Nat Flood - Shamana Wisdom in Bermuda

Meet Nat Flood of Shamana Circle Studio in Bermuda. Nat is the founder and director of Shamana and she weaves her history of dance, yoga, pilates and birth doula into her teaching. During this podcast hear Nat speak about:

• Dealing with postpartum trauma.
• What does a tongue tie mean?
• The Bermuda Triangle and it’s history.
• The story behind the Shamana Circle studio space.
• How she pivoted her business during the pandemic.
• Pilates practice before and after birth.
• How she turned her understanding of physical rehab work into yoga.
• How she structures her yoga certification program.

Please check Nat out at her website: https://www.shamanacirclestudio.com
And follow her on Instagram at: https://www.instagram.com/shamanacircle/

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Transcript

Todd McLaughlin: 0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us @nativeyoga, and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Well, welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I'm so excited to have you here and also to introduce you to Nat Flood. Nat is a yoga and pilates and much more than just that teacher that owns a studio in Bermuda on the island of Bermuda out in the Atlantic. She has a studio called Shamana Circle studio, and you can find her on her website, shamanacirclestudio.com, also on Instagram at @shamanacircle, and also on her personal page on Instagram at @natofshamana. Also, I do a free live webinar on YouTube every Thursday at 12pm Eastern. If you join in live, you can ask questions of which case I'm happy to answer during, and it's recorded. So you can always check it out afterwards as well. Check in the links below for all those details. Again, remember to look for Nat at Shamanacirclestudio.com. All right, let's get started. I'm delighted to have the opportunity to converse with Nat Flood. Nat, How are you doing today?

Nat Flood: 2:16

I'm great. I'm so happy to be here and chat to you.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:19

Thank you. This has been several months in the making because you are a new mom, or a recently, again new mom. And I know that when I reached out to you and said I can do this, but I just need a little bit of time. And so thank you so much for carving out time. I do know how busy we are as parents how hard it is to do a little bit of time for ourselves. Can you tell me a little bit what it's like being a new mom again?

Nat Flood: 2:50

Yeah, no, my pleasure. I'm so happy to chat. Yeah, it's, it's amazing over and over and over again. I feel like we learned so much about ourselves over again. You know, we have maybe as a second time mom, for me, like an expectation of how things are gonna go. And and of course, none of it went the way that I expected. So it's just it's nice to be put in that position with new variables. I love having stuff just thrown at me and dealing with new things. So it's been great.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:20

What is an example of something that you tried to premeditate that did not go according to your plan?

Nat Flood: 3:26

Yeah. So I mean, luckily for me, the second birth was so much more fluid and on the level that I wanted. I was successful, this time in my home waterbirth, which I'm just so grateful for, took a lot of preparation. It's just not a done thing here in Bermuda. Not not to say that you can't do it, but it's it's not regulated, and it's not legislated. So it's a personal risk that we take on to do it here rather than birthing at the hospital, which is like the major option. But I was an a long extended breastfeeding with my first son. So we made it to about 1516 months breastfeeding. And so I was really looking forward to the breastfeeding journey with my second and it was discovered, I kind of knew that there was a problem. He was kind of living off my lap down. I knew that it wasn't right. And then we discovered a massive tongue tie issue for him decided to go ahead with revision and even with revision, he was so guarded and he would not let the dentist in there to do it. So it wasn't successful. And I ended up pumping exclusively and bottle feeding him. And I mean he's only nine months so luckily I have a great supply so I was able to pump in store for six months, and he's still living off my supply. So hopefully I'll get into a year with my with my breast milk supply. So for me that was just such a new way of thinking or like seeing motherhood you know, you especially as a business owner, it's it was so time consuming, so body consuming.

Todd McLaughlin: 5:05

Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine. I mean, obviously, I can't imagine being a male, but at the same time being a dad and it goes into it. Yeah. Oh my gosh, right. Like I remember just even if we were attempting to get a night off in the process of needing to try to have enough supplies ready to go was was a lot of a lot of extra work. So a lot of extra work. You've been doing that

Nat Flood: 5:30

bottle sterilizing bottles, yeah, hearts like Oh, my goodness, I never did that with my first can

Todd McLaughlin: 5:34

you explain to me what when you say tongue tied? I can guess what that means. But can you further clarify? Yeah, so he has

Nat Flood: 5:41

it's called a sub lingual, sub lingual mucosal tongue tie. I'm probably butchering that, for anyone knows a lot about tongue ties. So it's quite deep in the back and hard to see. And so what it means is that they can't get their tongue up to the roof of their mouth to perform that perfect latch. So anytime he would latch on to my breath, it was a couple of sucks and a release a release, and he could not get a good flow going. So when you have your let down, you know, he had basically trained my body to be two to three ounces of a letdown. And then he would just stop feeding. And he was actually doing something similarly to a bottle. But obviously, with a bottle, it's a whole lot easier to get the suction the latch going. So luckily, the tongue tie reversal, what she could do what the dentist could do, made it a lot easier with a lot less clicking on the bottle. But he was still never able to like develop that positive relationship with breastfeeding. He was very it was it was traumatizing for him to breastfeed. Yeah. So for us, it was like, You know what? Yes, we could have potentially gone off Island and found another dentist that would have done another revision, but like, you know what? We just whatever's best for him. And right now, this seems to be his happy place, beating from a bottle. So

Todd McLaughlin: 6:58

yeah, so I hear you and you just use the word off island. So on that note, I want to mention that the reason that are the way I was able to find you is I have someone who comes to our studio that she travels to Bermuda. And she just every time she comes back, she's just raves about how beautiful Bermuda air Have you met Bermuda is? That the energy there is just so incredible. And she's piqued my interest. So in the process of finding you in a yoga studio in Bermuda, I guess I'm just really excited to actually talk to someone who lives in Bermuda. Yeah, can you tell me what Bermuda is like?

