Tawanya Norwood ~ Achieving Greatness: Balancing Motherhood, Military, and Mindfulness

Tawanya Norwood is a U.S. Marine and a passionate advocate for yoga, blending her military discipline with the mindfulness of yoga practice. Originally from Miami Dade County, Tawanya has served in the military for seven years, currently stationed at the Pentagon. She has an academic background in sociology, graduating from the University of Florida, and works on the social media team for the Marine Corps, leveraging her skills developed from her yoga journey. Tawanya is also a dedicated mother and an inspiration figure aiming to bridge the gap between military service and holistic wellness.

Follow Tawanya on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/th33besticanbe/?hl=en

Key Takeaways:

• The Intersection of Yoga and Military Life: Tawanya uniquely blends the discipline of the Marines with the mindfulness of yoga, demonstrating resilience and self-awareness.
• Inspirational Roots: Motivation drawn from early life challenges and influential figures like Eric Thomas continues to drive her success.
• Power of Affirmations: Emphasizing the role of positive self-talk and visualization in achieving excellence, as observed in Olympic athletes.
• Evolving Military Practices: The integration of yoga and stretching in military training highlights a progressive approach to soldier wellness.

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Chapters

• 0:04 Military Service and Yoga: Tawanya Norwood's Unique Journey
• 4:10 Pursuing Personal Excellence Through Running and Yoga
• 11:24 From Sociology Major to Marine: Tawanya Norwood's Journey
• 19:42 From Sociology Major to Marine: Tawanya Norwood's Journey
• 22:44 Yoga and Marine Corps Training: A Journey of Flexibility and Growth
• 29:51 Yoga, Motherhood, and Finding Balance Through Life's Transitions
• 34:59 From Yoga to Marine Corps: A Journey of Personal Growth
• 40:37 Harmonizing Christian Faith and Yoga Practice
• 44:34 Yoga, Military Service, and Trauma-Informed Practices
• 55:02 Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Embracing Self-Belief
• 1:00:49 Pursuing Dreams in the Military and Beyond
• 1:03:54 Embracing Your Best Self and Using All Your Potential

Transcript

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 at @nativeyoga and check us out at www.nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast, I'm so happy you're here. Today I'm excited to introduce you to Tawanya Norwood. Tawanya is a yoga teacher. She also is currently a marine stationed up at the Pentagon in Washington, DC and Tawanya has an incredible story to share about her family life, growing up, her evolution through her education process, her passion and love for sharing Yoga through her social media channel, which is on Instagram. Go ahead and follow her. Her handle is @th33besticanbe link in description below, click on it. Tawanya has an incredibly inspirational story that I think is going to take you to a place of just excitement for yoga and appreciation for yoga and appreciation for what we all have is ability to communicate together and share our passion for yoga practice. Thank you so much, Tawanya for sharing your stories with me, as I feel so inspired after talking with you, and I just really thank you for opening up and telling me, telling us, sharing all of with all of us as listeners, what inspires you and helps you to become the best you can be, because I feel like your example is really encouraging me to do the same. So let's go ahead and get started. I am delighted to have the opportunity to meet and speak with Tawanya. Norwood, Tawanya, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. How are you? I'm really well. Thank you so much for joining me here. I have had a chance. I saw you on Instagram, and I got a chance to see that you're passionate about yoga and that you're also are in the military, and I'm always excited to speak with people that are serving our country on the level that you are and also passionate about yoga. I think it's a great combo. And I'm curious, where are you? Where are you currently? I am currently in Washington, DC, and like physically, I'm in the Pentagon gym right now. Gotcha nice for those of you that are listening, if you want to watch on YouTube, you can see what the Pentagon gym looks like, some mirrors. I see some like maybe bolsters hanging from the wall in the back. Yeah. I mean, it's pretty nice. So I'm fortunate that I was able to be able to do the interview here. That's cool. How long have you been in the military? I've been in the military for seven years. Gotcha. And where are you from originally? I'm originally from Miami. Dade, county. Always have to specify, because some people say Miami, but there's a different location in Florida. Gotcha. Like, what is the difference Miami? Dade, I know, I know Miami quite well, but I'm curious, like, what, where do where else could we be put if we say we're from Miami? So in college and also in the military, I encounter this a lot, and this is like my soapbox. So people would be from Broward County, actually, but they would just say they're from Miami, because people know about Miami more. So if you say Miami Dade County, oh, I didn't anticipate the lights turned out. I apologize. So if you say Miami Dade County, people will know more, or it kind of makes it seem more official, official. Like, yeah, that's a good point. It sounds like you're proud to be from Miami. I love my I am proud. Yeah, that's cool. And what, what was your first yoga experience? And where my first yoga experience was more of a stretching experience, and it was actually in high school, so I joined the track team, and I started a stretch pro. Am a stretch routine because I wanted to get I wanted to maintain flexibility. Because I was like, Oh, it seems like I'm recovering from my workouts better and maintaining because of the stretching. So that was the first time I got introduced to stretching. And then when I got to college, or after I graduated college, I I looked into it more, and then went more of the yoga route, of it as a more structured but between high school and the time period, period when I learned where it was a more structured practice. I still practice it either way. I still stretch throughout, yeah, that's cool. Was, was your first yoga experience? Like, in a like, I know I can understand the distinction between, like a stretching class and like a proper yoga practice. Was it in a studio? Was it online, or was it through a book? What was your first experience? Was actually at a public library. It was a free yoga session that I had went to and college and then or not, college after college, and I thought it was a pretty cool experience. I was like I had never outside of being a part of a track team, I never had been with a group of people stretching at once. So I like the environment, and in particular, I like the respect that they put on the stretching, and I also like the deeper aspects. So it wasn't just stretching, but it was the meditation. It was the purple purposefulness behind it. Very cool. It was just a group of like minded people, so I enjoyed that aspect of it nice, yeah, that's really cool. That that is interesting to think about. The distinction between like, I'm just gonna stretch, versus that there's like, the fact you use the word like, respect for the pose too, or like, there was some sort of, like, check out this posture. There's