Living a Life in Balance - PODCAST

The Power of YOGA: Raising Frequency Through Breath, Movement, and Sound Healing

• Abdullah Boulad • Season 1 • Episode 9

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Estela Garcia, Yoga Teacher, Breathwork and Mindfulness Facilitator, shares how presence, movement, and healing practices can help us reconnect with ourselves and navigate life’s challenges with grace. Drawing from a deeply personal journey, Estela explores how yoga became her anchor during times of grief, identity shifts, and transformation.

In this episode, Estela opens up about her path from the world of acting to becoming a teacher of yoga and sound healing. She reflects on the power of community, the impact of emotional loss, and how presence can become a tool for both healing and empowerment. With insights on breathwork, nervous system regulation, and how to approach yoga without ego, Estela offers a grounded, compassionate perspective on inner growth.

🔗 Tune in for a grounded conversation on reclaiming purpose, practicing stillness, and using yoga and sound to raise your frequency.

About Estela: Estela Garcia is a yoga teacher, breathwork, mindfulness and sound healing practitioner. With a background in acting and a life shaped by travel, culture, and artistic expression, she brings a rich, embodied wisdom to her work. Through movement, sound, and presence, Estela helps others reconnect to their inner peace and navigate life with more clarity, calm, and emotional resilience.

00:00:00 — Introduction
00:02:02 — Estela’s Journey: From Acting to Yoga
00:04:16 — Yoga as a Functional Tool for Daily Life
00:06:16 — Losing Her Father & Choosing Passion Over Security
00:09:09 — Overcoming Fear & Reclaiming Purpose
00:11:27 — The Power of Community & Hope in NYC
00:15:05 — Abdullah’s Story: Loss, Authenticity & Emotional Legacy
00:16:11 — A Childhood of Art, Travel & Backstage Lessons
00:21:35 — Cultural Exposure, Belonging & Teenage Challenges
00:25:30 — Yoga as a Lifeline During Divorce & Personal Pain
00:28:02 — Becoming a Yoga Teacher & Defining Yoga as Presence
00:31:51 — Spiritual Roots of Yoga & Becoming the Observer
00:35:09 — Experiencing Moments of Presence Through Practice
00:39:28 — Breath, Nervous System & Scientific Side of Yoga
00:44:36 — How to Start Yoga Without Ego or Pressure
00:48:37 — Integrating Presence into Everyday Life
00:51:04 — Responding vs. Reacting: Emotional Flexibility
00:54:19 — Simplicity, Stillness & Reducing Mental Noise
00:55:25 — How Estela Structures a Class Based on Energy
00:59:10 — Introduction to Sound Healing & Crystal Bowls
01:05:52 — Live vs. Recorded Frequencies & The Power of Humming
01:09:23 — Guided Sound Healing: Entering Theta State
01:21:02 — Singing Bowls, Frequency & Optimal Session Length
01:23:49 — Raising Frequency Through Breath, Movement & Gratitude
01:28:27 — Yoga & Sound Healing for Anxiety, Depression & Safety
01:32:01 — Client Transformations & Ongoing Balance
01:38:23 — Final Advice: Follow Your Passion & Befriend Yourself

For further mental health information and support, visit The Balance RehabClinic website: https://balancerehabclinic.com/ 
 
Follow Estela Garcia:
https://www.instagram.com/estelayoga?igsh=MXRrdWNxYTE1N2dsYQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
http://www.estelayoga.com

Follow Abdullah Boulad:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullahboulad/
https://www.instagram.com/abdullahboulad/
 
You can order Abdullah’s book, ‘Living A Life In Balance’, here:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BC9S5TCF
 
Follow The Balance RehabClinic:
https://www.linkedin.com/company/thebalancerehabclinic/
https://www.instagram.com/thebalancerehabclinic/

#healing #podcast #recovery #yoga #health #mindset #mindbodyconnection #meditation #health #healthylifestyle #power #love #soundhealing #breathing #breathwork #mentalhealth #wellness #wellbeing #care #selfcar

Estela Garcia 00:00:00  What I love about the yoga is the the function. The day to day is. It's wonderful to be in the mat. It's wonderful to have a studio with soft music, but the real yoga is outside of the mat. I started to feel things that I had never felt before. It was taking it from the intellectual to the body.

Abdullah Boulad 00:00:17  What is yoga?

Estela Garcia 00:00:18  Yoga is the is union. Is is unity. I was in and out of the hospital. He was in and out of the hospital. So I realized when he died, I realized I am not wasting a single more second of my life. My life is precious.

Abdullah Boulad 00:00:31  All this final decision to go into it was. Was your father's passing.

Estela Garcia 00:00:36  Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:00:37  To realize what your passion and what you want to pursue in life.

Estela Garcia 00:00:42  There was no choice. I had to do it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:00:52  It was very powerful to me.

Estela Garcia 00:00:54  I would I would recommend that the quickest and easiest and fastest way to raise your frequency is.

Abdullah Boulad 00:01:03  Welcome to the Living, Alive and Balanced podcast.

Abdullah Boulad 00:01:05  My name is Abdullah Bullard. I'm the founder and CEO of the Balance Rehab Clinic. My guest today is Estela Garcia, yoga teacher and sound healer. In this episode, we dive into how movement, breath, and sound can become tools for deep healing. Estela shares her personal story from growing up in a world of performance and pressure to rebuild her life after a toxic relationship. Through the simple act of showing up on the yoga mat and pursuing her passion. We explore the science behind yoga the power of frequency, simplicity, and gratitude to raise the energy you are missing. Estela guided me through a sound healing session with crystal balls and demonstrated how the traditional Brahman breathing technique works. I hope you will enjoy. Estella, what motivated you to do what you do today?

Estela Garcia 00:02:02  My motivation is to get as close as possible to who I am and be the best version of myself. And so for my students, help them to do that as well.

Abdullah Boulad 00:02:13  How did you get into it?

Estela Garcia 00:02:14  Well, I've always been very creative, doing a lot of different things.

Estela Garcia 00:02:18  Jobs, changing, exploring and yoga has been the one thing that I've been completely loyal to throughout the years. Yeah, I always came back to the mat. Sometimes it was every day. Sometimes it was every two months or even three months or life happens. But I would always show up to the mat. I will always come back to the mat, and the mat would always be there for me. So that's one thing that kept me stable and committed and disciplined, which is not something that I normally would do in other areas. So that was the one thing that kept me, kept me going.

Abdullah Boulad 00:02:52  How who who introduced you to to the mat as you as you're calling it.

Estela Garcia 00:02:57  Oh, that's very well. Actually, it was, through my acting. Now it's coming. when I started acting in New York City. I went to, kind of a yoga movement. Tai chi class, as part of the preparation to be relaxed in front of the camera. to just not just learn the lines, but feel them.

Estela Garcia 00:03:17  So in order to do that, we had to feel the body being the body and also learn tools to be able to relax and handle the the situations better, especially auditions and to be present, because that's what you want as an actor is to be fully present so that when you're present, then the audience gets the feeling, gets the emotions. So it was through there in New York. I had already done some yoga before in in Madrid, where I was living, but it was actually where it hit me that I started to feel things that I had never felt before in the body sensations. So it was it was taking it from the intellectual to the body. And then I realized, wow, this. What is this? You know, change of temperature, emotions, heart opening, things that I wasn't familiar. I couldn't put a name to it, but I felt something.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:04  They used in the acting.

Estela Garcia 00:04:05  They use it in their classes.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:07  As a preparation. Connecting to your body breath. so.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:11  So you can be more present?

Estela Garcia 00:04:12  Yes, exactly.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:13  It's more functional and less a spiritual act.

Estela Garcia 00:04:16  That's exactly completely functional. In fact, what I love about the yoga is the the function the day to day is it's wonderful to be in the mat. It's wonderful to have a studio with soft music. And that's it's a beautiful space. That's that's where the magic happens. But the real yoga is outside of the math. Yes. So that's what I love, is that it's functional. It's a tool that you you train on the mat, but you really express it and experience it when you're off the mat.

Abdullah Boulad 00:04:44  Yeah, we will get into yoga for sure in a, in a bit. but, what motivated you to go into acting at that time?

Estela Garcia 00:04:55  Well, my dad was a music conductor, very famous international orchestra on operas, and he conducted all around the world. So I grew up in that environment of opera, music, theatre. That was my okay. Yeah, that was my my growing up.