Nat Flood: 7:42

For me? It's awesome. So we're a subtropical island that's about 700 miles off the coast of North Carolina. So we're like right in line with North Carolina. We are kind of the halfway in between the US and, and really like the continent of Africa, like it's on the other side, obviously. And then we have Britain above us. So we are at an overseas territory of the United Kingdom. So kind of like how Jamaica was before they went independent, essentially. And it's beautiful. It's a 21 square mile island. It's a mile wide. at its widest point. If you look at a map of Bermuda, it looks like kind of, I've heard it described as like a hook. Or like someone said to me recently, I had a teacher, one of my best friends came in taught here for me, back in October, she's like, it looks to me like a witch's finger, that's like curling in telling you to come here, like come here, that sort of thing. So it's a really cool shape. It's actually a volcano, we're living on top of an inactive volcano. And so there is like, you know, it's just kind of the island and then everything below it is inactive volcanoes. So we have incredible reef incredible surf. And then we have this insane drop off point. So all of the fishermen here, they go out to the drop off, and that's where they do their fishing. But when they go out that far, you can't even see the island anymore. That's how far out it is.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:03

Wow. So it's cool. It's a cool spot. It sounds amazing. I know everything I've heard about it. And the pics I've seen have from the surf culture as well just looks like this really

Nat Flood: 9:14

is like super hush hush to a lot of people that move here don't know that you can surf here. And there's like the small contingency of surfer dudes and super surfer girls that go out and they you know, they're watching the weather radar, like crazy to make sure that the conditions are right and they go out and they paddle and they go for it. So it's cool. It's like a really it's starting to become a real thing. Like people are coming here to surf.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:37

Nice. So yeah, so um another reason to go I'm What drew you or When did you move to Bermuda? Are you born and raised? Or whole story? No,

Nat Flood: 9:46

I am from Toronto, Canada. That is home for me.

Todd McLaughlin: 9:48

I saw the university at how do I say the name of the university in Canada that you

Nat Flood: 9:54

went through went? So I went to the University of Guelph and then I went to Whoo. I mean, yeah, I mean, well, well, primarily. And then I also did a little bit at Laurentian that was actually last got the ranch. And so that was that that was kind of like a secondary portion of my degree that I did. Yeah, so that's a born and raised there. my teaching career began there at a really young age. And I was just kind of like, Ah, alright, like Been there done that.

Todd McLaughlin: 10:24

When you say teaching creative media yoga teaching career or so

Nat Flood: 10:28

I started off as a I was a ballet mistress to start. So I started teaching ballet at about 18 Just kind of through university as I was going to university. And then I finished school and I started teaching ballet full time. And I went through a fairly traumatic relationship was my first marriage. And I really lost myself in it, you know, young, got married, young, didn't really know who I was got lost in that and really couldn't, couldn't really find a way back to myself. And my boss and I, at the time, studio owner, she was like, we just finished this really great ballet class, we had driven into Toronto, I was living in London, Ontario at the time, driven to Toronto to take a three hour ballet class. And on the way back, she's like, I can't wait to go to yoga tomorrow. And I was like, Oh, really, like I did my first yoga class when I was like, 16 or 17. And it was like, in an upstairs loft, was on carpet with like this really witchy instructor. And they like old ladies. They were cackling and like just giggling the whole time. So my first interaction with yoga, I was like, I don't really I don't get it. And so when she said, hey, you know, do you want to come to yoga with me? I was like, I guess she's like your body? I feel great after you should definitely come. And so it was 10,000 or 2010, maybe 2009? Yeah. 2009. And it was when the really big boom of hot yoga was happening. Right? So this was, it was Moksha Yoga was my first class. So I guess I think in the states a little bit like moto yoga. Is that right?

Todd McLaughlin: 12:03

You know, states heard of Moksha as but okay,

Nat Flood: 12:07

so it's like, it's like a pre choreographed class. It's like a half hour sequence, a couple of vinyasas in there, whatever. And you're in front of the mirror, like, it's obviously very big from like from that because the teachers don't yell at you or anything. But that was the general the general gist of it. And I loved it. Oh, my God, I was hooked. But I think I also got hooked for the wrong reasons. Like obviously, as a ballet dancer, I was able to watch my body in these mirrors had major body image issues at the time. But when the standing sequencing went to see the sequencing, that was when I could like really drop into myself and felt okay, like this is this is this is me, this is this is what I'm feeling. This is what I'm watching develop in my body. And I was really able to come back to myself and felt that it was such a positive influence on not only how I saw myself how I felt about myself, how I was able to look at myself in the mirror that I started teaching my ballet students yoga. So instead of doing their three ballet classes a week we did two ballet classes in one yoga, like stretching conditioning was what we called it. Yeah, and started teaching them yoga that way. And then I traveled to Europe with my brother. And it was like a breaking point for me. I was like this, the way that I'm living my life what I'm what I'm giving to these young women is not positive. I really suffered because of this way that I've taught myself to have a detest for my body. And so I walked away from it. I walked away from teaching ballet and I took a year kind of sabbatical and got certified as a yoga teacher, quickly got certified as a Pilates teacher, and moved to Toronto, as living in London and moved to Toronto and started teaching full time and loved it. It was like such a such a positive change not only in my like physical body, but in my mental state. I realized that that's who I was. And yeah, then I got bored. Now you're just teaching a long time, right? You're like yeah, I need a shake up. Like I love I said earlier, I love variables. I love for people to throw things in and shake it up. So it's like, you know, I'm, I'm gonna move I'm gonna leave. Yeah. And in that moving and leaving. I had been going backwards and forwards to Mexico, my parents were often there on vacation. So I had developed a really good relationship in Puerto Vallarta with some teachers and some students, and I was going backwards and forwards for a lot of years. And finally, as I was assigned to leave Toronto, one of the teachers at a studio that doesn't exist anymore in Puerto Vallarta said to me, like, why don't you come down and lead a workshop for us? So Yeah, cool. That's awesome. I'll do that. So I boarded the plane. And sitting adjacent to me is my current husband. You know, I say current like, maybe he won't be mad. Yeah, so that was almost 10 years ago now that we met on that flight. So he was coming from Bermuda, to Puerto Vallarta to go fishing. And I was coming from Toronto to Puerto Vallarta to teach yoga. And we had our first date in Puerto Vallarta. And it was like a week and we had a great time. And we were both kind of like, hey, bye, see you never. And because I didn't really have anywhere to be. He invited me to Bermuda to just come see it and see what I thought. And so I went for two weeks. And it was the strangest thing as I saw the island for the first time and started descending into the airport. I was like, This feels like home. Wow. It was like just this massive, like, overcoming like, this is where you're meant to be. So we spent I spent two weeks here. And the very last day that I was here, I went and took a yoga class. Because for me, I don't know about you. When I go on vacation. Like the last thing I want to do is take o'clock.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:14

