French Kissing Life

Ep 31: Slowing Down to Experience More Joy with Veronique Ory

• Shawnna Stiver • Episode 31

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Ever wonder if slowing down could actually speed up your journey to joy? Veronique Ory joins me in this episode to share how embracing stillness transformed her career and outlook, proving that sometimes, less really is more. As a yoga instructor and storyteller, she traded the frenetic pace of New York's theater scene for a more mindful life in sunny Florida. From her grandfather's captivating tales to her own yoga-inspired book, this is a delightful reminder that life's sweetest moments often happen when we simply press pause. Get ready for a conversation that's as invigorating as a beachside yoga session in sunny Florida!

Topics covered:

  • Veronique's journey from being a "starving artist" in New York City to moving to Florida and focusing on yoga.
  • Importance of slowing down and finding joy in simple moments.
  • The power of storytelling in creating human connections.
  • The importance of thriving rather than just surviving.
  • Finding ways to break out of limiting beliefs and old patterns.
  • The benefits of movement, both physical and mental/emotional, in processing experiences.


Here are some actions you can take whether you have 5 minutes or 50:

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Connect with Veronique:
Website: http://yogawithveronique.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/veroniqueory

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I want to hear from you! Share your favorite takeaways, an aha moment you had or a fun emoji that represents this week’s show, along with your Instagram handle or email address and you’ll be entered to win this month’s giveaway!

Until next time, muah!

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French Kissing Life is sponsored by Ampersand Copy and Content. Ready to convert browsers into buyers? If you want to master your messaging, stand out in a saturated market and become a crushed-on, go-to brand, contact us today!

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to French Kissing Life. I'm your host, shauna Stiver, and I am thrilled to help you discover what makes your heart race, your soul dance and your spirit soar. Every week you'll get a fun dose of inspiration, laughter and a sprinkle of magic as we explore stories, insights and conversations that empower you to ignite the spark within, in a world that demands you be anything but yourself. This is your permission slip to be a little more you Together, let's shed the shoulds, embrace our unique brilliance and welcome more joy. Are you ready to French Kiss Life? Welcome back to another episode of French Kissing Life. I am your host and resident storyteller, shauna Stiver.

Speaker 1:

You know I love any conversation that starts with storytelling, so this one was no exception. It was so good. I gotta say. Never before have I talked with someone so thoughtful with her words, to the point where I truly felt like I was on a journey with her and, trust me, I had about a thousand questions I wanted to ask because her story was so interesting. There were just so many things that I wanted to know and obviously so little time.

Speaker 1:

So Veronique Ori discovered the calming benefits of yoga during her time in New York City, where she pursued extensive training, earning her registered yoga teacher certification with over 500 hours of training recognized by Yoga Alliance. She now leads international retreats, workshops and private sessions catering to diverse settings, students and inspirational themes. Her timeless and relatable yoga style embraces the journey of self-inquiry. In addition to her teaching, Veronique is the author of Shine On and Off the Mat, a unique and interactive yoga book that combines storytelling playlists, on-demand classes, mindfulness exercises and captivating photos guiding readers on a supported, self-paced yoga journey. Veronique's ultimate goal is to empower and inspire her students to shine their light.

Speaker 1:

Amen, sister. Her story did not start out with yoga, though, which is what we dive into during our conversation. We talk about how her grandpa's love of storytelling inspired her career in theater, why being the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor helped instill the starving artist mentality, the resistance she worked through, leaving New York City for a slower way of life, and how those shifts opened up a completely different purpose for her. This conversation is such a great reminder about slowing down and finding the joy in simple moments, so please enjoy my chat with Veronique Ori. Hello, veronique, I was just telling you before we started you have such a beautiful name. I've never seen that name before. Tell me where it came from.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much. My mom had a really good friend in school, named Veronica actually, and we're from Quebec, and so oftentimes there's a mixture of French and English, and so she thought well, I really like this girl, and so she went with the French version of Veronica, which is Veronique.

Speaker 1:

Veronique, I love that. I did not know that you are originally Canadian. That's also my favorite, because I love Canadians. Thank you, yeah.

Speaker 2:

It's nice to be from a country that has a good reputation.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, oh, yes, I love. I have a best friend who's Canadian and several people I just you guys are gems. I love you. Ok, so we are going to dive into all things movement today, and I love when I was doing the prep for your episode. I love this idea that you talk about which is getting out of our head episode. I love this idea that you talk about which is getting out of our head, and so I really would love to kind of talk about that in our conversation. But before we dive into that, I would love to hear more about just who you are, sort of like your story and how you got into doing this type of work.

Speaker 2:

Yes, so my original pathway was through storytelling. My grandfather was a phenomenal storyteller and we would often joke that he had it in his head of the story that he would want to tell and it could be the cashier at the supermarket or the person next to us at the movie theater or the person next to us at the movie theater. He would love to tell these stories about the old country, which was Hungary, where he originally was from, and so we grew up around the kitchen table in Montreal hearing of these stories and then eventually, when I was about four some of my earliest memories my grandfather got me an Elvis Presley microphone and he hooked it up to his double cassette tape deck in the living room and he invited me to perform shows for him. So I was in the living room at their condo singing Judy Garland and it was ladies and gentlemen and gathering people together, and one of my favorite things was making people laugh, connecting as a family and just having these really joyful moments of connection, and that parlayed into me becoming a theater major, being an actor in Los Angeles and New York, and we ran for 17 years producing plays that won Pulitzer Prizes as well as Tony Awards, and I would produce revivals of these and I was really moved by the stories that were gritty and dark, but underneath it there was light, and so I really loved the plays that didn't have a perfect bow at the end.