Estela Garcia 00:05:13  And, I was not so interested in becoming a musician, but I always wanted to do acting, and and I had it very clear since I was little. And then my parents have always encouraged me to follow your passion and at the same time commit to your studies. So my, my, my father was like, yeah, it's great. You can do acting, you can do performance, be whoever and whatever you want to be. But your inheritance, like your real value, is your studies. So finish your studies, do your university and then do whatever you want with life. You know which I did. So I did I did what I was, you know, what I was told to do? I did a college at the university. I studied business degree in arts management. It was the most artistic degree I could find within the business. And then when I finished, I went into acting. And then it also coincidence that, I mean, my father passed away. And then when I was faced, with death, basically, I realized that because my father was a very passionate man and he would go and, I mean, he was conducting it.

Estela Garcia 00:06:16  He reopened the Royal Opera House in Madrid, and he was conducting Parsifal. Wow. and, I think it was with Placido Domingo. It was like the grand finale, and the ambulance was on hold outside the theater. So until the end, his last, his last, performance was the Parsifal. You know, so he really lived everything. He was so passionate with live.

Abdullah Boulad 00:06:39  Music.

Estela Garcia 00:06:40  With music and with life was such a passionate, full of, life, man, you know? And, and then when, when I, when when he went through the cancer, I was in and out of the hospital. He was in and out of the hospital. So I realized when he died, I realized I am not wasting a single more second of my life. My life is precious. I'm not going to waste it doing things that I don't like to do. I mean, yes, obviously these are things that you have to do, but, you know, like just don't waste, you know, go for your passion, go full on because life, anytime, anywhere goes, you know, and that's when it really.

Estela Garcia 00:07:13  And that's when I took the I had a really good paying job. I was in advertising, marketing. I was ahead of production. Like life was easy, simple, comfortable. And then when that hit me, I took the the decision to to follow my passion. And I have and that's been my, my drive ever since. And that's what I also encourage my students, whoever I encounter, to find their passion. Because most most of us, when we grow up, we forget what our passion is or what what we like, what we don't like, we don't know which is in that automatic, autopilot. And then, so yeah, that's what I, that's what that's, that's what I did. I went and, and then I went to New York for three months to study acting in the summer. And then I stayed for three years, you know, so I continue my studies and then and then through the acting, the world of yoga, the world of meditation, the world of breathing, the world, the world of and everything that has to do with healing the body through the body.

Estela Garcia 00:08:16  So yes, where you leave the mind, you leave the intellectual out and you let the body create that, self-healing when you offer a safe environment.

Abdullah Boulad 00:08:29  All this final decision to go into it was, was your father's passing.

Estela Garcia 00:08:34  yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:08:35  To realize what your passion and what you want to pursue in life. Wasn't it the case before? How much has it changed and influenced you?

Estela Garcia 00:08:47  Yeah. Before I knew I wanted to do it. Yeah, I wanted to do it, but I actually. But I didn't do it. And then when that happened, when he hit me on it, on the ground, there was no choice. I had to do it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:09:01  What blocked you before? What blocked you to pursue this passion? You. You felt already before?

Estela Garcia 00:09:09  I think it was, Fear of failure. Fear of not making it. Fear of. It's not going to work out. Also, fear of not being accepted in the family. Like, what do you do? I do acting. It's where versus what do you do? Oh, I work in business.

Estela Garcia 00:09:26  I work in a very good marketing agency. I make a lot of money. So that was my choice. Being a successful mid 20s year old or going into the adventure of I'm going to pursue acting, especially at such a late age. You know, if I started younger, maybe. So it was a it was like I took a stand for for myself and with all its consequences.

Abdullah Boulad 00:09:53  And how old were you at that time?

Estela Garcia 00:09:55  27.

Abdullah Boulad 00:09:56  27. So it's fascinating. I mean, many people have have their passion into something, but they have this fear of failing towards themselves, towards family, towards their environment, whatever. but but it's it's always difficult to, to identify what is someone what is there which is blocking someone back and doing it. Yes. what would you tell someone who who struggles to make such a decision in life.

Estela Garcia 00:10:31  To start little by little into that activity? Not like change your life completely and throw everything away. But if you have, a day job that you're more or less like or don't like at all because, yeah, start with a little, class.

Estela Garcia 00:10:48  Pottery or art? painting, gardening, dancing. It doesn't have to be something very spiritual. It can just be rock climbing. Something that either something that you always wanted to do as a child. It always goes back to how, when you were a kid, what do you like doing? You know? And if we've forgotten, because that's what happens when we become adults and kind of more, blocked from our emotions. Start exploring, maybe take a tango class, maybe take a, you know, painting a gardening, and then one class a week, and then you mingle with other people who are not your colleagues from work or your family or your friend. You don't even have to tell anyone.

Abdullah Boulad 00:11:26  But the circle of passion.

Estela Garcia 00:11:27  Exactly. So. And that's something I found in New York when I, when I went to New York for three months, the first thing that hit me is that everyone at that time, when I was there. That came to New York. They all came for a dream.

Estela Garcia 00:11:41  They all. Most people are not from New York. Especially in my generation. When and then. So everyone you encounter is there for something, whether it's to finish their Columbia degree or become a doctor, become an actor. So everyone you meet is like, why are you in New York? Oh, because I want everyone is because I want to. You don't just go to hang out. You go because you have a you have to, you know, and that I think that combination of souls who really have hope, then they become childlike. They want they have hope again, that yes, everything is difficult and it's difficult in every subject or in every career, but that drive, that childlike desire. It's the magic. And then that's what I would recommend to start just just to start small, your local community class something, and then you.

Abdullah Boulad 00:12:31  Use it as a hobby initially and then and then potentially it can grow from there if you feel more comfortable and, more, also, self-esteem around it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:12:43  Exactly.

Estela Garcia 00:12:44  You can build because maybe some people, all they need is an escape to, let's say they have their job and they're like, and then they just do one class, maybe that class a week or twice a week. That's all they needed to balance their life. They they keep their job, their family. Everything is as always. And then they have that escape or it's not an escape, but it's like a hobby where you can just be completely yourself. If you work in finance and you do a hobby of art or and you don't have to worry, you just have to worry that the paint doesn't dry, you know, that's that's your biggest fear. You know, just that you can continue with your artwork and then you go back next day business meetings. But you had a something to let the steam out and maybe that will stay like that. Other people will discover, I want to be the next Picasso, and I'm doing this. And then like I did, you know, I quit my job, I quit, could.

Estela Garcia 00:13:34  Yeah. And then. And then life, you know, starts to give you opportunities that they don't show up unless you are there, open to receive them.

Abdullah Boulad 00:13:47  Very fascinating to to hear you talk also about about your father's passing and where like a mindset shift happened. to let down your mask and and and really pursue what you, what you really want yourself and kind of happened the same. The same, to me. I was always doing before what I, what I wanted or what motivated me, but based also what maybe was expected from me and this gave me like, the, the, the initial motivation to do whatever I've been doing. But from the time where my, my father passed away, this was also a big moment in my life where I definitely let down the mask because at the end, at the end, I remember, I recall these moments where we were collecting his clothes and putting his clothes aside and just cleaning up what his own belongings are. And at the end, what was it that he left behind? And I always think back to this moment or this to this feeling of, he was always running.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:05  He had this ups and downs and stressful moments. But at the end, this is all for nothing. Except what what he really left behind as as an emotion, as a feeling and what the people around him are thinking about him. And that that's something which kept in me all, all the time after. And and was a big moment where I decided, That's it. I don't care anymore what other people want from me or what they think about me. I want to do what what I enjoy and what I think will bring me content for the rest of my life, so I can relate to it a lot.

Estela Garcia 00:15:50  Absolutely.

Abdullah Boulad 00:15:52  You mentioned growing up in a, in a family with, with culture, music, artistic, but also famous around the world and traveling a lot. Many of our clients at the balance have kind of a similar life. how was your childhood, how did you grow up and how was it for you?

Estela Garcia 00:16:11  For me, it was wonderful. I didn't have to go to school all the time, like, because my father was traveling around the world.

