The benefits of Trauma-Informed Yoga. Angie Berrett's story.

Angie Berrett: 0:00

letting the body guide instead of the mind, most often, we're doing things we let our mind dictate. And this one we really work to listen to what the person's body is telling them. And that's really hard for people to start to do and so it's an exploration.

Melissa Bright: 0:16

Welcome to The Bright Side of Life, a podcast where people share their personal stories of struggles, pain and grief. But through all of that, they are still able to find the joys in life. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode of The Bright Side of Life. It's me your host Melissa bright. If you have not yet subscribed to the podcast, please be sure to do so on your favorite listening platform so you never miss an episode. And if you just love, love, love the podcast so much and you would like to support the show. You can do so by writing a review on the website sharing your favorite episodes on social media and with friends and family. Or lastly, you can make donations by going to the donate page on the website. Whatever you choose to do, however you choose to support the podcast I am very grateful. And also you can do all of that stuff right on the bright side of life. podcast.com Today I am talking to my new friend, Angie Barrett, Angie she they is a registered nurse and advanced trauma informed yoga instructor who helps people from mental health struggles relieve stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD through play and movement. After going from child abuse survivor to registered nurse to yoga instructor she has spent much of her life caring for others. In 2017, she hit rock bottom and started on a journey to heal her pain. Playful moments helped her overcome her suffering. Now she uses play and movements to help others heal from their pain, stress, anxiety, depression and PTSD. So let's welcome Angie to the show. Angie, welcome. How are you doing today? Hi,

Angie Berrett: 2:08

Melissa, thank you so much for having me. I am so good today. How are you?

Melissa Bright: 2:12

I am doing wonderful. Thank you. Thank you for asking. Okay, so today we're going to be talking about Andrews story. And we're going to dive in on what trauma informed yoga is how she teaches it. The difference between this and regular yoga, I guess we could say, the beneficial yoga, right? There we go. That's the word I was looking for. And all that fun stuff. And then at the end, we are actually going to do a little practice that anyone can do. So if you're listening, just know you can go always go to YouTube to watch the video version of this episode. So let's get started, shall we? Yes. Angie, can you tell me a little bit about your childhood? And I guess I'm going to ask if you can tell me before The abuse started, like who was Angie, before the abuse? What were you like?

Angie Berrett: 3:09

That that is a great question and one that I am not able to answer. Because my view started when I was very young. All I remember is it started when I was very young. So this has been something that has shaped my whole

Melissa Bright: 3:26

life. Yeah. Wow. Okay. And I was like, that is a possibility that that that could be an option. Okay. So then who was Angie are I guess? What should I ask? Can you tell me in his, whatever you wanted? About your abuse? Okay, that I told you, you can tell me as much or as little a bit about that. But I'm asking because I want to see who this shaped you as a person. Like what was Andry? Who was Angie after this, you know?

Angie Berrett: 3:57

Yeah, no, absolutely. Um, like I said, my view started when I was very young. It was I had multiple abusers. And it was done by friends of my parents. It was not my parents, it was friends of my parents. And it happened actually at church there was a The only word that I can come up with to describe it as a pedophile call there was a pedophile called hiding out within the congregation, which can actually be very common, by the way. And so this started, like I said, I was very young this is really all I've known, because it started so young. And because it happened at church, the my abusers used many of the teachings of my parents face as ways to control me so I grew up with a very with a belief in a god that was very punishing, because a lot of what happened was, I was told was punishment because I was bad. or things like that. So I grew up with the fear of God, because my parents were in this very into their faith and into their religion. And I was having this separate experience happening, unbeknownst to them. That just kind of played into each other.

Melissa Bright: 5:19

Okay. And that was actually going to be my next question is if your parents knew. I was hoping the answer would be no, obviously.

Angie Berrett: 5:29

Yeah, there's no Yeah. And, and I think about it. So I'm 44. And this happened. 40 years ago, sexual abuse was not being talked about abuse was not being talked about. It wasn't, it wasn't as common of knowledge. And it's common knowledge today, and yet it still is happening. And so, no, my parents didn't know. And I There are many reasons why I see why they wouldn't have known what was happening. Yeah.

Melissa Bright: 5:57

Can I ask you how long it went on for?

Angie Berrett: 6:02

Um, yes, it. So I don't have clear memories of it. In fact, I don't. I didn't have any memories until 2017 I that I started having memories come out in 2017. So my while until that point, I just, I knew something was wrong. I had what I call a black hole of pain inside of me. I gone through an abusive marriage. And I thought it was related to that. And in 2017, I'm going to jump to the Yeah, that's fine. Great question. Yeah. So in 2017, my partner started cheating on me. And I found out through Facebook. And so the betrayal by my partner is what triggered the release of memories of my childhood betrayal of these family friends. And so it started this whole path I was dealing with not only my partner having cheated on me, but also now memories of child abuse coming out. Yeah. And so I don't I don't have clear memories, it. It has been through years of very intensive therapy that I have been able to, to regain what memories, what sensations, it's more kind of emotions, I do a very specific type of therapy that is designed for that. And so I have gaps in my memory. In fact, that was one of the reasons I knew there was a problem because I don't have memories good or bad. If my childhood. I don't remember much until I became a teenager. Yeah. And so I know, I had periods when I was very little. And I had periods when I was a younger child. And I have memories of sexually being assaulted when I was a teenager. So it happened at various points. I'm guessing probably, to some degree until I left for college when I was 18. Yeah, that was a definitive stopping point I left.