Speaker 2:

I love the idea that people would go on and have conversations of like what did you think that meant? And have these ideas of that unpacking of what you saw and how it hits each person individually differently. And maybe, like years later, I'd see someone there thinking, oh, I keep thinking about that play and how it's not exactly how you would think that it would be. And what I started to realize was, like our own lens, the way that we show up in the world, like we're influencing what our own belief of how the story is, and if we're believing that of something that's on the stage, we're also believing that for our relationships in real life, of the way that we sort of interject our perception, based on where we've come from, of how we believe something to be.

Speaker 2:

And fast forward to when I was living in New York it was Hurricane Sandy and everything shut down and my roommate at the time he had suggested that we go to this yoga class and he probably could have said anything. We were holed up in our apartment for a couple days and I was just so excited to go outside and do something and it was one of those awakenings where I didn't fully realize that I was operating at such a pace. I had this acceleration throughout my entire life where I felt this impulse to graduate school early, which I did to start my own nonprofit theater company at 22. I was living in these major cities and operating at such a high pace and I was actually living like a very stress-induced, anxiety-ridden existence, living practically in poverty, because I felt like identifying with being a starving artist sort of gave me grit and clout and it was almost something to brag about. That I was like pounding the pavement and it was hard and I was starting to unpack that as I found yoga, or yoga found me, and then everything really shifted.

Speaker 2:

But then also I feel like it led me exactly to where I am, where, like this storytelling piece, this creativity piece, this coming together in community, the storytelling and having these thought provoking experiences, it has morphed and transitioned into a space where I feel like it's actually holistically sound and not so dramatic in all of the ways, but rather grounded and rooted and more in the processing and cathartic spaces that is actually able to be metabolized in a way that's healthy and it's like sometimes dark and sometimes gritty in the way that life is and also, I feel like in this new container, it's like it all has led to this space where all of a sudden it feels like, okay, this is the seed of my grandfather telling stories and it's coming through in this lens of inviting people to come together in a way that is about connection and that's ultimately the thread of yoga. It's not necessarily here. We are on a rectangle piece of fabric, assuming positions with our body and yet, you know, sometimes it is. And I really do believe that the transmission and the ability to transform, transmute, all of this transcendent nature is possible through the way that we're in the consistent self-inquiry process and through that creativity and that remembering of play.

Speaker 2:

And you know, I feel like a lot of us can relate to performing for our grandparents in our living room. There's like some version of that in a lot of our stories and how that can have a space. I think like oftentimes it's like what lit us up when we were 10 years old, the more that we can remember that thread into what we're doing now, the more joyful and the more energized and ultimately content that we can be. That's not reliant on these like dopamine hits of something necessarily happening in order for us to feel like we're happy or that we're successful or something is moving in a way that equates success. That could be like written down somewhere, but like what resonates.

Speaker 1:

So that's the the brush stokes of of where I've come from yes, oh, my lord, um, I feel like there is about 10 podcast episodes in all of that, so that thank you for telling all of that. Like there's just so much richness in there. I'm like gosh, which question do I start with? First, I want to ask about your grandfather first. Did he like, where did his love of storytelling come from? Do you know?

Speaker 2:

I don't know where that came from. That's how I've always known him to be. He knew five languages. You know people that are from Europe of that era in particular. He was so intelligent and had so much richness in culture and experience and being a survivor of war, and everything was taken from him and he got it back and it was taken from him again and so much character and class of literally coming with nothing but the clothes on his back him, my grandmother and my dad, when my dad was just 10 years old and came to Montreal to try to have a better life and built everything from the ground up and of his character.

Speaker 2:

Both my grandparents never had a sad story to tell.

Speaker 2:

They were always for family and for bringing people together, and so the the storytelling I think like really came from the wanting to move through and and being so resilient to, to come through so much darkness and so much hatred and to persevere against really the most atrocious of circumstances and to be survivors. Of that there's so much, I think, to be said. And to be a survivor, to have that much dignity, to not hold a grudge. There was never like stories of oppression or prejudice or discrimination or any of that, but it was rather like the thing that came through is family and connection and like bringing people together. And he just had such a love of words and was so articulate in the way that he communicated and that really came through with my dad and then it was passed on to me as well, this really great love of language, of poetic, clear verbiage that illustrates not only the emotion but also the texture of this, like almost visual painting that you're crafting, but like through words. It's like how can this be translated from words into pictures?

Speaker 1:

It sounds like it was his way also of healing and using the language and the stories to, you know, make sense of things that perhaps otherwise can't really, you can't really make sense of, I think. So, yeah, that's amazing. So did he like, did he ever write? Or was it just mostly telling stories? When he would be connecting with family members, it would mostly be telling stories auditorially.