Estela Garcia 00:16:19  So that would mean go one month to Japan, then come back, then another. Go, you know, to San Francisco or go to Boston or go. I mean, they wouldn't always take me with them. however, they did as much as possible because my father believed in. He said it to me many, many years, many times. And it's true now, especially after he passed away. And he said, your inheritance is your education, and I want you to learn to absorb. And it was wonderful. We would go to the concerts, to the opera houses, and after the premiere there will be this big dinner with the what? All the singers, the team. And we would stay there as kids until 2:00 in the morning and listening to the conversation. How did he go? You know, I miss the cuarteto, you know, like the whole fascinating conversation that at the time we didn't understand and we were just like, oh, this is, you know, your kids.

Estela Garcia 00:17:13  And I really appreciate that from my parents. I really appreciate that they, they, they involved us in their life as much as possible. Very loving, very supportive. And yeah, they didn't leave us with a babysitter in the hotel. No, no, they took us with them. And I loved that. And I remember as a kid being fascinating, like Italian restaurant living and and all these people because they were all artists and expressing themselves. And it's just the amount of characters that you would encounter. And so I love that. And I think that's that's so wonderful for me. I have really beautiful memories and also memories from the rehearsals, from sitting at the empty theatres when my father was doing rehearsals with the orchestra, and then and, you know, like playing then stop, then correcting and talking, then again play and again. And that showed me the commitment and the discipline that when when you go to a performance, if you haven't been in that world, you think it's so it's just pretty you don't appreciate.

Estela Garcia 00:18:14  And I also studied ballet professionally until I turned 16. So now if I see a performance, I know what it takes to get there. And but it's not for the general audience. What the ballet or performance wants to create is a beautiful experience, something that is wonderful. You don't have to worry about how much the ballerina is suffering or the years it took, because at the end it's all a show, you know? But being backstage, it's fascinating because you get to really appreciate the work behind every single performance. So that's I love that. I love seeing how they start from the beginning, how they put it together, and then the big, premiere and the celebration, always the celebration, the struggle and then the celebration and the sense of achievement. The in a way, the release of dopamine is like the sense of, I've done, I've done a good job to feel satisfied. And then in a way, you can also bring that to a yoga class. You know, you said you were going to do it.

Estela Garcia 00:19:17  You showed up. That's already the yoga, you know, and then you did your class and that sense of achievement. I've done it, I've worked hard, and now I feel good because I've taken care of myself.

Abdullah Boulad 00:19:28  Happy and unique memories.

Estela Garcia 00:19:29  Certainly very unique. Yes.

Abdullah Boulad 00:19:32  It sounds to me, but also kind of a bubble somehow, because not everyone has experience. Not at all. But certainly, you know, traveling around, meeting cultures, which is so valuable in my opinion, as child already languages and people. But within this bubble, did you realize it's different than, let's say, other children growing up?

Estela Garcia 00:19:58  Absolutely, absolutely. I wasn't when I, when I started to be older, you know, when you get into your teenage years and, and then you start. Yeah. Then you realize more than more than like, wow, I'm life is not like that because my parents were always my father came from nothing like he was like from the poor, from the poor, of the poor in this little village, and he really struggled to.

Estela Garcia 00:20:24  He even had to go from Valencia to Madrid doing, when you stop the cars.

Abdullah Boulad 00:20:31  To.

Estela Garcia 00:20:31  Stop. Yeah. With the, with the big, trolleys to be able to study in Madrid. So you didn't have money to even. And then he got scholarships after scholarships. So even though from the outside it was a flamboyant, beautiful, amazing life, which it was, the core values, were also, inside of us because, he was really just a humble, wonderful being who, who had to struggle really hard to get to where he got against all odds. Also, in the times my father, he would be 80 now. So he died at 60. Very young. In his generation, being a musician was like, not very, you know, it wasn't very well seen, you know. So even even though he had that talent and despite, Other people's opinions and not having any resources, he still went for it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:21:31  What was what were the biggest moments you have had during this time.

Estela Garcia 00:21:35  As you mentioned, traveling, going to cultures like Tokyo and, being exposed to completely different way of living, acting, behaving. meeting people. That was that was wonderful. The traveling as a child. And then when I was a bit older, the connection with people, you know, I love that.

Abdullah Boulad 00:21:57  Did you miss anything at that time? Your childhood? Yeah.

Estela Garcia 00:22:03  I miss more. I did miss it, when I was not so much from. Because not I wasn't always traveling with them. You know, it was more like special occasions. What I did miss is when I. Because I studied ballet when I was really young. That's something. I really went for it. And I was doing it in Madrid. And then my father became the, director of the opera house in Stuttgart. And in Stuttgart there is one of the most world famous, ballet schools in the world, the John Cranko. And I was 14. I wanted to be a ballerina, and my father always wanted to keep the family together.

Estela Garcia 00:22:44  And so they took me with them, and I went to the boarding school in Germany whilst he was working there. And that was really wonderful. However, I realized what ballet really is. When I found the boarding school, I was like, I love ballet, but not that much. So again, I chose to to to move out of the ballet school because, I was not I didn't have it in me to be a ballerina. I didn't have in me to have that discipline. It wasn't my passion. I liked it, it was wonderful. I had the opportunity to go to that school, but it wasn't my passion. So I spent three years because my father was living in Germany and performing in Germany in three different boarding schools. So I did miss out my teenage years. I would come to Madrid and back to Germany, Madrid and back to Germany. So I kind of had two separate culture and two separate teenage. You know, when you're a teenager is very important as well, your friends.

Estela Garcia 00:23:43  So I would come to Madrid and have my groups of friends. Then I would go back to Germany, to a completely different environment and have my other. So it was a little bit I found that a little bit difficult to, to, to have that sense of, security or, and I, you know, I, it was a bit tough in Germany, like switching from boarding schools, like three different ones.

Abdullah Boulad 00:24:07  Why did you do that?

Estela Garcia 00:24:10  Excuse me? Because my first I went for ballet and then I dropped out of the balloon because it wasn't working for me. And then my my parents wanted me to go to Salem, which is a school, Schloss Salem, which is a very prestigious boarding school. But my German wasn't good enough. So I had to go to a different one, get my German, and then make it to to the school. So in that process, because I didn't speak the language at 14 with the ballet, it was okay because everyone was from everywhere. But then the second and the third year, I was, like the odd one because everyone, you know, so I didn't speak the language so that for me it was a bit difficult.

Estela Garcia 00:24:52  And it took me a while to recover from that because my self-esteem was a bit because I, I felt very like I didn't belong. Yeah. Sense of not belonging and not understanding. And then it took me a few, a few years to recover and find myself again. You know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:25:12  When you when you think about the time when you where you discovered yoga the mat as you, as you explained, what were then the next steps in your life? what came across your way?

Estela Garcia 00:25:30  Well, when I discovered yoga, I used it, as I was mentioning before I had my life. And then I would go to yoga, or I would go to dancing, you know, as my escape. And then it become it got to a point where I couldn't handle both because it was too much of a contrast. Who I was in the dance, in the dance class, because I love a lot of I did a lot of, body work, like through ecstatic dance, through five rhythms, just allowing the body to move freely to the music, not dance class, but kind of expression of the, you know, moving like kids, you know, and then and then the yoga.

Estela Garcia 00:26:08  So I felt really free. I felt myself, I was getting closer and closer to myself and then going back to the home environment. I was already kind of older, married, It became too unbearable. Like too much of a contrast. Like who I am, at home and who I am on the mat. Okay. You know, that sensation of freedom. And compared to how I was, back home, you know, and. Yeah. So, so then I. So then, just to make, to go to the point I was married and then went through separation, divorce. And once again, it was the yoga mat and the yoga class that kept me surfing, more than ever. So that was my highlight of the day, was to make it to my class, because that would give me a moment to have a break and recover and be able to handle this difficult situation because I had a little baby. And so that was that was really like what made it boom, you know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:27:19  So you had a difficult relationship, a divorce and the baby. Yeah. And and managed to do yoga, which helped you through this time. Yes. how many times have you practiced? Once a day. Yes. Okay. That's already a lot. Or if you would compare that. Yeah.

Estela Garcia 00:27:42  And again it's it's not necessarily consistent. Every day you have to show up every day. But you know that you can always go back. So. But yeah I was practicing every day.

Abdullah Boulad 00:27:52  And when, when did you start to become a teacher or when did you realize okay, that's something I want to continue for the rest of my life.

Estela Garcia 00:28:02  Yeah. That happened at the time where I was going through a hard time with my my relationship and I started to fantasize, wow, I could be a yoga teacher because I love it so much. So I would, fantasize when the teacher would come in the room and be like, that could be me. And it took me three years. That could be me.

