy body, because I think that's a misnomer too. I think after you've had babies, your body has really changed and it's really, in its own way way, a very beautiful thing how it changes. But getting my body back to where I felt strong and healthy and yoga played a big role in that. What are some of the techniques that we can do to kind of rebuild some of our muscle tone, support you know our skeletal structure as well and kind of making sure that strength Because so much of that changes during pregnancy so many of our you know, our ligaments and our tendons and everything stretching and moving and changing, and so what are some of the things that we can do relating to yoga that really help after post-pregnancy?

Desi Bartlett:

So I love, love, love teaching mommy and me yoga, and I love to bring the baby into the practice. So what I see with a lot of new mamas is they get a little bit stressed because it's like, oh my gosh, when am I going to exercise? I have to figure out if the baby's going to nap and maybe I have to hire a babysitter, and then do I need a personal trainer? And it spins out of control.

Desi Bartlett:

So, instead of all that, let's find a time that works for you and your baby. Let's find a beautiful, quiet space, clear of, like, a lot of clutter or anything like that. Put a blanket at the front of your mat, lay your baby down and when you move through different core recovery movements, such as, let's say, modified plank, you're looking down at that beautiful baby. Now, if we want to make it even more active and add, like a little push-up situation or modified chaturanga, you can kiss the baby every time you come down. I also like to make a lot of faces, so I'll let my eyes get really big or sounds. Just make it fun, and then it becomes interactive and then it's something that is normalized for your child as well. So what they're like? Oh yeah, mom's practicing yoga. When they become a little bit older, they might even jump in, because they've seen these movements since they were an infant.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I, you know it's fine. I was actually going through some old videos that I have in my phone and I found these videos of my daughter when she was probably I don't know she was probably like two, maybe two and a half in them, and it was. It was a video of a yoga instructor on the TV and I was following along and then she was in between me and the TV doing those yoga moves as well and it was so cute and she was super into it and I just you know she learned it as I was practicing it, learning it as well. So I love that integration of it.

Desi Bartlett:

And I love that little ones like your beautiful daughter start to look at you and go oh yeah, I want to try that too. Or look at the TV and I want to try that too. And it's that modeling of health and wellness that's going to get them intrigued. Additionally, as they start to move through their own milestones like head and neck control things like Cobra or Up Dog. You see, babies do that all the time Happy baby pose when they hold their feet. It's literally named after babies when they're laying down, tickling their own toes, when they discover their feet and they're like, oh wow, I got a foot, so they're naturally yogis.

Nika Lawrie:

That modeling for our kids, you know, not just with fitness, but you know, before the show you and I were talking a little bit about our love for quality food and really teaching our kids to eat well and I think that modeling piece instead of trying to find, like you were saying, find the time to do the exercise on your own, without the kids and incorporate them into that activity. Incorporate them into the yoga or cooking healthy meals or whatever it is modeling that for your kids is so key.

Desi Bartlett:

And to your point, nika. So I've got a 10-year-old and a 16-year-old and my 10-year-old has gotten so deep into food quality. We were at the store the other day and I found this cinnamon sugar butter thing and he's like, oh mom, that has estrogen, you shouldn't eat that. And I'm like you're right.

Nika Lawrie:

My daughter won't touch receipts because I've taught her a lot of the receipts have um, bpa in them, um, and so I've I've taught her about all these different uh toxics or toxins that are um potentially going to harm her throughout life, and so she, once she sees a receipt, she has to touch it. She, you know, pins it with her fingers, or and she's like, oh, don't make me touch it. She, you know, pins it with her fingers and she's like, oh, don't make me touch it. And so it's really cute how much they learn just from us from those kinds of interactions.

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah, and they're. They're also our teachers. You know when, especially when they're little, they teach us to stay present and in the moment, and all of the lessons from yoga are carried with that little baby. It's a big soul and a little body, Absolutely.

Nika Lawrie:

Definitely so. As we're healing, like healing from delivery, how can we also incorporate some meditation into our lives and how does that help us kind of heal from, almost like the trauma that is giving birth?

