The truth is that change and evolution, both in business and in your health and wellness, take time. This week on the podcast, Cate Stillman is sharing her expertise around integrating changes into business, doing hard things, getting uncomfortable so you can evolve, designing your lifestyle, taking care of chronic issues, and so much more.
What Cate has to say is controversial for many because it goes against everything the masses believe in our culture. But isn’t that an even better reason to have this conversation? It’s important to open minds to new ideas and ways of doing things and to truly look at the science behind why we feel the way we feel and do the things we do.
I hope you’ll tune in with an open mind and think about how you can let go of some of the challenges that might be holding you back.
About Cate Stillman:
Cate founded Yogahealer in 2001 as an avant-garde dialogue in ancient wisdom for modern humans. The Yogahealer community has depth, span, and breadth. Over 20 years, Cate Stillman has corralled the conversation towards relevance, resilience, rewilding, rewiring & results for modern humans to thrive in their bodies and achieve their life goals.
Cate is an evolutionary thought leader, global tribe builder and author in the field of rewilding humans, orienting towards meaning and purpose, and getting deeply invested in life.
Cate developed the course curriculums and mentoring community for Body Thrive, Master of You, Living Ayurveda Course and Yoga Health Coaching.
Cate splits her time between the mountains in Teton Valley, Wyoming and Punta Mita, Mexico. She is an avid mountain biker, skier and surfer, and mother of 1.
Links & Resources:
- Body Thrive by Cate Stillman
- Master of You by Cate Stillman
- Body Goals Crash Course – Email her at help@yogahealer.com and ask for it for free
- Jordan Peterson
- Mark Mattson on intermittent fasting
- Yoga Healer Podcast
- Yoga Healer Facebook Group
Time Stamps:
[4:14] Using the right words to describe your business
[5:00] Circadian rhythm really matters
[6:00] Goal – personal planetary thrive
[6:20] Chronic inflammation leads to chronic disease
[7:48] Seeing changes take time
[9:00] Community belonging is important and it’s a long game
[10:10] Without a timeframe, you won’t solve the deeper issues
[12:08] Ego slows the growth process
[13:01] Do the hard things in the short term that you know are good for you in the long term
[15:30] Negative bias is worse than glass half empty
[17:08] Be in environments with people of positive habits
[18:32] If you’re not uncomfortable, you’re probably not evolving
[28:12] The adventure is important
[28:41] Lifestyle design; goal opportunities close quickly
[30:15] You’re either decaying or you’re learning new things to grow
[32:30] Chronic inflammation feels like shit every day
[33:06] It’s risky to force yourself to step into opportunities
[34:44]The more you stack positive stressor habits the better
[36:38] If we’re in constant problem solving mode, we move to anxiety; it’s exhausting
[37:50] Growing a biz relies on your body, your focus and mind
[41:50] What’s causing distraction for people
[43:24] What you experience as hunger isn’t really hunger
[47:08] We’ve lost the understanding of nuance
Transcription:
Amber Hawley 0:01
Business owners are increasingly being pulled in so many directions, feeling like they aren’t reaching their full potential in business and life despite their type aways. With my background as a therapist, entrepreneur and as a.com dropout with ADHD, I interview and coach high achieving business owners like you who want to stop struggling for success by using psychological systems, strategies, and the occasional care for entation. This is the easily distracted entrepreneur, your place to slay overwhelm perfectionism and shiny object syndrome so that you can get done what matters most to you.
Amber Hawley 0:40
Hello, hello, hello. Today, I want to welcome all the big dreamers out there, those of us who set big visions for our lives and for our businesses and go after them. In honor of my special guest today, Cate Stillman. Cate is actually one of the people that I feel was a catalyst for me creating a vision for my life that looked so very different than I thought it would when I first started my business in 2011. She is somebody who splits her time between the mountains of Teton Valley, Wyoming, and Punta Mita, Mexico. She’s an avid mountain biker, skier surfer and mother of one. And I think for me, it was seeing somebody who was a mother, and a business owner who was ambitious and creating all of this change in the world and helping people. And she did it by creating the kind of life and building the kind of business she wanted on her own terms. It made me see other possibilities for myself. It helped me get clarity and knowing that I wanted to build a location independent business, where I could still serve my clients, but be able to have the freedom to travel and live in different places.
Amber Hawley 1:52
Having that vision for myself is, I think, what led my family and I to take our great adventure and move from California to North Carolina. Kate is the founder of yoga healer, and is one of the OG podcasters as the host of the Yoga Healer Podcast. She has been writing books and building community and supporting people around health era Vedic wisdom and personal development. She is really quite brilliant, and I’m so excited to introduce you to her.
Amber Hawley 2:27
Hello, Hello, Happy Wednesday, I have one of my favorite people with me today. I have the lovely Cate Stillman, who she is one of those people that I did a gentle stalking of and then kind of ramped it up and then forced her to be connected to me and talk to me at many events. So in that regard, she is now in my life. But welcome Cate to the podcast.
Cate Stillman 2:56
Thank you for that warm welcome, Amber. I love being stalked.
Amber Hawley 3:01
I know you were very enthusiastic.
Cate Stillman 3:05
You know, cuz you, I would say like for you know, for so many of us, it’s like, we’re we’re very famous in the tiniest of circles. And so someone comes into that circle. It’s like you see me?
Amber Hawley 3:16
Yes, exactly. Frankly, yeah, you’re just like anybody, like, you see me like we just want to be seen. I think we all do. But yeah, you’re I would say you’re legit. You know, I sometimes say legit internet famous. But there are you have some big circles in which you run because you have built a multimillion dollar business out of truly being you and I think that’s one of the things I love so much about you is just there’s there is just like, This is who I am and like take it or leave it and usually people take it because they recognize the brilliance but some people are people Yeah, well right in it. You don’t care right now care about those others? Yeah, I know, we could talk about super fans. We could talk about structuring businesses, there’s so many things but at the heart of it, maybe I should let you tell people actually what you do. Like what the hell does this woman do?