Speaker 2:

We had talked about writing things down, and what's so interesting is, when I started teaching yoga classes this was back in 2017, I would always love to tell a little story at the beginning of the class, and I wasn't even fully cognizant that I was doing this. It was like something that was going on in my life and I would tell it in a way, not as like a personal share, but more of like I would. I would leave it be like a, or let it be like a scaffolding, so like I would allow like this theme to come through of. You know, for example, I lost something and I was like in a stressed situation and I realized that the thing that I was looking for was here all along, or, you know, whatever the thing is, and so oftentimes people would say like, oh, the story that you told it like really resonated.

Speaker 2:

And I don't know if you realize this, but the theme that you're weaving through, it's like exactly the message that I needed to hear, right. Like the thing that we lost, that was here all along, like that can hit you in a very specific way, depending on what's going on in your life, whether you hear it today, next month or next year. And so you like take that and it and then you like carry it on with you in your day. And so people started to tell me like you should really write your stories down, and sort of in the same way that my grandfather never wrote his stories down, I thought, no, like it's just you know in the moment. But then people say it to you like time and time again and you start to think like like well, maybe I'll write these down.

Speaker 2:

And so I started to write them down more of like a personal journal, and then it ended up becoming a book that I later published and it's it's so funny because, as that was happening, it was like oh, like this is obviously a generational storytelling that's been passed on. Like. People are like how long did it take you to write your book and it's like, well, technically, two and a half years and I suppose, really technically, my entire life or like, really technically it's been like a of lifetimes and maybe you know, down the line, intergenerationally, you know it's. It's come through the pike in different forms and I just happened to live in a time where there was a global pandemic and everything stopped and there was space to write yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what happened.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what happened. Yeah, um, so would you say that you did you pursue the theater as a way to continue to carry on the storytelling?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was so wild when I was to decide on a major. It almost wasn't even a decision, like I think. Like the question was posed and it was like well, of course, I'm going to major in theater. It was from a very young age I knew I wanted to be an actor and originally I thought I would be in films. And then I thought, well, I'll major in theater and I'll learn the craft of dissecting the character and really getting into the art of it.

Speaker 2:

And then what was so funny is when I graduated college, my theater mentor said well, you can't move to New York because you don't do musicals, so you need to move to Los Angeles because you'll never make a career being a straight actor in New York. And so he convinced me that I needed to move to Los Angeles and be in film and TV, which I did. I packed up my little hatchback and drove across the country to Los Angeles when I was 20 years old and got a manager and joined the union and did a bunch of independent films and very soon realized, oh, I actually prefer theater. And then that's when I started my own theater company and started producing all the plays that I read in college that I really love. And what was so interesting about that transition was it was like each piece of that it was like, well, of course, like this is the next step. And so it's so funny like people around me they were, you know, questioning I don't know what I want to be when I grow up and like how do you even make that decision of what you want to be? And that piece was always felt like it was like written in the stars. It's like, okay, well, of course, like this is the next move, like this feels like really resonant for me, like what else would I do? You know, which is so hysterical, because everyone in my family is an accountant or a financial advisor, like I kind of was birthed out of I don't know something else Numbers, yeah, apparently Both my grandmothers were very artistic.

Speaker 2:

My mom's mom was a phenomenal painter I actually have a handful of her beautiful art pieces in my home and my dad's mom was a really phenomenal seamstress. She made these gorgeous drapes from hand and was so talented in the kitchen, like real, true culinary arts, and you would try to ask her the recipe to something and she just, you know, was putting things together. Like I don't have recipes. What are you talking? And she, just you know, was putting things together Like I don't have recipes. What are you talking about? So it's you know, these artists that are like they're not. You know, paint by number or you know, following a recipe.

Speaker 2:

It's like this is from my heart. I'm just doing this, which, in a lot of ways, I felt like that was my craft as as an actor. It was very much like of who I was, where. That was really cathartic for a time, but also it was very dysregulating, like knowing what I know now of how the neural pathways are formed and our thoughts leading to our words and our words leading to our actions. Like how deeply troubled I was living in the brain space of these very deeply troubled characters. Yeah, it's so dysregulating. And then and then I'd be like in the world of like bawling my eyes out and like explosive arguments and rehearsal or performances and people be like let's go out for drinks afterwards, and I'd be like I need to go to sleep, like yeah, yeah, exploded my entire heart, like I can't. Yeah, do it. Um, but it was, it was so fun and it was cathartic, and I feel like that's probably like what I use as therapy for my 20s and my 30s. Yeah, steeply moving in a lot of ways.

Speaker 1:

So you mentioned that you were kind of in that particular phase. You were very much this starving artist. You kind of were in this very frenetic pace. Was there something like why do you think that you identified so much with that particular story? Or you know, I guess like I don't know what I'm trying to say but where do you think that came from, that desire to kind of keep up with that pace?