Estela Garcia 00:28:21  That could with me until I actually made this. Just actually said, I'm doing this, you know? So yeah, it was I guess it's like diamonds, you know, like the pressure. Not that it's like when you find yourself through a breakdown or through some pressure in life is you find exits, you try to find a way to manage. And for me, it was the yoga. And and because until today, it's my my lucky charm. It's like my, you know, my navigation.

Abdullah Boulad 00:28:54  If I step one, step back. What is yoga?

Estela Garcia 00:28:58  Yoga is the is union is is unity is it's if you want to get more technical. It's like the combining of breath and movement. You know and but but to to put it in a, in one word is unity. And from there you can expand most important unity with yourself. It's coming back to yourself through the breath, through the movement. Because yoga is a discipline, so it forces you in a way. and if you and if you forget, the teacher keeps reminding you, breathe here.

Estela Garcia 00:29:30  Breathe out. Right leg, left leg. So you have to, you have to be present. So the more present you are, the distractions start to fade away. And then when distractions fade away, you start to come back to who you truly are. And you see, start to become the observer. You know, like Eckhart Tolle is like become the observer. How am I reacting in this pose that I don't want to do? Am I complaining? Am I flowing through it? Am I holding my breath? So you become. You start to become the observer of yourself. How you react on certain, poses, you know, and then you take that on the street outside of the mat, and then you become the observer of how do you react on a day to day, you know, so that's unity with yourself. And then from there expanding unity to the world and from the macro to the macro, you know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:30:23  So it's kind of giving, giving a third or a different perspective on, on on ourself.

Abdullah Boulad 00:30:31  Can I summarize that? Yes. Absolutely. Right.

Estela Garcia 00:30:34  Absolutely. It's like I use I love the analogy of the three monkeys from the temple. I think it's Kyoto or Osaka, I'm not sure, but it's I've been there and I have little and I was 16 and I took a picture. And now I keep using it because it's it's the classic, you know, when you put your eyes, your hands to your eyes, to your ears and to your mouth, you know, that is the interpretation is like, don't, don't speak evil, don't look at evil and don't listen to the. But you can interpret it in many ways. But it's basically that like. Stay with yourself and and at the same time it's the symbol of. When you close the gates of the outside world. So you stop listening to the world. It doesn't have to be the devil or, you know, but that's kind of when you when you block your ears. There's no distraction coming from the outside world when you block your eyes.

Estela Garcia 00:31:25  And then so it's like pulling the curtains and then there's no other way to look than go inside. And that's the analogy for coming back to the breath. Coming back to yourself. Because there's nothing out there just boom. And in fact we use that. in yoga you know, where you cover your eyes, your ears. So yeah I think that's uni union unity.

Abdullah Boulad 00:31:51  obviously I have also, tried and done yoga do regularly, myself. maybe less than I would love to. but there is this concept of being a purely physical activity in the Western world very often being the case. And, what I, what I observe. But there is actually also more the spiritual aspect of the preparation for the deeper work, the meditation. Can you explain a little bit? Where does yoga come from and and how it has been developed over centuries or decades?

Estela Garcia 00:32:30  Yes. When people come to a yoga class, most 90.9% of people come for a physical, either a physical injury or for appearance, because they think that they know what's actually true.

Estela Garcia 00:32:42  But because if you start breathing, it's like you start giving, fuel to the body. So obviously you're going to function better because you breathe deeper, you get fresh blood flow. All that starts to happen, so you become healthier and more beautiful. Hopefully. anyway. But, yeah, people come first as a physical and then once you start doing the physical, the same thing. It hit me when I was in New York 20 years ago that, wow, what is this that I'm feeling? What is this sensation? Or suddenly you feel like very open and very receptive and very, kind or connected with other people. What is that? What is that? So you start through the body, you start to observe other things that you were not familiar with, you know, and that's what I would call the spirituality. So is the spirituality. When they say that God is inside of you, it is actually true. It's the it's or the universe or the bliss or nirvana or samadhi, whatever you want to use.

Estela Garcia 00:33:45  Is that feeling, completely at peace with who you are and realizing that moment of pure bliss, you know? And yeah that in a way is the spirituality of it as well. You know to feel something, something bigger than you. There's something happening that is bigger than me and I can't really put it into words. And yeah. And from there all the values of self-compassion, unity, communities basically opening up to, opening up, you know, and. Yeah, and, you know, India, download it like all these yogis who you would go into the caves and receive the information. again, like we said before, with the monkeys, you know, when you close down distractions, you start to go deep and you go inside and then you receive the information. till today, like, if you have a meeting or something that you need to make a decision when you take a moment to meditate and go inside, and then the answers will come in much crystal clear voice. Then maybe trying to think, what should I do? What should I do? Let's just calm down.

Estela Garcia 00:35:01  Go inside and listen to the silence. Listen to what? Your intuition. So it's awakening everything to become a life.

Abdullah Boulad 00:35:09  Yeah, I feel when. When I, for example, practice yoga, I could be running around. My mind is still in some work or thought patterns, ruminating about things. But then I arrived to the mat and I would, I would let say, do the practices. at the end, it's always like this feeling of presence. This is how I, I, I really would, describe it. And this is what it gives me. I am presence more clearer and and and connecting with what is around me and in me. So this is also the feeling of calmness and nothing really matters that much.

Speaker 3 00:35:59  Yes, you're right, that's it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:36:01  How long would it take to get there to when they start practicing? To experience this feeling and not to be purely. Let's do sport.

Speaker 3 00:36:15  Yeah.

Estela Garcia 00:36:16  It could be a split second. We all have it. It's awakening that it's not that we and I think that's the misconception is not that we need to enter Nirvana.

Estela Garcia 00:36:27  How long is it going to take me to. Maybe never, because it's like seeking out. So I always say to my clients, like through a meditation or just breathing, and take a moment to listen to the sounds in the room, like, if we were to now do a meditation, I would ask you, just pay attention to the air conditioning, and then suddenly it's there and keep focusing on that. That's all we hear. So that's that's it. That moment where you're fully present, you feel, you know. So sometimes it can happen in a meditation where you feel a sensation of, as you said before. Nothing really matters that much and just that sensation of being at peace. And I say to my clients, even if it's for two seconds, I would do a meditation, maybe ten minutes or 20 or 5 minutes. Your mind is going, what is this? What is she talking about? Breathing. Breathe out. I don't even know how to breathe. What's, you know, right leg, left leg or like.

Estela Garcia 00:37:26  Oh. But I always say, if if in that meditation you, you had like two seconds where you were completely at peace. Just two seconds. That's it. That's it. Yes. And then you do another one minute meditation. Maybe you get three seconds another day, and then the more you do it, the beauty of it is it's a muscle the more you do it. So you're developing and creating new patterns in your brain, the easier. It's like learning a language, the easier it gets. And then you want more of it because it feels good.

Abdullah Boulad 00:37:58  So absolutely, I can I can relate to that a lot because. So we're combining here three things in yoga. We are we're having the body the breath and the mind, the meditation side. What you're what you're explaining and with I mean, I haven't been just practicing yoga, but also sport meditation and and and train how to breathe and all all different but also combined in a yoga practice. But, what I feel I can reconnect to this feeling while I just reconnect to my breath in my daily life.

Abdullah Boulad 00:38:36  So whenever there is something around me, I just, okay, that's the moment just to connect and and and be present again. And this. This helps me a lot when I. When I'm rude people or when I'm speaking with clients or employees or just in general, people around me just to be present. Because I feel also the most valuable thing I can give someone is my time and my presence. And and this is where I can keep calm and and just like, blur out everything else around me. Yes. and for me, it's my breath for sure. this is where I connect to it. can you can you explain us? You know, the connection between the breath, the meditation and the body and how this works now, scientifically, on our body.

Estela Garcia 00:39:28  I love, you know, the concept with the sympathetic and the parasympathetic system, the fight or flight or the rest and digest. So most of us, until we are actually, explain how to do it, most of us live in the sympathetic system, which is the fight or flight, which hundreds and thousands and probably more years ago.

Estela Garcia 00:39:50  Is there is a lion. I need to protect myself. So we constantly live in that. So when we are like that, there is no time to take a nice deep breath because the lion is going to eat you. So you have to be really like super present. But at the same time, the whole body is going to be tight. No time to go to the toilet, no time to breathe, no time to move and no time to breathe. Because any movement, any noise, the lion is going to take you or the mammoth or whatever back then, you know. So the problem is that we've evolved. And now with today's society, we are constantly all of us. Even if we do yoga, we teach yoga. Life is happening or you're driving or for me is when there's traffic.