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah. So I really highly encourage mamas to meditate when they're feeding their babies. So whether you're nursing or bottle feeding, however you're nourishing your baby, you can close your eyes and you can have your baby close to your heart. So your baby's listening to that really familiar heartbeat. It's rhythmic, and you can drop into that same awareness of the heartbeat. As you drop into the awareness of the heartbeat, just ask yourself how am I, how do I feel today? And then ask yourself, how do you want to feel?

Desi Bartlett:

And if there's any disconnect between the two, perhaps you ask your higher self like what's my path right now? How can I move from A to B? And just let the answers reveal themselves in your body and your mind, because they will, especially if we turn off social media and the news and everybody else's opinions. There's some tremendous marketing professionals in the world right now and they do a really good job of telling us what we need. Unfortunately, yes, unfortunately, but you know better than anyone what you need. It's simply a matter of getting really quiet and really still and tapping into your heartbeat and really truly asking what do I need? What is the next right step?

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, one of the things that I've really loved about both meditation and yoga is, as I've incorporated those things into my life, one it's really like you've mentioned. It's really helped me just calm all the anxiety and the stress and those kind of things, and I think that's so key, especially as a new mom just trying to figure out how to keep this little creature alive. They just hand it to you in the hospital and send you on your way, and there's no instruction booklet, right, and so it's this kind of crazy thing and really reducing the stress that comes with parenting that would keep me up at night. How does it actually play a role? How does yoga and meditation really help us sleep better in the evenings?

Desi Bartlett:

So I'll give you a story. When my older son was a baby, he was a breath holder, and what that means is he would hold his breath until he would pass out. And so the first time this happened I remember it like it was yesterday it was at the changing table, and if you've ever seen a baby who gets really angry when they're getting their diaper changed and they're like no, no, no, he held his breath and he lost consciousness and I was so scared to give him CPR even though I know CPR because I didn't want to hurt his little ribs and lungs, so I called 911. He regained consciousness in about two minutes. He's a breath holder.

Desi Bartlett:

This is somewhat common the baby's nervous system is not fully developed yet. I said, what can I do? And they're like well, try to avoid stressful situations, okay. So it's real simple, yeah. But then I realized I'm like, oh wait, I I have these tools from yoga, one of which is ujjayi pranayama, which is just a really fancy way of saying diaphragmatic breathing. So as we breathe and we move the diaphragm, we inhale, we fill the belly and the chest with oxygen, with prana, with chi, and then, as we exhale and we let go of what the body no longer needs, we tap into a rhythm of balance. So I would lay him on my chest and I would teach him, not with words, but modeling the breath in and out, in and out. And I really, truly believe that if you can start to find windows throughout your day when you can have that rhythmic breath, you are going to sleep better. We all walk around holding our breath shoulders up. Sometimes we kind of talk like this because we're so stressed, crunched over in our computer.

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah, yeah, exactly, and there's just too much going on and we're we're hunching forward because of our digital and technical technological lives, which are a blessing, but also sometimes we're a little out of balance with how much we enjoy them. Right, yeah, so it's. It's really following the rhythm of of our ancestors. When you wake up in the morning, get some sunshine in your eyes, take in the breath and mother nature, look at the beauty of the world around you, connect with other moms and community, and for me, that's all yoga. It isn't just asana, it isn't just the poses on a mat, it's the beauty of living in union with all that is.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. That's beautiful when we're trying to start to incorporate this stuff into our lives. Take just a brand new beginner, somebody who's never done yoga before. How do we start to approach this? Because yoga a lot of people, I think, think it's a very easy exercise, but there can be some pretty challenging moves and when you're first starting off you definitely have to kind of learn that balance piece to it. So how do we start to integrate this into our daily routines in a safe and healthy manner?

Desi Bartlett:

So we all have different ways of learning. You know, some folks are more auditory, some are more visual, some are more kinesthetic. So if you know that you need to like really be in a class or be with a professional, find a local community class and check it out. If you're someone who's comfortable, like you and I are, with the screen and can kind of follow along, I have a huge library and it's my pleasure and my honor and my joy to share yoga. And I'll share with you, nika, something that's kind of funny and you've lived in LA so I think you'll understand this.