a name to it, and there's like, a way to, yeah, that's cool. Did you? Did you run track in college? I ran for a club team, so I wasn't the, I wasn't the most competitive when it came to running, but I still had a passion and a drive for it. Actually, it was. It kind of ties into, like, my instagram name, like I I ran in high school. I didn't like win any awards or anything, but I felt that I could be better, and so I just kept trying to run and pursue things related to running, because I wanted to be my best. I felt like I hadn't given my best. There was more that I could give out of myself, which is how I came up with the best I can be. I kind of took that persona on for the rest of, like, my life. That's cool. Did you were you able to achieve the best you can? I made a couple achievements running with the club team. I still I didn't make anything like super noteworthy. But personally, I think that, I think the I think I came to the realization that it wasn't a moment that was the achievement. It was a fact that I was still willing to pursue it nice, that I didn't give up on it. That was my achievement, that, because it's not like, oh, I felt like I had greatness in me. And once I got it, it stopped. It was the greatness was that I was willing to keep going. And that was my biggest strength. Yeah, very cool. Did, um, we're recording this, like, just a couple days after the Olympics closed. Did you watch track and field on the Olympics? I definitely did. That was the highlight of the last few weeks, or like week or so, was watching the track and field. I always love the Olympics. I always love because I always follow track. But then now, just something about the Olympic stage makes other people watch it, enjoy it, and celebrate it, like I do, and then you get more access to it. Because any other time it's kind of hard to find. You have to look it up on YouTube or look at old pictures, but here it was readily available on a big stage. Yeah, so cool. What was, was there a moment or a particular runner that really inspired you this year or this this time around? I'm glad you asked that question, because there is something about this Olympics, and I would say it was made very noticeable to me during track and field. I was inspired by the amount of affirmations all the athletes had, like you would see them about to take on this big feat, and you will see their self talk like no one else is around them. So clearly they talking to themselves. Yeah, and, you know, I have a Christian background, and then, you know, with yoga affirmations, it just it was like a powerful moment where connected, like, here are some of the greatest. Athletes in the world on this huge stage, and they're putting this into practice. It must work, is what I was thinking. And it was just inspiration, because it was just so powerful to see them, like I was watching a pole vaulter, and she was like, saying, You can do it, do this, this, this. And it was affirmations, and it was visualization, because you could tell some of them were running through what they were going to do and stuff like that. So that's the biggest thing I took away. And I would note a second thing there was this one runner who she said she never won a high school athletics award. Sorry for the likes. She had never won on a college level, the biggest award. And the only award kind of that she ever got was Olympic gold medal. It was the Olympic gold medal. I think it was 100 meter hurdler. And that was powerful too, because we're not always recognized on every level, but the level we need to be is going to happen for us if we don't give up. Oh man, I love that one. I think one of my favorite moments was shakari Richardson. Is that I get her name right? I think I did she carry I'm so sorry, sorry, shakiri. Shakiri, when she made that look over to her right, like she's in front. I was like, Oh my gosh. That is so cool. That was so inspirational. I was like, she had it. She totally had it. Yeah, that was amazing. Well, that's cool. And so what are your thoughts on yoga being in the Olympics? Would you support that? Would you support that idea? Or do you think we should keep that separate? You know, just, I guess I would say I never considered that. How would, how would we make it competitive, and does it align with our purpose for it to be competitive? Is what I think about, yeah, but I do think that, and it's probably based on athletes and countries, I think it could be a part of it, and probably is in terms of recovery and preparation, maybe like offering it for as a element in an Olympic village or so? Yeah, I heard one person argue the Pro for bringing yoga into the Olympics was that like, if I have, if I'm a young, if I'm young, and I'm watching a sport, and I have an idol or a hero that's really good at the sport that that inspires so many children or so many people to actually take up the sport that they were saying, if we could somehow get yoga into the Olympics, it would provide role models for younger people that would be looking up to them, and also, obviously put it on the world stage, where people would, you know, think of it as like a legitimate, legitimate thing, but I also agree what you're saying in terms of, like, do we want to do that? Like, if we have something that's like, kind of personal and private, do we would we want to make it a competition? I think I stand, I lean more towards that side. And I think in order for us to accomplish what that individual was referring to, I think it would be more so of like because yoga and stretching goes so hand in hand, and stretching and athletics are really close together. I think it's just a matter of people, those athletes, those big name professionals who do do yoga, stepping out more into the forefront, and being those role models putting out imagery of themselves doing it, because so many people on every level do practice it. It's just exposure or putting marketing it, putting it out there. So I think that's what it would be, especially like college athletic programs. I think that's one of my dreams, to go be a like a college athletic yoga instructor. Very cool, awesome, great dream. How did you So you went, where you went to college, what did you major in? When you went to school? I actually majored in sociology, the study of people. And it worked out. I went in as an English major, and then realized that wasn't what I wanted, and I was it was kind of challenging for me. I had a lot of imposter syndrome, fear of failure. And I would go to write an essay, and I would just, it would take me hours. I was so I was so hard on myself. So then I ended up switching. I wanted to do psychology, but it was a bit too much math, so I ended up doing sociology, just stumbling upon it, and I really enjoyed it. I was fortunate enough to choose a lot of the essay topics. I'm not sure if that always happens in majors, but I focused a lot on actually, athletics and the role of sports in society. So it ended up being, it ended up relating to something I was very passionate about. That's cool. At what point did you decide that you wanted to pursue being in the military? So when I was, um. Um, growing up in Miami, so yes, Miami, Dade County, but in particular, I grew up in a part of Miami known as Liberty City. Miami is really changing now, but at that time and leading up to it, Liberty City was very rough, a lot of violence, death, drugs, and I was exposed to that as a child within my own family as