Episode 11: A Journey of Alignment: Identifying and Coming from Your Alignment
A Conversation with Stacey Loop
What is alignment? How do you find your own alignment? In this episode, learn more about how the Core Resonance process helps you identify alignment in your own work and how you can practice coming from that alignment.
Marcel has a conversation with Stacey Loop, a Yoga Therapist and Teacher of Viniyoga. Stacey talks about alignment in her personal and professional development. Stacey shares the story of how she identified “play” as the driving force in her work and how recognizing this opened up a world of new opportunities. Learn about how to come from function over form and how this simple approach opens up options for recognizing and working with your own alignment.
Marcel and Stacey also discuss coming from the inside out and how sometimes opportunities can actually be distractions. Stacey shares how she identified “her people”, and learned that “the movement of the breath” tells a story. You can learn more about Stacey at her website www.loopoflight.com. Listen in to hear how The Core Resonance process helped her personally and professionally.
Please listen to Episode 10: Writing Differently- An Inside Look at Meditation if you haven't already. In this episode, Marcel interviews Carrie Heeter about her upcoming book and how she used Yoga and meditation methods to write it.
Stacey Loop, C-IAYT; E-RYT 500: RCYT, is a certified yoga therapist and holistic health coach specializing in adapting breath, movement, sound, meditation, and lifestyle strategies to an individual’s condition. As a former Special Education Teacher, she naturally resonated with the therapeutic application of yoga and the art and science of adaptation to help clients optimize their health. Expertly trained, Stacey works with conditions ranging from structural, physiological, and mental health in a private one-to-one setting.
Loop of Light
Loop of Light offers therapeutic private yoga lessons and holistic health coaching. These services can help you make a gradual change in lifestyle patterns that deeply influence your ability to feel balanced, vital, and inspired to live with purpose.
Doing Differently- Episode Eleven - Transcript
Please excuse any typos. This script was generated by an AI program.
Marcel: So Stacy thank you for being on the podcast today.
And would you mind just starting out by saying a little bit about yourself and the work that you're up to?
Stacey: Thank you, Marcel. I'm so happy to be here with you . So yes, we were introduced through Chase and chase is my mentor and I'm really thankful for the gift he gave me to start working with you and helping me to develop.
And my business. So I am a yoga therapist and trained in the Vinny yoga lineage. I'm also a, a yoga teacher. I've been in the field for about 20 years. I'm also a children's yoga teacher. And my background my college degree was in special education. So about 20, I guess I have my son 21 years ago when he was one.
I started training and all of everything yoga was very fascinated with how it helped me. I'm also certified as an integrative nutritional health coach. And one of the things I think I should say here is, you know, we have these trainings. We have these certificates. But one of my biggest trainings was helping my dad over the last eight years to manage his Parkinson's disease.
I have my own business called Loop of Light, where I do still teach public classes and mentor students that are training in yoga and also see clients privately.
But a big majority of my time these days is being spent with a holistic health business called modern holistic health, and I'm the. Breath therapist. That's how I marketed, is as a breath therapist. I'm still a yoga therapist and I'm seeing people all over the nation cuz it's a virtual business. And I work on a team and mostly working with people identifying trauma as a root cause of their symptoms.
So yeah, that's what I'm up to.
Marcel: Great. Thank you Stacy. You know an idea I had for our conversation today was, was about your experience with the core resonance process. But of course this podcast is really about healing, transformation, yoga, personal development, and that is the, context in which we did this work.
You, yourself being a healing practitioner. This, Core Resonance Works process basically comes out of these fundamental principles of ancient teachings, mainly [00:03:00] in the lineage we share the lineage of, of Vinny yoga. And so I would love if we could just to have a conversation about, about your experience with our work together.
So we could start at the beginning maybe, or wherever you would like to start.
Stacey: Hmm. Let's go back to the beginning. Gosh. I was thinking about this. We started working together. It's always been virtual cuz you're in Nolans and I'm over in Austin and we started working together at a time that I had never used Zoom .