Desi Bartlett:

Sometimes yoga teachers get a little like oh, you're teaching beginners because they want to, like you know, stand on their head and do all the things. Yeah, and I'm like I want to teach the beginner and I want to teach the pregnant woman and I want to teach the people that need more instruction, because I have the tools to do it and I feel confident to do it. I've been doing it for 30 years. I've written two books, so I invite anyone who's listening join me on desibodymindcom. I'll give you a discount code, all the things, but just start. 20 minutes a day, I'm not asking for an hour, I'm not asking for, you know, seven days a week, but if you can join me like four days a week, 20 minutes a day, it's a really good place to start, to just start to connect your body and your breath together again.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I know my first like real. I mean I had done some kind of yoga things at home, just stretching and stuff, but my first real introduction to it was I actually had a teacher when I was in school. It was a class I took and I remember that I mean it was a very beginner's class and having that instruction from someone you know, like you, really showing you know the simple steps, how to move through it, how to do the postures correctly and making sure that you know we're aligning our bodies correctly, was so, so powerful. I love that you have all these videos available because I think having that you know the visual example of how to move the body is really really key to start incorporating this into your life this information.

Desi Bartlett:

I'm here for it Because I really truly believe that when we come together as women and lift one another with our gifts and our tools like you're doing right here right now, and like you do so beautifully on Insta with your education about food and what's happening in the food industry when we each share our individual gifts, we lift one another up. When we each share our individual gifts, we lift one another up and I feel like, especially during the pandemic, the idea of community was a little bit lost, like we had it a little bit kind of sort of virtually, but now we can really appreciate like, oh my gosh, we need each other we do.

Nika Lawrie:

It's so huge that that interpersonal connection, um, you know, there's probably seven or eight factors that most people in kind of the health and wellness um area or space really think play a role in our overall health. And you know, a big part of that is kind of that um, uh, physical, spiritual connection, which I think yoga, meditation is so good at doing, but but another part of that is that community and having those relationships, that interpersonal connection, is a huge part of creating overall health. So I totally agree. I think it's really, really powerful.

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah, and also to your point when it comes to stress and the sympathetic nervous system and the cortisol and all the things that happen as a result. Sometimes, if someone just gives us a hug, it's like we have a whole different cascade of chemicals released in our bodies that can help us to just kind of go. Oh it's okay.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, it was one of the things my daughter and I do every day is we always do mama baby hugs and at least once a day we just we find each other and we're just like I need a mama hug or I need a baby hug, and we just hold each other and you know, and she's she's nine now and we still do it every day Cause it's just it brings that um, there's just nothing like it. You know, it's that the mother baby connection. There's nothing like in the world. But to just to have that feeling of warmth and you can feel the, you know, the hormones all over in your body really making you feel good, so it's so so important.

Desi Bartlett:

I love that. That's very sweet yeah.

Nika Lawrie:

So what are some things about yoga that would be surprising, that can be beneficial for you, that most people wouldn't know or hadn't thought of.

Desi Bartlett:

So there's really five components of fitness. There's muscular strength how much can you lift muscular endurance, how many times can you lift it? Flexibility, nutrition and cardiovascular endurance. So it's surprising to most people that yoga can help you with four of these right. Nutrition is kind of a separate topic, but it's interwoven. So when we're holding, let's say, like a plank or a side plank or something like that, it requires a tremendous amount of strength and it helps so much with joint stabilization. And so what I see is people think like, oh, I'm not flexible, I can't go to yoga, and I'm like, oh, my goodness gracious, you are the one that needs to go to yoga?

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, exactly.

Desi Bartlett:

You come to yoga to enjoy flexibility, for sure, but strength is there and it's yours for the taking. And there was an ancient Indian master who said the pose begins the moment that we want to exit the pose. So that brings in the mental aspect of it. As soon as we're like, oh my gosh, I want to give up, our body usually has at least 20% more endurance and strength. Trust our bodies and go oh wait, it's just my mind telling me stories. Then we get even stronger and more fit. So I would just tell folks you know, you don't have to be flexible to come to yoga. You will be stronger than you might have thought.