Cate Stillman 4:16
So I recently discovered that I run a coaching organization I was like, Oh, those are the right two words to put together you brought a coaching organization. I didn’t like set out like I’m gonna run a coaching organization I’m gonna grow a coaching organization but what happened was I am naturally a thought leader and unnaturally. Someone who can think macro see big, big pictures and and make complexity simple and practical and actionable. And I was doing that in the holistic wellness field, particularly in our your Veda and yoga, which now that I look back on my career yoga healer of 20 years as I was basically just like cracking the code on circadian rhythm before it became a hip term. in Scientific American and New York Times, so I’m a futurist, I’ve always been a little bit ahead of the game. And I’m a big picture thinker. So I was just looking at what what were the most effective tools I learned from our your VEDA in yoga, as a practitioner and as an advanced teacher. And it was like circadian rhythm really matters. Like there’s habits that go with rhythm. And so I started coaching people in those habits, first one on one, and then in small groups, and then I started coaching online courses in 2007.
Cate Stillman 5:26
So it’s been a long time, and just getting better at what people really need to get to results. And then what happened out of that, as I grew up, basically, all these wellness pros were like, how are you making money, I was like, Oh, tell you. So I taught them how to coach the habits and structure a business around that, that was really lifestyle centric, but also getting their clients to results a lot faster than the business model that they were using. And that, you know, is then grown itself into other programs that I coach, and then I teach other coaches how to coach. And our whole goal is basically personal and planetary thrive, like get people to thrive. People live in sync the planet, one species, One Planet, like there’s, and there’s really one rhythm, like there’s not.
Cate Stillman 6:11
So my last six months have been a really deep dive into really into what’s causing people to struggle right now, you know, what are the what’s what’s behind all the pain and suffering what’s in it’s a pretty simple formula. I mean, it’s like chronic inflammation. And that leads to chronic disease, and it’s affecting everyone. It’s, you know, 30% of kids in the US right now are on medication for for chronic disease. And it’s, you know, what I tried to do is simplify the easiest solutions, the least expensive solutions, most of them are actually free. And so people pay me and my coaches for wisdom, and we don’t sell anything, we sell them habits that are free, but then they they are able to automate those habits for the rest of their lives. And that’s really what, that’s really our end goal. And for some people, that takes years, for some people, it takes a few months. So often people are in our coaching programs for years, because they find the community they find the content, they’re growing, they’re changing their learning. And it’s adding so much benefit to their lives that they realize they can really relax and let some of their deeper issues slowly surface in and resolve.
Amber Hawley 7:19
Yeah, I mean, there’s so much that you said there that that was part of what initially attracted me to you, I saw you speak at a conference, and then got your book thrive. Body. Yeah, body thrive, I was like, there’s something else in there. I was like, there’s something else in that title. And like going through, like you said, the 10 habits and joining your community. And I one piece that you just said at the end that really stood out to me, when I when I think about it is I do actually love there, there’s a lot of normalization, that changing, seeing changes from the habits that you change, seeing the results of that take time. And I think that we don’t often hear that it’s like kind of, okay, and I see this as a therapist who like, Okay, I’ve, I’ve made this change, I’m now doing this thing. And now two weeks have gone by and I don’t feel any different. So this is clearly not working, right. Like there’s that feeling of that.
Amber Hawley 8:12
But when you’re in that community, you do see people kind of like normalizing and they might not they might vent frustration or be talking about that challenge. But then it’s like, oh, after two months, that’s when I started to see everything kind of come together or, you know, whatever the The timeframe is, I think that’s really helpful to hear to have people talk about sometimes. I mean, we didn’t get here overnight, we’re not going to change overnight. Right. And so it does take time. And that can be hard to stick with when we’re talking about changing up habits when people when they’re trapped when they have to leave their homeostasis, right.
Cate Stillman 8:49
Yeah, they’re Alice stasis of homeostasis. Yeah. Or their homeostasis about stasis is more like, Yeah, I mean, it’s like, we are very countercultural, like we are quite rebellious in the business model, because we recognize that community of belonging is essential for change. And if you’re in a community belonging that there’s a timeframe, and it’s long, yeah, and it’s really long, you know, so it’s like, our courses are one to two years. Right. And it’s all results based. So yeah, we’ve led we’ve led 12 week courses, like back in the day body Thrive was a 12 week course. Oh, now what we know is six months in to body thrive is where addiction issues surface, right, like six months in is where addiction issues surface. So if like someone’s trying to get off weed or alcohol, it’s not not we’re not going to touch it for six months. And it’s it’ll sell surface within the group. Like that group has such high integrity and vulnerability that like, because a community belonging, it’s like if you belong to the right community that’s growing all the sudden, like, at some point, you’re like, I gotta come clean. Like, I need help. Like, I need to let the group know that this is what I’m going to do or I need to I need some coaching.
Cate Stillman 9:53
And so I’m going to talk about and everything’s group setting that we do because it’s like, that’s how people learn faster. And it’s super vulnerable. So it’s like everyone’s only seen other people be vulnerable. So there’s less of a sense that I have to protect my ego in order to get coached. It’s like, no, that doesn’t exist. But if you don’t have a timeframe, if you don’t have a longer timeframe, you’re never gonna get that level of connection. You’re never gonna resolve the deeper issues.
Amber Hawley 10:18
And I mean, that’s, that’s kind of a motto of therapy is like things take time. And I know there are brief approaches to therapy, and they’re, you know, they’re different things that our people are addressing. But the reality is that big shifts in how we live our life, absolutely take time for us to integrate, right?
Cate Stillman 10:38
Yeah.
Amber Hawley 10:38
And that’s hard.