Speaker 4 00:40:32  I'm like, oh.

Estela Garcia 00:40:33  You know. And then I really I become aware, become the okay, relax the shoulders okay. Relax. The belly keeps driving. I know it's busy road and people are.

Estela Garcia 00:40:41  But so I have to keep reminding myself. So that's it. So most of us, all.

Speaker 3 00:40:47  Of us.

Estela Garcia 00:40:48  Living that almost, most of the time in that, fight or flight. So when that happens, the body is, constricted, there is no fresh oxygen, there's no fresh blood flow. And then so we can't function. Also, digestive system is all tight, so nothing is really working. or is it's like running. I heard this the other day. It's like running your car, no matter how beautiful your car is. On reserve. Yeah, that. It runs, but it's not as beautiful as when you have a full tank, you know? So then the parasympathetic system is it's, you know, rest and digest so where you can relax. You know, I always with my clients, I always in order to get them to understand that because they're like what sympathetic seems to what I don't get it. Mammoth lions. Yeah. It's like just imagine when you go home after a long day and you go into your sofa, you take your shoes off and you go, oh, that.

Estela Garcia 00:41:47  That's how you that's the quickest way to enter into your rest and digest. Yeah. So when you do that, everything starts to relax. You get, you know, you create space for your internal organs to work. At optimal level, you can think better because you're breathing and you're getting. And breath is the ultimate. That is why breath is the ultimate. because you can live without yoga. You can live without eating, drinking a few days. But breath is. That's it. You can't live without breath. So. Yes, as you said, coming back to the breath is the. It's coming back to life because that's it. And then then we continue, you know, so a lot of, release of the good chemicals, you know, happen when you like. As I mentioned before, the dopamine, the endorphins, the oxytocin, all of that. Your body, you're just giving like really good petrol to your body, to your car, you know, so that you can work really well.

Abdullah Boulad 00:42:49  Yeah. The, the analogy with the petrol, it's like I understand it with, with the heart, with the heart rate, heart rate variability. For example, when we, when we breathe, when we slow down the pace and not just superficial breathing, this has also an effect on our stressful. Yeah. And chemical release and, on our body and in all our nervous system. that's, that's, that's the beauty of it.

Estela Garcia 00:43:17  Yeah. Yeah. It's wonderful. It that's it. It calms your nervous system down. And, and now they're doing brain scans of people before and after meditation and what it does to your brain. And it's, it's fabulous and fascinating because now it's technology. It is a technology at the end of the day yoga. And it works. It keeps working. It's just there's always a before and after a class or before and after a meditation. You always come out different and more empowered to, you know. One of my teachers used to say to me, when you come into the class, give me your brain, okay.

Estela Garcia 00:43:52  Go to class. I'll give you your brain back when you come out, because it's like life is still going on. But now, go go to the body and repair it, like, recover, you know? It's like. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 00:44:06  How can someone get into yoga? what's the easiest way? Can I just show up and practice, in a session where everyone else is like, already more advanced or not? are there different classes? around and and and also, is there a competition within the The crowd within a yoga session. How to deal with that?

Estela Garcia 00:44:36  Yes, that's a wonderful question because we're all we're all humans and we all have egos and we all have. so to answer your first question, just go, and then go as many yoga classes as possible with different teachers. And yoga is yoga, no matter how, people, there's different styles. Obviously, when there's different beings, different humans have different tastes. So I would recommend that, go to as many different yoga classes as possible to connect with the style if you want slow, if you want fast, and then connect with the teacher as well when it, it's, it's just, you know, it's always like, make the first step to sign up for one.

Estela Garcia 00:45:25  Doesn't matter. Do it and see how you feel after. And then try another one and then see how it's more like, did I like it or not? It's not about liking it. It's about how do you feel in your how do you feel after? How is your mind? How is your. It's like I always do, check in and check out before you start the class. Checking. Go inside. Close your eyes. Take a moment. Checking. How is your mind? How are your thoughts? Is it active without trying to change, without the agenda? Oh, stop thinking, because that's not going to happen. Ever. You have to. So how is the mind? How is my heart? How are my emotions and how is my body? Do I have any pain? Be calm like a detective and let it go. Don't try to change it and then start breathing and do the class. And then after check out how is my mind? How is my body? Is there any different? Do I find any tension anywhere? Okay, there is tension.

Estela Garcia 00:46:18  Breathing into that tension. Let it go, you know, and and then you you develop that as a habit. And then during the day, like you said, everything. mean, stop for a moment. Take a breath. How am I feeling? Okay. You know. And continue. So I would totally recommend to do that. And then with the competition, there's competition everywhere. And that is what torture yoga is meant to teach you, is that yes, we all compete with each other with everything. Whether it's she has nicer yoga wear and leggings than me or her. Most of the time it's not about the yoga. We're looking out like, oh, I love her hair or oh wow, look at you. You know, because we're, we're we're humans. We do that. However, with the practice, it teaches you to be at peace with yourself. Yeah, she has nicer hair that you or she can do like a crazy. But it's not about. It's not about a it's not about other people.

Estela Garcia 00:47:13  It's about training your brain to come back to yourself and being at peace with who you are, what you're doing on the mat and off the mat. So at the beginning, yes, you're, you know, every, you know, and then little by little. Yeah, you still do it, but it's more important to go. Okay. Where am I? How's my mouth? How is my posture? What am I breathing? You know, where do I start to inhale instead of like, what is she going to start to inhale? You know, so it's it's a little train. You know, you get trained to come back to the breath, to come back to yourself, you know. But competition is inevitable. We you know, that's how we are species. And and I think it's good as well. You know, if you manage in everything is good in a certain, you know, if you manage it, you know. But I think it would also be positive because you want to.

Estela Garcia 00:48:05  Wow. Look what you can do or look what she you know, I want to do that. How can I do that. And never ever be discouraged. Never say oh I can't go to yoga because I'm not flexible. That's why you become flexible. It's not about the yoga. It's about you. You know like how you take the yoga outside of the yoga class into your life. You know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:48:30  What do you mean with that? so how can someone bring in yoga into his daily life?

Estela Garcia 00:48:37  so from a spiritual point of view, or from, let's say you had a moment where you feel at peace, you feel kind, you feel open. You love everyone. Everything is wonderful in a class. Like for those two moments or a few seconds where you feel really at peace, you want to be kind to yourself because you feel at peace with yourself. And then if you say bye bye to the teacher, to your fellow yoga colleagues, you know you're in a very happy place. You know what happens.

Estela Garcia 00:49:04  You step out of the studio rush hour. You go into the underground. Somebody hits you with a and then you lose all that. You know. So it's like, it's like, Yes you will. It's like from being to reacting. It's like, okay, life is crazy. However, I'm going to. I'm going to maneuver the situation the way I maneuver in yoga. So if I if I have to do the pose, I'm going to learn to keep calm because it's going to change. We're going to go to a different pose. So in life when a situation is challenging, you're training yourself that instead of because you become the observer. So if you're doing warrior one for like full 4 or 5 breaths where your legs are shaking you, you observe your mind going, oh, this is horrible. I hate the teacher. Why am I this is the worst idea in my life to show up to yoga. And then suddenly it's like, breathe. And then next class, the dialogue becomes less and you just.

Estela Garcia 00:50:06  You just have to do it. So just do it. And you. And then you learn that if you do it and you breathe, it's nice. It's it feels better and it's doable, you know. So when you go out of the class, you take your yoga. If you if you are in a, in a busy meeting or in a, in a ABC traffic or underground instead of like, you know, you react to me like, okay, it's busy or your plane gets delayed because it's very annoying to be in the airport for maybe instead of like, you go, okay, I'm going to breathe through it and I'm maybe I'm going to meditate or it's like you're more aware and you're more ready to navigate what it's like. Neo in The Matrix. You know, when the bullet comes, it's like you instead of like, just be completely out of not in touch with your body just hits you, you know? So when you're more aware then you can you can maneuver and you can deal with difficult situations outside, you know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:51:04  Are there difficult situations or are there just situations?

Estela Garcia 00:51:08  That's a wonderful. Exactly. That's I love that.