well. And so when I, when I, I pushed through everything. I got to college, and I was working like I was still trying to figure out what path I wanted to take. So I was just working at like Home Depot and Chili's, but then my sister had got into a rough predicament in life. She ended up in a shelter, and I found myself angry or just feeling upset that I wasn't in a position to be able to help her. And so I said, What can I do to help my sister, but also something that would propel the dreams and goals that are kind of like starting to form in my mind. And then I think the most important thing was also, what can I do so my family, going forward, never would be put in this situation, because this was, I don't know if this is the right term, but it was historical. It wasn't just my generation, my mom's generation. It wasn't the best economic situation, and I didn't want that to continue. So when I thought about what could do that, for some reason, the military popped up. I have some people in the military in my family, but I didn't really have a connection with them. But that was just a thought that came into my mind. And also around that time was when I had started to do yoga, and I did want to, in some kind of way, utilize that in order to propel my life forward, when I was speaking about, like the little passions that were growing in my mind. So I figured I can join the military, because after looking into it, I saw people in the military seem to have a stable family. They seem to have world experience, not just because I had never been outside of Florida or Miami at the time. And so all of those thoughts of pretty much wanting to better, to better my life and my future and also my family's life. And that's what the military came to me as nice, amazing. And so this is, did you already graduate from university at this point, or is this kind of like in your last year or so of university that you started to think along this line, it was after I had graduated, probably. So I graduated college in 2012 and then I joined the military in 2017 so like five years so I had stayed in the same state University of Florida. Go, gators. Nice. I went there too, yeah, oh, really, wow, only for a year, so I can't claim the full four, but it was, I was there for two nice, nice, I know, amazing up there. That's cool. Asking more about that later, but that's, that's awesome. Very good. Great job. Yeah, I was five years out of college, and enough those five years, like I said, I had worked at Chili's Home Depot and still trying to find what's the next step, what to do with the degree that I had. So can you talk a little bit about that? Because sometimes I feel like I'm 50 now I'm a little like out of touch with coming out of college, and the challenge that that is with finding a job. So you had your degree in psychology, but did you have at that? Did you entertain the idea of becoming like a personal psychologist and doing like talk theory? Oh, sociology. I'm so sorry. I totally mixed up professions there. They found no, there's a big difference. I That's my mistake. Thank you for correcting me. Is so I guess a good point. Where do you go? With sociology degree? What is the typical what's the typical thing that people jump to? Social Work? Yeah, teaching, yeah. It's very similar to, like, a standard degree where you could get you could have an introductory, introductory level job anywhere. It's not as specific, you know, as like, electronic engineering or electrical engineering. Sorry, yeah. So I knew, in my mind, I knew that those were some of the paths people could take. But personally, I wasn't interested in social work because I knew that's a very hard like, the type of stuff you have to deal with. I know I personally had to deal with social workers based on my upbringing, so that wasn't a position I wanted to put myself in. I didn't think I wanted to be a teacher. Um. Um, and if I'm being honest, I hadn't in my immediate family, I hadn't experienced somebody holding a professional job. So I had to overcome the idea that I was only supposed to work at McDonald's, Walmart, Publix and stuff like that. So that could have been a reason to why I didn't pursue something on a higher level, yeah. But typically, um, those are some of the types of fields or people go on and continue in school for a higher degree, and that'll open you up for stuff. And I guess you could also be a part of, like, studies of populations and contributing to data for that, yeah, but all of that was both not my interest level, and again, I was a little intimidated to enter the real workforce. I understand. Did you and then so you okay? I'm gonna go military, and you're Marine, correct? Yes. How did you decide Marine? So me being a Marine is actually heavily related to my yoga journey. So when I was a when I was after I got out of college, and again, I had been running for a club team while I was there, one of the things that I thought was cool following Track and Field was like, professional athletes and how nice they looked and the the pictures that they took. And it's a little shallow, but I'm a big fan of, like, a certain brand, and so I was like, oh, it'd be cool to work for that brand. And I was like, I'm not fast enough to actually get sponsored by them, but I was like, What can I do? I was like, I probably could take good photos. So then I started doing poses and taking pictures of myself, which was the beginnings of my Instagram. And that's when I got more into yoga as a, as a actual like practice. And once I was doing that, I was like, I think I could really get far with this, and I think I had take some good photos, but I wasn't being noticed. So I was like, I need to grow my following. And I thought, what if, along with, you know, helping my family? I was like, What could I do that would grow my following? What population that I could become a part of that would really propel me forward, or give me the support I need to get out there. So I thought military. And then when I thought what would be impressive, I thought Marines, because in my research, I had learned the Marines is the toughest branch, so that kind of drove you probably could tell in any decision, I put a lot of thought into it, but that's that's kind of what drove me to think the Marines, because I felt like it had the most esteem and the most challenge, and it would really propel my my platform. And something else that I didn't mention, it was not only to like be a part of this brand that I was a really big fan of, but in my experience in college, even though I successfully graduated, it was really tough. And I had, you know, I pulled on certain things to inspire me. And I found this one inspirational speech speaker. His name was Eric Thomas, so I listened to him, and he incorporated sports and different things into his speaking. And I was like, wow, I would really like to be like him and like, motivate and inspire, and use sports as a way to motivate and inspire. And in particular, I would like to inspire people who came from, where I came from, and when I thought about coming from there, when I was there, who inspired me, it was people who made these huge accomplishments, people who are a part of this particular brand. So it was a big story that I put in my head that if coming from where I'm from, in Miami, I could, uh, accomplish this big feat of getting signed to this major athletic company and just accomplish something really grand. It would I could