In this episode of Art of Authenticity I had a thoughtful conversation with Amy Owen, Yoga teacher, dula, fashion model, and good friend.Many of you have written in and talked about stress, a sense of overwhelm, and a feeling that life has just got a lot going on and you’re trying to handle it all. I got to talking to my friend Amy Owen who teaches yoga here in Chicago at Yoga View Studio. Amy is somebody who I met in my yoga teacher training program, a dear friend of mine for about a decade now. She is somebody who has been meditating for 30 years now and she fell in love with yoga in 1994.Amy signed up for a meditation retreat in 1986 after learning that the Beatles had been touting its benefits a generation earlier. In 1994 she found herself on a meditation retreat in Nepal, where she discovered and fell for yoga. Since then, Amy has studied a variety of yoga forms around the world including Ashtanga, Iyengar and Vinyasa flow. Her individual teaching style combines these with a focus on breath awareness and alignment.On the podcast today, she is bringing in small things that you can do right now, in your car, in your bed before you fall asleep at night, or when you wake up. All little techniques that you can do quickly on the floor.If you are looking for a quick fix, stress relief today that you can apply to help take that edge off, feel a little bit better, feel a little more connected to get that process, today is your show. Plus, we hear the story of how Amy went from being a fashion model since the age of 13, before she decided to leave to have her three children and then later went into becoming a yoga teacher. Stay tuned to hear Amy’s real, and practical advice.

Thanks for Listening

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Show Notes

  • Hear how Amy started her career in modeling as a hand model at age 13. [4:06]

  • Amy shares about the detrimental impact that her unusually long modeling career had on her self-esteem. [7:50]

  • When Amy first started meditating and discovered eastern philosophy and Buddhism. [11:08]

  • Discover how meditation had always been a subtext of Amy’s life. [13:54]

  • Understand why being a model was never something Amy truly identified with, and how she has discovered her authentic self in yoga. [15:01]

  • Learn why Amy’s approach to a new thing is to start small in order to truly be successful. [18:28]

  • Find out why focusing on your breath truly makes you happy and how you can shift how you feel by shifting your breathing. [31:35]

  • Hear Amy’s breathing technique for centering yourself and being truly present. [35:02]

  • Discover what an authentic life means to Amy and how it starts from the inside out. [46:20]

More About Amy

Episode Resources