Living Well With Crohn's: A Conversation On Chronic Illness

Join us for "Living Well with Crohn's," the first in a series of conversations where we dive deep into the experiences, challenges, and triumphs of managing life.

In this episode, I sit down with Valerie Maimoni, a fellow "Chronie," to discuss the unique journey of living with Crohn's, the importance of holistic health practices, and how yoga and mindfulness have become essential tools in our daily lives. We share personal stories, practical tips, and the invaluable lessons we've learned along the way.

Whether you're living with Crohn's, supporting someone who is, or simply interested in health and wellness, this talk offers insight, inspiration, and hope.

Please note: This track may include some explicit language.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to The Pause. I'm Laia. I'm really excited to invite you to join me in this series of conversations with some of the folks that have really inspired me to live a more aligned lifestyle and to stay accountable with myself to learn what self-care is just by having conversations just by exchanging experiences and tools and just really being honest with ourselves when we chat. Today with me for the first of this series I'm super excited to introduce you to Valerie. Hello. Welcome Valerie. Thank you. She's someone that describes herself as someone that loves to connect with people, Loves to be outdoors, And also has a passion for helping others sustain their businesses and bring their vision to fruition. I'd love for you to tell the story of how we came in touch with each other. How did we get to know each other? I was looking for a yoga studio in Florida. Your Instagram was tagged as a Friday class that I was going to go to and just clicked on it, Saw your profile, And it just so happened that you were posting within the week of I think it was like the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation. Which is this week by the way. Right, Or IBD Awareness Week and stuff. So I was like oh and I have Crohn's disease and had that for about 20 years now. I was hoping to find somebody that would understand that world, Especially doing something from what I knew was going to be physical with my body. I remember showing up that Friday after just reading a little bit of who you were and it just gave it a more safe space. It felt like walking in that I knew somebody was going to actually understand what I go through. It's pretty rare right to find like a yoga teacher that actually has the same condition as you and you're like oh all right cool. I was like this is perfectly aligned. I am so excited. It definitely I wasn't excited to find sadly another person that goes through it but community is huge and to find it in person is like you said a rarity. Because I'm very intentional on you know how I teach. I don't have a problem saying I'm for I'm this is what I teach right like I teach accessible yoga that's what I do. But reality is that most of the time that people that end up in your classes which you know well right because you're also a yoga teacher that's not maybe the population that I really really want to serve. So it's rare to have someone walk through the door that's like hey I'm exactly the person that you love to teach. So you know it was a really really cool connection. So I'd like to start our conversation by asking you how you're feeling and when I ask you how you're feeling I'm sure you can answer to me like you would answer to someone in the grocery store right like the cashier or whatever like oh I'm great. But maybe I want you to dive a little bit deeper but how are you feeling today or right now even? I love that right there. I like to ground myself in that exact question I would say in the moment. So today or right now I feel really good because I'm here with somebody I love talking about things that are near and dear to both our hearts and to be able to have the space to do so. I'm very grateful. It feels like a lighter day for me and that can be very nice living from anything from just a normal able-bodied no problem person. We all have hard days but for somebody that does live with chronic illness and does wear many hats, Wife, Mom, Entrepreneur, Support, Yoga teacher, Things. I mean we all do many things so these light days feel like a very welcomed moment. I'm gonna dive a little bit deeper because you said that you're good. So what this feeling good means to you physically right because I think it's important to know if I feel good what does that mean for me right because again I can answer to the grocery store person that I'm good but if I actually can use that moment to actually ask myself how I am what does good mean to you physically mentally emotionally what does that mean to you? Right another good question. I love that expanding on good and why you feel the way you feel is definitely a very useful tool that I've learned to use in the past like five years and so when I say good for me or even lighter it does like where my mind is at that day is it filled with many tasks that are intersecting or am I able to not necessarily compartmentalize as much but really I mean maybe that would be the best word but to stay present in that moment I might know I have a whole day's worth of many things and if I look at the big picture it can be overwhelming so to be able to stay moment to moment it feels good because I feel connected I feel present and you know that's all we have is that exact moment so learning to live in that state over the past years instead of like a dissociated or a do-do-do go-go-go you know kind of like slowing down makes me feel good. It sounds like you've gotten really good at checking in with yourself. I would say it's a skill that is a a never-ending practice I can say that yes