Cate Stillman 10:40
Well, yeah. And there’s levels of I mean, I come from a enlightenment background, like, there’s like, there’s even levels of enlightenment right? In the old in the old scriptures, right? There’s like, yeah, there’s this level of consciousness. And then there’s this next one, there’s this other. And that was like, we’re not even we most people have chronic inflammation right now like to even get to the experiencing a lot of that stuff, like, you can’t have chronic inflammation. And right now that takes people honestly, like, depending how deep they’re in, it can take a couple of years to resolve chronic inflammation, let alone next levels of experiencing the human design in terms of living, awakened, enlightened and experiencing higher levels of interconnectivity and consciousness as this stabilized experience. Right now,
Amber Hawley 11:28
was like, I know, it takes time, and there’s part of me that was when you said that I was like, Oh, really, though, like, and I just have that in a few months. There’s, there’s that part of my brain that still even as I said it, and I fully believe it, I’m like it does, it takes time, I’ve been in your community a long time. And then I was like, just like, Could it just be faster.
Cate Stillman 11:51
But then, to like, and I want to say the opposite of that. This is actually awesome. The ancient scriptures as you can have like a, you know, it can be in a flash that you just get it and you’re 100% willing to change, because there’s no attachment to ego, right. And so it’s really the ego, that’s going to slow the process. So the more someone’s willing to do ego dissolution, and say, like, you know, what, this is the identity I want. Right now, this is, you know, this is my future self identity. And I want it right now. So I’m going to align all of my behaviors into what that person would do, what that person would eat, what how long, that person would fast when that person would go to bed, what they would do, right when they woke up what they allow their mind to pay attention to what they protect their mind from. And if they’re 100%, in, then you have complete transformation instantaneously.
Amber Hawley 12:38
Which I think that’s that’s one of those things that I think we all have those moments of that like being in I don’t know, if you want to call it like a flow state or your energetically, you’re just in this place where you’re really open to it all. And it’s like staying in that zone. So like you said, to, to have it last. And I think that’s the thing where I see people feeling so frustrated not. And you know, I’ll say this for myself as well. But where it’s like you’re in the zone, and you get it you there’s that moment, those glimpses those aha moments, I guess, is what I would call them like Oprah, I’m still from Oprah. But you have those aha moments, and then it almost feels like that same like the light switch went off. And now you’re back at that previous place. I guess, when people are in that place where they kind of vacillate between those two, like, Do you have any kind of, you know, advice for them about? How do you stay in that place where it feels totally in alignment?
Cate Stillman 13:34
Well, everything we do is habits, and our coaching organization. It’s like there’s habits that are positive stressors. And the positive stressors is where you do the hard things in the short term that you know, are good for you in the long term. Right. So it’s always that and I know we’re talking to entrepreneurs. So it’s like, you know what that is for your business. And you know what that is for your body. And you know, what that is for your relationships? Right? And so it’s like, if you’re always willing to do the hard thing right now, you’ll almost always be in a flow state. One of the ways that I’ve come just actually fairly recently through to basically through like people that have come into my life that I normally wouldn’t be friends with, but they’re in my life for other reasons. And really noticing, like, why they’re so trapped. Like, why their pattern is like concrete. You know, they don’t have neuroplasticity, they don’t have neural flexibility. They don’t have the ability to make changes.
Cate Stillman 14:27
And I’m like, How does someone end up so stuck, like so stuck, so repeating the same pattern again, and again, and again, and again, and again, until that’s like, that’s all you can really expect if the person is a repeat of the pattern plus aging, which doesn’t do good for negative stressor patterns at all. It accelerates aging and accelerates inflammation that accelerates isolation, right? Not good. We’re a social species. And it’s just basically preferencing short term decisions. It’s like I’m going to do the easy thing right now. I’m going to do the easy thing. I’m going to do the feel good thing right now. I’m going to do what makes me comfortable right now. And I’m not going to pay attention to long term, I’m not going to make little tiny investments minute after minute. And that which is a positive stress, or you stress that, which makes something harder in the short term, to make the long term easier.
Cate Stillman 15:16
So in behavioral science, that’s positive stressors versus negative stressors, and it links to positive bias versus negative bias, right? It’s easier to understand when to understand what negative biases so negative bias, you could say, it’s kind of like the glass half empty. But it’s, it’s worse than that. So if you have negative stress or habits, which means you’re always doing the easier thing right now. So you’re like, oh, I need to take the day off exercising, and like, Oh, I think I’ll have a little bit more cream in my coffee. And, oh, I think I’ll just cruise on social media for a while. Like all these things in the back of your mind, you’re like, I know, this is not good for my long term, right? Because I know in my long term Road, get up, and I would do the hard thing and exercise and I’d take a cold shower, and I’d extend my fasting time. And I do the hard thing I have to do for work today and get that thing done. And before I do any sort of social email type thing, so you know what works for you in the long term. But you don’t do that. So those are negative stressors, because you’re choosing the short term over the long. And negative bias is where the this is really interesting, like, the mind gets stuck in these negative emotions, which make mountains out of molehills.
Cate Stillman 16:23
And so any problem that’s arising in someone’s life that has negative stress, or habits that has negative bias, they’re gonna see, they’re gonna basically if you have like, 100% bandwidth, those problems are going to take up like 80% bandwidth. And it’s disproportionate to the actual problem. So now you’ve lost perspective. And you’re just focused on the negative of the problem, which actually is going to increase depression and anxiety. So these things start to spiral and add up, your ability to solve the problem plummets, your neuroplasticity plummets. When your neuroplasticity plummets, you can’t learn. So you can’t change out of it, you can’t pivot out of it very easily. And this was just I’m just going to tie this back to community of belonging. This is why it’s essential to and it’s essential for people’s children, like those of you who are listening, who have children, it’s like, you have to be in environments of people that have positive stress or habits. Because otherwise, you’ll just get sucked into negative stress or habits, you’ll get sucked into negative bias.