Nika Lawrie:

And the coolest part for me, especially in the beginning was recognizing like, whoa, this is doing things to my mind. That's making me, like so much more aware of my inner strength. I'll just use doing a plank, for example is you know, planks they're hard right. That it's a serious kind of when you start shaking and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't take it anymore.

Nika Lawrie:

One of the things that I always do is, when I hit that shaking point, I take a really deep breath and I just try to breathe through it and I usually can hold for another 10 or 20 seconds, you know, and then let go. But it's definitely it can push you past that. What you thought was your breaking point will push you a little bit farther. But that incorporates into, like this overall strength that you have of. You know, if I just breathe through it, you've learned this kind of almost like a resilience technique. Like if I breathe through it, I can calm myself down to do something that might be really scary or really intimidating or hard, and so you can incorporate those pieces into other aspects of your life.

Desi Bartlett:

Absolutely, and we have different ways that we breathe in different situations. So, for example, think about, like, if you're at the top of a roller coaster, but then sometimes we bring that stress into an office meeting or when we're stuck in the carpool line Like I gotta go, and so I love that you simply enjoyed a deep breath in your plank, because it's that exhalation that's going to start to stimulate that rest and relax response. Start to stimulate that like rest and relax response. So if we can find the wherewithal to kind of go, oh yeah, just one more deep breath, we'll get there.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. Yeah, you've worked with some really famous celebrities and different people in all walks of life. What are your favorite aspects of newcomers coming in and learning the skills? And the reason I'm asking is I really want to take away the intimidation part of going into a yoga studio or deciding to watch your videos for the first time. I know sometimes it's hard for people to just make that first step, to get off the couch, and they're like, okay, I'm going to start incorporating this into my life. What are some of your favorite aspects and what are some of, maybe, recommendations you have to reduce that scary feeling to really start incorporating this into your life? I hope that made sense. The question it does. It does.

Desi Bartlett:

So one of the things that I really enjoy about working with celebrities and pregnant mamas in Hollywood which I still do is that they have their own sphere of influence, and so when other people see them you know, maybe on Insta or Facebook or whatever enjoying just a simple sun salutation, a lot of folks go oh wait, maybe I can do that. It's just lifting up your arms and touching your legs, okay, cool. And so I find it to be such a blessing that this gift of the lineage is carried through each mama, whether she has a large sphere of influence or if she's in a smaller community. We all can benefit from this. And when it comes to, like, taking away the intimidation factor, I would just really encourage you to, you know, inhale your arms up overhead. I'm just going to do it. Inhale your arms up overhead and then lean to one side and lean to the other and just kind of notice what changed.

Desi Bartlett:

Something changed in the last 10 seconds. Was it your posture? Was it the way that you're breathing? Did you open up a little bit? And it's that. It's that like, moment by moment, awareness of wow, this is, this is really medicine. Movement is medicine, and it can help to prevent so much of what we see right now in terms of lifestyle diseases. So if you really want to go down that whole rabbit hole of preventing diabetes and all of the things, yes, yes, but maybe just start with the one big breath and the arms up and how do you feel?

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I love that. It's so funny because I'll always say food is medicine. Right, what we're nourishing our body with is really really key to our overall health. But I've never, ever heard anyone say movement is medicine, which is so ironic, because it's so. I mean, it goes hand in hand with food as medicine. So I love that. That's great. I'm probably going to use that in the future too.

Desi Bartlett:

Right yeah, everything that we take in, everything that we do, has an effect on the body, right? So whether it's food or sunshine, or a hug or movement, it's going to have some effect. So just start to notice throughout the day what effect does this have? If I reach for that diet soda, do I feel good for maybe three minutes? And then half an hour later, how do I feel? Or the next day, how do I feel If I hug my daughter? How do I feel? It's just this, moment by moment, awareness of what is the impact of this action.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, One of the motivating things that I always say to myself and I hope I get it correct when I say it is short-term gain, long-term pain, Short-term pain, long-term gain. So meaning short-term gain might be the dopamine burst that you get from drinking the soda, but the long-term pain is potentially diabetes and other chronic health issues. Short-term pain, which would be maybe strength training or doing a tough yoga pose or working out in some manner right. Short-term pain for long-term gain, where you have this strong, healthy body that's there to support you throughout your whole life.