Melissa Bright: 8:01

Right, right. You are the second person that I have talked to, that has told me that their memories of some kind of abuse literally came back, like came out in the most random time ever, many years later. Yeah. Yeah. And that is just, I don't want to say it's crazy. Because now I think I do understand a little bit about like the brain and how the brain wants to keep us protected. So it actually suppresses those memories. So you're constantly in that, but like, oh my gosh, because that was actually like one of my questions like what, what was rock bottom like for you like what that meant in 2017? And now you kind of answered that question. So. Wow. Okay, so I want to ask a little bit about this, like, black hole? Yeah. Because you've said you always like had this feeling that something was not right. Can you explain this black hole? Like, people want to be like, what does that even mean? What does that feel like? And I want to I want to ask you this for other people that they may have think like, did I I've hinted that maybe I went through some kind of trauma or abuse, but I'm not sure. So that's why I'm asking this question.

Angie Berrett: 9:17

Yeah, great question. And the answer is, it's, it's really hard for me to describe it. In fact, that's why I call it just a black hole of pain. And that it has felt like is just this I'm going to come back to that that term. So think of a black hole and it's just kind of this nothing that you know, it escapes into nothingness. And yet there's, there's pain, there's physical pain, there's emotional pain, there's just angst that sit that was sitting inside of me. And I had been doing therapy with a therapist that specialized after my marriage I had I think Good, I was gonna say escape, I did manage to get out of an abusive marriage, I was doing therapy with a therapist that specialized in women who were abused and sexually assaulted. And we would get to a certain point in my therapy, and all of a sudden, I would shut down like I would, it would come too close to that black hole. And all of a sudden, I couldn't, I couldn't connect to anything anymore. And so my memories, I kind of included in that, because I don't have memories, I don't have a sense. And so it's kind of all this stuff. And it's really, as I've been, I've worked with people now to help release their own pain. And it's that that sense of, there's something wrong with me. All those negative beliefs that we have about ourselves related, whatever it was, that are has shaped our childhood, and it's just that pain, that self hatred, that where all of that is carried.

Melissa Bright: 10:58

Okay, so my next question to you, did you always have this constant question of this has to be coming from somewhere? I don't know what, I don't know. Anything. I'm not sure. But it has to be coming from somewhere. Did you ever feel that?

Angie Berrett: 11:15

Yes, yeah. But frequently, um, and I couldn't figure out what it was. I had a good childhood, you know, before my memories came out, I had a good childhood. My parents are kind people, they're supportive. I, you know how to normal growing up, I didn't have to experience any of the things that could be considered traumatic, that I knew of for what would happen to most children. And I've been asked by I've done therapy for a number of years, I've been asked by every therapist I've seen. Are you sure you weren't abused when you were a kid? And no, I swear. So it almost felt to me, like, there was something wrong with me like that was exacerbating that. Yeah. I couldn't figure out why I hurt so bad. And then a lot of it I attributed to my marriage. But I done therapy for my marriage I had healed and was able to have I done so much work that I couldn't understand why I was still having so much pain. It was just proportionate to what had happened in my marriage and what I process through. So um, oh, my god, I can't remember what question you asked me.

Melissa Bright: 12:28

I went off on Oh, no, it's okay. The just the question of like, something had to have happened, like, this has what I wrote down, this has to be coming. But there has to be something like that has happened.

Angie Berrett: 12:41

Okay. Yeah, yeah. Okay. So yeah, thank you. Cool. Thanks for redirecting. So I figured that I'd had some sort of trauma, and it could have just been. So there's two different types of trauma. And I'm going to put that in quotes. For those of you that aren't watching the video, there's trauma with a big T, which is events like child abuse, war, cars, accidents, a lot of medical procedures, or trauma with a big T. And then there's trauma with a small t, which is kind of more the, and I'm going to say the day to day, the normal traumas that we as humans experience those, that step negative self talk, or somebody at school said something, you know, when you're a kid that kind of triggers that kind of the low grade stressors. And I figured that I had was just proud, I'd had some sort of low grade stressors. I grew up in a very religious household. And I'm not a very strict religious person, that was very hard for me because I am much more of a free spirit. So I figured it was more just kind of related to that, that struggle growing up in a religious household. Right. And I will admit, when I started having memories of my abuse, horrible as it was, there was a sense of relief that, okay, like, there's a reason why I hurt so bad.

Melissa Bright: 14:00

That was gonna be my question. I was like, there, there is as bad as it was, at least you are now finding answers, because one of the biggest things for me, and I did not have anywhere near not that I want to compare traumas, but I did not have child abuse. I mean, I didn't have trauma and the fact that like, my dad didn't treat us very well. And he was always hard on us. But besides that, I did have a pretty good childhood. But I always felt like there was something like wrong with me. And I knew that I blamed myself for like, my dad not being in my life, and so on and so forth. And now I just lost my train of thought, What was he talking about? Oh, awareness, how important awareness is to this whole, like healing process. And you were aware that something wasn't quite right. And I don't want to say something was wrong with you because for so long, that's what we think is is wrong and it's not something happened to us. Yes. And the first usually the.is awareness so you were aware you just couldn't make The other Connect? Yes. Yeah. Okay. And

Angie Berrett: 15:04

once I was able to even like you said, just giving it a name, just understanding brought a sense of really brought hold on to pain, make no mistake, but there was that it's almost like it gave me permission to hurt that, that that sense of being given permission that our body and our nervous system is responding the way that it's supposed to.

Melissa Bright: 15:24

Yeah. Wow. Oh my gosh, like, I'm so glad that I asked questions because I was did not even realize like, I didn't know your story before this except for the little blurb that I had. So I'm glad that I asked. Okay. So I know that you became a registered registered nurse while you're still a registered nurse. And that, did you contribute that? Well, obviously, you didn't? Because you didn't know that that was but what made you go into nursing? I guess?

