Chakras and Chardonnay

No sleep. Let it sweep you off your feet.

Hi, you're listening to find your joy. If you're looking for ways to thrive rather than survive in a world that can seem rather chaotic, you're in the right place. We will be sharing stories of our own, as well as those from guests who have found ways to bring hope, healing and freedom into places where trauma has impacted them. I'm Ali, author of the art of healing trauma, and I'm here to remind you that life is sweet. Now, let's dive in and find ways to create our joy. Hi, I'm Ali, and this is find your joy, and will we be having fun today? Today we have the fabulous the marvelous Maria Mayes and Maria is here to talk to us all about chakras and Chardonnay. And if that name doesn't have piqued your interest, I don't know what well. Welcome.

Hi, thank you so much for having me ally. So I'm really grateful to be here. And yet, so chakra thin Chardonnay is a podcast that is just launching. And it really is apropos that we're having this conversation because it really is all about joy. Meaning that I'm a meditation teacher, as well as the teacher of ru, Vedic lifestyle and a wellbeing coach. And so I mentor people individually, but also do a lot of work in small businesses, helping them bring Stress management techniques into the workplace. And what I found is, there's all these amazing teachings out there. But oftentimes, it's just too far out for us, it's too far out of reach, or it seems kind of stuffy or a little too woowoo. or what have you. What I tried to do is really condense the teachings into really practical steps you can put in your life, and then keep it fun. And so you know, with the the Chardonnay piece of that I've been in the wine industry for over 20 years as well educating in a beautiful boutique tasting room. But I wasn't always mindful about my consumption. Personally, I used to numb my anxiety with wine. But through my own journey, I kind of went from self medicating to meditating. And now that's part of what I intend with the offering of the podcast is just to drop you some, you know, teaching some tips that can help you liberate yourself from unconscious patterns, like unconsciously hitting the wine fridge every night on autopilot, and step into more mindful enjoyment, where it's intentional, where it's mindful, and we're some days maybe it's No, I'm not going to have a glass of wine. And other days, maybe I'm going to really explore the flavors and the smells of this particular wine. So, so yeah, I'm grateful. I'm just grateful to share this time with you.

Oh, I love that. And I love that it looks just being really open and enjoying all that's out there. Everything that's offered. And I know myself, the more I've gone to wine tastings and things like that, it changed how I saw wine. Because before it was you just find a good bottle, maybe it's on sale, and away we go around someone who's an actual sommelier, we have friends who are and it changed everything about how wine was for me, it changed how I would consume it, it changed the flavors of it, it's what I was looking for in a bottle of wine, or a glass of wine. Like You I changed my from a bottle to a glass a while ago. And that's wonderful. So know the chakra part how, tell me a little bit about how you blend and breathe.

So you know, this came about about so I my background was in the technology world, so very high stress positions. And within that for over 20 years, but started offering yoga classes after getting a yoga certification about five years ago just to pay some healing forward. Right. And I was exposed to chakra as much earlier than that actually by a therapist about Oh God 1516 years ago, I wasn't really interested in exploring more was just at a period of my life where I just wanted to get a quick fix, right I just needed to step out of a very difficult time through you know, the work that I was doing with my therapist, but set a seed in me the chakras thing and fast forward to today. As a result of the pandemic I decided to pivot and step into my purpose work and really take these additional teachings that I had been certified in to to others rather than you know, be on that the other end needing them right so and and I still I practice what I preach so everything that I use, whether it be chakra activation, whether it be yoga, whether it be breath work or a mantra meditation, both are tools. But I use to keep myself mentally and physically vibrant, right? Because it's a daily practice, right. So all these things helped me as a working parent and. And yeah, so the specific chakra, then Chardonnay, I started teaching workshops a couple of years ago at a beautiful boutique winery where I educate in the tasting room a couple times a month. And so what I found is if I can take these teachings, and serve them up to you in a very approachable way, and gets you to think about just the whole consumption process, right, or to get you to think of things in a little bit different way, it's just much more fun and approachable. And that can then plant a seed in you to then want to go explore more, whether it be meditation, or yoga, or whatever might be something that could really have a huge impact on your well being. And so I have done that locally for several years now and had such great feedback off those that this podcast is a way to actually bring that to a larger audience so that more people can maybe benefit from from this teaching, though.

I love that. And what I'm really one of the things I really love about it is it it it like he said the Wu I'm you know, I'm quite a fan of the Wu as long as there's, you know, a science base with it and things like that, or maybe whatever right? I'm you know, unicorns and rainbows are my thing at times, for sure. But what I love about it is that you're talking about the Healthy consumption. And but not that a person has sometimes I think people feel like they have to be one, or I'm this or I'm that I'm into health and wholeness, or I'm into going and having some wine with friends. And I think that's where we have these polar opposites where people get stuck in this place where they don't feel like, like, what I can't do this, if I do that, I love that. You're bringing an inclusiveness that says we can do both, but both it with balance.