Desi Bartlett:

Exactly, it's an investment. It's an investment in yourself and in your health. And when we speak to I'm just going to speak in business terms for a moment the ROI, you know, the return on investment, is your health. Yeah, and we're living longer than ever. So I turned 53 this year and I hope I have at least 40, 50 years ahead of me. Yeah, so if I continue to strength train and enjoy yoga and share my passion with the world, then that's going to have long-term gain, absolutely.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, and for a lot of women I see.

Nika Lawrie:

You know, we go through this huge kind of life shift around 30 to 40, right Like our hormones start to change, our bodies have really changed, especially if we've had children.

Nika Lawrie:

Our metabolism really starts to change. And one of the things my husband always talks about living on top of a peak, so thinking of like a mountain. And if we live at the top of the peak, we're trying to balance very carefully to keep our strength and our health in the best spot it can be, and we're trying not to tip over one side or the other. And I think this is really important for women as we start to age, because as we're aging into our late 30s, 40s and 50s, it can be easier and easier to tip over to one side or the other, and once we start to tip, it's harder and harder to get back up the hill right. It's like climbing up the mountain, and so I love thinking about starting to incorporate these activities like yoga and meditation and good nutrition into our lives as early as possible, so it becomes habit and routine, opposed to us trying to climb back up that mountain after we've fallen off.

Desi Bartlett:

Same is true during pregnancy. Yeah, if you can start to move your body before you get pregnant and continue throughout the pregnancy, you're going to feel so much better afterwards. And it's related to easier delivery, higher APGAR scores, which are the baby's ability to sort of adapt to the outside world. So I love your husband's analogy of the mountain. We do. We have that point where it's like okay, which way am I going? And to your point, around the age of 35 is when we're starting to see more and more women begin perimenopause which used to be a little bit later, but that's a whole separate topic. But perimenopause, which used to be a little bit later, but that's a whole separate topic. But perimenopause is that time, that transition leading up to menopause. And so we see the decline in estrogen, which can lead to issues with bone density, and we start to see osteopenia and osteoporosis. How do we combat that? Lifting weights, moving your body, holding the weight of your body in space, like you do with your plank. So, again, it's what you do and what I do as medicine.

Nika Lawrie:

Absolutely. I think it's so key too. Women often and when I say women I'm very generalizing here, but a lot of times you'll hear women being really worried about strength training, or you know they they don't want to bulk up, they don't want to look like big body builders and the the reality is like you have to be on steroids.

Desi Bartlett:

Basically to you know, be get, get that I was going to say do you know how much you would have to do? Like, I've been strength training for 30 years and I, like I work hard to get some muscle mass, yeah, and fight for it.

Nika Lawrie:

Right, yeah and but. But the other piece of that is like that muscle mass that you're building and supporting and caring for is so key to our overall metabolic health. It's, you know, it plays such a massive role in our ability to process food as energy in our body, and so I think understanding how yoga and strength training plays a role in overall health is really really huge.

Desi Bartlett:

Amen.

Desi Bartlett:

And so what I like to do is begin with one word what is the intention for today? So, for example, is it strength, is it flexibility, is it clarity? There's our one word. We start meditation and set the clear intention. From there we segue to yoga. We warm up your body, we start to create a little bit more range of motion, connection to the breath. From there I take you over to some easy, easy-ish weight work. We do some resistance training, mostly using the weight of your own body. We should be able to lift the weight of our bodies in space.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, definitely so, Desi. I have two more questions for you, but before I get to those, I want to ask we've talked a lot about yoga and just kind of the physical side of that, but are there any other health areas that you would really suggest alongside kind of nutrition? Was one of them really thinking about as we incorporate yoga into our lives? Are there other parts that are really supportive alongside that yoga piece?