go back, use the tools that I use to accomplish that, and speak to people where I'm from. That's pretty much everything I was thinking in my mind. And I thought, Oh, the Marines would get me there. Yeah, it would be impressive for people to know, and they have a big following, it is impressive. That's so inspirational. I love hearing this. I have a Marine who comes to practice each morning, or he's retired, or he's not an active service anymore. And so I told him I was getting ready to talk to you today, and I said, What do I need to know about the Marines? Because I'm, you know, I'm going to interview someone who's in the Marines and and he's like, Well, he said, You're a marine until you die. And I said, Oh, that's cool. And he and I so on that level, do you feel like that ethos that you when you went into the Marine? Said that you really got inspired by that. Does that something that you carry with you? Do you feel that way currently? I do. Because when you like the instant, like when the instance, you said he was a Marine, or he's a Marine, I knew that he he knew who you were interviewing, there are certain things that they teach us, certain you could say like one word, Ura to someone, or it's funny, but kill certain things that we have that instantly we would know there's a shared experience the way the Marines, the Marine Corps especially, teaches you and instructs you and builds you up. We all, we're all taught the same way, but not anyone outside of it will understand the principles, the policies, the procedures. So it could be someone who's 70 years old, there's still some elements that we still practice today that we share. So I definitely felt that. And anytime there's someone who's a Marine, there's just where we do have our individual distinctions, but there's always something that you know, that you share with them, something you could tell them, that they will understand. I think that's the biggest thing. You know, they'll understand you. They may not understand all of you, but they understand this. What would have become a big aspect of your life. You both understand it. That's so cool. I have so much respect for that did. What was boot camp like for you? So I I'm 35 I went into boot camp at 28 on the average, people go probably 1718, maybe 23 so I was older, but I also had a background in sociology and psychology, so that played a big role. Because bootcamp is training. You train people from all walks of life to become the same as I was saying. So there are certain practices, certain things that are done in order to get people on the same page, per se. So it was challenging, but I was fortunate to have an understanding that prepared me, that's cool, a maturity and an understanding of procurity That makes sense. Did you ever have any interactions with the people that you were training with that involved yoga? Did you talk about yoga? Or were you did you need to be shy about yoga? I would imagine that some military personnel feel positively towards yoga, and maybe some might say, Whoa, that seems like crazy stuff. What is that? So I'm curious what your experience was, and your process of conveying your passion for yoga in that environment. So wherever I go, I always end up expressing myself through yoga, because I always am practicing and I'm always stretching. I'm always, you know, I It's a part of how I maintain my health. So every night before workouts, I would be I always just refer to it as stretching. I would be stretching or practicing so, and I have a high level of flexibility, so it always drew attention to me. So there will be people who will have questions, who would want to there was other at that time where recruits not Marines yet, because we're still in training other recruits who want to be as flexible. And surprisingly, we actually practice yoga as a group, like they brought someone in who could teach it to us. The Marine Corps is very evolving. So in the past, there was a focus on fitness, physical practices, running, lifting, carrying heavy things. And just like how professional sports organizations are evolving and realizing stretching is important. We're also learning that stretching is important. So they would bring in. There were sessions, usually on Sundays in boot camp, those were more relaxed times where the training kind of died down, and it was more about centering yourself, however was comfortable to you. They would bring in people to stretch us before major like workouts or hikes where we were going to do miles, they would bring in people to stretch us. So it's definitely something that was embraced. And the Marine Corps is an institution, but it's also run by people. So as people are coming into the institution who have their own practices, and as they're raising in the ranks, they're making the rules and regulations and allowing people to take part in things that in the past, they wouldn't. So all that to say the Marine Corps is evolving as the people within it are evolving, and more and more people are. Practicing low yoga to include those in the Marine Corps. So it's something that's accepted. I never felt like cast out or awkward just because of it. It was embraced. That's so great to hear amazing. So then you you complete your training, you officially become a Marine Yes. What happened next. So after I completed my training, I actually got stationed as something called a Marine extraditionary unit. So it's a unit in the Marine Corps that usually travels by ship to different countries. So I was fortunate to be able to go out all these different countries, and I actually achieved a major dream in my yoga journey. So one of the things that inspired me, when I talk about being a part of a brand and wanting a model, I saw these, like, amazing pictures of people doing yoga, like in the mountains, or, like, just in these, these really nice backgrounds. So when I whenever we would pour our ship or, you know, landed somewhere, I would make sure I had on my yoga outfit, and I would go take pictures. There's some beautiful pictures I took in the mountains. Of them on there was some really, I really like these pictures because I had on my my camouflage uniform in the desert of I believe it was Jordan. So I, after boot camp, I got to go back to expressing myself through yoga. And I took one of some of the most amazing, and it's actually my profile picture in the sun sunflower fields of Spain, I went and took some pictures. And those were some great memories, because sometimes people visit other countries and they want to eat and experience the food or go shopping, which I don't mind doing that, but I love that. I experienced it through yoga. I got to express and those are like great memories, and it broke a barrier in my mind, because, as I said, I hadn't been out of Miami, and now I'm in a whole nother country. That's so cool. And so it was. It was a great experience after boot camp. That's amazing. So then when, and you're a mom now, yes, yes, two, almost three year old, a daughter. Yes. And when did you What's the timeline from when you got back from that journey to motherhood? So after my second deployment. So I got on, we deployed on a ship for six months, had a break, and then we deployed and went to Spain, where I took my sunflower pictures, and I met my daughter's dad in Spain, and then I had her later that year. And so I I've had different since starting my yoga journey. I have been in so many different places, and one of the