Amber Hawley 17:25
Yeah, I mean, it’s making me think about, you know, that Jim Rohn, quote, The you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And I do think that that I see that so clearly. And as I, you know, meet new people or spend time with people. And I think that really feels I think there was extra clarity in the pandemic, because we were having so little interaction, like in real life interaction, right? Yeah. And so then you start to see like, oh, yeah, this is actually having a huge impact on me. And, like the possibilities, right, like even what are my options? What are my possibilities? What are the things that I’m going to do with my day? I absolutely see that based on like, the kind of people you’re surrounding yourself with. And again, not in a way of like, oh, you’re no good. Like, I don’t want to be with you. That can be really great, wonderful people, but it’s they’re really stuck. Like you’re saying, I think it keeps us in a stuck place because it is comfort. Like it’s comfortable. Yeah, even if we’re in shit, it feels comfortable.
Cate Stillman 18:26
Right? I mean, there’s a one of my and this is sort of a common teaching and enlightenment circles. But it’s like if you’re not, if you’re not uncomfortable, you’re probably not evolving. Because the ego sources identity from repeated experiences. So it’s like, if you’re constantly with the same people, like say, your family has a routine. It’s like everyone needs more sleep. Everyone needs to read more and think more, but everyone’s watching Netflix at night. Right? And
Amber Hawley 18:54
I wonder why you always look at me when you talk about these things.
Amber Hawley 19:01
I was thinking with quips by Cate’s it’s so rude.
Cate Stillman 19:07
Everyone’s doing it, right? Because it’s normal, it’s culturally normal. It’s culturally normal now to have inflammation it’s culturally normal. For a third of the kids in a classroom to be on medication like this is normal like our what is normal. Now is so different, like chronic inflammation did not really exist 100 years ago, and it’s so important to understand that like the leading cause of just feeling like shit all the time, you know, emotionally in relationship physically are wishing things were easier. That is chronic inflammation. If you’re like, if you just wish everything was a little easier. That means you have chronic conflict. It means you’re carrying an allostatic load like you’re carrying a sense of other so yeah, our habits aren’t our own or habits accumulate. We generally know what’s not working but it’s hard to break the rhythm unless you’re with people that have broken the rhythm have brought Can that Allostatic rhythm and are in the deep, deep, where and that’s where community belonging to me is such an essential part of the transformation model. Like you have to be with people that are better than you at what you’re trying to get better at. Or you’re fucked. I mean, you really are like, it doesn’t like no one is self made. No one has figured it out on their own. Like, everyone’s just everyone who looks like they figured it out on their own, just merged five really good ideas from three different good mentors. You know?
Amber Hawley 20:29
I love that. It’s true, though. I mean, I think we see that but we sometimes feel like, yeah, we’re supposed to, like, if I just did it better, I would be able to figure this stuff out on my own. As opposed to understanding, I think there is a ton of value in having that community, whatever it is you’re working on,
Cate Stillman 20:47
right? Whatever it is, you’re working wherever you want to be next hanging out with those people. I mean, there’s, there’s just not an easier way. And sometimes that means you have to pay through the nose. usually does. Yeah, because skin in the game is usually required to play at a certain level. And it doesn’t matter if it’s health or wealth or whatever. I mean, even with my kid on the gymnastics teams like soccer the other day, she had our state gymnastics meet, and I was like, you know, it’s kind of like in this, like, what are we doing? Like, let’s take a big I’m a big picture thinker. So I’m like, What’s the goal here? Like, what is winning for you in this environment? Like what like, really like on all levels? Like, what are we looking for? Because let’s just design and invest for that. You know, and I’m not just talking about money, I’m talking about time, I’m talking about energy, I’m talking about my attention, her attention, who else’s attention we want whose instruction we want, like what, like, what are we doing here, and I’m not looking at because I want my kid to be a great gymnast. I don’t care about her gymnastics at all. I’m like, I want her to be a great person. Right? And I want her to set and achieve the goals so that she can start to see experience herself as a creator. And what I know from that is, once she knows what that is, we can design and build around the people who know how to do that. But if we trust just the system to figure it out, like no, it doesn’t work that way.
Amber Hawley 22:11
Mm hmm. I think that was one of the things there were a few things when again, when I first met you that kind of stood out and you really, it’s sometimes so random the stuff that sticks in my head, but there were one was the lifestyle that you have the the flexibility and being able to live like half the year in Idaho, it’s Idaho, right.
Cate Stillman 22:35
We moved across the state line. So we’re in Wyoming. Yep. Okay. Like $40,000 A year and state tax to Idaho. I was like, and there was zero in Wyoming. I was like, it’s a half mile away. And it’s closer to the mountain that I scan all the time. I was like, I think
Amber Hawley 22:55
design so yeah, life. So half a year in like mountain area and half the year in Mexico and having that, but then there was you talked about having these family goals and this kind of bigger picture thinking and I it’s not something we hear people talking about, and that just stood out to me so much, because I like that idea that there’s a lot of conscious creation of not just like your business goals, right? Not just a personal goals, but like, what is the goal for us as a family unit, or, you know, for your child for herself, which a lot of people don’t think about that stuff. They’ve Oh, we’ll get to that. We’ll go later. Those are definitely some things that stood out for me.
Cate Stillman 23:34
Yeah, I mean, in my second book, Master review, I took the five elements of our your Veda and I took a lot of the business strategy that I learned and, and I just was like, basically, how do we I naturally merged it, you know, it’s like things osmosis happens to so these things naturally merged in cross pollinated, mostly from my members being like, how do you do this? Are you? And how are you saving all this money for whatever else do you want to invest in? And like, how are you doing all these things, you know, like living the dream and have time to write books and blah, blah, blah. And I was like, Oh, let me think about it. And I was like, Oh, this is how I’m doing it in a way that I can explain. In the five elements like this is what I’m doing on the body side. And this is what I’m doing on the time side. And this is what I’m doing on the ambition side, and this is what I’m doing on the integrity and flow side, right? And just like this is what I’m doing on the space home side and, and I codified the system, but I did it with I applied it to my family, and I keep doing that. So I’ve iterated on that since oh about 20 I don’t know 2017 I think was our first family off site. Four Seasons Mexico City so we are We live at the beach right and we serve and so I was like no we’re gonna get serious we’re gonna go I was like, I need to workshop you guys through this to like, prove it like to test it out for other members. Whether they’re doing it with their partner or their family or themselves doesn’t matter.