Angie Berrett: 15:54

Yeah, really good. Good question. I have always liked helping people. I am one of those caregivers. And however, my major in college when I first went to college was outdoor recreation. And I love to be outdoors. I'm a very active person, very. If you can't tell my hands are always moving. My body is always moving. I just have a very active nervous system. Yeah. And then I realized that working in outdoor recreation, you work with a lot of kids at summer camps and teenagers at summer camps. And I realized we did not want to do that was not really where I wanted to work. And so one of the electives that we could take was a first aid class. And I took the first aid class and I loved it. And I was decided I was going to be a paramedic, I wanted to be a firefighter or paramedic, I was going to do that. And I have an aunt who's a nurse, and she talked to me instead into going to nursing school, because there are a lot more options. And so I started nursing school and never looked back. I had like I said, I have a lot of energy. So I went into emergency department nursing. So that was a way that I could get this adrenaline fixed. Yeah, I've learned now that part of that is that because of the level of abuse that I had, I have really big things that activate me to feel something. And so the adrenaline rush that I would get in the ER, allowed me to actually feel things that I didn't feel in my everyday life. And so, yes, my views did shape it. And it has given me opportunities that that have been fantastic as so many things. So yeah,

Melissa Bright: 17:38

yeah. So do you still? Are you just doing yoga now? Or do you still do stuff with nursing?

Angie Berrett: 17:46

I like to say I dabble in nursing, okay, I teach movement. i When the pandemic hit, I contemplated going back because there is such a need, and there still is such a need to go back, right? Part of my hesitation is nursing is a very demanding profession physically, emotionally, and I got burned out. So that's why I had left nursing and started teaching yoga full time anyway. And when the pandemic hit, I debated going back however, I was concerned for my own mental health, because I'd already had left because of burnout, things were even more stressful. And so I started actually teaching yoga for healthcare workers, they started taking care of the health care workers. And so now I will take a short contract and do something enough to keep my nursing license current. When is that that isn't gonna put so much stress so much overwhelm and trauma on my body, like going back into an emergency department or ICU care?

Melissa Bright: 18:54

Yeah. So yeah, hold it. Right. Right. So my mom was an LPN. And my I saw it like she was a single mom working her ass off for as long as I can remember until she went on disability for mental illness. My real dad, who they were not together, tried to tell me like convinced me to go to nursing school, like when I was in 17 or 18. And after like seeing my mom and the stress that it put on her, I was like, I'm sorry, dad, like, you cannot talk me into doing this. I, I don't like what I see and how stressed my mom was in these long hours. Not that I didn't want to help people. But that was just not an avenue. I wanted to and yeah, anyway, so I totally get that and you were aware like of how it takes a toll on your mental health and so on and so forth. So I get that. Okay. Now, I want to connect the dots of how were you introduced to trauma informed yoga.

Angie Berrett: 20:03

Yeah, I, as I was going through my journey and my healing, I, I practiced yoga for years, okay. And I had made a connection with one of my yoga instructors just through classes. And I wanted her to teach private lessons to me. So I started doing private lessons with her. And she said, she told me that she was not trauma informed. And I was like, I don't know what that means. So I don't care.

Melissa Bright: 20:34

not missing anything, okay.

Angie Berrett: 20:36

And so when she said that, I started looking into it. And then I actually had in 2017, when all that stuff was happening, I ended up checking myself into a inpatient psychiatric unit, I was incredibly suicidal, I was drinking heavily. And I knew that I needed some help. And one of the therapists that I saw there was actually getting trained to teach trauma informed yoga. And so she and I would talk about that, and she explained it to me. So that's how I heard about it. And then, during the pandemic, I have a good friend of mine who has had some trauma we've talked about, we've shared some experiences, she had found a certification program that was online, that is through this amazing group called collective resilient yoga. And they teach trauma informed yoga, she said she was signing up, asked if I wanted to, and I've done now four of their courses and Advanced Certified, it was so phenomenal. So that's kind of how I found out about it.

Melissa Bright: 21:39

That's awesome. And you actually, like, I just love learning from everybody, because I had not known what this was until a lady was on my podcast. Like, I think five or six episodes, Carrie Schmidt, who lost her son to cancer, she is now currently doing trauma informed yoga here, where we live. So now like I was curious, because I did not even know that this was a thing. So can you tell me what trauma informed yoga is?

Angie Berrett: 22:13

Yes, trauma informed yoga is yoga that, let me give you my interpretation of it, because I think everybody's interpretation can be a little bit different. So my interpretation is that it's yoga that encourages and empowers people to make movements based on their nervous system, their body. So it provides opportunities for learning how to be in the body in ways that traditional yoga does not. It provides opportunities for choice. And it gives space for people not being able to tolerate certain movements. Traditional yoga can be very structured, very rigid, it can be for some people, and that's what that's what is great are one of the many things that is great about that there is some structure, some patterns, some flow. And sometimes for some people, that doesn't work. And so trauma informed yoga provides more of a space for allowing people to have their experience their their feelings in ways that maybe are a little bit safer than in a traditional yoga class.

Melissa Bright: 23:32

Okay, that makes sense. So we're gonna break this down even more. Why? What is the importance of movement in the nervous system?