challenges has been maintaining it, maintaining the practice, maintaining my fitness. So motherhood was another idea, or another challenge of, how do I maintain my yoga. How do I maintain my fitness? And I it was a challenge, but I ended up figuring out, like I have some photos that I took where I still did my posing, did my pictures, and so it was a it was a transition, but being able to maintain it helped me to have a solid foundation and taking on so I was a college student. I was a Marine, now my mom, but throughout all that, I guess, my center, my foundation, I still was able to be the person who could do yoga, the person who could stretch, who could take amazing pictures, and that's something that I hold on to, because when going back to the idea of the best that I can be, in my mind, these things are all phenomenal accomplishments. That's the best that I have to offer, and I'm always striving to maintain that So becoming a mom, but still being able to do the things that I feel are my skill or my gift has really helped me not to lose myself. Amazing. Yeah, parenting is challenging. You're like, I'm nodding. It is yes, and you're kind of, I mean, three year old. Three is a pretty exciting age. It's a very active age. What's something that you're noticing that she's doing now that really inspires you or makes you really proud to be a mom? I so I stretch every night, and I do it every more. Learning. And I started to notice now that one day she came on the and joined me, and she was like, doing her own poses. And I'm like, How do you know that? How did you learn that? And then it's funny that, if, like, if I just follow what she's doing, she does a lot of the poses that I do myself, which I guess maybe from watching me, yeah, but I think that's the and I want to start, like, doing more with her at the same time, but I think that's the, the most, my most amazing thing that I'm noticing so far, like, Oh, she really is paying attention. Or this something that a journey that we can share that's and not just me, amazing. I hear ya, I hear you. I have two children as well, and I'm constantly just amazed, just in awe of how great it is. Yes, and so what is your role currently, you're in the Pentagon. You're literally in the Pentagon right now. And this interview will end. What is your role like the rest of the day to day? What does your job look like? What does your day to day job look like? Fortunately, today, my job is done, but I actually work on the social media team for the Marine Corps. Wow. So the headquarters is located in Washington, headquarters for the Marine Corps. So I'm actually building on my skill set that I started when I started my yoga journey. So personally, it has helped me in my personal growth. But professionally, everything that I applied in my yoga, pictures and practices for my Instagram, those skill sets, those things that I learned about social media, I'm applying them where I'm working now. So it's been like a constant president. That is so cool that it's evolved into that. I, I didn't know that from looking at your your profile and, um, that is, that is so cool. I did notice, though, that you act as a recruiter. Is that correct? So I, when I joined the military I joined as a photographer, and when in my previous duty station, I was a photographer for a recruiting unit. So I wasn't an official recruiter, but I assisted them with creating content and being a part of events that would help them with recruiting. And it was all so my job is called communication strategy, so I was just using the different marketing tools to help them with the recruiting effort. Amazing. What is the general consensus currently on the challenge of getting people to join the military? Are we in a good place in the United States, or is it really challenging right now? What is the overall feeling? The overall feeling is just like any other thing, the world is evolving, people are evolving, and the military as a whole understands that, and but the Marine Corps stands in particular is that although people are evolving, we're still looking for that reliable resource, that reliable source. So there's different outlets, different jobs that weren't available before, that people would love to have, or would like to have in the military is starting to offer that. But also we still have those jobs that were foundations that people in the past were looking to take on. And I think in general, what I've learned in my experience with Marine Corps recruiting is that the Marine Corps offers stability in the sense that, yes, we've evolved, but we're still the same Marine Corps that has won those battles in the past and having that capacity to keep us forward. Because we do want change, but we don't want something to change so much that it loses the foundation of what it was. So I think, I think that's the best way to put it. We know that the world is changing, and we're trying to change with it, but still be reliable to what the world needs. Oh, that's a good one. That brings up. That's a good that's a good point. Was your family when you told them say, like, I don't know if, if, like, what part of your family is together and but when you told your family I'm going in the Marines, were you met with apprehension, or were you met with positive support? Um, when my family. I was met with positive supports, because at this point I had started my yoga journey. Started my Instagram, which is the biggest device I use to communicate my yoga, my family has seen my products, the pictures that I was taking, how flexible I had become, and when I started that journey, that was the first thing that I did was kind of that was kind of out there, away from the norm of what they typically did, and when they saw how successful and how well I did at that the military, they were just like, Well, if that's what you we trust you. If that's what you're doing, we believe that you're fully capable of it. I had overcome so much already, wow, and shown what I could do. So have you ever read David Goggin David Goggins any of his? I think I have. He's so inspirational. He was in the outliers. His first book is, can't hurt me. Yeah, he's, he was in the Navy Seals and, oh yes. And he's just just, I think he got awarded, like, fittest man in America, like a year or two ago, like, he's just crazy physical fitness was telling me about it. Super inspirational story, like yours, super inspirational story. It's so cool to hear all this. What you said that you grew up with a Christian background, I did as well. Was there? How are you able to have both of these practices, Christianity as a religion andor as a spiritual philosophy and yoga be compatible with one another. I believe wholeheartedly they are. I don't see any challenges. Sometimes I get maybe pushback from people that are Christian, that might say, you know, isn't that yoga stuff kind of anti Christian or not Christian? I'm curious what your experience has been in this arena, that's a great question, because in my own practice of yoga, I've not only had that question standing as an outlier in the sense of being a Christian who practice yoga. At the time, when I started my journey as a black woman, there wasn't a big population who practiced yoga. So um, I had both of those things and questions coming at me, and I embraced it, because I wanted to use my practice to be a part of conversations, to show not only that you could come from Miami and do a certain thing, but that you