It was also at a time when my mom was having some major health challenges and I was a little bit distracted. I can remember that. And, and yet the process that you led me through was really powerful.
I just wanna thank you that you were patient with me. You reassured me, you held my hand, so to speak, and you helped me get through not only the beginning of the process, but you just helped to keep leading me as if we were in a little dance together.
So there's that word dance, I like to use that analogy quite a bit.
Marcel: In the beginning with, , what was your sense of how I was going to be able to help you? With , the core Resonance Works process.
Stacey: So I started working with you with, in the context of helping me kind of get unstuck around how I was showing up in my work. And Marcel, I think, you know, you're asking me all kinds of questions I'm saying my answers, and you're going through and asking, you know, writing them down as I, as I'm talking, and then.
It's good just to, you know, whatever comes up is what comes up. There's no judgment on your part, which is yoga, right? There's no judgment. We're just, so, you were observing me, I was figuring it out. And then, you know, maybe the next session we would I would go through and highlight, you would ask me to highlight what really stands out in this answer that's important to you.
And so then we started to refine. But I have to say, cuz you know how we've never met in person, but yet I feel like we have Yeah. Many, many times. Yeah. It's because you're always with me. Mm-hmm. that guidance. And the one question that I think really changed my life for the better is your question of who are your people.
Marcel: . Yeah, I think, we are our people, which is part of our connection, and our relationship. But like earlier you were talking about the, the interview process in the beginning and then the process where you worked with the content and the, the who [00:06:00] are your people Question came when originally.
in the process, it's completely internal. So it's just about that person's resonance, that person's meaning. And then at a certain point you can take that internal core resonance statement, which is what is created from the process and translate it externally. And so I think I remember asking, where and how you wanted to translate it.
Stacey: So let me give you my interpretation because I think this is really powerful for the listeners to hear. Mm-hmm. . Now, most the time when you work with a business coach, cuz I have a lot of friends that do that, the question would be, who's your target?
Okay. Mm-hmm. . All right. So now we we're looking at the form, we're looking at the external, right? We're trying to meet that external. You asked me, who are your people? I was like, I don't know I like people, you know? I had to think about it. And then my answer was, my people like to play.
And so then I took that and, and felt like I needed to come back to, cuz you know, my background was as a special education teacher in elementary schools. I felt like I needed to go back and work with kids more. And I, and I, I was right. So I started working more with Neurodiverse children one on one. Especially this one little guy.
We did some amazing work together. He had emotional regulation challenges and A D H D had an autoimmune condition and he was having a lot of trouble in school and at home with some behaviors that were causing him to be socially isolated. And so we did some really fantastic work together. And my case study with him is actually in the manual of a yoga therapy program.
So it, it was, it was a right move for me to go back. I was still doing my other stuff, but to go back and, and go to that place of play and start to study how people play, and then I started to translate that into my teacher training programs I was involved in especially the children's one. And it was powerful because I was modeling, Hey, this is important to me to find the joy, to find the play.
And we can transform through that, that you gave me. And so the participants in the children's yoga teacher training got back in touch with their inner child and their, they'd forgotten to play. And so I knew I was in, I was doing the right thing. I knew I was in my core resonance from that one question, and then Covid hit.
And so I had to pivot. I had to do differently.
Marcel: Yeah. , can I tell you more about that? Yeah. You know, I love your description because it, it really speaks to the power of alignment. , , . In fact, healing is all about alignment. Yoga is all about alignment. It's like how do we perceive what experiences are best for us to have And our work is what we spend most of our time doing.
Other than sleeping . And so, you know, that what you described was a really, what I think is a natural progression. When we work from our alignment, we end up having experiences that nourish us and feed us and show us either how to continue in the alignment or move towards other ways of being aligned. And I mean, part of the premise behind this is that we, when we are aligned, we're nourished, we're engaged, we're held.
I mean, your description of how you followed that trajectory of play and the experiences it. brought into your life, and then how those experiences shaped you even further. I mean that's, that's really what alignment is all about. Hmm. Yeah.