there I have the awareness of what benefit that has checking in now that I practice it more often than I have in the past but it is just that a practice there are many days where just feeling so many things or feeling pain in chronic illness or feeling the mental strain and the emotional strain that can go with that and just everyday life checking in always there's the benefit I reap every single time it is also where you need to or at least I know I need to not feel like it to do it. Isn't isn't that isn't that the thing is like oh when I don't feel like it yeah so what what how do you check in like what is it one thing that you can kind of rely on that you know oh if I do this one thing it kind of gives me the information that I need to move forward through my day or like you know or like to shift or whatever it is that you need. The the top thing I would say for me is taking a moment in stillness and silence and in prayer for me to just ground again mind body and spirit at the same time I find if I am out and about I can ground my breath for a moment I can take those things but for me and on an everyday practice is really trying to get into stillness in the morning before all the external things start coming at you and really getting still with myself how I'm feeling maybe why I'm feeling that way and just preparing myself kind of just to be filled up before I can start to pour out. I think that's the important thing right I think just knowing that no matter where you're starting from if you know where you're starting from I think it's much easier to choose where you're gonna create space right where you're gonna chill or where you're like oh actually today I feel energized and I feel whatever mentally physically emotionally spiritually I have space and capacity for this I have space and capacity for that I think a lot of times when people just go yeah suddenly right like it just explodes or there's illness right like we've been there yeah and it's like oh it came out of nowhere like people ask me all the time like did your Crohn's come out of nowhere and I'm like I could say yes because like there's a part of me that feels like one day I ate something and all of a sudden I like I was like shitting myself right you know but that's not the truth like if I go if I go back I'm like as a teenager I already had like this level of stress and I just didn't you know I didn't know how to process it I didn't know how to move it right uh-huh oh yes that that how to move it right because you feel it in certain areas for certain people I mean Crohn's disease a lot of the feel it in the gut and that area you know it makes sense a lot of the pain there going to the bathroom it just so to know how to move it or how to even comfort it yeah and you're not really taught that at least here in the states it's not something that's focused on so much I don't think I don't think it's very focused anywhere and that's the thing I think I did realize especially through yoga practices and stuff is that digestion just like everything it's it's not just the actual digestion of like food but it's emotional digestion right it's like digesting life and how you digest life 100% affects how affects your experience right and so I think that that is one of I don't know blessings of Crohn's is that it's helped me not only learn what I can eat when I can eat it how I can eat it but also like when to pause when to be like you know what I don't have the capacity for this I'm out walk away from a situation or take a break or whatever other than end up in the hospital the self-awareness to know your limits is is key and in chronic illness too you know can't continue always to push through or show up in the ways that you know some people that don't walk through some of the symptoms and things would naturally do and I think that it happens to everyone I just think that maybe for us it's just more obvious more frequent maybe more I always say that to people that you know deal with maybe stomach issues or got a stomach virus and they'll be like oh I'm so sorry it's nothing like what you go through and I'm like please it's awful all around so your pain and what you've gone through completely matters and it's just you know you appreciate people's kindness but it is it's not fun those down days for anybody are awful so oftentimes we put hierarchy to pain right and it's like oh this type of pain is like oh I'm so sorry for you and the other type of pain you should just like push through and I think pain is different for everyone 100 and again the level of discomfort that you have the capacity for really affects the experience and how you can move through that pain so all these tools that you were saying that you're gaining through practice and awareness and just exploring and learning I think that can make the difference you were talking about a little bit about your routines so I'd love for you to maybe describe what your routine like if you have like a really set routine and I don't want to say morning routine because I don't want people to also think that if they have a routine it has to be in the morning 100 true there are people that wake up the only thing you have time to do is your basic actual necessary self-care right and get out where do you find space and what does it look like for you there's like you said it does vary day to day I do have two kids home with me so finding space to have self-care looks different daily and on an average day the things that I ground with I always I try to have prayer in the morning that's definitely something that's very close to me and then I also from there take time to just breathe go outside the outdoors for me is I know a space where I find peace and so I try to tap into some of that I love to take time and move my body in some way somehow