I know exactly what you mean. Yeah. If you're doing it all the time, or like, I'm going to take a vacation. On vacation, do

Nat Flood: 16:20

yoga. Yeah. So I had to convince myself like, you know, I just go see what the yoga seems like in Bermuda. And so I jumped into class, and after class, I was offered a job. Oh, wow. What do you what are you doing here? Why are you? Why did you like that? Yeah, you want to come teach for me. And so like, the rest is history. I been here since then. And after I had my first son, so it'll be four years this April, I opened up Sramana circle.

Todd McLaughlin: 16:48

That's really cool. I saw that you opened up in 2019. That's right, right. When I, when I saw that number, I went, Oh, gosh, that's right before the pandemic, like what a challenging time to start a business like just long enough to kind of be like, we're doing this I got, you know, I got my mojo, go. And then all of a sudden, okay, wait, put on pause. But I have no idea what Bermuda was like. But I know like smaller islands situations, probably fairly strict. I don't know what what was like.

Nat Flood: 17:19

So you're totally right. That was exactly it. We were just like really booming, and then obviously shut down. Bro. Bermuda, luckily, was not as strict as the US or Canada. So we

Todd McLaughlin: 17:34

only had or London for that matter, obviously be in London for that matter.

Nat Flood: 17:39

We only had two lockdowns here. So the initial lockdown, that was four weeks, I want to say. And then we were able to start with outdoor practicing. So because obviously where we live, we were able to hook up with resorts on island, people were so willing, like be out in parks, and people were desperate for that connection, you know. So we started outdoor classes and ran that all through the summer. And then I would say by the fall was when we were able to open with restrictions physically in the space. So I remember the first class we opened with I was allowed to have six people for the size of the space. And then every week it got better and better and better and better and better. Until I think it was April 2021 When things got bad again. And we were locked down again for two weeks. And then the release of restrictions happened a lot faster. The second time, like we could get back into the studio and things were you know, rolling again. And I just have to say like, Rita, it's an island of 60,000 people. It's a small town, it's a small community. People were they knew if they stopped supporting local businesses that none of us would be able to open. Yeah. So my members, they saved us. That's the only way that I did is we were teaching over zoom. They were we were doing outdoor classes, and they just continued to pay their membership fees, because they could see we were trying hard we then we were able to develop an online platform through that right like because, you know, obviously they're they're continuing their fees. So for me, I was like, okay, like, what more can I do for my for my numbers. And so we developed an online platform that we're still using today. We still live stream all of our classes, and we have like a whole library of content. See me? Yeah. Yeah. Like it's like, what else do you do you pivot? That was the language you pivot and you make it work and movement is so important that we weren't just going to fold I wasn't just going to bend over, you know, like, Yeah, that wasn't happening. And so since then, it's just been like this continual builds of people hearing about us expanding our programming, offering more, doing more, and I mean, now we're, we start at seven in the morning, and we finish at like 830 at night, and we're teaching classes all day.

Todd McLaughlin: 19:57

Yeah. Right. That's amazing. That's really cool art. I'm curious, growing growing up, every time I heard about Bermuda, it was like the Bermuda Triangle idea, this sort of mysterious that if you go out there, you'll never come back again. What is the reality of all that? What is the history behind that? And why is that? So?

Nat Flood: 20:20

The Bermuda Triangle is three points. It's Miami, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. So that is the that's the triangle of space. There are a lot of kind of funny things that do happen around here. Most recently, we lost and if anyone's listening that, like knows all the details of the story. We've we've lost ocean liners, we've lost. Most recently, we have these like sailgp. So it's like single man crude sailboats. And this is like a veteran of 2025 years went down between I'm not sure that sort of in the Carolinas, or maybe it was like, the East Coast, like more Martha's Vineyard kind of area. So it's a race from east to Bermuda. And he went over he went overboard. So it's like, it's a thing like it totally happens to have any more here than anywhere else. I don't, I don't really know. But I think what's weird is that it takes a while to like, gather the information and like to go out and find them and the search and the rescue. And just so many also, like shipwrecks and stuff, like we have an incredible there's actually a map Teddy Tucker's map of shipwrecks Bermuda shipwreck, and if you look at it, there are hundreds of ships that went down all the way around Bermuda, because of the reef, like what I was speaking earlier. You can't see it. But because of the volcano, essentially, there's all these points that jut out. So, you know, you Bermuda, you know, got a got a reputation based on that. And then obviously, in the first time, obviously, but on the first voyage over in 1609, when Bermuda was discovered the first it was a shipwreck that they made it on islands, they left two guys on island along with a bunch of pigs. And so anytime people were passing by the island, they called it the devil's aisle, because it was just squealing pigs all the time. So it has this like very kind of, like dark a bit like history and connotation. Yeah. You know, a lot of people would know it from like buried treasure like Teddy Tucker's buried treasure, finding all like the the coins from Spanish Armada and things like that. It goes. It's just this wild history of shipwrecks and stuff. So I think that's where a lot of it comes from. But if you'd ask a Bermudian, now, comedians would just like shrug your shoulders that you'd be like anything.