could be a black woman, that you could be a Christian and do a certain thing, and I was it's been hard moving from place to place to to find like a consistent church home. But before I joined the military, I was heavily involved in a church where I went to college, and so when I didn't necessarily get face to face pushback about what I was practicing, but sometimes there was posts that people would reshare if I was on Facebook. And actually recently, there was this big conversation about Christian yoga, or yoga being against Christianity, and I decided to chime in to the conversation, because with my friends, I think I had a voice and I had a I felt like I had I'm lost for the word, but I felt like it was my place to take a stand on it, but how why see it? And it's kind of why, when I talk, I interchange yoga and stretching, because as a foundation, yoga, to me, is stretching, but it's intentional. So you put purpose to it, not only in the parts of your body that you're stretching, but I think the biggest thing is what you're focusing on, the meditations. And when you go into Christianity, the Bible talks about meditations, about what you focus on. Faith is about what you focus on. And so I like to say that I practice Christian yoga because my practice what I like to focus on, what I like to instruct people about is, you know, faith based stuff, or meditating to like on positive things. So I think when I wrote, wrote the post on Facebook, one of the bigger points I made is like, it's about what you focus on when you're in the post. It could be this other religion, it could be this other god, or it could be whoever you choose to focus on, or it could be nothing at all because you're trying to decompress. So the way that I I just use myself as an example, and try to be that example, that you could exist in that space without losing who you are, and people having known me as a Christian before I started practicing yoga, is seeing that I still. Am that person? I think it adds to the conversation for them. Yeah, well, said, I agree with you 100% I think it's important. I think it's important so much in common. I think it's important to talk about that I've gone through. I had my own little phase where I moved away from faith, and now I'm kind of returning back and and I think that the two can be blended together beautifully, and that they don't necessarily have to, you know, not get along. I think it's possible that it can be a harmonious junction there. So that's cool to hear that, that you're able to convey that. And I also it's also nice to hear that you really didn't, you haven't really gotten, like, a ton of pushback. You know what? I mean? Like, I don't, yeah. So that's always really good to hear what um, I guess I want to ask you just, I want to ask you this question. If you don't want to go down this track, I am completely okay with you. Just saying no, thank you. Let's not go there. But this morning, I was talking with my Marine, the person who comes in practices, and I brought up that recently, I had somebody start bringing information to me about like intervention and relationship to our country, intervening in other countries like and obviously we do. And so I wondered, as a military personnel, do you ever have questions about like, if you disagree, I guess let me kind of go back to where I was asking him this question, then I'll present it to you this morning. I said, okay, so he was mentioning having experience of putting his boots on the ground and and my question was like, did you ever have any moral dilemma about the role that you played. And in this response, it was like, no, because my duty was to be there for my fellow servicemen. So my all, my main objective was to keep everybody safe. And it wasn't like I was thinking. We weren't thinking about like when you're told to go, you go, like, it's not, like, you don't question it. And I'm just, I just want to ask this question, and I hope it's not being too I want to be respectful. But have you ever questioned anything and had challenge with reconci reconciling your role in the military and our role as our government, like in intervention with other countries. Do you have any feelings or thoughts about that? I think I would agree with his perspective. But it sounds like he's had more experience in he's had more combat experience, possibly usually when people say boots on the ground, meaning he probably went to maybe a country where we were in conflict with I have not personally had that experience working in photography and communications. There's not a lot of times where my role personally has a big influence on some of the conflicts, but I think, I think his stance is one that is pretty I think that I would have the same thing, because, yes, we're fighting for a bigger cause, but We also have to look at the small picture of we have, the people who we've worked with, we've been training alongside, and we just have to trust from a spiritual sense. I kind of lean on that trust that where I've joined and what I'm a part of, the right things will happen, but I can't say that I have, to a large extent, really made decisions or choices besides joining that have influenced, like the conflict, but I think I understand, yeah, you just have to focus on the best. Yeah, good point. I sometimes I think too much like maybe, maybe I know I might need to join them. I might need to join the Marines, actually. And I mean, it's definitely a good discipline, for the discipline. And, yeah, on another element in that realm, what I'm curious what type of yoga styles you have encountered, because I I've been involved in Bikram yoga, and I've also trained and practiced in Ashtanga Yoga, and both of these styles have been criticized for being militaristic that because there's like when I trained with Bikram in. California, it was like you put your toes on the line, your toes aren't in front of the line. Your toes aren't behind the line. Your toes are on the line. There's no questions. You don't ask questions. And it's very regimented, and it's very sequenced and very structured. And same with the stronger there's there's such an incredible structure. And so when I was speaking with the fellow the marine this morning, he's like, that's what I love about it, and it works really well with my mind, because of the structure, and that there is structure, and I can really relate to the structure. Can you share a little bit about your own personal experience with your own yoga practice and structure and how that relates to what you've you're training in the military, I would say that I never thought of it like that. The comparison I know in my own practice, there are certain things that I'm particular about, just because I thought that it would be the best way to get the most out of the position or pose in terms of fully stretching your muscle, but I've never been hard set only if I feel like it's not as beneficial. And I feel like in my role in the military, I'm kind of the same way the military, in general, the Marines, yes, we're structured. We're set, because that's how you get that unity. That's how you get, you know, two is better than one, I think. And the Bible even talks about like a cord, a tie cord is stronger than so that's where we get our strength from. But there's room to be yourself, be flexible. And I've always that was one of the things that I was afraid of in joining the Marines. I thought I would use lose my creativity, individuality, but