it could look like if I have more time getting out to a yoga studio and practicing on a weekly basis there or moving my body even just walking around my neighborhood or walking through my house it just needs to move stretch as I'm doing basic things and to move the energy in my body that you know can be stagnant from a night's sleep or even during the day if I find tasks and things or even if I notice a moment of anxiety or overwhelm it's a lot of noise and things going on constantly I will take time I will communicate to others I'm taking a set amount of time and if I can breathe or if I go read even just read a book that I like or listen to some music and taking time it just is finding little joys in life that I know are those things that hey even on bad days stressful days I know these things are gonna lighten the mood you know what I love about that is that it does sound like you have a solid routine that yeah probably maybe your mornings kind of sort of the pieces of them look the same but what I love is that you said so many different little things and I think that's what makes a practice sustainable is letting go of the rigidity of like it has to look like this I have to do 10 sun salutations every day and then do this and then that it's like no I know what things serve me and I will sprinkle them in different places so that you know so that they actually serve the purpose that they're meant to serve which is center me or ground me or whatever it is that you need I love that you might have a season in life where there's a lot more tension or stress or just a lot more heightened energy and for me some days that's best released by going for a run and I am outside again and I get I do some of my best thinking out on runs and so I just other days that sounds like torture I mean anytime you say like we were talking about earlier we went on a walk and you were like you were like oh I love to run down this trail and I'm like already holding my belly and that's when also that's why it doesn't matter what kind of pain or like if you have more pain than me or it doesn't matter it's just learning what works for you and if you love to run like please go run I will walk behind you and I'll see you when you turn around because I'm not gonna run but to me it's the same thing it's like I do know that I need to move and how I choose to move will have to do with how much attention I've paid to how I feel yeah right because like I could go to be like oh well I guess I just need a little bit more energy and then go to the yoga studio and go to a power class pretty much pass out or then be in pain for 10 days or I can like you know what I really need some energy but physically I don't feel that great and then choose a practice that can energize me which could be breath work meditation kriya it could be a lot of things it could be having a conversation with a friend yeah and still get that same energetic shift without doing something that's damaging me at the time so you mentioned going to the yoga studio to practice sometimes and so I would like to know as someone with chronic illness and as someone that oftentimes probably practices different than other people I want to know what barriers have you found at yoga studios I always where I found my my home for yoga now I'm so grateful that it's been accessible always taught in a way that gives options in such a supportive fashion so I just do remember in the very beginning search of my yoga journey on myself by myself I went to a studio and I remember going into the class feeling nervous but then you know walking it's okay and variety of ages and and sizes and all the things so I was like okay cool this is great like I think this will be fine I get my mat out everybody starts the practice is being led and you get that like oh wow you oh you look like you could do this here and from the instructor and it was I think I'm trying to go back to the pose I think it was a shoulder stand or being able to go up into one and me being new to yoga and recovering people pleaser I and being called out and everything was just new so mind is just like okay maybe I maybe I can or maybe they're just encouraging I love to encourage people to to go for things so I go along and I'm putting my body into a position and listening to what they're saying and it's not very comfortable and it's a little I just think I got in my own way and just kept doing it instead of coming out and just saying no I'm good um again I don't know the etiquette yes things I have no clue but I know I'm being called out and talked to and you're in a class the right thing to do is what the teacher says right yeah you know there's a level of trust you hope for of like that they are aware of how they're instructing or whatever but in the end I uh I was fine I got out of it um I do have an ileostomy so for me to be doing something now in hindsight as an instructor learning about what muscles and different things are used it's not that they didn't know but or that they need like it was I'm not gonna necessarily disclose that in the middle of my first class but in the end accessible yoga to me wouldn't mean teaching it in a way that without even knowing that like I'm just gonna be like careful or aware to know that there could be something invisible that I don't see and just saying somebody looks in shape or able body to do something there's so many more mental layers emotional layers like physical layers that you don't know and to not know somebody and to go into that direction right off the bat again in hindsight oh red flag but otherwise I am I didn't go back because it that's okay it just didn't feel right anyway so I'm okay with that and I understand now again that people learn things differently and teach in different ways but I'm gonna find supportive