Todd McLaughlin: 22:48

It's just a bunch of folklore.

Nat Flood: 22:50

Just a bunch of folklore. It's it. Yeah, but, but obviously, the shipwrecks are super well documented, because you were going out and trying to find, yeah, the buried treasure,

Todd McLaughlin: 22:59

right? What is the so are? How many? How many people are moving to Bermuda versus leaving Bermuda? Does Bermuda stay pretty light consistent with your population? Is there is there a lot of work opportunity like? Yeah, so

Nat Flood: 23:14

the work opportunity here is reinsurance. That's the big industry in Bermuda reinsurance.

Todd McLaughlin: 23:19

What does that mean? Rebbe was

Nat Flood: 23:21

like real jobs. Dude, you know, I don't know. Like, I've never had a real job. You know what I mean? Like they work a nine to five reinsurance. So they're so what they do is they sell insurance to insurance companies.

Todd McLaughlin: 23:34

Yep. Yeah. Okay. No, and

Nat Flood: 23:36

there's a lot of like, accounting, and actuaries. Yeah, risk assessment management. Like, you know, when people are like, Oh, do you know what so and so doesn't like, they have a real job. I'm not really sure I really know the ins and outs of what they do. But there's a lot of them here. And that's how, because Bermuda is the most expensive country in the world to live in. So maybe, maybe that's something you didn't know. It is the most expensive country if you go and look up one of those like, yeah, Google lists or whatever. Yeah. Even more expensive than Switzerland. Yeah. So that's how that's why because there's there's so much money here and there. And because we're small, and because obviously, we import everything. We don't export anything. So we're very reliant on the US. We have container ships that come in every two weeks. Essentially, there's like enough on island for us to survive for three weeks. And that's it. So something ever happened in mainland or we like pissing people off, you know? Yeah, we don't really have

Todd McLaughlin: 24:35

too much to get along the ride. Yeah, a

Nat Flood: 24:39

long swim. Like there's really there's no way off. Besides, besides an airplane. You know, some people some people do vote and there's like, there's a big yachting culture here. But you know, if you don't have a yacht like, you know, you're kind of screwed. Got it.

Todd McLaughlin: 24:52

Now, I saw your studio on the photos that you've been posting on Instagram, and it looks so beautiful was that thank you existing building or is that something? Oh my gosh. So what's the story behind I was

Nat Flood: 25:03

so lucky. So in October of 2018 I finally like this building had been on our realtor websites for the longest time I had been like stalking it for the better part of probably six months at that point. And that October 2018, I was finally like, No, I had my son in February, I thought that I was going to be a stay at home mom. And I was like, This is not my gig. I really don't like this I need a life like I'm, I'm talented. I need I need to I need an outlet. So I finally like kind of harassed the realtor enough that was like, Yeah, okay, you can come see it, but like, I don't think you're really gonna like it like I don't think it's going to be what you need. It's at the it's a it's a loft is a third storey loft, and it's up this horrendous flight of stairs. And you get up to this loft, and you come in, and it's just as bright, open, airy space. Now there was like carpet all over the ground and stuff. It had previously been an architecture firm called the studio. And in this architects building of this space, she had actually exposed all of the rafters and the beams that are originally existing in all original Bermuda architecture. So we build things with limestone. That's what the island is made on. Like, we're it's a limestone island. So we everything is built in limestone, and then all of the structure is built with wooden beams like two by four beams. So that's what it was slate overtop. So that's what my ceiling is.

Todd McLaughlin: 26:31

That's what amazing. Yeah, yeah, the

Nat Flood: 26:34

space was mostly open. I only had to knock down one wall. It's a 20 by 40 studio with like these gorgeous dark beams and white ceiling. Yeah, we lay down hardwood. And then that like was kind of it we painted some walls, lay down some more flooring, like the bones of the building was it was perfect. I walked in. I said, and she's like, What do you think? You know, the stairs kind of suck? Don't they? Like no, man. That's the best warmup ever. Like, yeah, no, it's not accessible because there's no elevators. So you do have to be able to get the stairs. But I've always been very upfront about that, like we are. We're inaccessible. You do have to climb the stairs. But once you get up here, it's paradise. Like, it's like our own little you don't even feel like you're in Bermuda anymore. So for people who, you know, get Island fever and rock fever, they love coming up here. It's like, oh, I'm in the city. Like it feels like Toronto. Or it feels like, you know, New York or whatever, when they come up here, obviously, just because of by influence being from being from Toronto. Yeah, that's the vibe. The vibe is just like not not an island. It's, that's just so much more than that.

Todd McLaughlin: 27:39

That's amazing. Can you speak a little bit about your own personal feelings and experience with rock fever?

Nat Flood: 27:45

Hmm, I don't get it. I don't. I don't. Yeah, I think you have to be local, I think but I mean, actually, I do know people who aren't local that get it? Yeah. I when I first moved here, the culture was very much, six weeks on. And then vacation six weeks on island vacation six people were leaving, like every six weeks just like gain perspective. Because again, you know, it's a paradise. It's amazing here, but it's like not really real life when you live in such a small community in a small place. And the things that happen here that the culture sometimes like the things, the things that are relevant in Bermuda or not necessarily relevant in other places. And so, yeah, people get really itchy and I don't I don't know I don't have that. And I don't know whether it's because I've created this space like this is yeah, if I was to build myself a home this would be it. So I'm here kind of all day every day and I love being here. And I enjoying the MMA I feel like I taught myself that's what I learned during the pandemic. I made my home my sanctuary like everything in that space is everything that I love, and everything in this space is everything that I love so I never really feel like I have to leave

Todd McLaughlin: 28:53

that's cool. I'm

Nat Flood: 28:54

I was off Island was June 2021. Yeah, June 2021.