Speaker 2:

Psychologically I could rationalize the wounding of being the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and like almost like this, like re-ingrained wound, of feeling undeserving of thriving. In a certain regard I could really hold like a pretty large chip on my shoulder about that. And it's talked about a lot of the psychological effects that these major traumas have on future generations, that these major traumas have on future generations and the thing that I am continuing to unpack and process is that that I inherited all of that and also I inherited all of that powerful resiliency and so when I can move through that huge amount of weight of feeling like I am fighting for my worth but also like subconsciously holding myself at a place that is not allowing myself to thrive, like I could be at that space probably for this entire lifetime. And I had this defining moment on East 59th Street standing outside of an off-Broadway theater 59 East 59. I was producing a world premiere play called I Carry your Heart and the play was so beautiful it's such a gorgeously written play by Georgette Kelly and my associate producer, chris Rowe. He's a dear friend of mine. He and I were standing on the sidewalk. As much joy and as gosh. I made so many phenomenal friends and had such creative inspiration through the 17 years of the theater company and beyond in different regards.

Speaker 2:

It was also so crushing in a lot of ways. It was so financially challenging and it attracts a lot of very dramatic personalities and I felt like I could never pay people enough in order for that to be like their sole income. And so what ended up happening is like people that would come on as designers or actors they're also hustling, right Like everyone's like hustling. It's like Like it's a very hard lifestyle and we ended up losing one of our designers five days before the show opened and it was one of the pivotal design elements of the show. She had a family emergency and I was standing on the sidewalk with my friend, chris, and I was just bawling. Like these things happen and it just feels like the whole world is over and yeah and it's. And it just feels like like you just want to like throw yourself on the sidewalk and be boneless. Like like you want to be like two years old in the in the supermarket and be like I. I can't go on. And it was one of those moments where, like through you know, just like ugly crying, I like.

Speaker 2:

I said to him I said I want to thrive, like I am like done, feeling like I am just trying to survive. And it's this conversation that I come back to a lot, because I feel like a lot of us, like you know, no matter what the industry is, if you're in a certain cycle of small business owner, entrepreneur, you're like trying to build something from the ground up, like it can feel so grueling and it can feel so hard and it feels like, oh my gosh, like am I ever going to get to a point where I feel like I'm not like living paycheck to paycheck or like checking price tags and like having this conversation of like I can't afford to do this? Or like you look at people going on vacation, you're like I can't go on vacation, like that's crazy and it's like, oh, I actually don't want to have that narrative about myself, like I actually want to thrive and what's so crazy about it is like the subconscious belief of like not being able to thrive is so like deeply embedded into the subconscious that like, even like having the like cognitive awareness of like wanting to break that cycle. It took me years, like from that conversation, it took another three years to decide to close my theater company after 17 years, to relocate from New York City to Vero Beach, florida, to like revolutionize the way that I was operating in the world.

Speaker 2:

And it's like in that space of like being able to actually slow down and really like pay attention to what these cycles are.

Speaker 2:

That's when everything really shapeshifted. It's like okay, like the creativity, the storytelling, it doesn't have to look this one way that I originally thought, because what I was stuck in the loop in was, oh like, I've invested so much time and money in the career to look this one particular way and I felt like if I shifted from that, I would be a failure and like what would people think about me? And like what would my family say? And like this whole like internal dialogue of like, oh, like, I said I was going to do this thing and I like don't want to be untrue to my word. And it's like sometimes allowing that old version, it's like almost like you're kind of like like breaking through this, like crab shell that you've been carrying around. It's like, if you're growing and the hope is that we are like, you got to like let that old shell go in order to metamorphosize into the next version of yourself, your business and hopefully shedding these old beliefs in a way that is actually uplifting, so that you can get to that space of thriving.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I remember in my first year of college I went to a big state school because my boyfriend was going there at the time and my best friend was going there. But it was never like do you really want to go there, shauna? And I didn't like it because I'm very much more a small school, one-on-one kind of person. And I remember having a conversation with my high school counselor and she goes honey, you don't have to stay there. And that was just like this foreign concept to me because, like you said, I was like well, I've declared that I'm going there and everybody's bought their Iowa State gear to root me on and like how could I change my mind? And it's like it really is as simple as you can just change courses courses, yeah, yeah, and how wonderful that we can change courses multiple times.

Speaker 2:

I think like the old model, right, like our parents model. It's like you go to school, you get a job and then you do that job and then you retire, like that's like pretty much like what people still do, that, and there's nothing wrong with that if that's. You know, what lights you up right now is to move to a different city or country. Or, you know, maybe you uncover this love that you had when you were 10 years old and you decide I'm actually going to pursue this. Like I had a conversation with a new girlfriend today where she joined the Navy at a school, was like very focused in this, like analytical space, and then just in the last year, she was like, oh my gosh, I think I'm an artist, like I'd like to write poetry and like I never really thought of myself that way and I want to pursue this. And it's like want to pursue this. And it's like, yeah, let's try that and see. And how wonderful that now you have all of this rich experience to draw from.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, it's so freeing to just lay down those things that we are holding on so tightly to. You know the identities and the masks or you know whatever it is. It's just like you lay that down and it's like what else is possible? Like there's just this, this expansion and this freedom to really imagine what else you could do.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely yeah, it's. It's so exciting because in a lot of ways, it's like okay if, if you give yourself that permission, you could really look at that almost like a hit refresh in a certain regard every day, like, do I actively want to choose this life today? And you might be surprised to find out one day you wake up like, oh, am I doing this because it's a habit or am I doing it because I'm choosing it Right? Am I having a life that's by default or am I having a life that's on purpose?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, okay. So it sounds like you make this decision, you know you're going to leave New York, you close the theater company. To me as an outsider, it seems like that's where you maybe started to shift from being in your head, getting out of your head and maybe more into you know, like something that at that point in your life you know felt more aligned or what you wanted to do next. So was that you went to Florida?