Abdullah Boulad 00:51:11  While you were talking about this plane, one, one scene came into my mind. my, my family and I. We booked many years ago a vacation. We wanted to go from Switzerland somewhere to the Middle East and everything was planned. We have been really looking forward to to this vacation. And then, we, our friends, by accident, were planning to go to the same hotel, more or less the same day, but the night before us. So the night before us, they told us like, our children, they don't have, the expiry date of their passports is not enough for. And we said, oh, no. And they had to go back the same night back home. So the next morning was our flight. We showed up to the airport, and my daughter passport was also not because they changed the rule. We were not aware. So we couldn't fly. We couldn't fly.

Abdullah Boulad 00:52:15  Now we ask ourselves, they're very calm. What do we do now? Do we go back home? We've planned. We've wanted to go on this vacation now. And we said no, let's. Let's sit in a coffee. Let me deal with this. And and I, I checked our options, and we booked a few hours later into another destination. Okay. We were able to do that, but. But. Yeah. And then we had one of our greatest vacations ever, you know? on for the following weeks. And, and I was able to change the flight to, to a later period, so we didn't lose anything at the end. we had fun, and our friends stayed at home. Our other friends who supposed to go on the initial flight? and they were upset, and they spent their time at home with their with their children. So this is this shows me just how you could react or how you could respond to Situations.

Estela Garcia 00:53:16  You're totally right. I heard that quote.

Estela Garcia 00:53:18  There is not. There is no such thing as a bad or a good decision. It's just a decision. And then you make out of it. You're absolutely right. And that's. Yeah. Absolutely. And I and you probably like I see myself how when something like this happened, how would have reacted in the past and how I react now like you know, or I can't find my keys or things like that, where what's the dialogue that's going on before, and how are you now and being open and being flexible. So everything is an analogy, you know, and and being yeah. Being open to the unknown. Throw yourself and and then look. And the more you do it the more you realize the, the magic of life. That how how can as much as possible when you can be spontaneous, be open to trust it. You know that. Yes. Yeah, I love it.

Abdullah Boulad 00:54:09  And absolutely true. But I think we can also control it. We can control it in a way that what we put on our life.

Abdullah Boulad 00:54:19  The more we, the more we have this baggage. We we drag with us, the more we have to deal with. And the simplified we structure our life, the leaner, the less we get. Like this stone left and right. We have to. We have. We have to care about not being hit by them. and so I like the idea of simplicity, around our life, not having too much, not doing too much, just a bit slower and, and more, more dense and focused. and in planning our life.

Estela Garcia 00:55:03  Yes, yes, I completely agree. As you said, before, you know, and your father passed away is the. It's what we all eventually. Even though we don't want to think about it. But we all eventually pass. You know, and then it is the essential, as you said, simplify and really value the the important things. You know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:55:25  Back to to the yoga a yoga lesson, let's say how how is how do you structure this ideally for yourself or with with your with your clients? there are different poses, I know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:55:43  what's your favorite, process or structure of of a lesson?

Estela Garcia 00:55:48  Well, it depends on the style I'm teaching. And there's always a structure and it's good to follow the structure. However, everyone, every day in every yoga class is different because you get, the students come with different energies. So it's always good to be open to, even though you may have a structure or an idea to work on this that I kind of read depending on the energy of the group. Then you can there is room for working with that, you know. and that's also the, the, the magic of it. So there is a structure. However, there is room for maybe removing a pose that you were planning or putting something else.

Abdullah Boulad 00:56:31  Depends on the flow.

Estela Garcia 00:56:32  Depends on the flow, depends on the people. But I think that it's very safe. The the brain loves repetition. So I think having structure is very, very powerful because then you repeat the same poses and then you can see how you, advance as well.

Estela Garcia 00:56:50  You know.

Abdullah Boulad 00:56:51  How important is to get into, let's say, just an autopilot, let's call it a by, by that through the flows. And not to think about, well, what's the next pose and or is my pose correct or how important is that?

Estela Garcia 00:57:10  well, that's the beauty of it. At the beginning. Your mind, when you start, it's all over the place. The teacher is giving you the cue. Breathe in. Take your hand up and you're maybe hearing. I'm really hungry. I don't want to do this, you know, but maybe the second class you do hear breathing. Take your hand up. So when we're present, you listen to the instructions, and there is no room in your head for. The thoughts. The the practice helps you to be so present that all there is is your breath and the movement, you know. So that's how you become and that's how you train yourself to always come back to the breath, come back to the movement or come back to the beat, you know, come back to right here, right now.

Estela Garcia 00:58:04  So Again, it becomes easier, it becomes more quiet. The mind at the beginning is resistant and it's like a I always call it a jumping monkey. Until eventually you have the bananas of the monkey. So you keep showing up to the mat, keep showing up to your practice. Whatever it is at the beginning you will be very busy, but then you'll gain control and you'll learn how to calm the mind and stay with the the the instruction. That's why the teacher always tells you what to do with your right, with your left, with your there's no room for. Because if you don't listen to the teacher, because you are not present, because you are in your mind, you lose the cue and you don't know where you are.

Abdullah Boulad 00:58:49  I know you didn't just stop with yoga. Being a yoga teacher, you have been also doing some some other things. Can you explain us, Or what? What motivated you also to do further things like our love poles here. How can you explain that? What we have here in front of us?

Estela Garcia 00:59:10  Well, these are the crystal singing balls, and they're wonderful.

Estela Garcia 00:59:15  I started with one, and then I ended up just getting more because, basically, it's, it's sound frequency. So it's healing through the frequency of the sound. And, all of these are they emit a 432Hz, which is the frequency of the dolphins is the frequency of the world. It's them. And, yeah. So they're so basically, the best way I can explain it is, if you are familiar with the word semantics is when they put, like a black, like a plate, with salt, and then they emit music or a frequency, It creates sacred patterns. Yes. So when that is not so much about the music or the sound, it's about the frequency, the sound wave that goes into your body, into your cells. And it regenerates on a cellular level because the water in the body, you know. So it's like the same way you would have a pool and you drop a stone and you see the ripple effect. This is a meeting a frequency into the body, into your energy centers.

Estela Garcia 01:00:34  It's emitting the right frequency. So in this case and there are many frequencies. This one is the universal. Like this is like wonderful. let's say it's 432. As I said, if you are off balance and you're emitting a different frequency, it's like a radio station. They emit a frequency of 432. And then your energy copies that. So It's balance. So it's kind of like the body will copy the right frequency.

Abdullah Boulad 01:01:07  Why does my body get out of, let's say this balanced frequency.

Estela Garcia 01:01:14  Yeah. Well I think as always, well, the life that we busy lives, you know, busy stress is the common denominator. I think the quicker, answer to that is the lack of breath and movement. because, as I said before, if you stop breathing, that's that's it. So we we breathe very little and very shallow. So we're not getting enough oxygen to the brain. So obviously we can't think properly. We can't we are not focused. So we're not fully again like the car we're functioning but not fully.

Estela Garcia 01:01:58  So we It's easier to get into stress mode than if you are, you know, like the petrol if you have the fuel. So if you're breathing and you're moving and you're allowing your body to work, then you will encounter stressful situations or situations that may cause you stress. so it's acknowledging that, am I where am I checking in checking out, where am I, how is my how are my stress levels? Or, you know, whatever works for you. You can say, okay, between 1 and 10, how am I feeling? Okay, I want to go. I want to drop deeper. What can I do? I can go gardening, I can go running, I can go yoga, I can do so whatever it is that brings you back to balance, that brings you back to your natural state of being. And also like when you do a yoga or you do hands on healing and people feel so good and so at peace. I always say that that is your natural state of being.

Estela Garcia 01:02:56  That's who you are. Everything else is things that we pick here and there and. But when you come back to boom, when you drop, when you come back to yourself, that's who you are. This is you. Welcome to yourself. You know, so it's always like, how can I get to that stage? What tools? And what I love about the balance is that all of us, all the therapists, will bring our what works for us. And we give that, rainbow like that, array of, of different techniques. And the client will be, oh, I like that. That works for me. And maybe the others don't. Maybe just take 1 or 3. But there's there's always that's that's it. Fine. Also, going back to your question at the beginning, you know, for someone to start to yoga will try yoga and then try breathing, then try meditation then. And if you find something that works and what I mean by works is whatever it is that brings you back to you that you feel at peace? Yes, even if it's for a few seconds.