Cate Stillman 25:04
But in that process I mean, to now fast forward like this more like we have a family business now it’s incorporated I CW, which is Indigo, Cate and Winston. But it’s also Indigo, Claire Welsh, so it’s also my daughter’s, or her name, and hi CW, Montana, it’s a it’s basically like a, it’s like a real estate, rental fix up company. Like we’re just doing stuff in real estate. And in the reason we have this company, there’s a few reasons for it. But the number one reason for that is so that my daughter learns business. Right, so she’s part of she’s 14. Now. So when we started, when we started doing family off sites on goals and strategy, and like learning this, the strategic methodology that I teach, and we use in our business, my teaching master review, the yoga health coaches learn a bit of it. I was like, let’s do this in real time, and just see where it goes. And it’s been a bit of an adventure.
Cate Stillman 25:57
And this morning, my husband was like, he just got back from Montana, we have three real estate projects going up there. And he was just like, and totally overwhelmed. And I’m like, I bet, you know, it’s just like, exhale, because he runs his own business here. So he also has his own company, I have my own company, right? We have a lot of, we have condos in Mexico, like we have a lot, we’ve got a lot going we’re, I’m I’m ambitious. And I kind of suck him into it, because he’s really grounded and will just simply take on, take take on and absorb. And I’m like, just think of where we’re going to be in two years with these projects, you know, and it’s just like, zooming back out to big picture. And so India and I have a 14 year old, I’m taking her with me to Portugal, we have an event in Lisbon June 3 to fifth, everyone’s welcome to check it out on yoga healer.com. And it’s awesome. It’s either like, super dynamic, like massive transformation in three days, like you leave and you’re just like, I am aligned, like I am thinking about the right things, I am connected to the right people, and you have a real clear way of going forward. No matter what you come in with no matter what problems or challenges or goals you have coming in, it’s really a cool experience.
Cate Stillman 27:08
So I’m taking her with me, and we’re talking about, you know, these different spaces that we’re going to be checking out in Lisbon, and Madrid, those are the two cities we’re focusing on, we’ll do some other stuff as well. And she sent a design. And I’m like, we have this building in Montana, that’s going to be essentially like a cowork off site environment. Right, because I just recognize that, like, small businesses need this more than ever, like, everyone needs offsites we’re going more virtual, we need more time in person, we need dynamic spaces, etc. So yeah, like, she’s gonna see things that will, that she will then be able to manifest, my husband’s a builder type, right, he can just build shit. And I’m just good at like big picture thinking and organizing ideas into reality, right? I’m not very helpful with any sort of tool outside of like a pen.
Cate Stillman 28:00
You know, like I can, I can sign checks. I can write books, I can make money, but like, on the ground, I’m not that useful. So it’s just, you know, from, from my perspective, it’s like, the adventure of it has been everything. And for her, I wanted her to be bilingual. And that’s really why we went to Mexico why we bought a condo there was just like, yeah, we wanted to serve, so I shouldn’t leave that detail out. If you’re gonna serve. Got a really put your time in or just kicked your ass. But then it was like, she should be bilingual and she should not be culturally she should be bicultural. You know, and that was it. So, you know, like, to me lifestyle design, it’s like, you got to really pay attention to those things. Because those windows closed really fast. You know, a lot of goal opportunity windows closed really fast. If you get good on acting on your desire, a lot opens up.
Amber Hawley 28:56
I think that’s, that’s powerful. Like, thinking about that, that creating a little bit of a sense of urgency there because sometimes we can be lost in the Daydream. Right? Or to think like, oh, when when things feel more settled, or when I reached this XYZ then I’ll go for those things that I desire. Yeah, yeah. And yeah, as I’ve been I feel like all week I’ve been saying things like yeah, I find that that perfect zone rarely presents itself it’s like you’ve got to you’ve got to kind of like make that happen. You’ve got to take that that leap even when it’s not perfect, right?
Cate Stillman 29:34
Yeah, and the more I mean again, like on body thrive in my first book, The circadian rhythm habits book, in the circadian rhythm enables people to be in a in a relaxed focus state. Intermittent Fasting is an essential habit that allows people to be in a relaxed focus state and wild habits which is coming out which is the sequel to body thrive. There’s a huge section on fasting on intermittent fasting and in There’s a lot of science in there that just basically, there’s a lot of like how to and how to navigate family stuff, and tea and stuff, and babies and all these things with interment fasting and like real life, social engagements, all that there’s all the practical stuff. But on the science side, like it basically boils down to neurodegeneration versus neuroplasticity. Like, either you’re decaying your brain with plaque, or you’re able to learn new things and grow. Yeah,
Amber Hawley 30:25
I’m, uh, I’m finishing up a brain health certification. And I will say that has been some of the scariest shit when you’re just like, looking at what we’re doing first, if we actually had pictures like brain scans, and we would realize, because we don’t see it yet, right, like he is from Amon University. Dr. Iman is a psychiatrist who specializes in like ADHD. And he would talk about, you know, we’re doing this damage is being done now. And we might not see the effects of that for 1020 30 years. And then by then, like, it’s, you know, there’s always things you can do, but by then if we wait until the symptoms show up, it’s often that’s really tough, right? And so like, the sooner you, you get into it, but yeah, just knowing all of that, and getting that we are taking and doing so many things to ourselves that are hurting ourselves, and we’re gonna pay that price later. Like you said, we we take the easy way. And I, I admit, I always have to be accountable for my I, you know, I take that easy way too. And then realizing like, down the road, there is going to be it’s going to come due like that payment is going to come due, right.