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah. So my best friend is a naturopath and we lead an annual retreat together in Mexico and what she does is she reads your blood panel so she can tell you. You know what's happening in terms of like micronutrients, and are you deficient in iron or magnesium or calcium or whatever it is that your body needs. When we start to look at nutrition and what's happening on the inside, in addition to the musculoskeletal system, as well as the endocrine system, the hormones, it paints a whole picture. And I found, unfortunately, I went to a doctor a couple of years ago and I said can we do a blood panel? And she said, no, I'm like, excuse me, yeah, she's like you don't really need it and I'm like, well, but I want it.

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah, and long story short, I talked her into it and she said okay, but don't tell anyone. I'm like whatever. Please, please, please, be your own advocate and get the whole story of what's going on in the inside. I cannot look at you and tell you on a cellular level, this is what you need in terms of like fat, protein and carbohydrate. I can give you a general idea of what your macros should be, but what if your body doesn't do well with eggs, you know. So we really need to address the fact that we're all individuals and this is not one size fits all.

Nika Lawrie:

Oh, without question, One of the most useful things I've ever done in my life is get blood work done, because it's told me, you know, it's helped me understand the bigger picture of where my health is and how I can make little changes to improve. You know this thing or that thing Like, for example, you know I had blood work done a while ago and I had low omega threes, and omega threes are so, so, vitally important for your health, and so, oh, I can either, you know, incorporate more of omega three heavy foods like salmon or something, or I can take a supplement to help support that, and when you do that, you have more energy, you think better, you have less brain fog there's so many factors. Or it's like understanding when you have an allergy to something and that's causing inflammation in your life, and then that can cause a whole host of issues too. So I totally, totally agree.

Desi Bartlett:

Yeah, it's. It's time for us to um sort of mature as a society and take responsibility for our own health.

Nika Lawrie:

Yeah, I love that for sure. So, Desi um, before I get to the last question, where can the listeners find you? How can they connect? How can they find your video? Um, when can the listeners find you? How can they connect?

Desi Bartlett:

How can they find your video library? All of the good things. So my website is the best way to reach me. It's desibodymindcom, all one word, and that's also the video platform. If you're interested in joining the monthly program, you can use the code podcast and it'll give you a discount, but it's really, really affordable. I purposely did that, because I want this to be accessible to everyone. You can also find my books on my website, as well as other yoga and fitness products, and I'm super, super active on Instagram. My handle is mothersintolivingfit.

Nika Lawrie:

Awesome. I will make sure everything's in the show notes as well, just to make sure it's easy as possible for everybody to find you. So with that, my last question is something I ask every guest what is something that you've either experienced or learned, that's inspired you, that you'd like to share with others?

Desi Bartlett:

To end almost every sentence with the words for now, especially if you're a mom, oh, my goodness, that's a good one Baby's not sleeping for now. This is an interesting season with my 16 year old, because he's driving now and I'm pressing the imaginary brake with my foot and I'm scared. For now it's going to get better and better, so whatever it is that you're moving through, just remember that everything passes.

Nika Lawrie:

I love that. One of the things I teach my daughter is like she'll say well, I'm not good at math, and I always tell her to add yet onto the end of it. So, same kind of thing I'm not good at math yet I'm still learning it Right, and so, or I haven't figured out how to do X, y, z yet, and so, yeah, it's so that positive mindset, that growth mindset, is so, so key. Amen. Yeah Well, desi, thank you so so much. I want to recognize you and just say thank you for sharing the information today on the show, but also for all the countless women that I'm sure you've helped and taught over the years. Getting this information out there is so important and it can really be life-changing for women and for people. So I just wanted to recognize you and say thank you for it. So appreciate it.

Desi Bartlett:

Thank you so much for that, nika, and thank you for all that you're doing. As I was sharing with you earlier, I dove deep into your social media and each message had so much power, and I encourage everyone listening right now to follow you there as well, because there's so many good lessons.

Nika Lawrie:

So thank you for what you do. Same for yours too, thank you, I really appreciate it.

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Nika Lawrie

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