Stacey: Yeah. So, and I feel like you gave me permission mission to play, to play more.
I did not need to dumb that down. Right. That's where I shine, is in the joy and the play. I was able to become part of staff with an international program, yoga therapy for youth with Shawnee Thornton Hardy is doing some great work out there.
And so I just come in for my case study and presenting on yoga therapy for. ADHD and emotional regulation challenges and, and how, you know, the secret to it all is to meet someone where they are and be okay with their story and help them see themselves from a different angle, from a different perspective to know that they have shine.
So that's the work, that's where I feel the work is.
Marcel: That's, that's the resonance, the distinction is that it's not intellectual, it's, it's feeling, it's resonant, like a sound, a resonance sound. It's like, you could almost say intuitive, like Like the, the premise behind this is that if we allow for the space and time and it being held to connect with ourself and feel that quality, yeah.
We can become clearer on what it is and how it shows up. Once you shared that content with me, I was having you just identify the different phrases that held the most resonance, like that you felt immediately. Sometimes the way I describe it is it's the cream on top. It's not like trying to be comprehensive and capture everything that's important to you.
It's like, what's the cream on top? What's the most resonant?
Stacey: Well, the cream on top for me was that I needed to be creative. , I needed to be in my compassion for others. I needed to have a way to be creative in how I adapted things for others, which, you know, I did that as a special ed teacher and now as a yoga therapist.
But the cream cream on top of the cream was that I needed to feel vitality through joy and play. And so this is very interesting because, so here I was on this path of doing pretty well, you know, getting more clients and writing my own children's teacher training program, getting that certified, getting ready to launch it, and then bam c hit and now what?
Doing differently. So flash forward about. Oh, I think it was a good, it's been a good year ago now through this holistic health business. I got the opportunity to work with trauma clients on a team and I thought, oh my goodness. This is the furthest thing from play that I can imagine. But I said yes, because it was an opportunity to use that creativity to be of service to others to really love people up.
Alright? Mm, mm-hmm. . And so, so I was attached to the, the form thinking, no, it has to be kids, right? It has to be these people that really like to play, like it's very apparent they like to play. But what I learned is through my own process of helping people in trauma feel a sense of safety. feel a sense of support connecting them to their precious body and their vitality and their vital life force.
Through breath, there began a connection. And so I call that process befriending the breath and inhabiting the body. Mm. Right? Yeah. And so through that connection then I saw, ah, their inner child, they're, they're still a kid. Mm. They have an inner child. That inner child needs to be loved up and supported and, and what I learned is I can take them to their joy and playfulness over time.
And so that is function.
Marcel: Yeah. You know, what you're describing is really a very intentional part of design around the core resonance process. And that design is that, it's function over form. It's also kind of the way we were trained in yoga. It is the way we were trained. You know, that if like function is the quality, it's like a description of the quality of something.
The form can, you know, it can take many different forms and I feel that's what's really useful about core resonance is that the tool itself and the statement, it's a hundred percent function. It's not form. And so you're able to check your alignment. Am I in my core, am I resonating with respects to any given situation?
Because it's function based. It's not form based. And like in your story you're sharing, part of what I hear you doing is as you had your intentions and the universe had its. Intentions, you're paying attention. And as it was unfolding, you were actually if the form changed, you were still moving towards the function.
That was a function that was aligned for you.
Stacey: And let me say this, and to you and to the listeners is one of another very powerful thing you taught me was that opportunities can be distractions. Mm. And so you taught me once I got my mission, my statement, and my values, you know, I spent probably a good half year going through a process when opportunities came.
Not to just jump on it, , but to actually look at either my values, my statement, or my mission, and, and which one is informing me. And write down, you know, through this writing process. Why would I say yes to something and why would I say no? So after about six months, I really didn't need to do it in writing anymore because , I'm internalizing that process.