Todd McLaughlin: 29:00

Got it. Got it.

Nat Flood: 29:02

I'm not slated to leave until May 2023.

Todd McLaughlin: 29:06

Like I'm settled in. I'm awesome. Well, it sounds like when you're coming in on the airplane and you had that feeling of like oh my gosh, this is my home then that even speaks to the fact that that potentially is why you're still comfortable. Yeah, regardless of how much landmasses around you totally

Nat Flood: 29:22

how I mean like all people I feel like we exist everyone exists in like a 10 to 15 mile radius like you're really thinking like your life you know?

Todd McLaughlin: 29:28

Yeah, it's true. How far away is your home from your studio? Are you are you in the same building? I'm

Nat Flood: 29:34

so close. I'm literally up the road. I takes me less than 10 minutes to get here.

Todd McLaughlin: 29:38

How are you managing being a studio owner having two children and having classes running from the sounds like seven in the morning till eight o'clock at night? It is I have.

Nat Flood: 29:50

I have I'm so blessed I have the most incredible team. I have. Sensational business partner that is here. She heard her children are off in university and things like that. So she has a lot of time to dedicate to the space, which I'm so grateful for. My team of teachers is absolutely incredible. There are wonderful, we're a team of women, not but not like on purpose. It's just how it's worked out. They are wonderful humans. They are like sponges for learning. They love being here and love the community. So I honestly, it takes a village and there's no way that I would be able to do this if it wasn't for my incredible team. Oh, that's amazing. And at home, my husband, my husband's great, like my current husband.

Todd McLaughlin: 30:44

That's awesome. We got to be we got to be very realistic and humorous at the same time, right? Like,

Nat Flood: 30:49

he's awesome. So he's lots of support at home. So well, that's

Todd McLaughlin: 30:52

cool. I'm, I'm curious. Can you speak a little bit about what you're in terms of learning different styles of yoga? And what you are most passionate about teaching currently? Yeah. So

Nat Flood: 31:05

I mean, I found yoga, as I said, like kind of that Moksha Hatha vinyasa style, which then you know, as a ballet dancer, I of course, I ended up doing my teacher training in Ashtanga like that. That's just what spoke to me. I you know, I never I've not been to India, I've never done the whole Mysore thing but the teacher that I trained with in in Toronto runs a Mysore based Ashtanga Yoga Center. So that was that was my training. Do you mind sharing? I was very lucky. Say again, do

Todd McLaughlin: 31:36

you mind sharing their name? Yeah, Ashtanga

Nat Flood: 31:39

Yoga Canada.

Todd McLaughlin: 31:40

That is to see hey, did Rob Yeah, we practice card here at our studio. I feel like he's got a ton of stuff online. The beautiful human

Nat Flood: 31:50

like, that's such a great man. So I did all of my practice teaching hours there and then was able to do my training one on one with my teacher in London. Her name's Sarah Levin's. She was teaching out of the home studio that I was practicing at. And so she was very much like, hey, we like let's get this done. Let's do this together. So I was very lucky to do it entirely one on one with her. Again, another beautiful human. And then I kind of moved myself to Toronto and very much like the Toronto scene. There was still like down dog in Toronto. I don't know whether you know, any, like Toronto studio. I've heard of that. Yeah, downward dog was the big like, I started kind of yoga studio there. I didn't gravitate towards that. Because I had actually been getting really injured doing Ashtanga, my low back was trashed, like, trashed. didn't really understand the core connection yet like, you know, Mula Bandha, Uliana. Bandha. Like, okay, those are all words that like, they were never really fully explained to me and I don't think I really understood. So that is when the Pilates came in. So I was I trained under average Joliet out of misfit studio, she trained me and stopped pilates reformer Pilates and I started teaching Pilates almost immediately. Again, like as a as a teacher. For me, it was very easy to just like, grab new modalities and put them in and just start regurgitating them like it's not. Yeah, it was very easy for me to step kind of into that. So Pilates was happening, yoga was happening. And then her studio was very much at the time about the blend, fusion, this blend of Pilates and yoga. So I got really addicted to doing that. And that was a real thing for me for a long time teaching this blend of, of both disciplines. Then leaving Toronto and moving to Bermuda. I was I was still doing that. That was all still happening. And then I don't know if I said to you the name, Exhale. Exhale is a brand of of movements studios kind of all over the states. And they are bar bars there. So exhale was opening up in Bermuda. And I was like, Yeah, okay, like I'll learn anything. That sounds good. So certified in bar. And so I was very much doing the three bar yoga, Pilates barre, yoga, pilates, and my body is feeling great things are awesome. Loved it. Probably peak of my peak of my fitness right before I got pregnant. got pregnant, because of my insanely strong core. And my Pilates breath, the breath work that I was doing with Pilates. After birth, I had incredible diastasis like the amount it's like I had like a five finger separation no lie after the birth of my first son. That really did not resolve itself. So I was like, ah, no big deal. I am a Pilates teacher. I do all these things. I'll be able to get my body back like I'll be able to like bring things back I knew would never be the same but like I can work with it. What I was doing wasn't working like it really wasn't working. It was making it worse. My back pain was back Yeah, things, things weren't good in my body. And I started seeking out help that was not movement. So I started seeing a physiotherapist on islands named Michel monk. And I started seeing a chiropractor on island named Mark Dupont. And between the two of them, retained a lot of incredible information had pelvic floor assessment, realizing that I had an incredibly hypertonic pelvic floor, which is what led to my diastasis and which was really what was keeping me from healing fully. Because even after birth, I did have a very traumatic birth birth in the hospital here. It was vaginal, but lots of trauma. I didn't really realize that having a really tight pelvic floor was an issue for birth, when I say it out loud, it's like, Well, duh, of course, it's an issue. But when you don't know, that's what you have, you don't know that's a problem when you're going into birthing, especially when you're in a high intensity environment. And I'm sure you can hear by talking to me, I'm a very type a person. I love to be in control. So for me, it's hard to you know, and really let my pelvic floor go. And so learning that from her. And then Dr. Mark DuPont is a dynamic neuromuscular stabilization practitioner. So DNS for short, it is a field of developmental kinesiology, that is out of Prague is the Prague school that does DNS. And he basically rehabilitated my body while using DNS, so completely different type of work technique, utilizing all of my pelvic floor work that I was doing with my physiotherapist, it was all kind of happening together. And then as this was happening, of course, me I'm going, this is insane, that I'm able to do this with my body. How do I give this to my clients? How do I turn this into Pilates? And how do I turn this into yoga? So the DNS model is very much and you would know this with having two kids, the DNS model is very much based on as I said, developmental kinesiology, which is our develop our movement development meant from birth. So we start you lay your baby on that three months supine with your legs in the air and your arms in the air, and then a very much turns into a sideline position, that's the next movement pattern a baby gives you is that kind of rolling from side to side. And then eventually, you get the rolling that goes into a tummy time, called three month prone. So you're in that kind of position where they're learning to lift their head, and they're learning to kind of press up with their hands. And then eventually you get into a quadruped head position, you get that kind of rocking forwards and backwards, that eventually turns into crawling, and then you get the tripod or like the leg forward, that eventually turns into the pulling up and going back down and the pulling up, that eventually turns into a squat, that kind of weird like squat, like they look like they're gonna poop, and then standing. And that is the developmental pattern of every single human being, we all did that. And so training, this developmental movement pattern was how I was able to truthfully heal my diastasis and make it functional.