I've found a way in this space to still be that. And I think in my own practice, I let people do that as well, and I try to do that. I'm not too stringent, unless, like I said, it would harm you. But I've never thought of it that's a pretty I think the only style that I've really been exposed to is it vinyasana, or is that the right way to say it? I think went to a couple of those, and I wanted to try hot yoga, but I would say my practice leaves room to be different and to be creative, like one time I used to when I was in North Carolina. I was stationed at Camp Lejeune. I taught yoga at a Boxing gym to like some boxers, and so I I would play, like hip hop music. And so, because I wanted them to know yoga isn't just like this particular image of someone, you could however you normally are. You could be that and do yoga. So there's structure, but there's also flexibility. Yeah, good point. Yeah, that's sometimes the critique on the structured styles, I find is people you know, think, Well, where is that creativity? But it sounds like you have a good balance of that. You kind of get the, get the sense of both. I want to talk to you after you go to your first hot yoga class and to see what you think, but try to find, like, one of those hardcore ones where they really, like, beat you up a little bit. There's not many. It's funny, because I don't know how much of the history that you know about Bikram, but at some point he left the country, and so there was this, like, he kept a really strict kind of rule set amongst all of the studios that were under his umbrella. And then once he left the country, a lot of that kind of strictness has started to, like, dissolve a little bit. And like, there's a lot of parts of the strictness that I think is so great and I learned so much from but there's a lot of part of the strictness that I also think was wasn't very kind for those that were had experienced trauma. You know, it was a little do you? What do you? What do you think in relation to when you hear about, like trauma sensitive yoga and and say, in relation to, I know a lot of people that do come back from combat have experienced PTSD and different challenges. What are your thoughts on the role of of taking a trauma informed perspective, versus kind of like, just like that, stop being a baby, toughen up, you know, that type of stuff. What are your thoughts there? I'm extremely supportive of trauma informed yoga. I actually did a little bit of reading on it. I have to finish up my reading. But I think it can definitely be relatable, because I don't think the toughen up and get over it. I don't think that's beneficial at all, because, again, it just or. It just makes people holding in which is what they did in order to maintain or get through whatever they experienced. And I, I was looking into it, because I know, although not on the level of combat veterans, I do have my own trauma in life that I went through, and I do utilize yoga in order to help me overcome that, and I definitely think it could be beneficial in teaching people to sit with themselves, sit with them thought, sit with their thoughts. So I'm extremely supportive of that, and I think that would be my I would love to expand and become more informed on it, and actually kind of be a teacher of it myself. Cool. If you could go back now to your childhood self, what? What would you tell yourself now, knowing what you know and you know you've you've been able to really go for it and pursue your dreams. But when you mentioned, like, how hard you were on yourself in relation to, like, writing essays and so obviously, you've had to overcome a lot of self esteem challenges. What sort of advice would you give your childhood self knowing what you know now, I actually have this conversation with myself, like probably every few months myself. Yeah, I would tell my younger self that, because when I was young, I think the biggest trauma, not the biggest, but one of the things that really affected me was it happens to a lot of people, but at the time, it was a big deal. I was made fun of, like, very hardcore, and it really affected my self esteem. Because I was coming from a home we didn't have lights, we didn't have hot water, we barely had food or clean clothes, and then I was going to school, and people were just tearing down my self esteem, and I wasn't a part of a family that was very like affectionate, so I didn't have positive affirmation coming from a lot of places. So it felt like I never was able to completely stand up. And at that age when it was happening to me, I remember being on a bus one time, and like, literally everybody on the bus was, like, coming to my seat and making fun of me, and I told myself to, like, you know, just don't show it. And just, you know, just don't pay attention to them. And I would keep that same advice, but in that moment, it was just something I was saying to get me through, but I would tell myself to really know, not to pay attention to them. And also on another level that, you know, sometimes we're a target, because there's something special about us. And I think when I was younger, I felt that kind of belief that there was something special about me, but I guess I didn't have an understanding that, whether spiritual or however, that would put a target on me for adversity and challenges, but I would tell myself to not pay attention to what other people say about you in terms of how You look or what you can accomplish, and to just believe and do it, love it. I still tell myself that now, because, yeah, coming from, you know, going to all these different stations and countries and being you're around different people, and you have to know you you sometimes question, Who am I supposed to be, and especially if who you are is not the same as other people, but I constantly remind myself of what I would say then, because it would be the same thing. I have to tell myself now to like, just be your best self and whoever that is, and don't worry about what other people have to say, because, you know, some of those same people are doing less than what you're doing now, not to down them. So it's your journey. And I think one of the biggest lessons that I learned as an adult that nourishes the inner child in me is in your darkest moments, you know who's really going to be there, whose words are going to help you. So you're holding on to these things, or what people will think or what people will say, but you're going to be held accountable for your decisions and choices. You have to stand in that moment. And then my favorite quote that I live on is like, when I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope I'm messing up, but I would hope that I use, like, every bit of talent that you gave me, and I will have nothing left. Is pretty much what it says. And I think about that. So it's like, be that person. Saying, use everything that you have, and if something that you're facing is limiting you in that sense, you know, overcome it, just don't think about it like be the person you want to be. It doesn't really matter those people aren't going to be there because you're going to oh my gosh, as you were saying that, and you brought out the school bus incident. I had a flashback on my own school bus incidents, and then I was telling myself what you were saying. That's perfect. I think you're right. I love the way you broke that down. So powerful. It's crazy, isn't it? Those those incidents had