Estela Garcia 01:03:59  Whatever it is, whatever technology, whatever, in terms of, like, therapy, that brings you to be at peace with who you are, then. Then go for that, you know, and then you will notice that it will be easier. The more you do that, the more you find yourself, the more you get two seconds, three seconds of being at peace, being blissful, the more the contrast will be noticeable. You'll notice, oh, I'm not. I'm really not in a good place right now. I want to go back to those two seconds I learned at that meditation class. How do I get there? Boom. So it's it's it's what you're doing now. You're giving clients the tools that they can reach out when needed.

Abdullah Boulad 01:04:40  Yes. And sound healing gives you like an additional tool to work with your with your clients.

Estela Garcia 01:04:48  Exactly. Sound healing is, automatically drops and automatically calms the nervous system down. It's an instant, relaxation. It's almost like, a straight away, you know? And you don't know, like, you don't have to do anything, or you have to just allow to enter into that altered state of consciousness that in between that, that theta state in between when you go to sleep and you're half awake and it's that sweet place where you're not here nor there, kind of that's where they.

Estela Garcia 01:05:24  So you, you, you, you leave the conscious mind behind. Yes.

Abdullah Boulad 01:05:30  And, there is music like filtered music with, with these type of frequencies. are the big differences between if I just listen to, to such music or if I experience it like surrounding and then in our body like, like like here.

Estela Garcia 01:05:52  Yeah. always with like with everything. Live music, is more effective because it's the vibration. However, the good news is that if you don't have the balls, you can buy yourself a good pair of headphones and type in whatever. let's say, you know, a C or 432, whatever frequency or whatever you want to work on. And there is wonderful companies out there that do, like, you can be on the plane for seven hours and half of them on and still working because it's working on a neurological level. Yes. And it's rewiring and putting everything. It's, it's really fascinating.

Speaker 4 01:06:34  And,

Abdullah Boulad 01:06:36  Does it help? I mean, I know, like, in different cultures and, religious practices as well.

Abdullah Boulad 01:06:46  music, the type of vibration, Operation the the arm. And this is kind of supporting helping also the mind to to. To be better synchronized or prepare for meditative state. how. How do you see how do you think about that?

Estela Garcia 01:07:06  Absolutely. It really, really helps. And I will quote, a great teacher, Jonathan Goldman. He's like. He's been doing this for, I don't know, 40 years. And he's like a very important, renowned, sound healer. And, everything helps and everything works and everything. It's a pathway to get to the center. That's another tool. Some people like, Different modalities, you know, but the crystals, if, if, if, when you get a crystal singing bath and you feel something and that works, then. Then you stay with that, you know? And, then coming back to basics, you don't need a whole set of balls. Especially you can't travel around on holiday with them. Yeah. the most simple thing. And Jonathan Goldman says that is the humming is the is the primary breath.

Estela Garcia 01:08:07  Is is the bee is the breath of the bees. So coming back to the monkeys as well. So there is one pranayama, one breath exercise. In yoga there is a primary breath in which is what the singing bowls are, are doing in a way is the vibration. And Jonathan Goldman says, you know, of all the modalities and the singing bowls and all the because he's an expert in this. He says now that the humming, if you hum for five minutes and then you stay in silence, what it does, it's amazing, you know, so then it's really something. And then if you add that with covering your eyes and your ears and you still, then it's you come to yourself straight away. And it's that calming. So I encourage everyone to.

Abdullah Boulad 01:09:04  Try it out.

Estela Garcia 01:09:05  Try it out because it's impossible to. It's very hard to think of things that are not important at the moment. You do hum. It's a very soothing and calming. Experience. So I encourage everyone to, to try it.

Estela Garcia 01:09:23  And welcome to the Sound Healing. I'm going to ask you to find the most comfortable position with your body that you can and really allow yourself to become heavy on the chair. And if you wish, you can close the eyes and take a nice deep inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth are good. And we're gonna do it again. Inhale. Exhale. And then one more for good luck. Inhale. Exhale.

Speaker 5 01:10:03  Let it go. And allow yourself. To relax. Very, very gently. Take a nice deep inhale. Exhale. Heart. Again. Deep. Inhale. Exhale. Heart. One more. Good luck. Inhale. Exhale. Little by little. Keeping your eyes close. Start to move the body a little bit. Becoming aware of your breath. Coming back. to the body. And whenever you are ready, you can start to open your eyes.

Abdullah Boulad 01:19:45  Thank you. It was very powerful to me. You know, I brought me completely to calm down. There was a moment where I almost drifted away.

Abdullah Boulad 01:20:01  So how? How can you explain that, happening in our body and our mind? With with with balls?

Estela Garcia 01:20:14  I can't. I know it's, It's the power of the frequencies. It's the sound waves that enter into into your brain, you know, and they, they take you directly to that theta state. Yeah. You know, and it starts in between. And so you, you stop the thinking and you enter into that dream world and still conscious. And yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:20:43  Very nice experience. I've had, sound healing some past sessions before that. I found it always fascinating. what what how the body reacts to it. And almost every time I fell asleep. Yes.

Estela Garcia 01:20:59  It's normal. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:21:02  if I look at these polls now, these are crystal balls, right? are there different types of balls? what's what's the difference? Difference in frequencies? can you explain that?

Speaker 5 01:21:14  Yeah.

Estela Garcia 01:21:15  There are different. They all have the same, target. Like they all. The end result is for you to fully be able to drop the resistance, to relax, to allow everything to regenerate itself.

Estela Garcia 01:21:32  Recalibrate? Yeah. The the crystals. The difference with the metal ones, the Tibetan ones is that these are made of quartz. It's all crystal. It's 90.9% crystals. And it really is like I was mentioned before. a preference. Some people love, the Tibetan. Some people love the crystals. they all have the same goal as to bring your nervous system down, to calm you down and to. Yeah. Land and ground, you and center. And so it, It's it is really a preference. Both are wonderful. And it's nice to combine them. One time you get one session another time, so it's all good. They're all good tools and it's the one that you feel an impact. You know, the same way you have the gong. Yes. So everything and the humming. It's the same effect. It's all to relax.

Abdullah Boulad 01:22:44  How long should someone do a session. How long would it last. Ideally.

Estela Garcia 01:22:50  Ideally with the. Well you see as little as possible. It's all really effective even if you are ideally in a when you have time, 45 minutes will be great because the moment of silence after the the waves are still happening and the body is absorbing it all.

Estela Garcia 01:23:11  So it's like when you stir the water and then allow it to rest. So ideally it 45 minutes with ten 15 minutes to recover. And again, five minutes. One minute is better than nothing. So if you don't have time or a PC, even a few minutes is better than nothing. So it's all really effective. Yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:23:38  And not everyone has crystal balls at hand at any given time. Yes. What can someone do also to to to raise this, his own frequency?

Estela Garcia 01:23:49  Anything that brings your frequency up with whatever you have. As easy as waking up in the morning and instead of checking your, your mobile, your cell phone straight away, resist it and maybe wait a few minutes. Take a glass of water and breathe. That's a way of raising a frequency without entering your busy day. Another day, another way. Could be doing some sun salutations, or some breathing, or moving the body a little bit, doing the thing, or going for a little run, doing the things that make you happy and doing the things that you know that they're going to benefit you as little as possible.

Estela Garcia 01:24:30  It makes a huge impact. So if you only have three minutes, then maybe do three minutes of breathing or one minute that already sets you up for the day. And what we do here were we're talking about the balance is we offer different tools and you use whatever works for you. So if you don't have the singing balls or you really love the singing balls, like I said before, there's great companies that do a whole even nine hours long that you can put it at night. Yes. And with binaural beats and everything that you can just relax. So I would, I would recommend that the quickest and easiest and fastest way to raise your frequency is taking a nice deep inhale. And exhale it.

Speaker 5 01:25:20  Out.

Estela Garcia 01:25:22  If you want to add power to the breath, you can do the primary breath. Or any sound that will tell your brain that you are safe. Like, Are like the sound you would make when you take your shoes off and sit on.

Speaker 5 01:25:40  The.

Estela Garcia 01:25:40  Sofa after a long day, any, any of that will send the signal to the brain that you are safe and everything is okay, so you will feel calm.

Abdullah Boulad 01:25:50  Wow. What about practicing gratitude? And what would you suggest? Yes. Practice gratitude.