ways that are safe and it just it didn't feel safe and I'm okay with that it was a learning experience a lot of yoga teachers would probably argue that it was your fault because you didn't disclose that what would you say to them what's your opinion on that I remember there's an intake form that I and I do write that down they do say and that's something I do share because that's I think a very useful thing body-wise to tell somebody that's going to help you move your body no so I could refer back to that so if it was brought up I would definitely be like I'm not going to say that in the middle of a class I don't necessarily think disclosing medical stuff of personal nature where there's going to be no real conversation that we can have safely in the middle of a group class to keep it moving so it wouldn't have been the time so I don't honestly I never ask anyone the only reason I knew about your case is because you showed up and you told me that's that's the only I'm like if you if you gave me the information because you want to I'll take it but if when I think about it I'm a yoga teacher like I do have knowledge about anatomy I was a professional athlete so there's things that I know about the physical body I also have the same illness as you so maybe I have a like an inkling of something and at the same time how is that going to make a difference if it's the 17th class that you've come to then I think if when you build a container teacher student or whatever right then when there's the trust right maybe there is a point to that if I've seen your practice for long enough that right and we've practiced together for long enough then maybe there's a point and you'll be like hey by the way I've got this going on when I go to your class and the first thing the teacher says is doesn't know my name doesn't know anybody's name there's like 50 fucking people in there and they say something in the lines of like if anybody has some anybody has anything going on just please get the fuck out you know like right away I'm like this is not the space for me and again and I know that it works for people it was not where I felt that it would make a it would even make sense to be doing that conversation in the middle of that class I totally respect I can see why they went the route they did I can see maybe why they said what they said I just everybody but we all think differently but I also know for me I it did not feel safe and I need safety the risk of me having something complicated go wrong with my abdomen is higher and that is my responsibility to cater to that and with my self-awareness and if I don't believe that that is a stab and if I don't want to establish it from the first time on that's my choice too and I just felt that it was not the space that I needed to be in I appreciated the practice and I kept it moving it was a learning thing and I felt good about you know being able to say nope this isn't for me and there's no wasted yoga practice really because again like the point of it is the practice even if you learn hey this is not for me this teacher is not for me doesn't mean the teacher is bad it doesn't mean that yoga is not it's just that particular thing just didn't work out and right and go try something else yeah we're gonna shift gears a little bit here this is something that um again I asked you earlier how are you doing right and we talked about that but I have found that that is kind of oftentimes an empty question and it's something that I started asking people and I find that it gives me a lot more information and it often brings about much better conversations and much richer conversations so let me ask you what brings you joy right now ah good fun I love the word joy I think joy is one of the one of the best words uh because it comes from deeper things of like I think the core of like who you are what you're grounded in your beliefs your values the things that bring you joy number one is always my relationship with God my relationship with Jesus is just everything for me I have been through so many different things through life that I love journaling and you know to journal prayers or journal things of the heart and to watch years later how many things have come to fruition in a way that the ways that you normally never think will and normally through hardship in a certain way um just those anything related to you know faith and family and friends and food those are like those are those things for me um they're all connecting you know connecting with God so you can pour that love out to others and being with your family the people that are always going like you know if you really pour intentionality into those relationships those are the lasting you know those are your people and then being able to have friends that are like family that you create your own personal families I love that and to be honest connecting over food and being able to all of those things um we all for the most part eat we do have challenges as we know and seasons where sometimes we don't um in chronic illness we don't but knowing that that food bringing people around a table to or even just having tea warm water certain days it's what it is um it's just it's something that I love it's like a glue that just brings people together and I love hearing about people's stories so getting together with people I love sharing like deep things and having light moments of just being outside um going on bike rides walks with friends um getting unfortunately very overpriced coffees um I do love them but uh so that brings me joy these little things listening to bird songs is something that always um so great taking time to breathe and connect and through yoga has been a great great thing that brings a lot of joy when I'm very much being intentional on the practice whether