Cate Stillman 31:34
Yeah. And like a few things like yes, and we’re paying for right now. Like we’re always paying for it right now, too. And that’s, to me, this is like one of the things that’s so hard when we Okay, so we’re in a medical model that is built for acute problems. Yeah. But at least at I think last, the last update was about 85% of all medical issues right now go to chronic inflammation. So the medical system we have is not set up to deal with this, we all have symptoms. So it might not be as severe as a chronic disease. So the chronic inflammation might not have developed to a point where you can label it as a respiratory disease, or cancer or an autoimmune disease or pick an Oregon kidney disease bladder, I mean, just can be anything right liver disease, right? Where you have a level where you’re like, this isn’t a disease state, and it’s going to get this really specific diagnosis. The chronic inflammation feels like shit every day.
Amber Hawley 32:31
That is true, that is true, you know, and
Cate Stillman 32:34
it’s just like, and there’s just this level of like, how much are we going to tolerate if like, our joints don’t feel free and flexible and open, or it’s hard to focus, or I have cravings, and I’m thinking about food too much, or, you know, these things that you’re like, there’s gotta be this other wavelength, there’s got to be another plane. And that’s what fasting, you know, that’s what intermittent fasting does is it opens up this like, wait, you have this physiology that’s actually totally relaxed, is fluid is open and available. And when you have that kind of availability, just to return to the opportunity, an opportunity shows up and that and there’s there’s really no blockers. There’s nothing that needs protection.
Cate Stillman 33:12
Jordan Peterson talks about this in a way that’s great from the he talks. I mean, he talks I mean, he’s a psychologist, right? Yeah. So he’s talking about it from a number of different ways. But one is, is like how much chaos can you take on versus how much order and so the more someone’s life is, and I’m gonna use my language and are your Vader language, but basically the and that’s old language, you guys, it’s old, mythological language, the, you know, the chaos and order. What he found with addicts is like, their life gets smaller and smaller and smaller and smaller, they’re able to take on less and less chaos, right? The chronic inflammation is doing the same thing. So people can take on less risk. So like, opportunity shows up and the walls go up. Because it’s chaos, like an opportunity is chaos. It’s always chaos, because you’re stepping into something you haven’t experienced before. So it’s an ego defying proposition. But if you’ve got chronic you’re already under an allostatic load, meaning like your physiology is already under oxidative stress. So at the nervous system level, Game’s over before it’s begun. And it is risky, to force yourself to do it. And you know, when you see those people that are like, I’m just gonna jump into this, I need to do it. And it’s like, no, that’s not the way to step into opportunity. The way to step and opportunity is like, exhale, you know, and it’s like, eyes wide open. And it’s like an it’s a natural draw from really the heart chakra. forward towards that what you want. It doesn’t feel like I’m just gonna force myself and jump into it doesn’t feel like that at all.
Amber Hawley 34:43
Hmm. So it almost sounds like an ease into something. That’s hard. Yeah, yeah.
Cate Stillman 34:52
It’s like I’m gonna stretch myself in this way next, and that’s positive stressors. And that’s like, the more you stack positive stress or have that’s going to bed early as a positive stress for habit waking up before dawn, exercising before, you know extending your fasting times cold showers or cold plunging, or I like to roll around naked in the snow, getting really cold. And everyone’s like, I don’t like doing any of that right? And the more you don’t like it is telling you how many negative stress or habits you stacked. And the more you’re like, I love doing that stuff. Like I love skipping a day of eating, the more you’re like extract some you stack some serious positive stressors, which means you’ve got deep focus, you’ve got deep resilience and opportunity presents itself. And you’re like, yeah, that feels right. I’m gonna go stretch myself. And now because I have reserves, I have resilience.
Amber Hawley 35:41
Yeah, that speaks to me a lot. That idea of having the reserve and I think so many of us, you know, I’m just thinking about also like a lot of clients I’ve worked with where it’s they feel like, like the cliff is right there. And so it’s like, if one thing happens, I’m going to fall off of that. Like, it’s just, it’s just like chaos looming, or overwhelm is looming, or like devastation is looming. And there aren’t the reserves. Yeah, right. Yeah, yeah.
Cate Stillman 36:12
And there are literally like, that’s adrenaline addiction, or cultures and adrenaline addiction. It’s a beta brainwave state, which means we’re not getting enough delta. And theta means we were not experiencing other modes of consciousness, which were naturally part of a 24 hour rhythm, like our brains are naturally meant to experience these other brainwave states that are, feels really good and are healing and give us insight. So theta gives insight Delta gives healing, gamma puts it all together. So if we’re not doing those things, like we’re in this constant problem solving beta mode, and it goes to anxiety, so it’s exhausting. Right?
Amber Hawley 36:53
Absolutely. And that’s the thing that and then the more anxious you feel, the more stuck you feel, the more you want to avoid that stuff. And that’s fine. You know, avoidance exacerbates anxiety, right?
Unknown Speaker 37:07
Yeah, totally. Totally.
Amber Hawley 37:11
Well, I’m hoping people understand why I like talking to you or listening to what you have to say. Because it is different. You you talk about things in a different way. You know, I’ve always said you’re wicked smart. So like, it’s just, it’s like off the charts. But it’s I like that you’re approaching it from such a different perspective. And sometimes that can be very, like, I don’t even know what to do with that kind of feeling that people probably have. But, but then there’s that part of you, that’s like, Okay, this is speaking to me on some level, and I need to, I need to start exploring that or figuring out what that means for me, right?
Cate Stillman 37:49
That’s just it. And we have, yeah, it’s like I want to give I want to it’s after that deep dive conversation to where people might be more in sync with what’s really going on. Because I feel like we just sort of had a bit of a like a come to Jesus conversation where it’s like, okay, let’s not, let’s not look away from the stuff let’s look straight at especially anyone here that is, is trying to grow their business is like your business relies on your body. First of all, your business relies on your focus and your mind. So any business growth you want to do, you’ve got to invest in the foundation, which is the person, we have this body gross Crash Course. And I’ll figure out how to get it to you guys for free. So that people can go through this and really, you know, so the entrepreneurs can go through and see like, what is inflammation costing? Like? What’s really going on? What do I really need to set those goals? How do I really need to be thinking about it’s like a good Crash Course into answering some of these bigger questions and getting a new and a new framework. And I don’t have like a fancy link off the top of my head where I can give it to guys for free but I’ll record something and I’ll send it to you and we can patch it
Amber Hawley 38:54
no worries no worries. Definitely put it in the show notes as well.