Speaker 2:

Was that when you discovered yoga, or yeah, I discovered yoga in New York in 2012. And then I continued to pound the pavement and do the thing and be in a very hyper, triggered space a lot of the time. I didn't sleep very much. Basically, for all of my 20s and most of my 30s really, I really left New York kicking and screaming. I didn't want to leave. I felt like it was such a badge of honor to live in New York City because it's almost romanticized the grit of the place, like you know the song of like, if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, and it took me many years. It wasn't until 2018 that I finally acquiesced to leave, and it really came to a head when I realized that, in order to afford the lifestyle that I equated with thriving, I needed to be making a million dollars in New York City to be able to afford an apartment with a doorman that had a washer and dryer which is actually like extraordinarily rare in New York City to have like a little backyard, to like be able to afford a car service, to be able to go to the theater and go out to dinner. You know what I mean. Like it wasn't like so extravagant, but like I tallied it up like I would have literally had to make a million dollars a year to have what I would think a comfortable lifestyle would be in Manhattan. And then then I I thought, okay, I'm a little bit away from picking a million dollars, so maybe I need to change cities to be able to have a quality of life upgrade. And, um, so, coming to Vero beach, florida felt like not only was it a quality of life upgrade, but I was very happy to be in a more temperate climate, that the winters in the Northeast are so grueling. Um, like you think it's just winter, but really it's like October to may. Like you're, you're in it for a really long time. And so I had started just to back up a little bit.

Speaker 2:

I had started my yoga practice in 2012, was continuing my theater company, continuing acting, and then it was in 2017 that I decided that I would do a yoga teacher training, and I wasn't fully committed to becoming a yoga instructor at the time. I thought, well, let me just learn more about it and play with the idea of it. And then it wasn't until really 2018 when I moved to Vero Beach where I started teaching group classes full time, and then fast forward to 2020 and everything shut down. And then really, the ingenuity around my business really shifted where, once I let go of my theater company and this was also the wild thing is like I was really resistant.

Speaker 2:

I was operating my theater company remotely for the last year from Vero Beach and we had our fullest, most successful season in a lot of regards, giving me the ping that I needed to let it go, so I finally closed it in December 2019. And it was so wild three months later, all of theater closed like everything closed right Because of the pandemic. So it felt like it. It really ran the lifespan that it was meant to and then once I let that go that it was meant to and then once I let that go, then this new morphing of what I've come to organize for my business emerged in a way that I would have never dreamed of when I first started down this path.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, and what did that look like? So you were teaching classes when the pandemic happens, obviously you know everything shuts down. How did your business evolve at that point in time?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it was so wild. In October of 2019, I wrote down that I wanted to shift away from group classes. I'd created a spreadsheet in my like very typical type, a personality way of like okay, I'm going to let go of one group class a month. It was so hard. They were all like my children. I really cherished each, every class in different ways and I thought, okay, I'll painstakingly let go of one a month for the year of 2020. And then I'll call in energetically 10 private clients. So, like, that was like my thought. I also wanted to lead a yoga teacher training. I wanted to start leading international retreats and it was so wild, you know. Like January painstakingly let go of one group class. February, I let go of another. And then March, the universe was like, okay, stop. Like we're taking it from here, like everything went away.

Speaker 2:

I think I like ended up with like five of like the 17 classes I was teaching, a week where some of the studios pivoted very gracefully to Zoom, and then, in that space, I had a huge amount of private clients that emerged that were all virtual. So, like, a lot of clients that I have still to this day, four years later, are in New York City and I completely thought like, okay, this is a liminal space, once the studios open back up, they're going to go back to the studio, and so I really relished the time that we had together and what ended up emerging was that people who are working from home, they really love that they don't have the commute anymore, they can be writing on a deadline, whatever, jump into their Zoom private class. I'm exactly like I am with you right now where I'm just here and I'm verbally queuing through the entire sequence. I don't demo my classes at all, so I'm 100% focused on what they're doing and I'm verbally giving the cues. So I'm 100% focused on what they're doing and I'm verbally giving the cues, and so they find it to be a lot more personalized and a lot more effective and, in fact, like the mobility and the strength and all of the mental transformation that's happened in the last four years is like tenfold what they've experienced in group classes for, like you know, the 10 years prior, and so it's consistent through. Like most of my clients are at least three days a week with me, and so it's like this really wonderful, sweet container where we're like really cultivating a strong practice together, and so that's emerged in a way that was really unexpected.

Speaker 2:

And then I had the space to publish my book. I led my first yoga teacher training in town and then I started leading retreats one with my partner, aaron, in Costa Rica. And then I have another partner, shazia, where we're leading a retreat in Bali next year. So, and then there's like different exciting things happening with a new platform I'm launching, and so it's so wild, like so, emily Casal, who connected us, she's like, she's like. So what are you imagining?