it's just you know meditation breathwork it could be anything could be asana one day it could be all sorts of just taking time for the little moments the slowing down brings me joy recently and being able to not overdo my schedule but really um really like just savor the sights the smells the feelings and being present brings me a lot of joy recently because it's been a lifetime of with chronic illness not being present yeah because I don't want to be in pain right so speaking of pain so how do you move through pain is there like a practice or a person or anything what do you do what do you do when you're in pain hmm honestly on certain days it's self-pity and loathing yes rolling in the shit oh so real like it I wish I could say it's like yeah just because I have my relationship with God and I love my family and I've got support like all those things great no there's certain days where like I had years of prolonged pain that there was just no rest from and it really can grind you down to like I just don't care like I don't care yep and a low point so on those days I'm learning to accept those days as for what they are um I hate that like oh you know tomorrow might be better and like it just that doesn't help like yeah how do I do that how do you how do you do that that's the thing like you know I want to be present but at the same time I'm in so much pain that I want to be anywhere but here um I would say a lot of the time because pain can with Crohn's I've learned gosh I would not wish that on anybody it is horrific it's absolutely horrible um and just it doesn't just affect the gut it affects skin eyes I mean everything everything head to toe it's not fun but I've learned to because it can really affect my mood and the mental state and I will out of love remove myself to some some me time secluding because I don't want what I'm feeling because I'm aware it's garbage spilling out on those that I love um and sometimes I cannot avoid that as a parent so it's really learning to communicate when I'm having those hard moments like I need support here and being open and vulnerable and why and allowing others to step in and help is somebody that wants to so much control like the pain from stopping you want to you find you start to want to control other areas of life so letting people come in and see you at your worst while you're in pain yeah you can talk about vulnerable and like if there's it it was something I learned to have to do after multiple surgeries to let people drop food off or hey can we take the kids or can we do these things humbling it's lovely but um just allowing the pain not trying to always push it away using techniques like breathwork has been quite fun you have a particular breathwork technique they're like that's the one for me uh three-part breathing yeah is one I just because it makes you have to really have an idea of your body I have an idea why don't you lead us through it all right all right good fun you can do that okay okay this is I love this all right so if we would like find a comfortable seated position wherever you are at just getting cozy sitting tall in your spine when you've gotten yourself there you can keep your eyes open or lower them to a soft gaze or if you feel safe where you are feel free to close the eyes if you would like you can bring one hand to the belly and one hand to the heart and from here just notice your natural breath notice the rise and the fall of the abdomen and the chest perhaps you notice your heartbeat as you breathe in again remaining tall in your spine lifting through the crown of your head shoulders down the back away from the ears start to notice and deepen your breath inhaling slowly through the nose exhaling slowly through the nose at a pace that suits you with each in breath start to breathe by expanding the belly into that hand if it is there noticing the belly balloon out with the inhale filling it up and then when you exhale filling feeling the belly button slowly draw towards your spine breathing like this a few times air filling up the abdomen exhale relax and as you notice the abdomen filling the air will start to also rise expanding into the ribcage and then envisioning the air leaving the body deflating on your exhale as you breathe in filling up the belly filling up the ribcage expanding 360 degrees slow smooth exhales through the nose and perhaps as you slowly inhale you notice the air filling the belly the ribs and then the breath filling and rising through the chest reversing the breath exhaling the chest the ribs the abdomen on the way out moving through this three-part breath at your pace vision visualizing the abdomen expand through the ribs across the collarbones exhaling just noticing your breath through this if your mind's wandering coming back remembering belly ribs and chest move through the deer breath the long breath a few more cycles your hands are on the chest and the abdomen if you'd like you can place the palms back down toward your lap taking a deep breath in through the nose out through the nose or mouth slowly notice what you hear around you notice any vibrations moving through your body perhaps before opening the eyes taking a moment to think of something that brings you joy whether at a pet the place the feeling another deep full breath in and exhale another deep full breath in and exhale and just slowly begin to open the eyes do i have to no all right oh thank you you're welcome i really needed that more than i thought i i feel like i could have used that too so thank you for yeah inviting me to do that yeah thank you i i'm gonna need a moment to like come back but i just find that breath work you know breath is the one thing that i know that i can utilize no matter how i feel and it's also one of the hardest things for me to tap into when i'm