Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
Choose Presence Over Autopilot | Lindsay Thomas
We explore what it means to “listen to your body” and why simple, sensory practices can calm your nervous system while keeping your drive intact. Lindsay Thomas shares practical breathwork, fluid movement, and micro-pauses that help you step out of the momentum tunnel and choose presence.
• the momentum tunnel and why we live in our heads
• how to shift from thinking about breath to feeling breath
• five‑minute rituals that downregulate stress
• shoulder rolls, fluidity, and letting your body lead
• softening gaze to reduce overstimulation
• self‑regulation tools for real‑time stress
• reading the room versus rigid routines
• redefining wellness as wholeness
If this conversation inspired you, share it with a friend who might need that same reminder. And remember to actively participate in life on your terms
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. Today, we're diving into a conversation about mindfulness that feels approachable for anyone. Whether you've ever practiced yoga or not, my guest Lindsay Thomas has over a decade of experience as a yoga instructor, massage therapist, and KOIA teacher. She helps people reconnect with themselves through movement, mindfulness, and presence. And together, we're going to explore how listening to your body can become a compass for stress, decisions, and everyday life. Lindsay, welcome to the show.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you. So happy to be here.
SPEAKER_00:Before we get going, Lindsay and I actually go way back. We first worked together in North Carolina. And it's funny how life reconnects you with people who are not only amazing, but people who share a similar mission and vision for making impact in those around them. And so Lindsay is certainly one of those individuals that I've been blessed to have in my life multiple times now. And I've seen firsthand how her light-hearted and grounded approach helps people really feel at home in their bodies. When you walk into a yoga class with Lindsay, she is immediately bringing positive attention to you and welcoming you into this space. And I've never forgotten that about you, Lindsay. And I'm excited to allow listeners to hear from you today.
SPEAKER_02:Great. Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:You're welcome. So to kick things off, I'd like to look at mindfulness through the lens of listening to one's own body. Lindsay, you often talk about staying connected to both body and heart. What does it actually mean for someone to listen to the body?
SPEAKER_02:I love that question. Thank you so much for asking. And I get that question a lot. And I feel like the idea of listening to our bodies can sound a little bit elusive initially. It's like, what does this even mean? So I have found in my own life that my relationship with listening to my body feels exactly like deepening a beloved friendship. So to kind of imagine it as relationship with another can really help kind of conceptualize what this means. So in our lives, when we're developing a friendship with someone, it's important to have that reciprocity, right? Like we take the time to get to know them. We're curious. We ask them questions. When they call us, we either answer the phone or we call them back. If at any point we choose to not answer and not call back, at some point they're gonna stop calling us.
SPEAKER_00:The relationship ends.
SPEAKER_02:The relationship ends. Luckily for us with our bodies, the relationship doesn't end. The relationship is always there, it's always accessible, but it requires the attention. So the word attuning really comes up for me. We need to attune to the body in order to listen to the body to create this relationship.
SPEAKER_00:What makes it so difficult for people to be attuned to their body?
SPEAKER_02:So there is such a tendency to cerebralize everything in our modern society. It's like we think about the body and we think about our lives. We live up in our heads. And it's rampant that folks are disconnected from embodiment and from their bodies themselves.
SPEAKER_00:Because of the world around us, it's difficult to get out of our heads.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. The momentum tunnel of life is very much, I think, um, kind of an obstacle that we all deal with daily. Because we're encouraged to live, you know, in our to-do lists and inefficiency, which are all beautiful things. Um, but the body requires a degree of presence in the moment of dropping from the head and into the body, um, which sounds really simple, but especially if we have not done that for 30 years, 40 years, 80 years, to suddenly do that can feel really counterintuitive and sometimes can be a little bit overwhelming. There can be a lot there to unpack. It's not always like rainbows and bubbles.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Now people are busy, they're distracted, they're stressed. I that's what I'm hearing when you say we're up in our heads and it can be overwhelming to connect to our body. How can someone who hasn't been listening to their body start to connect and recognize what their body is telling them?
SPEAKER_02:So for me, and what I've found for a lot of my students, friends, people in my life, it's all about slowing down. I mentioned before the momentum tunnel. There's an innate momentum to living in modern society where it's like fast track efficiency to-do lists. So taking the time to actually step out of that and to slow down, um, I think is step one.
