Two Yoke Girls Podcast: Recent Episodes
Jillian McDonough & Lorraine Shedoudi
Short, manageable pods about the things these Two Yoke Girls talk about on the regular. Led by Lorraine Shedoudi & Jillian McDonough but with our lead teaching team & other experts as constant guests we will give you a sneak peak behind the curtain of what makes our yoga and barre studios and our lead programs like The Gratitude Challenge & Teacher Trainings so successful.
The Two Yoke Girls are back from a little hiatus and of course diving into the deepest topic they can think of, Death! It’s a topic Lorraine loves and Jillian cringes at! But in the end it’s an important conversation to start and it might help get your wheels turning too!
Two Yoke Girls meet again! After a small hiatus Lorraine & Jillian are back and so excited to get talking! In today’s episode they talk about why people want to start meditating and why they stop. Sometimes we think we know why we want to begin but the answer for why we continue is totally different! There are some real nuggets of wisdom in this one! Want to know what Lorraine prescribes for better sleep!? Listen! We can’t wait to her what you think.
One of our favorite parts of our podcast is that it feels organic, fun and authentic. The Two Yoke Girls give you a peak behind the curtain of their realness with this blooper/outtake you hear in our intro!
Once we get past that intro we settle in to talk about the unexpected and surprising things that come when you sign up for teacher training…and it has nothing to do with teaching yoga!
Dr. Belle Liang is back to chat with The Two Yoke Girls! This episode is all about finding and living your life’s purpose! Sound lofty? It can feel overwhelming to think about just finding what lights you up, not to mention living it! But, Belle’s book “How To Navigate Life” gives you the tools and the Two Yoke Girls love nothing more than useful life tools! Join the three of them as they explore weighty topics that turn out to feel fun and light!
Lorraine & Jillian sit down to discuss the benefits of quitting and how to do it right. When they recently closed their third studio location in Burlington they spent a lot of time navigating the quitting process and found…well you will have to listen to find out!
Join Jillian and Lorraine as they chat with Professor, mom, yogi and co-author of an Amazon #1 New Release and a must read, How to Navigate Life, Dr. Belle Liang. They discuss everything from raising kids, navigating partnerships and how yoga can help us push forward toward growth, change and vulnerability. This is part one of a two part conversation because this trio has a lot to discuss and explore!
Dr. Belle Liang is the co-author of How to Navigate Life: The New Science of Finding Your Way in School, Career, & Beyond, as well as a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor & Chair of the Department of Counseling, Developmental, & Educational Psychology at Boston College. She is the Principle Investigator of Purpose Labs and Co-Founder of How to Navigate Life Consulting, LLC. She is a sought after speaker on how to cultivate purpose at home, school, and in the workplace. Most importantly, she is mom to Zoe and Toby, and partner to David in Lexington, Massachusetts.
Well this one was “FUN”! The Two Yoke Girls chat about fun and how it is beneficial and necessary to find balance, happiness and joy in life. Want to know the science behind why fun is important to create? Have a listen!
Lorraine reveals a recent revelation & Jillian talks about how she convinced herself as a young child that she really was pretty :). Sound intriguing? Give it a listen.
The Two Yoke Girls are so excited to be back recording and couldn’t wait to talk to you about all the fun stuff we have coming up at the studios in April. We decided to do a “challenge” but we talk through what that word means to us and why it works for some and not for others.
We think it’s safe to say that there would be no “Two Yoke Girls” without her. She’s the glue that binds us together. You have likely seen her in class, because she is always showing up. She is LPY’s co-founder and owner and one of our favorite interviews! We talk about how LPY came to be (it’s a doozy of a story and so funny), how fate brought us all together and how we have spent the last almost 10 years making things work.
The Two Yoke Girls love learning what makes driven, successful people tick. Becky Paige is an amazing human who has completed over 10 Ironman and is humble enough that she has even lost count! Becky credits yoga for helping her train for these intense competitions. In fact, she calls it her secret weapon! It gave her a true competitive edge working with mindset, strengthening her core and increasing mobility! Are you training for life’s Ironman in your yoga class!? At LPY we make sure you can find your secret weapons too!
“She’s MY best friend!” “NO, she’s MY best friend” - the Two Yoke Girls have argued for years about who found Alex Crow first and which one of us is responsible for changing the trajectory of how we teach yoga at LPY but the bottom line is it’s all in good fun and the important thing is that we found her! Alex Crow is slowly but surely revolutionized the way yoga teachers look at teaching and how they teach. LPY is proud to say that we have been a part of that movement for over 5 years now. Lorraine and Jillian were so happy to have the honor of sitting down with Alex to talk about why she teaches the way she does, how she is crafting the Universal Design of yoga and how she sees the state of the current yoga studio industry. Any teachers who are looking to learn more and understand how Alex & LPY approach accessibility should definitely listen in!
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‘Tis the season for obligations & shoulds! Isn’t that what they say? Join Two Yoke Girls to talk about the pitfalls of perfectionism and what you can do about it when you feel yourself falling back into that familiar pattern.