Todd McLaughlin: 38:06

Wow, that is, oh,

Nat Flood: 38:09

that, yeah, turned that developmental movement pattern, into Pilates, and into yoga. So our movement, I call it a movement ladder, we start my very first so we have six classes that are part of our method Sramana method, we start on our backs in the first class called connection, learning how to breathe. So learning how to breathe diaphragmatic ly, understanding our pelvic floor, the ability to work our pelvic floor manually and subconsciously. And use that in core work was which is essentially what a three month supine is, in order to get your legs up and your arms up your your belly breathing, and your your in core work. So we teach that in that first class, our secondary classes, kind of learning about the rolling, and a lot of that again, so the Pilates way that I'm doing it is putting in all the core work all the curls, all the leg lifts, all the toe taps, that's all happening in in that developmental pattern. So then our next class is balance. And that's where we're learning kind of all the rolling and side to side and we start to learn the glute engagement, which is from Quadra pad into the tripod stance. So we're learning kind of all of that, and again, lots of reps, lots of which is the Pilates component, slow reps, etc. Our next class is spirit, which we are adding in the yoga component. So that peak posture for spirit is Down Dog, which is a bear in developmental movement. So you know, when kids go from quadrupeds on their hands, their knees and they start lifting their butt up, and they're kind of walking on all fours essentially. So we're peaking to that in that class, using stretching using more developmental movement pattern. The next class is freedom. So where we get a little bit higher, we're working more on squatting and standing lunging. We start to incorporate the idea of vinyasa of Low. And then from there, it goes into Fusion, which is the combination of the core work and the yoga which is way more high intensity. So more Pilates base, and then synthesis, which is more yoga base. So again, adding in all the breath work technique, that's kind of the, the thread that stays the same all the way through is keeping that three dimensional breath the whole way. And then it's the pilates and then a lot more yoga and synthesis. So it's like basically a graduation to fusion.

Todd McLaughlin: 40:28

Whoa. Yeah. Yeah. That is really cool. I mean, just visualizing, come take class, I want to that is a fascinating rehab strategy.

Nat Flood: 40:43

Yeah. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, no, the stuff that I'm seeing. And you can see women's bodies in men's bodies, like the release of back pain, the healing of diastasis, the understanding of pelvic floor, people's sex lives, improving shoulder pain, like just being able to, like be in a really, you know, safe developmental position where you can breathe. And I mean, maybe your wife might know this that she likes, I'm hair. But if you're someone who has done a lot of hair, you know, you're you're using your your round brush and your blow dryer, and you're like straightening your hair, and you straighten it hot, hot, and then you hit the cold button to set it, you do one more passive cold. That's how I describe the breath work. The breath work is literally that cold pass, where it's teaching your muscles and your neurology, it's, it's all up here that this is the new set pattern. That's what it does.

Todd McLaughlin: 41:40

You know? It sounds like you're onto something that are what, what is? What kind of, obviously you're getting incredible feedback from immediate community. Is there is there anybody else around the world doing what you're doing?

Nat Flood: 41:59

Um, I would imagine so. So DNS, they're kind of like these, the PROG school, that's a very hush hush thing. It's like, you know, and they would probably, if they ever heard this, they would be like, Oh, we didn't train her. She's not. She's not legit. Like that's that that would probably be the response. And, and that's totally fine for me, because their stuff is brilliant. But I'm actually not able to go train with them, because I'm not a physiotherapist, high refractor, any of those things. So they're more like a medical so I can take like the baseline courses. So like, there's yoga and pilates and stuff like that. They've got a pelvic floor rehab as well. I have never taken any of that all of it has just been from my chiropractor, him. He's all he's certified, and all of that, and me just like pulling from all of the stuff that he's rehabbing me with, and then turning it essentially into choreography. So I would imagine it's happening kind of quietly all over the place. And some of these people are that go and get the certification that are chiropractors, they run CrossFit boxes and gyms, and they're completely changing their programming after they hear about all of this stuff. And it's kind of kitschy. It's kind of like, what am I doing, but every time you stand up at the end of class, you're like, oh, like, I've just completely reset my body. So, you know, any really like, you kind of you could give me any ailment, and I can, I can pretty much work with it. Like whatever the issue is, is it a shoulder? Is it a hip? Is it uh, you know, I've got clients that are that, you know, so as issues and you know, you name it, whatever, like, whatever the issue is, especially postpartum rehabilitation. It pretty much taps it and like, I've been kind of waiting. Because, I mean, hopefully what you hear from talking to me is like, I'm always kind of looking for the next thing. Like, I want to be current, I want to know what's going on. And I've yet to find anything else that like, heals it. Yeah. And I have yet to find an issue. And obviously, the island is small, but I've yet to have an issue come through my door that's been able to walk up my stairs that I haven't been able to help.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:14