Speaker 2:

And, like I just said, you know, I just really want to break through this invisible glass ceiling of the yoga teacher model, because, much in the way of an actor or an artist or an entrepreneur, like there can be this limiting belief of like, oh, like, I want to be successful, but like, especially like in the wellness industry, it's like you almost have this like pressure of like, well, I just want to help people.

Speaker 2:

You know, yeah, yeah, there's almost like this shaming of like, well, you don't want to be like too successful, because people will think I don't know, whatever they might think about that, and it's like, yeah, okay, x out, like that's actually like I could just be like in that same entertainment industry, like starving artists mindset, but like have a different title. Like the whole paradigm is actually setting ourselves up where we can actually thrive and there's nothing to apologize for about that. Like like just because you you're thriving or I'm thriving doesn't mean that's like taking it away from other people. Like the hope is that, like we all can be thriving individually and collectively, and the way that lights each of us up.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I mean, what is that saying about? You know, one boat lifts all other boats, or when one boat rises, it lifts all other boats. What was the focus of your book then? You mentioned early on that you really kind of had the space to tell your story. Is it a compilation of your life stories, then it?

Speaker 2:

is in a lot of ways. So it's a coffee table style book that is a themed weekly practice, and so the way that the format of the book is is you open it up and there's the theme, so the first one is let go. There's a story and it's of the time because the first pass I wrote it in 2020 and then I went back in 2021 and I went back. So, like the stories are like of the time and they're also of the past and they're also like allowing it to be of the future, so that the let go theme is timeless on purpose, like it's speaking of the time, but it's letting it be consistent, and so there's's the story. So it's like easily skimmable, like a coffee table style book. And then there's this interactive component where it links to a video series that I put together, where there's three 20 minute practices there's a guided meditation, there's a movement practice and there's a stretching practice, and so the hope is that people can find it accessible, like you can find like a 20 minute pocket morning, afternoon, evening that you either do every day of that week or you spread it out throughout the week, and then there's a Spotify playlist of music that can accompany it and people often say that they love to listen to the music when they're driving or folding the laundry. So the book is called Shine On and Off the Mat. So I really love it to be like a choose your own adventure book. So people will say, like well, I don't really do yoga because, like I'm not flexible and it's like, okay, well, you could just read the stories. Or you could also like listen to the practices while you're walking your dog. Like you don't actually have to be like in the movement of it physically.

Speaker 2:

Like I was talking to a friend of mine this past week and she was saying how her son is paraplegic and she like really wants him to get into meditation and he's been resistant to it. And I thought, well, you know, have him listen to the practices because there's so much science behind. If you're visualizing yourself in the movement or you're just like allowing the words to come through and come through you and you're like practicing it. Like they've studied brain scans of people who like physically rehearsed a piano piece versus like a group of people who just like thought about playing the piano and like the brain scans are very similar, right, like if you're like thinking about something. This is why it's like so important to like clock when we're like ruminating on something and we're kind of like re-traumatizing ourselves, like this situation happened with a loved one, and then like it's oftentimes the replaying of the situation that's actually more harmful than the actual situation, because the brain doesn't realize whether it's actually happening or you're just thinking about it, and so you can use it in these different ways as it's useful. And so that was like the main thing that I really wanted to get across is that this yoga practice it's on and off the mat, and then the more that you're open to it, this line between when you're moving the body in a way that is perhaps regarded as yoga, as a lot of people recognize it to be, and then you, for example, get in your car and someone cuts you off, it's like where's the correlation of how you're able to access your peace in all that you do and which you know? It's so great that we consistently get these opportunities to practice as different triggers are presented to us.

Speaker 2:

So, and then the final piece of the book is the journal prompt.

Speaker 2:

So it's like the theme, the story, the interactive piece, the journal prompt, and so then it's like I'm passing the baton, where you can then be the storyteller that's a part of it and share how let go resonates for you.

Speaker 2:

And the joy that I think is so great on this self-inquiry journey is that, say you journal about let go today, this time next year, like it'd be so wonderful to look back and say like oh, wow, like I was processing this about let go this time last year and like now I can see in hindsight where I've come from and like maybe there's threads that are still being processed. But oftentimes when we look back we realize, when we have that tangible proof, that we've actually grown more than we clock in real time because we're with ourselves all the time. So it's really useful to have that to continue to refer back to. And then there's photos throughout. So it's a really nicely designed book. I worked with a designer that put together the layout. There's these really nice hand drawings that are from Getty Images, and so now I'm working with a software designer to put together an app and more of like an integrated process to put together all the things in a way that's really seamless and easeful. So that's the new incarnation that's coming through, which is really exciting.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, absolutely Okay. So where for you, does the storytelling weave into all of that? So to me I was just talking to somebody the other day that I think that stories are the portal to the human connection, and so the stories are kind of the things that we do, but really the goal with them is to connect. And so I'd love to know from your perspective, like, how does that show up for you now with what you're doing?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I mean, I feel like oftentimes the way that we get tripped up is when we forget that we're connected. We can get like really like finite and like, though, like each of us are experiencing things really uniquely. I think that the storytelling is such a great reminder that, for example, one of my clients. He's talking about like um, conflict at home, right, and it's like you could ask anyone. And there's like a certain amount of conflict that like we all have in a certain regard.