Cate Stillman 38:58
Email help@yogahealer.com and say Cate gave me body goals crash course for free and all that support to that hepl@yogahealer.com. body goals Crash Course BGCC is what we call it just say I get this free Cate said so.
Amber Hawley 39:15
There you are used to
Cate Stillman 39:20
like what did you do? That other thing you guys is that like the solutions are freak you know, I mean, all the habits we teach are free. They all save people a ton of money and a ton of time. So to me it’s like I’m Ben, you might be like, Well, how do you make money on wisdom like we coach you into wisdom and but everything we coach is free in terms of what to do and it saves time and money. So it’s like one of our questions is like how easy can it be for you? How easy can it be to grow into into experience? The physiological baseline that you want to experience? Like it’s really cool to wake up and feel amazing. Like that is a very good goal to have and I mean we have people in their 70s be like I’ve never felt this good in the morning. You Yeah, that’s what we’re aiming for.
Amber Hawley 40:02
I love it. I love it. And it is a very diverse community. I feel. Yeah. their respective like age and yeah, different kinds of pages like, yes, they’re all color.
Cate Stillman 40:13
Yeah, location. world, it is pretty. It is pretty
Amber Hawley 40:16
diverse in that way. Obviously, they’re I think they’re of the same mind that they’re reaching out for this kind of solution. But yeah, the diversity and all of how, yeah, all the other things you just mentioned. So
Cate Stillman 40:30
it’s a huge range in terms of how on, I mean, I just talked to someone who was a fentanyl addict, right. So it’s like, there’s a lot of stuff that people might not like, people make assumptions in their mind of like, oh, this community is like that. And it’s like, really, well actually get this, get the get the backstories. And so that, to me, is what really is cool. And then we have people that have been teaching advanced yoga in alignment for 30 years in there, you know, and we’re never addicted to anything. And we’re just on a total growth path. So and to me that way, like that whole, all levels is really diverse. And that I think, is what gives us a lot of depth. So someone can be 100 pounds overweight, and see other people in there, whose hair’s falling out, because they’re, you know, because their absorption issues are really hitting the fan. And feel like oh, I can, I can actually be myself in here. And exhale, and just be in here and in see what’s going on. And then what happens usually is like the habits wear off on people. So the positive stress are habits that are more easy to make choices towards. I love it.
Amber Hawley 41:37
I love it. Well, I know that we had talked, I know we’re running out of time here, but I want to be mindful of your time. But and, you know, probably you’re gonna say it has to do with inflammation. But we had briefly talked about what is causing distraction for so many people. And I know there are many things, but I am curious on your take because like I said, you have a very, you have a unique look at things. So I’m curious, what do you see contributing to distraction for people over Fenn?
Cate Stillman 42:07
So in a word, like if I had to choose one word, and overfed usually comes more from eating too frequently than eating too much. If people are simply eating too frequently, and so their cells are constantly there, particularly their, their fat cells are constantly needing to pick up energy from the bloodstream. And when this when this happens, there’s an there’s an accumulating effect, where when the fat cells are constantly picking up from the bloodstream, they then release what are called like pro inflammatory markers, they release inflammation into the blood. So yes, it is inflammation, but it’s coming from simply not being in a fasted state. So when basically as humans, humans evolved in harsh conditions, and that process has taken you know, depending on how you want to start the timeline from like single cell to multi celled organisms, like, alright, or like, beyond millions into billions of years here, we got a really long timeline of like, harsh environment. So we are neuroplasticity, our brains developed focused from essentially being hungry and moving or being empty and moving. So even like what most people experience is hunger right now isn’t really hunger, it’s cravings. And those cravings are coming as a, they’re a pro inflammatory response. So those cravings are driven by inflammation. They’re not driven by cells actually needing nutrition. And this is one of the hardest switches to switch off hard in terms of like, someone’s got to really want it. And the easy fixes are everywhere, and everyone’s gonna be like, just just have a beer, just have a glass of wine or just, you know, here, put some cream in your coffee or like whatever it is, like all the messages from culture are going to be like, You need something you need to consume something you need to pop this pill you need to you need to do this thing when it’s not doing it’s not doing that heals, it’s uh, not eating as frequently.
Cate Stillman 44:13
And so in wild habits, there’s a huge section on on all this healing, on on hunger and on fasting and fasting rhythm and it’s anyone who comes into body thrive like our number one goal. Now is intermittent fasting rhythm. Like let’s get everyone into metabolic flexibility into intermittent fasting and the natural experience that emerges out of that is deep focus. So I can focus for I mean, uninterrupted, I can focus for days. I mean, it’s just it’s pretty cool what happens on the other side of it. So this last book wild habits from ideation through manifestation, including I did all my own editing now it’s getting proved six months. Wow. 70,000 words. My prior two books We’re a year and a half, back and forth editing this. And there’s way more research in this book, there’s way more science, like, I put way more time into reading other people’s stuff, even within the short period of time. So, I mean, it’s cool, like deep work deep, deep focus, that cannot happen in a non fasted state. And this is true of our kids. It’s true of our toddlers. It’s true of picky eaters and emotional eaters and kids throwing temper tantrums and teenagers having emotional being emotionally unfit for family interaction and like stuff like that that all to me it all it all goes to fasting, the kids not fasting long enough. highly controversial, right? In terms like, no one’s willing to talk about this stuff. I talked about how Pregnant women should be intermittent fasting, that comes straight out of Mark Madison’s research. Just being like everyone used to fast, even pregnant woman, even nursing woman. Why? Because like, that’s how we have like we are resilient. Like our fat cells are meant to be lean, the only way they are lean is when we use them for the energy that’s within them. We can’t keep packing them with energy when we do you’re basically creating dementia.