Yeah. So when I got that opportunity to work with the trauma clients all over the world, you know, how amazing is that? I said, I, I said yes. And it took me a while to see, ah, I'm still in this, I'm still in the function. But sometimes we have to wait to understand that, you know, we have to wait. We're in the experience and we think, no, no way is this joy and playfulness.
Yeah, this is heavy. But what I came to see is sometimes you have to wait within the experience to see that you are in the function because. I'm always in that function. Yeah. I think that's part of practice. I'm always in the joy and playfulness. Yeah. Even when I have moments of sad, I know how to get back there.
Marcel: Yeah. I think that's part of the practice is it's self-reinforcing because it is your own alignment. If you cultivate it, if you touch it, if you give it attention it, it grows and it's self-reinforcing because it's your own alignment. And the more you touch and cultivate your alignment, the more alignment there is that's there.
In the beginning of this process, I share some straightforward sort of structured exercises that I have. Yes you do, a person do. And part of that is for them to, to get an idea of and internalize just the, the practice of it. But then it very much is about how do you internalize it.
So it's kind of like, so it's kind of going more by itself, you know. Several things we talked about so far in this conversation make me think about this idea of, I didn't ask you questions initially about outcome. Like, you know, what kind of client you wanted what kind of income you wanted to achieve, et cetera.
And part of the reason for that is because in healing, which is where this process comes from, It's really inside out as opposed to outside in. And a lot of business practices, they're outside in. So it starts with where you wanna be and then it's like, okay, let's see how to get you there. Right? But this starts with your aligned self and how do you cultivate that and work from that.
And it's gonna unfold in the direction it unfolds. I mean, you have influence, but it's more about like your point about the, the opportunity to work internationally with clients that have trauma is. You know, we can only go with our own sense of alignment or intuition. When we make a decision, we, we don't really know how it's gonna play out until it plays out and we actually experience it unfolding.
But then when we're experiencing it unfolding, we have this way of assessing, am I in alignment? Is this in alignment?
Stacey: I didn't go down a short path for that. Becoming a yoga therapist took years, refining my art, took years. But so you have to know your stuff, but the artistry of it is being in your core resonance, which mine is joy and playfulness so that I can give that away and get them to theirs. And that's what I call free styling.
That's
Marcel: beautiful. You know, there's a expression I use to, describe the intention around the core resonance, but it's also an expression that really captures the principles of healing. And the expression is that where you're coming from is just as important as what you're doing. And like your, your story really demonstrates that.
It's like how somebody is oriented dramatically impacts the quality of what they do and what, what unfolds as a result of that. Like the, the core resonance process, its focus is on orientation. It's like when you think about. decisions you're trying to make or big challenges that are in front of you. , what you're wanting to do is check that , when you look at those problems or you look at those challenges, you are, you're looking through your lens of alignment as opposed to through your lens of your own inadequacies or your own fear or your own, like, I need to do this, this is what needs to happen.
Or like the form stuff we were talking about. So it's, it's like the link you made, it's really beautiful. If we're coming from our own alignment that that is going to have an impact not just on us and how well we're able to do what we're doing, but it's gonna have an impact on whoever we're supporting or interacting with.
Mm-hmm. .
Stacey: Yeah. And I think that brings up a good point that probably before I started working with you, I was more externally aligned with what I thought I was supposed to do. Hmm. I don't think I knew that till you just said that. .
Marcel: Well, I think it's actually pretty normal. We tend to get educated and conditioned to think more externally rather than internally.
Yeah. And like that's why usually when I do this process, when when I interview people and they, the questions are about them and their own alignment and it's, it's a space of time that's held in which they're answering those questions. It's usually like kind of a big experience. Well, it always is a big experience for people and it's like, what's, what's an interesting question, I asked myself this too.
Why should that be such a big experience? Right? Like, giving yourself time to just be with what you are really aligned with and what drives you and what you care about. Ideally we want that to be kind of an integrated practice with what we do and how we show up.
Stacey: I remember that being a really valuable piece. As I was a little emotional after our first session, after we got off Zoom and I was like, . A little bit of boohoo. Because you did bring that to the table. You gave me the time, you gave me the space, you asked me things that were important to me. It was like, you cared about me, right.