The Two Yoke Girls have the privilege of being surrounded by inspirational people all the time. When we stop and think about the countless amazing people that come to LPY and help build it’s community we are floored. Shannon Nigro is one of those people. She came to yoga and practiced for a long time without us ever really knowing her full story and she was moving and working her way through. Shann has taught us so much about faith, love and resilience by sharing the story of her son Quinn who passed away in 2016 and the challenges and life that ensued as she continued to care for her two other children, her mother and extended family. We love knowing that yoga and her self charged 30 day challenges have provided her answers when things felt sticky. Have a listen and see if her 30 day commitment might be just what you need too!
Gratitude is great..Or is it? Thanksgiving reminds us (over and over again through excessive marketing) that we should be grateful. Two Yoke Girls love gratitude but we don’t like “shoulds”. Take a listen to see how we navigate the territory of gratitude turned toxic positivity and look to use gratitude as a tool for those sticky times of life. It’s not all rainbows and it can be hard work but we are grateful we get to do it together.
You won’t often hear the Two Yoke Girls talk about diets or nutrition. We tend to leave that to the experts. So - we brought one in! Jaclyn Evan’s has worked with Lo and the reason Lorraine was attracted to her nutrition program was because so many of the principles we talk about and live by are exemplified in Jaclyn’s program. Balance, exploration, habit awareness and being able to give yourself a break and rest! Find out how Jaclyn uses these principles that align so closely with what LPY & The GA value to help clients get healthy and happy through eating.
Did you know Geese have the secret weapon to relieving stress!? They really do - want to find out more? Take a listen as Lo & J talk through their best advice on how stress occurs and what to do about it.
Well here it is! Join Two Yoke Girls as we discuss natures quickest and surest fix. Breath Work! We break down why it works, how it works and what you can do to easily access this tool and feel everything shift. There’s one, small magic breath that can change it all. Listen in to find out!
Want to feel like you have limitless potential!? Um, yes please! Join Lo & J as they talk through the concept of Equanimity and how it informs their everyday lives, how they teach yoga and how made it a major subject for the Gratitude Adjustment. The dictionary describes equanimity as “mental calmness, composure, and evenness of temper, especially in a difficult situation” but J & Lo break it down to show you how that can work for your everyday chaotic life.
If you know her you love her. If you don’t know her yet - you will love her. Jen Geller’s story is one of inspiration and connection. Jen is one of LPY’s most consistent yoga teacher and as a former PT her knowledge of anatomy, injury and the human body give her an unmatched expertise in our classrooms and our yoga teacher trainings. From her yoga practice and career decisions to her family’s adoption story she has a the key to success. Give this podcast a listen to feel inspired, learn how to combat burn out and get an inside peak into what makes Jen (and really all of us) tick.
Lorraine and Jillian sit down to talk about why YOU should think about meditating. Talking through the neuroscience behind the results, what the hurdles to getting started are and why it’s so hard sometimes! Put that “Monkey Mind” to use and listen in.
Join Lorraine and Jillian as they talk about how the GA was created and what it is. We get a lot of questions about what the program offers and it’s results and we are here to make things a little more clear!
If your a teacher, a teacher hopeful or just someone that practices with us this sneak peak behind the curtain will give you a sense for how we craft classes and community. This conversation with Lorraine, Jillian, Linda & Ewa spilled over from the last podcast we did about our 200 Hour training. Some things that differentiate our studio and training from other places is our continued education with teachers such as Alexandria Crow, Jacqui Bonwell and Johnny Gillespie. We are vinyasa based but inform our teaching and practices with functional movement, personal training techniques and accessibility. Come find out our thoughts on all these things and how they make our training stand out.
Special guests Linda Spolidoro and Ewa M. join Lorraine and Jillian to talk about LPY’s 200 hour. Linda has taught the 200 hour along side Lorraine for 8 years and Ewa has taken both the 200 hour and 300 hour trainings at LPY and is currently teaching for us and managing the fitness program for a local country club.
We get asked all the time about our program, what makes it different and if people are the right fit. Listen in as we have a casual conversation about something we all love so much.
Lo & J talk through what makes an LPY yoga class feel unique and oh so good. There’s real science and philosophy behind why we do what we do. Get curious and take a listen.
We think a lot about community and what makes it work, build & sustain here at LPY. Did you know that a connection to community is shown to elongate life even more than factors like being a non smoker or eating healthy!? Listen in to find out how you can incorporate community more into your life.
Join Lorraine, Jillian & Special Guest Jen Murray as we discuss burn out. Wether you are a yoga teacher, career professional, entrepreneur, parent, student or anything in between - you’ve dealt with burnout. What exactly is burn out and how do we navigate it?
Ok, there are some people who like the feeling of wet grass on their feet and some who…don’t :)
Listen in to see what Lorraine & Jillian are discussing. Using a sense of wonder and awe to fight off the day to day mundane.
You hear us talk a lot about finding an anchor in class. A way to very concretely tether you back to the present moment. If you want to know why we teach this and a little more about how to find it listen to our quick 10 minute pod.
Join Jillian & Lorraine for a 10 minute talk about uncertainty. Why does uncertainty bother us so much, how does it affect us mentally and physically and what can we do about it?
Get some quick but in depth insight into the concepts we practice and preach on the yoga mat.