Angie Berrett: 23:45

Yes. I love this question. For those of you that don't know, Melissa knows, because we've talked about this, and I've done this before. So I'm I, the way I describe it is the best, the best way that I've ever learned is, it's called the hand brain. And it's a model that was designed by a psychologist named Dr. Dan Siegel. So I did not come up with this, this is not mine, let me just be very clear. I'm just taking something that was brilliant from someone else. So if you take your palm oil, let me make sure I'm in the camera. So if you take your hand out, thumbs out to the side, and maybe visualize it, if you want to do this, maybe you could do two hands, but taking the thumb and folding your thumb in towards the center of your palm. So you still have your four fingers up the thumbs in the center of the palm. So the feminine center the palm is the part of the brain that activates our fear center, our stress anxiety. This is what's called our fight or flight system. So or it's called our sympathetic nervous system. So when we have something that we perceive as a threat, and it doesn't have to actually be there, it can be something that we just perceive as a threat. This starts to take over. Now, if you bring your fingers on top of that little thumb area, the top fingers are the rational part of our brain. And this is the part that controls our thinking, our connection. And just as an FYI, this part doesn't form until we're about age 25. So this is still really rapidly developing up until around 25. So this is, you know, we're walking around our normal life are, our fingers are over our thumb. And then something happens, we get activated, we flip our lid, so our fingers come up, and we're now being motivated by the thumb or the fear center, or fight or flight. So when you think fight or flight, what does your body do, if you're going to run or fight, you start to your heart rate gets faster, your breathing gets faster, you get really irritable, that kind of stuff. So either we stay here, or sometimes when it gets too much, we go into overwhelm, which is right down here in the wrist. So on our hand brain, it's down here in the wrist, this is overwhelmed. And in overwhelm. This is typically where we shut down we freeze depression can be a part of this. And we're just really pretty much functioning. So what Movement does is movement can help shift us from freeze through fighter flight and bring our rational brain back online. So

Melissa Bright: 26:27

brings us from the wrist through the thumb to the fingers coming back on top. Movement is one of those ways that really helps to shift that when we go into fight or flight we flip our lid or even we're down into freeze it movement shifts that energy and brings us back into more of the rational brain part. Yes, and that is such a great diagram. And I don't know for people listening something to note your thumb what that is when you're in like the fight or flight that is your that's anxiety like exactly what you are feeling that is what I have felt ever since my mom passed away. In it doesn't have to be a real true threat. It could be a thought that has came into your brain so fast and left but now you were still in this. Like oh my god, some there's a threat, there's a threat when there's not really a threat to you. And when she first explained this to me and showed me I'm like, oh my god, I flipped my lid so much.

Angie Berrett: 27:30

And that's one of the things is normalizing it we all do until we figure out how to have more tolerance, more ability to sit in that discomfort of when the the fight or flight gets activated. We flip our lid all the time humans just do that we go into freeze and overwhelm. It just is a normal part of the body. So normalizing it makes a big difference.

Melissa Bright: 27:54

Yeah. And also something important. And this kind of goes along with it is this is also a way to regulate our nervous systems. Because whenever you have went through some kind of trauma, or you often go into like, not regulated state, okay, you are constantly like on edge or for me I know like chaos. Chaos was normal for me. I moved 15 Different times before I even went to high school like I was used to chaos. And so if you're ever like anxious or you're angry, or you're like these feelings that is because you like you need to find something to regulate. And that's why movement is so important. Yeah, dancing. The Yoga she's talking about. It's huge. I hope I explained that. Okay.

Angie Berrett: 28:47

Yeah, absolutely. It. So some of it, I'm just gonna expand on that. Yeah. So when we grow up in chaos, or when our so you mentioned moving a lot mine was child abuse, there's always that, that activation into the fight or flight so that becomes our normal. And so movement can help release some of that so we can find a new normal and find a different level of being able to tolerate peace or things like that. Yes, it's reframing what our structure what we've grown up with what our body is accustomed to.

Melissa Bright: 29:29

I love that you said tolerate peace. I was me and my boyfriend we're at this it's called the Redneck retreat. It's our my boyfriend's parents family like own this like little retreat and we go and they have four wheelers and cams and all this stuff. It is literally off the grid so far in the country. It was amazing. We did not have any cell service. It was just us six and that's all it was. Yeah, my anxiety was crazy. That that during that time, and I'm like what the hell is going on? At that moment, I realized it's calm, it's peaceful. I don't have shit to worry about. And that is not normal for me.

Angie Berrett: 30:09

And it's uncomfortable. It can be uncomfortable the when you start to experience peace, or happiness or things like that, that it especially if you've had a chaotic childhood, or you grew up with this activation, fight or flight, starting to learn to feel those things is very uncomfortable.

Melissa Bright: 30:27

Yeah, it's so is it definitely definitely is. Okay, so I know we've talked a lot about about it already. What other benefits are there to trauma informed yoga that we have not already discussed? Thank you to better health for being our sponsor, if you guys think you might need to see a therapist better help is amazing. They are online, you can do it from the comfort of your own home, you have the options to message them, you can do a phone call, you can do a video chat, whatever you feel comfortable with doing, they have several different types of therapists, if you need couples, or for marriage and family therapy, it's also available to individuals worldwide, better help is a monthly subscription. So you're not paying per session, and financial aid is available for those who qualify. So visit better help.com/bright side of life, that's better help.com/bright side of life, join over 500,000 people taking charge of their mental health with the help of an experienced professional. And for your first month, you're going to receive 10% off by being a listener of the bright side of life. So let them know that I sent you by using the link better help.com forward slash Bright Side of Life, the link will also be in the description section of this episode.