Yeah, you know, I appreciate you catching that because I actually that's something that I had to come to personally within my journey. And that I was I was feeling such a pull and a call that I really need to step more into this mindful tasting the wine industry, you need to really this this piece of self medicating and alcohol and can we step into it mindfully was really pulling me. But I felt well, how can I do that I'm a meditation teacher, I'm a wellbeing coach, I'm all about health. And I really had to go through my journey, like revisit the good, the bad, and the ugly, come face to face with it all, and see how I can be an example to liberate others. And that is, I have been able to step into a mindful relationship where some days, some weeks I don't drink at all right? But then some days, yes, I want to enjoy a glass of wine. And I can do it from a mindful level of mindful lens. And I can do it with intentionality. So what I did is to develop the five step process, that take five mindful tasting process, and it starts with arriving, right, so a lot of times we go from one thing to the other from work to home, from mom to, you know, employer to whatever it might be, right, we're rush, rush rush 100 miles an hour, if we can pause to become present, before we step into that consumption, whether it be you know, a cup of tea, whether it be a glass of wine, whether it be a bag of chips, or the chocolate cake, that that's huge to have enough pause to just take a few breaths, and to fully arrive, that you're present then with that, what's your consume? And then step into intentionality of it. So something I asked myself and teach when I'm teaching others is, what's the intention behind the sip? Right? So for many a year, my unconscious intention was just to numb anxiety or to numb pain. Right, there was no verbal stated intention, but there was certainly one there with my unconscious habit of just automatically going to that as the way to take that shop at night. So and then starting into the exploration, so those five that's is that still needs with us, which I'm not assuming. But I just I leveraged the tips I've learned from different winemakers I've worked with and just working in the tasting room for years. And so yeah, to be able to then go into that exploring by really admiring what's in the glass. And by exploring all the, you know, the smells and the sights and the flavors and then finishing, as we say in the wine industry with a reflection, right so just being reflective and that how did it leave me? Did I like the way it finished? And do I have gratitude? Right? Always finishing up or reflecting with some gratitude is a big part of the process for me. So yeah,

I really I what I appreciate that about that too, is that it, we stop and we think then wine tasting is about that, right? We stop. And we think if I go with someone, like, back in the day, I would say if I would go out with a girlfriend and I could be you know, you can be a few glasses of wine in before I've even thought did I even like it? Did I even like whatever, much like you numbing whatever was going on that I was and not even thinking about that. If someone had said to me, you're numbing something, I would think I'm just sitting with a girlfriend having some wine, I don't really understand that. But what I love about this process is it. Have a good wine, and whatever that is for you. Because we know from tastings that that could be you know, many different levels of the wine, but you know, have a good wine, have a good chocolate, enjoy whatever that is, and really taste it fully and enjoy it fully. And go for a walk, do some yoga, do some meditation, I love the blending, I just find this very interesting that we're getting to a place now, where it doesn't have not everything's black and white. Yeah, it really doesn't know this or that, you know,

and I really appreciate that point too. Because, you know, in my own kind of conflict on that, you know, I had a look at, you know, I do have a very, uh, being let's very well write my being is very well, because of all these daily practices that I put into place. And one of them is mindful consumption. But it doesn't mean that I've completely said I'll never have wine again, it is I'm going to consciously step into it. When I know that I'm not going to it's not going to affect my sleep, because I'm not going to drink it too late. I don't have anywhere to drive. I don't have you know, all these different things that go into play. But I can only get there if I pause and become present and the fastest way to become present, whether it's for a family member, whether you're going to give a presentation, wherever you need presence, which is pretty much anywhere right? is to use the breath. So by taking five deeper than no more slower than normal breath cycles, we will drop into a state of presence. And so that's really important to do. Anytime you sit down to consume anything, whether it be food, wine, coffee, or even media.

Right. Well, that's a whole nother a whole nother topic. We get we get spent a lot of time there. That's awesome. So tell me a bit. So your podcast is coming out? It will probably by the time this airs.

Yeah, I'm sure Yeah, yeah, the trailer is out on all the on Apple on Spotify on all the platforms. So it's chakra, thin Chardonnay. And you can go to chakras and chardonnay.com, or just hit my website, take five dot health. And you can find it there as well. So I work with folks, individually one on one, I also do a lot of stress management for small businesses. So I really believe we can take these teachings out of the studio out of the yoga studio out of the meditation studio and into the board room into the conference room and into the cocktail table. So that's what I help people do.

That's beautiful. So just so everybody's clear, you're going to be listening to this amazing new podcast that's coming out. And if you're looking for ways to improve your health, mental health, physical health, what ever is going on, Marie is going to be able to help you through that too. Because you're going to be able to contact her now all of her contact information is going to be in my show notes. And this I am so excited what a pleasant pleasant surprises was today. To me like you. This is just fabulous, and I can't wait to listen to your podcasts.

Well, I'm really grateful. It's been such a pleasure to meet you ally. Definitely divine intervention to put us in this space at the same time.

Absolutely. Well, thanks again, Maria. And to all our listeners. Thank you so much for joining us today. And remember, go find ways to create your joy

thanks so much for joining me today. If you found a piece of your joy in this episode, I would love to hear about what came up for you so that we can continue to grow the impact of this show. Thanks again. See you soon and Remember, find your joy