Cared. Not superficially, not on outcome, but on who are you, what's your core resonance, right? So yeah. Very powerful. Yeah. I mean, that's needed, needed for people.
Marcel: , this core resonance process, it's a coaching process, but it's giving a tool that you can work from and with, and a process, it's not as, Powerful or involved as when we're, we're healing practitioners working one on one with a client. But it is very healing and it is very supportive
Stacey: in that respect. I felt it as healing. And I, I do feel that because you did that for me, I did put you in my little pocket, so to speak, and take you around everywhere with me.
Marcel: , I use the term alignment, but I think this is when, when we're able to have a connection with who we are and what nurses us, and what we really care about and, and come from that place and, and then have that experience in a way it's, it's kind of laying down new patterns and where we're like, we're like reprogramming actively instead of the other stuff that happened passively.
So that, yeah. So that we like you said earlier, we, we become more aligned more of the time. Yeah.
Stacey: You know, I think that, here's an example. when I was, you know, many years of teaching and I had a background as a teacher, but now I'm teaching in a different capacity, I felt that I had to keep up with the other yoga teachers at the studio, whether it be body image.
Mm-hmm. , my knowledge, what, you know, your numbers and the class. That's all external. And I think that's where I was stuck. Hmm. And what I have come to realize that too, like, I mean the, the way I was trained, there's, there's precision in it, right? It's classic. Mm-hmm. , there's precision. Mm-hmm. , you have to know the steps, you have to know the technology.
That takes years. But how I started to become more successful was tapping into. My passion of expression through movement. Mm. So movement even with small movements of the hands. Mm-hmm. , they tell stories. Mm-hmm. , the movement of the breath tells a story. So I was like, you know what? And then I heard someone in talking about in dancing with Parkinson's say that movement tells a story and movement is our right.
And so one of the ways that I come into my work as a yoga therapist is like, let's let this movement tell a story. Mm. Now you see how that takes us outta form. Mm-hmm. . Mm-hmm. .
Marcel: It's not that you like take the classical teach teachings and change them around. It's that you teach yoga in a way that is most aligned with what your life experiences have been and who you are and where you're coming from. And so I love where we're ending up here because this whole thing about outside in or inside out, you know, with the healing approach and the core resonance approach, it's like, it's like turn it around, come from the inside out and the more you can come from the inside The more you are showing up in your own alignment and the more influence that is having on the experiences that you end up having, the opportunities you end up having.
Stacy, it's like, I've been thinking about this a lot over the past few months , this notion of alignment. Cuz traditionally it just means like, what's your mission? What's your vision? But what we're really talking about is alignment as an integrated practice, right?
Stacey: Yeah. Well that's something that I love to do. Going through currently my own grief process and you know, dancing is my prescription to myself right now.
And when I go dancing a lot of times people will say, gosh, I wish I had the confidence that you do. I don't think it's confidence. I think it's joy. Mm. It just looks
Marcel: like that. Yeah. You're doing your thing. Yeah. I'm in
Stacey: my CR baby. Yeah. For rest, , you know? And then just one more thing Yeah.
Is I can remember you saying, advising me. You don't need to go get more training. Do you remember telling me that? I do, I do remember because I mean, when I was finished with my certification program I was tired. I had been studying for many, many years. And you said you okay, you did this graduation externally.
Or no, you graduated internally a long time ago. This was an external process and I was like, oh. And so I, I needed, again, I think I needed that permission. You gave me permission, like, no, I'm good. I understand this stuff. Now go do it. Like go do it on a bigger. scale, and I have, yeah. So the other day I worked with someone and on the same day, the Netherlands and I went on down to Mexico.
Wow. And on over to California. Oh. So I'm very, very grateful for you. Aw.
Marcel: Well thank you. And thank you for, for this conversation. I, I am I'm very appreciative of our connection, our relationship, and yeah. Thank you, Stacy.
Stacey: You're welcome, Marcel. Thank you. .
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