Estela Garcia 01:26:00  Gratitude is the is the gate to to love is. I highly recommend, to start every day. In fact, I do it. And once you start, you just want to keep doing it. because we get so busy day to day that we forgot the important things. And just at least if you start with three things a day that you're grateful for, and every day, three days, every every day, another three things. it if you if you do that whether it's writing it down, which is very powerful, saying it out loud or saying it to yourself, you automatically notice that your heart gets warmer. Like you, you enter into that state of bliss or state of love, which is ultimately highest frequency.

Abdullah Boulad 01:26:53  So basically, there are active ways. Let's write it down. Right. Treating sounds. Think about them to to activate basically this feeling of being grateful for, for for my life or my day or for Exactly what's what's around me, but what I, what I use, for example, is just to have little moments of try to find the little moments of, during the day, let's say in the morning when I stand up, I just try to step out on the terrace or into the garden and just be just look out into the sun or to the sky, or even when I'm on the run to try to, stand and just observe, just little things and, to enjoy what is around us.

Abdullah Boulad 01:27:46  and, and so that's, that's, that's something I feel it's, it's also powerful because it, it's part of my daily practice going through the day.

Estela Garcia 01:27:57  Yes, I completely agree. It's very powerful. And the more you do it, the more you open your heart in a way that the more you say it or write it down. Very powerful as well. The more you are, you become aware how, how lucky you are and then more appreciation for life. You know, appreciation for what you have. Appreciation for the big and the small things. That's very, very powerful. I yeah.

Abdullah Boulad 01:28:27  If we talk about yoga practice as well as sound healing practices, gratitude and, everything we have discussed today at, at the balance, we, we have our clients they come with with different conditions. Some have eating disorder, others have anxiety, depression or or different different issues from, from their life, the baggage they bring with them. How can these practices help them? And not just the healthy ones and improving their nervous system and stress levels.

Abdullah Boulad 01:29:13  is it even more effective for them? And what's what's your experience working with these type of, clients?

Estela Garcia 01:29:23  I, I feel that whatever it is that they're bringing with them, as you describe, really well, it's like I always describe it like a backpack with heavy, stones or, you know, what I find it is very effective is because for a long time, maybe there has been a lot of stress. there has been a lot of desperation trying to find something to make them feel better or trying to move away from a situation that one is not happy with. And when you practice this these therapies I think the one everyone they all have in common is that it allows you to rest for a moment. From. From everything. So that's where that's the beginning of it. To be able to feel safe, to not having to get anything right, to not having to fix, not having to do, not having to simply actually the opposite. To not do at the beginning and then build from there.

Estela Garcia 01:30:35  So I think it's a beautiful opportunity to allow yourself to fully rest, to surrender to what is, and to start to become friends again with who you are.

Abdullah Boulad 01:30:48  Yeah, I also feel and see with with the the types of clients we have, that yoga and sound healing practices. They give them a lot of sense of safety and, just to be and allow other things to be processed. And what I also see is that, many and also men, you know, women are more, let's say, connected most of the time more connected to their body and, and emotions. But also, man, I where in the beginning they are restrictive on yoga. That's nothing for me. But you see so much change during the course of a treatment program, that I feel many get into, using yoga practices later on as well. Wow. And, and and this is what brings like, often also sparkle. And the yoga teachers are hyped very often as well. How is your experience working with, with clients and have you.

Abdullah Boulad 01:32:01  What? What type of, transformations have you seen?

Estela Garcia 01:32:06  Many. especially especially, from those who maybe are more skeptical at the beginning or men who yoga. And then, yeah, I think it's just the playground like to be able to not having to to get it right. Just simply breathing only just breathing and moving. So you're already going to feel better automatically. We call it yoga, but at the end of the day it's just breathing and moving and that already automatically. You feel great. And and it's a fantastic tool. And when you realize that it works, then you want more of it because you know it works because there is always a before and after you. Always. You always feel better, different and better after a yoga class. So it has an impact and and you you know you when you have been like in a very dark place or upset and then suddenly you find joy again in, in a session, then you maybe had forgotten what it feels to feel good, what it what it feels to feel joy again.

Estela Garcia 01:33:19  And if that can, if that happens in a yoga session, then you know where you can get more of that. So you always want to come back to your your mat and transformations. I have many, many big, big transformations that people have integrated yoga into their daily life because they know that it works. And the more they do it, because it's like with meditation, breathing is it's a moving meditation. So the more they do it, the easier they can access that blissful state of being. And the ease, the easier and the quicker they can access it and then the more they do it, the deeper they can go. And ID a specific studies like a case study of clients where they have been very low or like with eating disorders and suddenly they find themselves and the world stops. It's themselves. No one is watching on them, not even they are watching themselves. They're just there and they feel safe. It's at the end of the days, you know, coming back to feeling safe.

Estela Garcia 01:34:27  And there is some cases where they have continue with the yoga to the point of doing a yoga teacher training to become a yoga teacher. And yes, you know, so and yeah, that's really wonderful. I have many, many, many cases or, you know, a student of mine taking a lot of, painkillers and anti-depressants and going to the doctor over and over again until one day that doctor was actually one of my students. And he she said, just like you can come back next month and I can give you again the prescriptions, or you can actually do something about your pain and go yoga. And then that was like nine years ago. And she still continues with the yoga. And, it's one discover that one has more tools that are highly effective. And they didn't they were not aware of them before, and now they have them now. They have a full pocket. And when needed, you can you can, you know, you can reach oh, yoga or meditation or, or or whatever it takes.

Estela Garcia 01:35:34  But I, you know, you have tools to help you.

Abdullah Boulad 01:35:39  I think the what's so powerful about yoga is that particularly after, let's say, a treatment of a course for any mental health condition, it helps you to reconnect with yourself at any given moment. So it's not the movement, the practice. It's really just to have these moments of reconnecting with yourself and, and your feelings, your emotions. If you if you feel you can react to it, you can process it, you can manage it. if you don't feel if you're on autopilot for on and on, you, you you never get to this date. Yeah. Very nice. usually I have a question to to to, every of my guests. What they what they do in privately to stay in balance. But I can think about yoga if we would exclude yoga in your case. what what do you do to stay in balance?

Estela Garcia 01:36:49  if it's not the yoga, if yoga wasn't there, it's, Gratitude. Get up and be grateful.

Estela Garcia 01:36:57  Affirmations. Acknowledgement. Especially when you wake up. You're still in that half sleep hub, and it's very effective to empower yourself with appreciation. I am wonderful. I'm good. Like, use positive affirmations about yourself. Yes. Even if you don't believe them at the beginning when one starts to do like I am. But it's very powerful, I find it very, very powerful. to retrain the brain to. I am so positive. Affirmations and gratitude.

Abdullah Boulad 01:37:35  And you do this in the morning.

Estela Garcia 01:37:36  Yes. In the.

Abdullah Boulad 01:37:36  Morning particularly. can it also be used in the evening before going to bed?

Estela Garcia 01:37:41  Yes. Anywhere you have a moment is very powerful. As soon as you wake up before your brain gets busy with life just out of autopilot. You can do it I am. I am healthy, I am successful, I am powerful, I you know I am love. Whatever it is, you can change them and rewire that again that self appreciation self, love and and gratitude. And you can keep it simple.

Estela Garcia 01:38:12  Three things you're grateful for. Three appreciations and fresh air. And you have access to all of that. But yeah definitely that.

Abdullah Boulad 01:38:23  And if you if you would now recommend or suggest to everyone who's listening or anyone in the world, if you can reach out to them, what would you tell them today?

Estela Garcia 01:38:35  To go for it to? Yeah, to to find out what their passion is and to to follow that to.

Speaker 5 01:38:47  Yeah.

Estela Garcia 01:38:47  To become best friends with who you are and to follow your dreams and your passions. To go for it.

Abdullah Boulad 01:38:53  This is where joy and life comes. Yes. Yeah. It was a real pleasure. Thank you very much, Estella, for being here today. it's definitely a practice which helped me throughout my life so far. And and, everything we have talked about today. thank you for all the work you do for our clients at the balance, but also, outside, I think you you you bring the sparkle in to to the client's, eyes and give them a new perspective on their way going forward through their lives.

Abdullah Boulad 01:39:32  Thank you very much.

Estela Garcia 01:39:33  Thank you very much. Abdullah, it's been absolute pleasure. Thank you very much for everything and for your trust and for this wonderful conversation. And thank you.