Angie Berrett: 31:47

Yeah, I'm me many I so the way I teach it, I teach with a lot of playful movements. Clay is a way that we can help re wire our brains, all mammals, so humans, dogs, monkeys, everything. We're all born with these pre wired circuits in our brain. And play is one of those. So if we can add playful movements into our, our movement repertoire, or our movement, toolbox, then that can actually tap into areas of the brain to help heal that we're born with that are innate to us. Yeah. So trauma informed yoga, the way I teach, it has a lot of play. And there's going to be movements that are not at all traditional movement. One of the things with trauma informed yoga that I found incredibly helpful was being given permission to not move with the breath. For me, breathwork can be very triggering, especially if I have to sit still can listening to people breathe really will put me into flashbacks of my childhood. And so being given permission not to move with the breath. That's a big one with trauma informed yoga is you know, you get to choose how and when you move. Yeah, the other thing is, teachers do a lot more talking in trauma informed yoga, because they're inviting exploration curiosity. So when we're in a pose, I'll say things like, you know, maybe explore where are you feeling something that maybe you've never done? Where are you feeling comfortable? Where what feels uncomfortable? Or, you know, can you shift around, notice how it feels when you shift around. So it's really more exploration in the body, not necessarily trying to go pose to pose to pose.

Melissa Bright: 33:46

Yeah, that's interesting that you mentioned that today, I was meditating. And I had to do this, like this obvious breath work. And it was, you're supposed to take deep breaths in and hold it as like, long as you could, but with ease, and I'm like, That is impossible for me. Because when I take a deep breath in, I'm like, my shoulders are up here. And then when I let it out, it's like, that's when I can find like, I was like, I don't know if I can do this with ease part like that you're talking about?

Angie Berrett: 34:15

And so that's where trauma informed yoga would say, Okay, let's find a way to help your nervous system do that. And so, if I were working with a client, you know, if you were my client, we would work to find a movement that you could do so that you could find that breath holding with these four. It may just not work for you and let's skip it. Let's find something that does work.

Melissa Bright: 34:35

Yeah. That's so interesting. Oh my gosh, I'm so excited. I'm so excited. Okay. I hope this question is gonna make sense more like that. I how, I hope this question makes sense. How do you teach trauma informed yoga? And you can interpret that however the hell you want to answer it?

Angie Berrett: 34:55

Yeah. Okay. I got lots of answers for that. So I I do it a couple of different ways. And it really kind of depends on what the person's looking for. So I do have three classes that I teach that are just kind of their online virtual classes, it's run a little bit more like a yoga class. However, I do still a lot of playful movements, but it is more run like a yoga class with learning resilience with talking about trauma, and like tapping into some of that information. So it's kind of like the light way of doing it. I do individual lessons, I work one on one with clients. And that's where we do more of the intensive shifting out, because that needs to be really focused. And the way that I do it, I've, I've actually shifted from calling it trauma informed yoga, I call mine trauma informed movement. Because I'm not doing straight traditional yoga movements. And in order to be sensitive to cultural appropriation, I don't want to call what I'm doing yoga, because it's not necessarily yoga, specifically. So I, I call my more trauma informed movements. And it's where we work to shift. We work with a person's negative belief about themselves, we work to find energy to shift that we do a lot of play. And the way that I teach my classes and my individual lessons are we do some sort of resourcing, so finding movements that help settle us, and then we'll add some intensity. And so we'll do something that can create more faster heart rate, maybe more anxiety, if we're tapping into some emotional stuff, if we're doing the one on one, and then come back down and resource. So it's just kind of this ebb and flow of soothing, activating, soothing activating, and then exploring and letting the body guide instead of the mind most often doing things we let our mind dictate. And this one, we really work to listen to what the person's body is telling them. And that's really hard for people to start to do. And so it's, it's an exploration and the one on one, we get much deeper into that.

Melissa Bright: 37:20

I love that. And you make such a good point about how our mind always like is usually dictating us over our body. And I think that is like, in the space of like meditation and stuff. And like sitting with yourself and exploring and bringing awareness, a lot of people don't even do that yet. And that's okay, we're not taught that. Now. We're trying to get people to, you know, like, this is what you have to do to, to get to know yourself, and so on and so forth. So I think that's, that's so important. I'm trying to do that.

Angie Berrett: 37:54

I'm gonna Yes, and I'm gonna, I'm, I'm gonna be a huge advocate of this, I'm gonna keep saying this. Yeah, doesn't have to be in stillness, that's I, so I have felt for a long time, because I can't sit and meditate, that actually makes me want to peel my skin off. And so it's that excruciating for me. And yet, if I do a movement with it, like something that goes side to side in particular, that I can sit and find the meditation and so forcing our bodies to do something, because our mind is saying, oh, we need to meditate can actually cause more harm to the body. We're stuffing that that energy down, when maybe meditation is a moving meditation. That's how I meditate is moving meditations.

Melissa Bright: 38:41

That's such a great point. And even Moreover, I think I was just trying to, like people not dealing with their emotions, just like go into watch TV or drinking or something like, I'm just not gonna deal with this and not try to get in tune with myself at all. Like, that's what we want to encourage is like, hey, try this.

Angie Berrett: 39:00

And, yeah, and there are lots of different ways to do it. So don't get discouraged if it is uncomfortable. Yeah, I think that's that's kind of where I was. Exactly. Here's don't get discouraged, because there's various different ways. Yeah.

Melissa Bright: 39:13

And that's such a great point. I love that. I love that. You're saying like, I can't meditate sitting still like no, like, and I love that because then people might hear that and be like, Oh my God, thank you, Angie, because I can It drives me crazy or something. So we need to have other people say that kind of thing. Okay. My next question to you is, do people have to know that they're like, do they have to know of their trauma before wanting to go to trauma informed yoga?