dysregulated oh my that is the truth i try to teach it to my child and i try to teach it to myself and it's so innocent when you see it in a kid where i don't want to do the breathing thing i'm like i feel that i feel that i don't either but i feel like sometimes we can get so used to pain discomfort this regulation that there's a fight in us it's like no no this is the state i'm used to like i refuse to feel better like i want to like roll in this mud you know and weird comfort zone that's yes no sense right absolutely but breath work like this which is super simple right like it's really like just think about expanding your belly expanding your ribcage expanding your chest and just by doing this right like it's amazing that you can self-regulate yourself but sometimes it's getting to that point and i believe that that's where practice comes in because if we practice these things when we're okay right chilling first thing in the morning no one's bothering me blah blah then when you find yourself in the state of like i can't i can't i can't i can't maybe you have a word or you have sometimes it's a person that will remind you right if you have someone that you can co-regulate with which is fantastic then you just need that snippet to be like i've got the tool right like i have the key to this like just just need to remember where the key is right where did i hide it yeah making that decision to do it right and if the keys put away year round and you're like oh wait i know i have a key somewhere for this like it's likelihood is like oh well no breathwork doesn't work meditation doesn't work but when it's and when it's something that just happens often and that you tap into often and you can see the benefits then i hope that someday it'll just arise by itself i won't even have to like find the key you know that's an exact it's a lovely reference i get the the key reference very well so yes it's something that has to be practiced like you said on the days that are good so our bodies and our minds are actually used to the benefits we feel that we we know it we live it not something that somebody's telling you hey why don't you try to breathe and take a deep breath for a moment why don't you calm down oh oh no oh no um yeah so it is a like you said a very much intentional day-to-day or you know something that you're being intentional to practice so you can remember aha i have something that works i know this i know this and it may not always work but isn't it wonderful when it does it is and majority of the time i don't come out of that time the same yeah even if it is one percent less angry that's the thing like even if it's one person less angry or overwhelmed it's not expecting it to be this okay i did this breathwork practice or i did this yoga practice or something or and now i'm good that is good oh um yes that happens sometimes and hopefully with the more repetition and the mindset change and the shift of just aligning what is right in the body and the mind spirit and just bringing that together for you in what way it it's supposed to for you then you're going to feel better you're going to show up better and you know it you have things and it feels good to use the things you know we're trying here so i can tap into the resources that i've used before which are not really resources they're just like whatever my nervous system came up with when growing up right which i can tap into that very easily that's available yeah or i can do some work that is uncomfortable whoever thinks that yoga and meditation all this is like comfortable and fun to be here for a minute and you'll see but it's like it's when we do that uncomfortable work that it works yes that's we don't as i've heard in many wise teachers you don't grow in your comfort zone you grow outside of it obviously these are and it's okay to be in comfort sometimes right like we we need that's why life ebbs and flows like everything if you observe nature very often hello maui we have a puppy here um if you you know if you observe nature cycles you will know yeah that things ebb and flow and it's okay like we go through highs we go through lows i hope you hear him very well right now um and that's okay and it's knowing that yeah okay i can be in a low and still be somewhat okay i can use resources to maintain and then when i'm on a high then well yay we'll be here for a little bit hopefully the people watching or listening to this have gotten plenty of snippets of inspiration i know that i have but i would like to know there's anything that you are reading right now or listening to or if watching is what you want i'm trying to stay away from watching too much tv and things like that but it could be something you're listening to or something you're reading that's inspiring you and inviting you to grow i i stay within reading my bible because i connect with god and connect with jesus through his words so that is always a steady thread i do love um i have this book lighter by uh young and it's right there later letting go of the past connect with the present and expand the future by young pueblo and it is um i just find he's got a great way of communicating really how to walk through the work in the real real time like this is not a when you're really trying to like you said get to why i do what i do where did these things come from so much of it goes back to things we didn't have control over was our upbringing yeah an environment that we were raised in and the things that were passed down to us so um there's something i read and i don't think it was from him it was something about making the um the ceiling of what you were raised in the floor of how you move forward i love that making the ceiling of like your parents and how you raise your upbringing the floor are you because there's great