Whoa, I know. Something about it just makes so much sense. Why wouldn't we revert to our initial birth state? Right, rebuild from the ground back, right? Instead of trying like every good

Nat Flood: 44:34

yoga class you've ever taken, right? The ones that start with breath work and core work are the best classes you've ever taken. There's a reason for that, you know? Yeah. And I think

Todd McLaughlin: 44:44

yeah, that's amazing. Wow, powerful. I didn't even know I was going to stumble on to you right now. Like I like this girl that lives in Bermuda. Obviously, that's making it happen. It's very brilliant. I'm excited by this. You Yeah, I'm really,

Nat Flood: 45:01

I'm happy to share. I'm super I'm super happy to share hopefully as you can hear my voice like, I am never someone that's like, oh, like quiet about what I'm doing okay?

Todd McLaughlin: 45:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah,

Nat Flood: 45:12

come see what I'm doing. I will teach you I have taught I've already taught teacher training in it, that people are going in there taking it places, we are actually doing a 200 hour training in April that will cover the breath work in the core work segments. But it is obviously a 200 hour yoga Alliance. Yeah, certified things. So we have to follow their their outline, but it'll still be very much DNS kind of Shamanic method based.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:38

Are you having that all in studio? Or is that Hi,

Nat Flood: 45:42

I'm so excited.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:44

So it's so hot online. Not not online?

Nat Flood: 45:47

No, not online. Online, I think we're going to offer an online component next time that we're going to do half of it online and the other half in person. So I'm the teacher that's coming down. She's actually out of a she in Fort Lauderdale. I should know where she is. She's in Florida. She's called the traveling yoga studio. She and I crossed paths in San Diego when I was teaching in San Diego before the tear. And she does during the pandemic she started this online yoga teacher training. And she very much curates yoga teacher trainings for studio spaces. So for me, I'm again, probably as you can hear Yoga is a thing for me. But it's not like my it's not my only thing. So for me to like create a 200 hour teacher training. I'm like, I don't know, there's so many other things. And she has his expertise. So it's like, great, come on in, let's bring you in. Yeah, I'll put what I know in with what you know. And we will have this teacher training. So it's over four weeks. Here, it's all going to be integrated into the studio, which I think will be so fun. We're going to run all of our classes like normal, and we've just integrated training hours with with the teacher training, so like their practice hours and extra hours, etc. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 46:59

Very cool. Amazing. Yeah, amazing. We're trying I mean, also to just to hear your background in the world of dance, the evolution toward yoga, naturally into Pilates, and then having your own personal issues that you need healing with looking outside the box, finding people from the chiropractic and like, what was the other terminology that you used from physiotherapy with everything you to to really just like, figure out what works. So it's amazing to hear your story, and to see how it all evolved and where you're at now. That's really inspirational. It's so cool. Very cool. Very cool. You know, you had made mention earlier about the type of body imaging stuff that happens in the ballet world. And if you don't want to speak about any of this, I totally understand, but I'm just curious. How I'm aware. Personally, just in relation to trauma like it, it takes time. Like things don't just happen overnight? No. Is it something that you are still working with? Or have you turned to major?

Nat Flood: 48:13

Postpartum? Yeah, I feel I feel like it's Oh, it's always a thing.

Todd McLaughlin: 48:18

What happened? Postpartum do you mean in relation to like, being able to see yourself and not have negative thinking because your body's changed from

Nat Flood: 48:26

why your body changes so much? Especially after the second one, man, those second babies. So the first one wasn't bad. But the second one, I was like, oh, boy, I'm definitely and it's, it's the primary reason that we don't have any mirrors in our studio. I don't want to I don't, I don't know that it's healthy. It's healthy to be staring at your reflection all day long. So I don't have a scale in my home. It's why I spend a lot of time in sweats. You know, as soon as I get home, I'm like, immediately taking off my leggings and I'm getting into a pair of sweats. And a lot of

Todd McLaughlin: 49:01

it the idea there not that leggings and stuff. You'll judge yourself more when you see yourself in something tight versus something loose. That's a I never thought of that. That makes perfect sense. Yeah,

Nat Flood: 49:13

yeah. So you just it's just you're just kind of changing your habits in order to not not prevent your mind from going there because I think it's important to go there and to deal with the thoughts. But it's it just it's just nicer, it's easier and again, that that type A or hypertonicity for me, it comes right down when that is my reality and I'm you know, sitting cozy in my house and not worrying about you know, is my stomach sticking out or, you know, my legs look fat today or, you know, my boobs look crazy because I breastfed breastfed two kids, you know, it's um, what is your it's I feel like it's constantly date. It's a daily it's a daily practice. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 49:57

What is your earliest memory of Starting to think negatively about your body image.