Angie Berrett: 39:44

Great question, and the answer is no. Yoga itself can bring about some of this emotional change that I'm talking about. Before I became trauma informed yoga certified, I would go to yoga classes and I would end up sobbing in the fetal position on my mat because even traditional yoga has, has great benefits to help release. And one of the nice things about doing movement is you don't have to know the why you don't have to know what happened. It's really more about tapping into the sensation in the body and finding ways to release it. So, for example, shame has been a big emotion for me, I've struggled with shame a lot. And I feel emotionally itchy. I feel just yucky. I kind of hate myself. But I don't need to know the whys. If I go move, and try and shift that energy out. I don't even have to know that that shame. In fact, it's taken me eight months to be able to acknowledge that's what that emotion that you know that sensation is. Yeah, so it's really more about once again, not using the brain, you don't need to name it. We don't need to know it. It's more feeling it and shifting it out.

Melissa Bright: 40:53

I love that. I love that. I could like ask a million questions about this just because yeah, you're like does do you have to be a beginner? Do you have to like know all about this stuff?

Angie Berrett: 41:06

No, I have worked with people that have never done yoga before. I have worked with people that tell me Oh, I can't do yoga. I'm not flexible enough. I've tried yoga, you know it? No, it doesn't matter. trauma. Informed yoga is all about trauma informed movement, yoga, it's all about meeting a person where they are. And so if a person comes to me, and they're feeling tons of anxiety, we run, we do very active movements. If a person comes to me and they're struggling with depression, then we sit lay on the floor and maybe move our fingers. And so it really is not about what have you done? What do you know, it's about being in the moment and being in the body?

Melissa Bright: 41:46

That's great. That makes sense. Okay, you said you have found yourself sobbing on your yoga mat before? Does this happen a lot with like trauma informed yoga.

Angie Berrett: 42:01

Before traditionally, yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's, um, when I personally have done it multiple times. And teachers will just come up and give you like, a little, you know, my teachers would give like a little Patrick, Nick. Acknowledgement, yeah, it can't. Because even and I'm gonna say even traditional yoga, and trauma informed yoga. We're doing movements where we're shifting things around. So it's very common to feel some emotions with it. Yep, doing trauma informed yoga, can produce sometimes some bigger emotional stuff, because it's tapping into the body in a way that is a little bit different than traditional yoga. And so people might start to feel something and then all of a sudden, they're really feeling it something that they've never felt before. And so that can be a very common response. Absolutely.

Melissa Bright: 43:00

Yeah. Interesting. Can this replate can trauma informed yoga slash movement replaced therapy?

Angie Berrett: 43:09

I say no. I, I think it works better in conjunction with because we shift movement, energy trauma, we're not looking to necessarily process it, we're looking to shift it so that it can be processed. And so processing then through with a licensed therapist, I think is actually more helpful when done together. For me, as I've gone through my journey, I have been through therapy, I'm still in therapy, and I needed something that was able to shift the energy because all the stuff that I was processing was really overwhelming. And I didn't have a way to get that out. So I think they work better when done in conjunction.

Melissa Bright: 43:58

Yeah. Oh, my gosh, this is amazing shift. So you can process it

Angie Berrett: 44:03

shifts so you can process it, it makes it easier to sit in that discomfort of whatever it is that you need to work through.

Melissa Bright: 44:10

Yeah, amazing. Can I ask you what kind of therapy you have done, like what you've explored because there's so many different types,

Angie Berrett: 44:18

so many different types. I have done talk therapy. I've done art therapy, um, I have done and the type that I do now is EMDR. Yep. For people that are not familiar with it. It's I movement, desensitization and reorganization or something like that. I don't remember exactly what it stands for. But it's literally you do some sort of bilateral or both sided body movement because it processes into the neurons and the brain in in ways that you can't with talk therapy.

Melissa Bright: 44:50

Yeah. It's amazing. I had somebody that did that. When she lost her child, she did EMDR and it literally changed her life and she was able to Start like a whole business, because that I don't wanna say cured her, but it was so powerful for her to do that.

Angie Berrett: 45:07

It's very effective in reprocessing and and desensitizing those feelings as well. Absolutely. I firmly believe in it.

Melissa Bright: 45:15

Yeah. That's awesome. All right, perfect. Okay. So tell me specifically about I know we've touched a little bit about it on it. But your company is called a B. Yoga. Correct?

Angie Berrett: 45:30

I just changed the name of it. Because yeah, so it's Angie Barrett movement. And it's because what I was talking about the cultural appropriation, with the term yoga, I'm being very sensitive. So it's Angie Barrett movement.

Melissa Bright: 45:44

Perfect. Okay. So tell me tell our listeners, if they're interested in getting to know or getting to connect with you, what kind of services you do offer?

Angie Berrett: 45:57

Yes, um, like I said, I have three yoga classes that are kind of I call him like level one, level one trauma, so you're just kind of moving, maybe starting to explore it. I do work a lot of work one on one with clients, I offer private lessons. And if you're interested in that, I also offer a free 15 minute consultation. So definitely reach out, we can talk about what you're looking to shift, you know what you could use help with how movement could work for you. And then I do offer stand up paddleboard yoga, but that one has to be done in person, and that one is seasonal dependent. So those are what I offer. The best way to get in touch with me is my website. It's Angie Barrett movement, and I spell my last name b e r e TT. So Angie, Barrett movement.com has all my social medias, you can schedule a 15 minute console, all that stuff through my website.

Melissa Bright: 46:55

That is awesome. And I actually saw on your website, like the paddleboard stuff and I'm like, I would probably fall off in five seconds, but I'm intrigued.