Speaker 2:

And it's like when we share like our own experience, and not like in a gossipy way or to kind of like you know air people's stuff, but like in a way of like true connection, of like this is happening and I'm actually like trying to move through it in a way like like what is the pattern and how can I move through it, versus like continuing to like butt up against something. And it's like when we can share in that way, what we tend to illuminate for one another is like oh, like you're going through that and like, yes, it's your own, like unique experience, and also like I empathize with that because I have this similar experience right now or in my history, and so I feel like I mean that's like the true definition of yoga, is like this connection piece and in the storytelling and the sharing we can remember that we're all one, that we're all connected.

Speaker 1:

We can remember that we're all one, that we're all connected. Yeah, yeah, I think that's so true. It's like we, like no two stories are ever the same, but there are so many threads that you know that connect us, that help us to relate to one another, that, you know, help us feel less alone, etc. And so you're right, it's, it's just remembering that you know, help us feel less alone, et cetera. And so you're right, it's, it's just remembering that you know, although there's so many ways and things that that we can feel separate from one another, we truly are like connected at the end of the day.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely. Yeah, I have a weekly walk and talk with a girlfriend where we meet up at the park and we walk for a couple hours and we're like at a good clip and it's so therapeutic because it's like sometimes we gripe about the thing, sometimes we're celebrating about something, and I feel so energized after that walk every week. It's like so therapeutic. It's like movement physically and movement mentally, emotionally it's like. And then every time I remember that it's like oh yes, this, this is, this is the yoga on and off the mat. It's like I'm processing through the thing, like if, like the mind is stuck, if we're like on the gerbil wheel and we're like ruminating on the thing, or we're kind of like brewing and like resentment to like a person or a situation, like the best thing I can do for myself is like throw myself in the ocean, or like turn the music up really loud and just like shake my body. Or like call up a friend and like vent. Like call up a friend and like vent. You know, it's like the more we can kind of express in a way that resonates, then we can move through it, not in a spiritual, bypassing way of like needing to move through the thing, to like get to the other side, cause I don't believe that there's anywhere to like arrive to where cyclical beings and we'll have moments of all of the emotions like all the emotions actually serve a purpose. But it's like when we're cyclical beings and we'll have moments of all of the emotions like all the emotions actually serve a purpose. But it's like when we're like getting stuck in the thing.

Speaker 2:

Then I think like the the connection, there's a difference, right, like if you're like in the storytelling and you're like going over it and over it and over it. You know like we've all like been in those conversations where you're like okay, like can I help you? Like do you want to like move through it? Do you want to just vent? Like what's my role? Like tell me, help me out, and sometimes you need to just like chew on it. You know like you're like masticating on the thing and then at a certain point, it's like okay, like, how can I like set this down in a way that's actually serviceable? So it's, you know it depends on the circumstance and who you're talking to, but the hope is that we surround ourselves with people that can help us navigate through the things, because we're all mirrors for one another. Ultimately, it's like who's going to allow us that pathway to like, see the story with compassion and grace, and allow us to even see the beauty and like the grid of all of it too?

Speaker 1:

Well, before I let you go, we have to do a round of rapid fire questions. What's a book?

Speaker 2:

that you would recommend to everyone, I suppose the one that I am currently reading, which I mean there's so many books that I could say, but I feel like usually the thing like my dad always says that he chooses the meal that he's having as the perfect meal, so I feel like it's only suiting that I would pick the book that I'm currently reading, which is called Time Shifting, and it's by the founder of the Omega Institute and Blue Spirit in Costa Rica, and it actually feels really fitting for this conversation too, of just like really looking at how we are spending our time and like shifting the paradox of like really intentional breaks and this is like what he was talking about of like we grew up in an age where people who smoke like they had smoke breaks and like, if we're not smoking, like let's still take a break, Like yeah, let's please just take breaks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, my gosh, that's so. It's so crazy that we even like the. The smoking time period is just so wild. Um, I remember working in a restaurant where it was just everywhere. It's just so wild to think about those things that have shifted. Thank God, some of them have right. Yes, um, okay, if you could teleport to anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?

Speaker 2:

Okay, if you could teleport to anywhere in the world right now. Where would you go? Oh, bali, bali, yeah, yeah I actually have a one-way ticket to go there in November. I love the culture and the community and the emphasis to movement and the attention to eating well and it's just such a beautiful culture. It's such a peaceful culture and it attracts people from all over the world and I'm just so attracted into the opportunity to have that space of commonality, of conscious community. I'm really excited to go.

Speaker 1:

I haven't been there, but I would love to go someday.

Speaker 2:

Mm-hmm. Wow, maybe you'll come to, but I would love to go someday. Wow, maybe you'll come to my retreat in January.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, I'll have to check that out. Okay, what is the song that, when it comes on, you immediately want to get up and dance?

Speaker 2:

preferably on a table that's such a good one. So Shania Twain's, whose Bed have?

Speaker 1:

Your.

Speaker 2:

It's like. It's like the only song that I like consistently. I'm like this is my karaoke song. Like it comes on, I'm like ready to dance. I could totally like be like on the bar on a table with that song. Yes.