Nat Flood: 50:04

Yeah, I remember it from I probably was I want to say six or seven years old, maybe. And standing in front of mirrors before ballet exams. And, you know, standing in a ballet first position, some girls would have space between their legs, they would have like a thigh gap. And from six to seven years old, I knew I didn't, I didn't have that. And I remember that being a really, like, why isn't my body as good as theirs? Yeah. Why? Like, why? Why am I fat, I was like six or seven, I was not that like I am, as I'm a small human, just just those thoughts. And then we used to have to wear, like these little elastic waist bands around our body suits for examinations. And I remember the, the one that they wanted to give me was, probably just gave me the wrong like, they probably just handed me the wrong side. But it was too small. And I had to go and get another, like, the next size up or whatever. And I just remember being so upset with myself that like that. Yeah, you know, that is something that I had to do at six or seven years old.

Todd McLaughlin: 51:19

It's amazing. It was just a continuation. Yeah, that's incredible. I mean, have you observed because you've been able to traverse multiples fears of body movement, schooling in relation to yoga and, and dance. And we do see this in yoga as well. I feel like in yoga, there's a bit more of a there is a positive turn in the direction of accepting, making accessible for everybody, and that any one particular body shape size is not that or is it better than another? And obviously, in ballet, I'm guessing what actually, my question is, is the ballet world making accommodations for this type of thinking? No, it's not. It just, it's pretty steadfast in that look, Nope, we're not going there. Sorry. Like, that's it for you.

Nat Flood: 52:10

It's an elite sport, it's an elite, the best of the best of the best. And I mean, I just remember, you know, the boys would get so much attention, because there's so few boys that do ballet. So it was so much more likely that the boys would go pro and boys would be flooded for schools and things like that, but because there were so many girls, and there are so many girls that are still participating, you know, and are excellent at what they do. And I mean, if you're gonna dance on pointe shoes for hours at a time, like, I don't know, I can't imagine being being a better body person. And having the ability to do that, you know, just to be able to move bodyweight like that. It was it was already hard enough. Got it. So maybe it is maybe it is happening, and maybe things are changing. Obviously, I haven't been in that world in a long time. But what you see on the stage and what you see, and imagery very much hasn't changed. I think the only thing that is happening now is that there is there are more people of color in the belly industry. And even that, like even problems that come to my mouth, I'm realizing there really isn't there really still isn't space for that. And usually when you are a person of color, there are only certain companies that are interested in you, you know, the Alvin Ailey's and things like that. There really is not a lot of space for different bodied diversity and different differently abled people. Yeah, the diversity is just not there.

Todd McLaughlin: 53:38

All right, well, luckily, we're in a world now where we can, yeah, we're, we're in a free flow. We're in a free flow environment where like you're creating a space where you're you're able, you don't have to follow the 26 poses of the hot yoga series, to turn the temperature dial to the exact same temperature. Yeah, I mean, you're in this place, where you can create a whole new thing based off of what is important in the moment, which obviously is the way of the future.

Nat Flood: 54:11

It can be whatever you want it to be, you know, just sitting and breathing. That's yoga like yes, you you attempting something in a day that's for me, that's yoga, like anything like that anything with mindfulness is is yoga. And and I you know, I've taken a really long time. publish that image of, of shamanic circles specifically that we are completely opened absolutely every age, demographic, race, religion, size, color, like we are open, we want you here. It's a safe space for you. You will look around and see other people who look like you because you know what Bermuda was before, it wasn't that like, there just wasn't that space. And we've really we've really had to work hard to especially because Bermuda is a very, very religious Island. It's very. Yeah, yoga is scary yoga, yoga is the work of the devil yoga is these negative things. And so we've had to work real hard to like, be involved in the community and be accepted by the community and approach it at an angle that is accessible to people, whether that's price point, whether that's, you know, class titles on the schedule. You know, we had, we've had a lot of really interesting we do like village talks, and just interesting conversations that we've had about diversity and culture and color and size, all of those things, invisible disabilities, like we're just we're trying to be for everyone. Period.

Todd McLaughlin: 55:57

I hear you not Oh, man, I will. I'm so inspired. I'm extremely pleasantly surprised. But at the same time, what I can't express enough about doing podcasting and reaching out to people that I don't know, first for you to just willingly join me not knowing me from the Land of the Moon, shows that they're that you have that open mind that is just so important, I think. And I'm just so appreciative to meet other people like you. And also, you know, I just love hearing your story and your evolution is absolutely, you know, so incredible. So inspirational. And I just really thankful to have this chance. And I'm excited to see what will come out of this. Maybe I can even come or bring a group to Bermuda and and I mean, it's only what do you say it's only 700 miles away? It's not

Nat Flood: 56:52

like if you can fly. Where are you? Are you to Miami? to Miami? It's a direct flight.

Todd McLaughlin: 56:57

We're in Juno Beach. So like about an hour and 15 north of Miami. We're on like the West. Palm shot

Nat Flood: 57:03

is perfect. That is perfect. direct flight from Miami, right, Brian, it's your about here, come take some class. And if you're

Todd McLaughlin: 57:11

ever over in Florida to we'd love to host Jen and Costa semana training, or something of that nature over here in this neck of the woods, you know, now I want to I know you have a busy schedule. So I don't want to hold you too long. But I'm curious. Do you have any thoughts, closing ideas, words of wisdom, inspiration beyond what you've already shared with us to help us close our session today together?

Nat Flood: 57:40

I just think you know, anybody listening or anybody that's like trying to make yoga thing, you know, like a daily thing is just that, you know, movement movement is medicine, and any type of movement is is important. It doesn't matter where you're doing it or how you're moving your body, as long as you are getting up moving your body daily. You know, I say to my clients all the time, get the vitamin D, get the sleep, eat the food, drink water. And, and, and that's, that's how we show up. That's all we can do. It's just it's just every single day. It's a practice. Yeah, that's really

Todd McLaughlin: 58:16

it. That's perfect, Matt. Well, thank you so much, and I look forward to having a chance to connect again in the future.

Nat Flood: 58:24

Yeah, thank you so much for having me. Thank you.

Todd McLaughlin: 58:34

Native yoga Todd cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know. If there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com. And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it and review and join us next time