Angie Berrett: 47:05

What I tell everybody is falling isn't failing, it means that you're pushing your body to limits that you've never been before. And everybody says that, and we go at whatever pace feels good to you. And yeah, I love it. When I fall in, I still fall in. And it's it's such a great exercise in mindfulness because it brings you instantly back to your mind has to wandered. And you have to figure out, it's it's a fun way. I'm big on play.

Melissa Bright: 47:35

Yeah, I love it. Because right now I'm doing bar. And there's a lot of like balance with that. And like you do fall over because you have like one leg up in the air. And when I first started it, I didn't have like that grade a balance. But now that I've done it so many times, I'm like, Oh, my balance is getting better. So I might not suck as bad as I'm saying I am.

Angie Berrett: 47:55

I don't think you would suck and neither would I ever tell anybody that they suck? I bet you would do much better than you realize. At the end, you would be like, Wow, that I did better than I thought I did. Because like 99% of my clients say that when we come back and they're like, Oh, that wasn't as hard as I thought.

Melissa Bright: 48:15

Yeah, that is awesome. Okay, before we go, and we do the little practice or the sequence, is there anything that I have left out that you want to share either about you or about trauma informed movement that we have not talked about?

Angie Berrett: 48:35

I just want to say that there is hope. If you're struggling, if you feel anything, even if you don't know what it is, even if you don't have words for it, that doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with you. There's hope. So there's lots of different modalities. Melissa has a great, great podcast for hope. But there's hope it doesn't mean there's something wrong with you. It means that you just haven't found the right thing

Melissa Bright: 48:58

yet. Absolutely. 100% Okay, so I have one last question. Before we go and we do the sequence. Yes. And I asked Jordan Oda this.

Angie Berrett: 49:08

I don't. Oh,

Melissa Bright: 49:09

I love it. Sometimes. I'm like, maybe they know, maybe they don't know. Okay. Angie, in your own words. What does the bright side of life mean to you? Oh, that

Angie Berrett: 49:19

is a great question. Um, to me, it means living. I am gonna bring it back to my my black hole. I've felt like I've had a black hole for so long. So to me it feels it means living in the sun living as big as bright as as authentically you as possible. That's what that means to

Melissa Bright: 49:46

me. I love it. I love it. All right. Angie, are you ready to show us a little practice little sequence on movement?

Angie Berrett: 49:53

Yes, let's do it.

Melissa Bright: 49:56

Let's do it. All right. All right. I am going to back Okay,

Angie Berrett: 50:01

I'm standing, Melissa is going to do it seated. And I just have to make sure I don't roll over my dog as I do this.

Melissa Bright: 50:09

As she's sitting right here, that's not part of the movement.

Angie Berrett: 50:12

That's not part of the movement. Let me just adjust my camera. So if any of you get motion sick, definitely look away for just a minute. Okay, so a couple of movements. Like I said, you can do it seated or standing, you can do whatever variation that you want. If you're seated, pull any fleshy bits out, like actually pull your fleshy bits out, and then just kind of shift and really route down into your chair. Okay, everybody pressed your feet into the ground, maybe just kind of roll side to side, front to back and see if you can find all four corners of your feet. If you want more activation, try lifting up your toes and noticing how does that change the activation. And then I like to start to add a gentle sway to my body to starting to just sway side to side. Once again, seated or standing. Toes can be up or down. Maybe you want to explore what it feels like to move through both of those. And then as we do the start to notice what's happening in your body. For me, my shoulders, you're starting to drop down, my breath is starting to relax more as I see your shoulders dropping. This doesn't feel good for some people, so it might not feel good for you totally fine. So now try shifting front to back, standing or seated. Same thing. So start noticing now what's coming up for you. For this one, for me, it's very uncomfortable. So my heart rate starting to be like I'm starting to contract my glute muscles just contracted. Maybe try circles now. Now maybe try going in circles.

