Podcast | Habits
Episode 8| May 19, 2023

Women in Wellness (Part 3) w/ Mary Ochsner

For Years She Was Told Being Emotional Was a Weakness. She Calls It Her Superpower.

Mary Ochsner spent most of her life apologizing for her feelings, holding back tears, making sure no one saw her upset.

Society told her being emotional was something to suppress.

Then she started practicing yoga, and something shifted.

Now she calls feeling her feelings her superpower.

In this episode of the Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast, yoga teacher Mary Ochsner shares how yoga taught her to honor her body, why she left a comfortable job to follow a nudge, and how she protects her time and her circle as a new mom.

Small practices, five minutes at a time.

If you have been pushing through instead of listening, this one is for you.

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“You do not get to choose the family you were born into, but you do get to choose your inner circle.”

– Mary Ochsner

Fast Skim & Timestamps

0:00 Meet Mary: Beginner Yoga and the Yoga Plus App
1:07 Her Superpower: Feeling Her Feelings
3:08 Honoring Your Body on the Mat
4:32 The Fear She Had to Move Through
8:52 Choose Your Five People
11:14 Auditing Your Social Media Circle
15:03 Motherhood and Being Present
17:00 The “I Don’t Have Time” Story

Key Takeaways

Feeling your feelings is a strength, not a weakness. Let them flow instead of suppressing them.
Yoga teaches you to honor your body. Some days you push, some days you rest.
Fear and self-doubt show up at every new level. You get better at moving through them.
You become like the five people you spend the most time with. Choose your circle.
Audit your social media. Clear out what does not inspire you and make room for what does.
The “I don’t have time” story keeps you stuck. Start with five minutes.

Three Petite Practice® Questions

1. Where do I catch myself apologizing for or holding back my feelings?

2. Who are the five people I spend the most time with, and are they lifting me up?

3. What is one five-minute practice I could protect for myself this week?

Transcript Chapters

0:00 Meet Mary: Beginner Yoga and the Yoga Plus App

[00:00:21] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: This episode is based on a 2022 Instagram Live with Mary Ochsner. She teaches beginner yoga tutorials to help you get started, and she has an app called Yoga Plus. [00:00:51] Mary Ochsner: I love talking about women in wellness. Happy Wednesday, wellness day.

1:07 Her Superpower: Feeling Her Feelings

[00:01:07] Mary Ochsner: I love that question, because not enough of us pause to reflect on what we are really good at. What came to mind first is my ability to feel my feelings. My whole life, being emotional was kind of frowned upon, not by my parents, but by society. You apologize, you hold it back, you make sure no one sees you are upset. So many people suppress it instead of opening it up and allowing it to flow, and then processing those feelings. That is my superpower, and I encourage others to notice if they catch themselves apologizing for how they feel.

3:08 Honoring Your Body on the Mat

[00:03:08] Mary Ochsner: Honoring your body is one of the biggest lessons I learned from yoga. Before, it was always push yourself to the limit, go as hard as you can, that go, go, go energy where you are never satisfied. Yoga shifted that. I was able to honor myself exactly as I was in that moment. If a day felt like pushing, great. If I needed rest and relaxation, I would honor that. When you learn to do that on your mat, you start to do it in your everyday life too.

4:32 The Fear She Had to Move Through

[00:04:32] Mary Ochsner: One of the biggest challenges is overcoming that fear or self-doubt, the I am not good enough, the fear of failure. For me, the biggest was building the courage to quit my full-time, comfortable job to start a business when I did not know exactly what I was doing. It took years to make that leap, but in hindsight it is the greatest decision I have ever made. When we feel that nudge and tug in our heart to do something, that is where we need to trust that inner voice and start taking steps.

8:52 Choose Your Five People

[00:08:52] Mary Ochsner: The people who played the biggest role are my husband, friends, and family, and I am grateful for a supportive inner circle. There is a quote that you become like the five people you spend most of your time with. You may not get to choose the family you were born into, but you do get to choose your inner circle. As I moved into entrepreneurship, I started attracting more entrepreneurial friends, and the things that felt crazy and risky felt so much more normal.

11:14 Auditing Your Social Media Circle

[00:11:14] Mary Ochsner: The same thing happens online. If you are following pages that do not inspire you or lift you up, audit who you are allowing into your social media inner circle. Clear them out and create space for people who inspire you. One thing we say a lot is be grateful for your triggers. When something on social media triggers you, that is an opportunity to do the work on why, but it does not mean you have to keep following it. Your thoughts create your reality, so be mindful of what you consume.

15:03 Motherhood and Being Present

[00:15:03] Mary Ochsner: I have learned so many life lessons through becoming a mom. Your entire world changes, your priorities shift, and you are not the same person after you have a baby. My biggest theme the last twelve months has been truly being present. I practice it through yoga, breathwork, and meditation, but motherhood made me really hone it in, because it all goes by in the blink of an eye. It is a practice, good days and bad days, and we just show up and do our best.

17:00 The “I Don’t Have Time” Story

[00:17:00] Mary Ochsner: When you tell yourself I do not have enough time, I am so busy, I am overwhelmed, you keep attracting exactly that. You need to get creative. I wake up before my daughter and do a breathwork meditation to start my day, and in the evening I get back into journaling. The other thing is asking for help, letting my husband or a babysitter take over so I can do a yoga class or go for a coffee. Be proactive and schedule it. [00:20:02] Mary Ochsner: If that is the story you are telling yourself, it will never end. Stop telling yourself that, find a small way to start, and it will snowball. [00:22:00] Dr. Christiane Schroeter: Wellness Wednesday, five minutes for yourself. Thank you so much, Mary.

Meet My Guest

Mary Ochsner

Yoga Teacher & Founder of the Yoga Plus App

Mary Ochsner is a yoga teacher who creates beginner yoga tutorials to help people get started on the mat. She is the founder of the Yoga Plus app and shares wellness and mindfulness with a wide community online.

She teaches that honoring your body, feeling your feelings, and protecting small pockets of self-care can change your whole day. Find her on Instagram as Mary Ochsner.

Meet Your Host

Dr. Christiane Schroeter

TEDx Speaker & Leadership Strategist

I’m Dr. Christiane Schroeter, TEDx speaker, leadership strategist, and host of the Top 1% ranked Happy Healthy Hustle Podcast. I help leaders think clearly, speak with conviction, and take the next step during change.

About Dr. Christiane

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