things that i'm sure we can hopefully most families can hopefully pick out something that you've learned in a good healthy way and everybody has those very unhealthy just the family garbage and generational traumas can be passed down but really he talks about in the book just very um practical ways of his journey and how he worked through a lot of stuff and didn't shy away from feeling things being honest about things so um i love this and i chip away a little couple pages at a time yeah and i love um it's around here somewhere one thing i'm reading which i am obsessed with is just anything travel i don't get to go anywhere as much as i'd like to across and overseas but anthony bourdain's world travel one of his world travel books i'm going through his and it was a very much snippet of so many of the places he's been but it also puts like the literal information of everywhere he stayed everywhere he ate so if it's all snapshots of every country pretty much nice so i love that stuff too so those were inspiring yeah so i hope to be like drew binsky and travel the world one day and reach every country drew binsky oh he's a fun youtube guy that's travel a young guy that's traveled to every country and he yes and he does it in such a great way connecting with people through food and anything food and travel related i watch somebody feed phil on netflix if you want like easy watching it is the best it's food and fun and his personality is great so it sounds like you're also saying that there is room there for like just entertainment and always being growing and growing and doing difficult work i would i i think there you can get on to um doing the work a overload sometimes and so yes i try to make sure that there's lightness and i always look for things to make me laugh because i think laughter is just the absolute best thing in the world yeah that's that's been my rule lately if i watch any tv content streaming services or whatever it has to make me laugh or hungry oh no no no no it can't make me hungry because i like i like to cook too much and then i just get too excited i started to cook so yeah no i'm gonna keep putting those ideas in your mind because i've had your product of what you make and it is so good so yeah you should watch oh no you should watch some cooking all right we're gonna finish up with a this or that and since ai is a thing nowadays and i've thought of every other question for this interview i figured that the last thing the ai could do so we're gonna do this real time i'm gonna go onto the app and we're just gonna prompt it to come up with 10 questions of this or that i'll probably come up with 20 all right yeah and i'll just like pick and choose because i have no idea what it's gonna come up with but fun questions we'll go with fun oh we'll see what that does all right let's see what it says are you ready for this i i'm okay i'm very intrigued actually i am too oh wow oh some of these are good okay wow all right it's 20 of them but i think we're just gonna do all 20 because i think they're pretty good and also you can say skip okay yeah so you either this that or skip there's freedom here i'm not restricting you that's all thank you all right so you ready i am all right yoga or meditation is a meditation party thank you next sunrise or sunset oh sunset beach or mountain beach i mean you live in florida reading a book or listening to a podcast oh um you could also be listening to a book these days no i like to read books more than listen to books so i but i would say um recently listening to a podcast nice smoothies or juice uh juice journaling or painting painting morning routine or evening routine morning routine not good digital detox or social media scrolling social media scrolling yeah probably uh-huh with city life or countryside countryside more likely but i do love city life too group activities or solo adventures solo adventures probably hiking or cycling hiking tea or coffee coffee cooking at home or dining out in the stage of motherhood dining out guided meditation or silent meditation guided meditation in the season of life i'm out planning or spontaneity planning aromatherapy or massage therapy massage therapy all day i mean no one asked about the budget right so it's like i used to be a massage therapist oh that's true that's true that all day for sure i don't utilize that resource enough oh i mean retired massage therapist minimal what minimalist or maximalist oh i would love to be a minimalist i'm working on it throwing things away day by day nice gardening or how are these or that but gardening or stargazing oh aspiring gardening essential oils or candles i mean recovering candle person moving over to essential oils recently more live music or a quiet night in live music any day what do you think maui maui or maui that's the last one maui right mister all right well this is the last of the questions thank you so much for playing the this or that that was that was interesting i'll be doing that on every every one of these anyways thank you so much for joining us i hope that you've enjoyed this conversation with valerie and i look forward to seeing your comments anything that has inspired you we would love to hear from you and as always you can connect with me in any of the social platforms or shoot me an email if you have any questions if you have grown scolitis or one of these happy world ibd week yes remember that you can practice with me this sunday may the 19th you can find all the info in the show notes until we meet again pause often breathe deeply and be kind especially to yourself much love

Reviews

I loved this interview ❣️👍❣️. Thank you both for the helpful tips, especially the 3 part breathing exercise, which I did with you and it did help me 🙏💚🙏. I look forward to trying your other tracks. 🙏🕊️🙏