Melissa Bright: 51:55

I gotta try not to run into my mic. Yeah, I

Angie Berrett: 51:57

know, right. Just noticing what's happening in your body. This one for me is kind of a medium in between. And if you notice my body just went right back to the side decide I like this, I decide. So it's starting to explore what movements settle for you. So for me, it's I decide if for you if it was front to back, come back to that. And then everybody shake it out, shake up our day legs, get some wiggle, get some jiggle. All right. So this one is a great one that works if you're feeling some depression. If you're feeling some anxiety, just do it faster, and I'll cue through it. This one is a great one for some self support some self love and some self compassion. So if you're seated, press, you're sitting bones down, lengthen up through your torso, shoulders, maybe roll a couple of times. If you're standing, slight bending your knees, bring your feet to a comfortable distance. Same thing, lengthen through your torso, rub your shoulders, roll your shoulders. And then we're just gonna start to open our arms wide, as wide as you want. Maybe you want him down, maybe you want to try exploring up and then wrapping your arms around you maybe holding hands, grabbing elbows, or even giving yourself a hug. And then here's the magic. Give a little shake a little dragon, someone that you love. And then arms opening line as wide as you want. And then as you come in, maybe cross the other side. So elbows and do the little shimmy the little shake. And then move at whatever pace you want. If you want to move with the breath, maybe inhale open wide. And as you breathe out, cross your arms. Get the little shake, like you're hugging someone that you love. Inhale if you want if you're standing and you want to add a bend to the knees, arms open, wide standing up. And as you exhale, maybe bend the knees, notice what that feels like. Get that little shake. And then keep moving. If I'm going to add some variations, if you're like, I'm not doing that big of a movement, maybe just try your hands like you're feeling a little bit depressed, you're not sure you want to do anything. Maybe just open your hands wide, and then bring them back together. Don't have doesn't have to be a big movement. If you're feeling some anxiety, maybe you want to go faster, big, open, close, open, close. And so it's really tapping into the amount of energy that you want to release. I love it. And then I'm going to move medium pace because mostly I want to move medium pace. That's what the body wants. So you get to go whatever pace you want. Inhale with the breath if you want. Exhale, get that shimmy and that shake. So maybe about two more times arms opening wide, crossing around, give yourself some last one, arms open wide. And then hugging in, give yourself that love. Beautiful. And then bring your arms down by the side. And this is the really important part, shake it out, shake up your arms, shake out your legs, get some wiggle, get some jiggle, this actually has been shown to release that tension, we have to get it out. So that's a good one for self love, self support. This next one that I'm going to do I love, it's a great one if you're looking to get rid of a lot of energy, so a lot of anxiety, a lot of stress, a lot of emotional angst, you're not quite even sure what's going on. You don't have a name for it totally fine. This one works great. I like to call this rollerskating octopus. So we're gonna pretend like we're an octopus on rollerskates or rollerblades or any sort of shoe that has some sort of wheel on it. Now, we have no bones and we have eight limbs. So how would you move? If you're an octopus on rollerskates? Where would your arms go? Yeah, get the shake is that wiggle? I laugh cuz you're gonna feel like you look silly, which then when you're ready, imagine now that you're just to see an enemy or sea cucumber floating in the water. Find the drift of the water the support, but maybe notice what's happening in your body. So notice, maybe you might still have a fast heart rate. That's okay, but notice what's happening as you kind of float or pretend to float on this water. And then when you're ready coming back to rollerskating octopus get now you're with your other limbs be let him be as crazy you oh shoot, I'm off to the side of the camera. Yeah, get it out. And then when you're ready, come back. Floating floating as a see an enemy sea cucumber. Whatever fish you want to be.

Melissa Bright: 57:17

We have two big fish tanks in our house. So I love that you're using this. Right?

Angie Berrett: 57:23

You're just floating along. And then we'll do one more round of each if you want to. If you don't option do you get to sit this one out. You get to skip it do it if you want do it 100 More times whatever works for you. So when you're ready rollerskating octopus? Yes, getting it out. Didn't have any bones. For more extremities. I would have some coming out of my head. You're ready. Just relaxing, floating back. Finding that support of the water or that imagined support? Just that sway that that gentle drift. And maybe notice check in how does your body feel now? Way better? Way better?

Melissa Bright: 58:12

Because you know I had some stomach stuff going on.

Angie Berrett: 58:15

Yeah. And has that shifted out? Yeah. Or is shifting? Yeah. Yep. Okay, so then come back, shake it out. Shake out your arms, shake out your legs. I like to say the more wiggle and jiggle you get, the better, more gets it out. And then arm's reach out wide. I'm gonna put them in front. And then as you come down has come down to your heart center. Thank you so much for practicing with me all today. Oh, Shanti Shanti Shanti. Peace, peace, peace. Beautiful job, everybody.

Melissa Bright: 58:58

That was amazing. That was awesome. Angie, I love that so much. I'm gonna go back and watch this and do the stand up version because I want to do the octopus on the roller skates standing up. It's

Angie Berrett: 59:12

so fun. And that's one of the things that that movement can be. And laughing helps to shift that energy. So doing something that makes you feel silly and laugh really does shift that energy. So absolutely. When you need it, do it as much as you as much as you want. Mm hmm.

Melissa Bright: 59:29

Yeah. So one last story and then I'll let you go yesterday, my boyfriend and I were making BLTs on the grill. And I get in the refrigerator and I don't see any frickin Manet's okay and like, he will not have be able to use without Manny's and I'm like, gosh, dang it I have to go to the freakin store. So I'm pissed at this point. Like, I'm mad I don't want to leave my house. I was literally just got back from my house. So I go to our store Dierbergs I get in the car after checking out to realize that I had mayonnaise, it was just in the pantry. It wasn't in the refrigerator. And Brandon is the only person in my house that like I could yell at, but for no reason because it's my own damn fault. So I felt this in myself, like I was anxious, I was pissed off, I was angry. And I literally just like yelled at the top of my lungs in my car to like, get this energy out before I came home, out on somebody that didn't deserve it.

Angie Berrett: 1:00:28

That's, that's perfect. One of the things that I'll have my clients do is like to punch a pillow and just bring it out. There it is, it's all about shifting that energy. So you don't flip your lid and take it out on someone that is really not the cause of whatever's building up.

Melissa Bright: 1:00:46

Exactly, exactly. It felt so good. I'm like these people probably next to me are like, What the hell is wrong with this lady, but I needed to do it. So my boyfriend did not get it. So, Angie, thank you so, so much for your time today. I greatly greatly appreciate it.

Angie Berrett: 1:01:02

Melissa, thank you so much for having me. I have enjoyed this so

Melissa Bright: 1:01:05

much. So have I. Alright, that's it. That's a wrap. Thank you, everyone for listening to this week's episode of The Bright Side of Life. Oh my gosh, I enjoyed this episode so much. And I hope you guys got some knowledge on what yoga informed no trauma informed yoga is or what Angie likes to say trauma and for movement, which makes absolute sense to me. So maybe this is something that you guys want to check out. And if you would like to connect with Angie, you guys can always look at the show notes, her information will be there. Or you can go to her guest page on the bright side of life podcast.com And that has all of her contact information there as well. And of course, if you guys have not yet signed up for emails, please be sure to do so over on that website that I just mentioned. So you guys can be informed when a new episode and other things drop like that. If you guys know of anyone that may need to hear Angie story, please please share it with them. Because we never know if this is the one that puts hope back