Speaker 1:

I thought you were going to say, uh, the, the one that starts with let's go, girls which is also another good one. Somebody once said I think it was on another one of my episodes. Somebody said that when she hears that she was like I feel like I could just flip over a table or pick up a car. When she says, let's go, girls, I was like that's so true. That's so true, okay if you could instantly master any skill. What would it be I?

Speaker 2:

think to learn every language instantly. I think that would be so phenomenal to just like drop anchor in a country and like be able to fluently be in conversation with everyone.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, that's a good one. Uh, french kiss, or French fry, french kiss, yeah, it's gotta be a good one. It's gotta be a good one. It goes without saying like both choices have to be a good one.

Speaker 2:

Oh, yes, yeah, for sure, being French, the French fries dipped in mayonnaise is the move for me.

Speaker 1:

There you go, there you go. Who's your celebrity crush? I really love Sam.

Speaker 2:

Rockwell.

Speaker 1:

That's a good one. I know I don't think. Yeah, I don't think we've heard that one.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love the like kind of like quirky but like he's like sexy but kind of like an interesting way, yeah, and I think he's like sexy but kind of like an interesting way, yeah, and I think he's really talented, which I find to be really sexy.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I love that. Okay, if you could do anything right in this moment that would make you feel free, what would you do? I think, nothing.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's like being like fully at peace with, like the enoughness of this moment.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, I like that. That. Nothing. That's our theme. It keeps circling around, I think, like I'm due for nothing, you're due for nothing, like it's poking back. It's poking back for a reason, yeah, okay. So the last yeah, we'll do it, let's do it. The last question that I ask everybody who comes on the show what does French kissing life mean to you? I think it's passionate and sensual.

Speaker 2:

It's cathartic, it's an exchange of energy. It's cathartic, it's an exchange of energy, it's connection, it's passion, it's electric. I think it feels very embodied, very um, yeah, it feels very embodied, like I imagine like um, like Sophia Loren, like these, like very like embodied feminine, like shoulders, back, quality, um, like you know, actresses from like the 1950s, um, just like super, um embodied, yeah, emb, yeah, bodies like like I'm like imagining like gypsies and like almost like witch culture of like, oh, like these women are, they're in it.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, oh my gosh, that is such a good visual. There's a. What I love about that question is that there's a different interpretation from everybody, obviously, but that one is so good. I know exactly what you're like talking about. Okay, so if everybody wants to check out what you have going on your classes, your retreats, your book, where can they find you, my website, yoga with Veroniquecom.

Speaker 2:

I'm also on Instagram at Veronique Ori. I love to connect there and I share inspiring messaging and I love unpacking the portal and the pathway into self-inquiry. And how do we, through that in conscious community, uplift one another? And so I'd love to connect there in all the ways. All my offerings are there and I love creating experiences that are specialty, that combine travel and movement in all of the ways. So it's like, yes, physical, and also in transporting ourselves out of our daily rhythm, really breaking through the patterns and circling back to this other theme of like shifting away from being in survival mode to like really embracing, thriving, and how that resonates for each person.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, even throughout this conversation, you have demonstrated that. That, with such a attention to the language that you've used and you're, you're, so I can just tell you're so present and like that to me, is such a beautiful example of what it would be like to work with you. So thank you for showing up in that way, and anytime a conversation starts out with storytelling is a plus in my book. So, um, I've thoroughly enjoyed this chat with you and I just appreciate you being here.

Speaker 2:

Oh, thank you, Shani, I appreciate being with you, and thanks for creating the space for storytelling.

Speaker 1:

Yay, all right, we'll see you guys next time. So stillness is something that I'm betting most of us struggle with, especially with the 24-7, constantly connected society that we've all grown accustomed to, unfortunately, which is why I wanted to find resources that would help you slow down and become even just a tiny bit more mindful. So, for our kindness, in action segment, where you can take what you've heard in the episode and apply it to your lives, whether you have five minutes to spare or 50. Here are some steps you can take right now. If you have five minutes, I'm suggesting an article from Psychology Today about how to slow down in life, and then, if you have 50 minutes, I'm suggesting a TED Talk from Pico Iyer. I don't know if I'm pronouncing his name right, but he talks about strategies that we can use to take back the time in our days, so not really responding to everybody else, but just having those moments of mindfulness and stillness for ourselves. And I think this is especially useful for those of us who feel overwhelmed by the daily demands, constant distractions, et cetera, which, in 2024, is probably everyone. And then, of course, if you want to connect with Veronique, see more information about the classes she offers, the retreats and the book that she's written. I will, of course, share her information in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

I will keep this brief this time, since the episode was a little bit longer. I appreciate everybody tuning in and I will see you next time. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of the French Kissing Life podcast. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did. If you're enjoying the show, shower us with a five-star rating and hit that subscribe button to make sure you never miss a future episode. And if you would be so kind and give the show a review, I'll sweeten the deal for you, since you know I live for good conversation. I want to hear from you, share your favorite takeaways and aha moment you had, or a fun emoji that represents this week's show, along with your Instagram handle or email address, and you'll be entered to win this month's giveaway. The French kissing life movement is gaining momentum, and your ratings and reviews play a pivotal role in propelling the show to new heights. Until next week.