such profound effect, right? Like, it was so intense and so hard when people are like that, and we made it through somehow, and here we are. Well, yeah, oh my gosh, it is a miracle. It's amazing. What, um, what do you do? A lot of visualization. Obviously, I love that you brought up, that you connected with the watching of the Olympic athletes. And like, when they were, like, setting up for track, and they would, like, pan in with the camera really close, and you could see their mouth moving, you were able to actually pick up that some of the people were saying, like, you could hear their mantra. You could hear like, what their or you could see it. You could make them maybe read their lips. And I, I didn't, I was wondering, I guess the other thing I picked up on too is like, when they would put the camera on people and they're getting ready to run, like they're the ability for folks to, like, put their eyes in one place, and they would, like, rock their body side to side, and just not move their focus. Like, to have that kind of, like, just watching that whole preparation process for me was so inspirational. I'm stoked that you noticed it as well. Like that you're like, that was so cool. What do you what do you then, vision for your future? It sounds like you spend time focusing on your dreams and your goals, like you put a lot of effort into this. Where do you have the dream of, like, fulfilling a full career with the military and being able to, like, retire from the pension and or whatever you would receive from doing a long term service. Or are you what, what is your dreams and goals currently moving forward, I still have the dreams that I had when I started. Because for me, those were like, those were my true dreams. These are, I'm still stepping towards them. I haven't I've accomplished great things. I'm still being the best that I can, and I still want to do those things, partly because, like, I really think it would be cool. I really think it would be like a top level accomplishment of me utilizing all the skill sets that I have, the path that I have, the platform that I need, in order to reach back and give back to who I want. So I would still love to be like a professional or a brand ambassador. I would love to be a motivational speaker and sharing my experience in the military and throughout life and what tools and that I use to overcome, and I would love to be a yoga instructor for either a college or professional sports team. I think those are my goals, and having a family at the balances, I would like to do it in a way that will provide stability for my family now and also my future family. I think the military definitely sets me up, and it definitely sets a good example for my daughter, but it is still the military. There is still a part of the structure that kind of limits me all the way. So I still have about three more years on my current contract, and after that, I'll see. I've been fortunate to still be who I want to be, as well as a Marine, and we'll see after when those three years are coming closer, what else I would like, what or where I would want to go, but my dreams Now overall, to be the best person I can be. When I got to this new job at the Pentagon, they asked me, What are your goals? And I was like to apply myself and be my best at this task and in this role, and I really meant that, because I've had some lags in life and unfortunate challenges that kind of had me like be less than I wanted to be. But now I'm back on as my my pivot, as some people would say, and I would love to just apply myself and be my best so but those are my main goals. I would love to be like a ambassador, a brand ambassador, to give more power to my story, and to reach back to my community, kind of like you were saying about if more people saw people doing yogas, they would want to do it. Yeah. Yeah, awesome. Well, I already feel like you've achieved those goals, though, because you are. You're a motivational speaker right now, right there's people listening to you. You are, you are being the best you can be, clearly in the moment, I love what you said about and I want to bring it up again, and just make sure I clarify so I understood you right. And please, please help me if I got it wrong. But when you at the end of your life, when you you know when you like, you said, like, when I come and I have, like, that end of my life experience that I used, did you say? Did you say, like, you wanted to use everything that you had. Like, make sure you used everything you had. So you use it all up. Isn't my understanding correctly? Like, like, you use the energy that you have, like, use the power that you have, and not, like, not use it, and then come to your end and go, like, I didn't use it. You got to use it up. I like that idea. Like, actually use it up. Try to maybe it's unlimited and it will never get used up, but almost imagine that it is a limited resource. You better use it all up before. Yes, I love it. I often think like, if I'm like, older and then, or like, as I get older, and I'm saying I used to do this, or I used to be able to do that, and I feel like that would haunt me, like, I know naturally or at some point, you know, I give myself grace. I won't always be able to do certain things, but I don't want that to be because I didn't try to or I gave it up, I let it go. Very cool, very cool. I think that's what drives me a lot. Well, everybody listening, please go follow Tawana at and let me just make sure I have your handle spelled correctly. It's at th three, three, best I can be, yes, the best I can be with two, threes cool. And is it that is the is there a th, E, or is it just th three? It's th three, three, cool. I just want to make sure I had that right. Because you Yes, that just came to me. Thank you. Thank you. One day, yeah, I love it. I just want to make sure, because when I said the I just want to be really clear so everybody can find you super easy. And the link is in the description, so it's super easy. Just go down and click it and you're gonna find it super easy. Is there anything that I missed, or something else you want to share? I feel like you covered so many great bases of motivation and inspiration, and so I'm really thankful for that. Thank you, Tawana, for taking time out of your day. I know you have a really busy schedule, or maybe the rest of the day you said you have free. So enjoy, obviously, enjoy the rest of your your freedom today. But is there anything else that your mother, yeah, is that freedom? No, okay, and what, uh, what uh, is there any anything else you'd like to share before we close? Um, I just want to thank you for this opportunity and for reaching out to me and for anyone listening. I would just or watching, I would just say, like to be your best, to not give up, and whatever your best is, because your best is not, it's so cliche, but your best is not my best. My best is not a Olympic athlete's best, but it's the best that I have, and it's good enough, and for you to know that too, like if you only run five minutes. That's as much as you could do. Never get never feel ashamed of your best, as long as it's your best. If there's some guilt, maybe that's you telling yourself you have more, but it's good enough, whatever your best is, so give it to the world. I love it. Thank you Tawana, thank you so much. Thank you. Native yoga. Todd. Cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen, if you like this show you for you know.