Amber Hawley 46:14
Which, yeah, I was gonna say, I know that. I’m sure people are gonna have a lot of thoughts about this. Controversial Yes, exactly. I mean, that’s
Cate Stillman 46:29
it’s controversial, but not at the level of science. It’s controversial. The level of popular opinion. Yeah. And people are always going to have inflammation are going to default because of negative bias, they’re going to do the easier thing, which is the pattern that got them in here in the first place. And that’s, to me, that’s why it’s like anyone here who’s running, you know, in the entrepreneurship, who’s coaching people to results, like you got to you got to know this stuff. Right? You got to read the science on it, because it’s like, man, if people can’t think it’s really hard to coach them.
Amber Hawley 47:04
Oh, yes, I definitely can see that. And I think the thing too, is, you know, I guess maybe I’d invite people to be looking at what the actual sciences or what you’re actually talking about, because I think they can hear like the word and then make assumptions about what that actually looks like. And I think that’s where I often say, I feel like we as a society have lost the we have lost the understanding of nuance, like, I feel like people don’t get nuances of things. It’s very like, Oh, this is what was said, and this, I’m jumping to these conclusions. And I’m not even going to look into all of the other stuff. So I will invite people to do that. If this is bringing up some stuff for you. But like you said, take a look at that. Because that might be the thing that’s kind of keeping you stuck, right?
Cate Stillman 47:53
Yeah, yeah, it just Google Matson ma TT Sol, and he’s really, he ran a department in NIH, or was working the last, I don’t know, 10 plus years now. 20 years is has been on intermittent fasting. And he’s done a lot of aggregate research. And if you if you look up, you know, evolutionary perspective Matson really great, really great paper released in 2021. And he really goes into what’s happening at the level of neuroplasticity versus neuro degeneration. So for anyone that got triggered from any of that, like, just go read the research, it’s it’s insanely cut and dry. In so sad because we live in a culture that’s overfed?
Amber Hawley 48:36
Well, I, thank you, because I knew I knew having you on would be great, because it’s, again, a very different approach and a very different way of looking at things. And yet, it’s not that different. Right. Like, I think, I think some of the stuff, like you said, we know a lot of these things. And so it’s just about like, changing, doing the hard thing. Yeah, hard thing,
Cate Stillman 48:59
doing the hardest thing and that hard thing gets to be easy to so it’s only hard until it’s on automated, right? And then it’s easy, and it makes anything else that’s hard, faster to get to automated. And just to reinforce what you just said like there’s a real like, if you look at etymology, it explains a lot. So the word Dinner, dinner still means the main meal of the day. Breakfast means breaking a fast, which means there was a fast, right, so there was dinner and breakfast dinner only moved later in the day with the Industrial Revolution. Industrial Revolution puts us at you know, mid 18, late 1800s. So right now, if we look at Oh, and when did chronic disease hit on the rise? Well, the first stats that we really have on an early early 1900s by 1935, was that seven and a half percent. Now it’s arguably 85% of the population has chronic inflammation. So it’s like this isn’t hard to see. It’s like dinner was in the middle of the day. We broke our fast supper means something supplemental. So that su PP. It’s like there’s two etymology roots from it. Interestingly enough, it’s both soup and supper. So it was like a little something if you couldn’t make it to breaking the fast, you had something a little extra. But that’s not how people are living at all. Right?
Amber Hawley 50:19
Yeah. Huh. See, this is why I like talking to do this for days. No, I love it. I love it. I love that it is I love that it is a deeper, different kind of conversation. So, again, I thank you for that. And to get the free body Oh, yeah,
Cate Stillman 50:39
help@yogahealer, you guys are going to email help@yogahealer.com.
Amber Hawley 50:44
And we will put in the show. Yeah, so
Cate Stillman 50:47
you want the body goals Crash Course and, and they’ll get you in. And it’s awesome. It takes about I mean, it is a crash course I think it takes it takes a couple of hours. You can do it all at once. Or you can spread it out over 10 days. But it shouldn’t take longer than that. And there’s a little workbook that goes through it. And I actually just talked to someone today who was like, I can’t believe how useful this was. You know, it was just that I am here on the map. And this is what I need to do next. So that’s that’s the purpose of that.
Amber Hawley 51:15
I love that. I love it. And obviously you’re listening to a podcast. So Cate has the yoga healer podcast that has you’re one of the OG OG podcasters. Because it LLC, yes, yes.
Cate Stillman 51:30
Do you know the story? Can I tell you one more story?
Amber Hawley 51:33
No, yes, go ahead.
Cate Stillman 51:35
Oh, I was my first online course that I led was the living are your Vedic course in 2007. Wow. And I had guest speakers that were these, you know, these are your Vedic gurus like the Masters in and be like, Hey, could you come talk to my group about this particular topic that they’d be an expert in. And so they come on, and they talk with my group, and I’d have this audio file. And so I was like, Oh, I know. And that was a blogger. So I started putting all these audio files in the blog, and LC who is my Elsie Escobar, who runs she podcasts with Jess. She was a good friend of mine from from advanced yoga, teacher trainings, therapy, trainings, that kind of stuff. At one point she’s like you’ve 20 audio files and a blog that’s called a podcast. So that’s when I started the yoga healer show.
Amber Hawley 52:23
I love it. you gotta love her for breaking it down like that she’s really good at that. This is obviously your next step.
Cate Stillman 52:34
Like you already have it you’re just technology
Amber Hawley 52:40
finding it easier better way to deliver that content Awesome. Well, I think obviously they’re gonna know go find the Crash Course and check out your podcast but is there anywhere else where’s the best place to to do a gentle stalking of you if people wish to
Cate Stillman 52:57
oh, you know we have yoga healer Facebook group like get into the yoga healer Facebook group just Google that on yoga healer asked to get in and and then yeah that’s our it’s like it’s our kind of like you’re in the preview window of what’s really happening in yoga healer, but at least you’re you’re looking through the window in there and and we try to keep that fun. Not too crazy.
Amber Hawley 53:19
Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you again for coming on. It has been amazing.
Cate Stillman 53:24
Yay. Thanks, Amber.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
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