SPEAKER_00:So don't just be taken by the momentum through that tunnel.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, I think at times actually we need to. You know, like there are times where it's like, I have a busy day, I have a lot to do at work, I have a lot to do with my family, whatever the case may be. To-do lists have their place. Sometimes I think people can like sort of demonize efficiency and to-do lists when they start thinking about it in this way. It's like, no, there's a place for really everything. Um, the momentum tunnel has its place. It's a beautiful thing to get a lot done and to be an efficient person. And that can become slightly addictive and over time can completely disassociate us from the wisdom of our bodies and from the moment.
SPEAKER_00:That makes a lot of sense. You get more connected to what you have to get done than the actual moment in your body. And I was uh I was actually sitting in service this weekend. And do you know in the Spanish language the word busy doesn't exist?
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. The only word that exists is occupied.
SPEAKER_01:Wow.
SPEAKER_00:It was it was powerful me for me as you talk about the ability to listen to our body and being busy isn't bad. Yeah, it's just what I'm kind of interested and curious about from your perspective is how do we listen to our body and still achieve?
SPEAKER_02:So I do think they're not mutually exclusive. Um, but I do think both are a practice. Like, how can we efficiently move through our lives while remaining engaged not only with our own embodiment, but with the people around us? Um, and that's a question we all ask and we uniquely answer as individuals, right? Um, so I think that again, we've been raised in a modern society where efficiency really is kind of taught to us. We're taught how to kind of bust the day out. So like do a really good job and like do all the things and as many checks on the list as possible is considered like a good solid day. Um, and again, that's a beautiful thing. Meanwhile, I think throughout the day in my own life, taking conscious pauses, returning to my breath and my body, I'm very aware I'm a yoga teacher and I'm biased to those practices. But I love to encourage people to explore that, whether you're a yogi or not. What does it feel like before you start your day? A lot of people, if they're honest, will acknowledge you know, you wake up and it's like boom, straight to the phone, straight to the laptop, straight to like the to-do lists. Again, that's awesome. And what would happen if you just gave yourself five or 10 minutes to feel your body, to take some deep breaths, to set an intention for your day of like, today is gonna be really busy. I want to navigate today from a place of love or from a place of magnetism, or just coming up with certain words that kind of anchor your day energetically and from an embodied place rather than diving straight into the like efficiency and to-do lists. In my life, that's been a game changer.
SPEAKER_00:So that's a regular practice that when you wake up in the morning, you're almost centering yourself in a way that even if it's a busy day, you have a guide and an intention for how you want to feel throughout that day.
SPEAKER_02:So ideally, yes, to be fully honest. I do not do that every day. Okay. But it is my like goal and intention to do that more and more and more. And when I think about it and when I set that intention, generally it's the night before. Um, I will make my phone less accessible in the morning. And I'll wake up, either there's a note on my bedside table reminding me, wake up slow, like there is no rush. Something like this. Um, because really, like autopilot's a real thing. And everybody wakes up differently. I know I wake up and often it's kind of like not a jolt, but like my system kind of goes from rest to like it's Tuesday. Game on. Yeah, game on. Let's go. Let's have this day, which is awesome. Like, I love that enthusiasm. I've talked to a lot of people that take a lot longer to wake up and don't wake up enthusiastically. And like, I don't understand that myself, but like I hear that. So really honoring, like, we all we all know how we wake up and what we need and how we navigate. But I know for myself, I've really needed to like pump the brakes, not to like dull the enthusiasm because I think the enthusiasm and passion are awesome, but to really return to the wisdom of my body via my breath, which is a big tool to get there, to drop from the head and into the body and to navigate my day from that place rather than from the bustle.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Now you've mentioned the breath a few times. And like you, when I take five minutes to inhale for four, hold for seven, exhale for eight, after maybe 15 to 20 minutes of myofascial release or stretching, the next four or five hours are completely different.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And every time I do it, I say to myself, why don't I do this more often?
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:For that person out there who is not practicing yoga, how would you recommend they approach this attunement to their body, this slowing down practice?
SPEAKER_02:So truly, it's the same whether people practice yoga or not, in my mind. Um, I think that a lot of people, when it comes to movement practices, whether it's yoga-based, fitness-based, myofascial-based, whatever the case may be, there can be this idea where you need to have an hour and a half. You have to warm up, you have to put on the music, you have to make a playlist, you have to have a peak in the practice, you have to warm down. I mean, you have to have in the yoga world, a savasana, final rest. It's this whole ordeal. And that ordeal is a beautiful thing when we have the time for it. But I think it also can be a hurdle and prevent people from acknowledging the fact, as we have mentioned, that it can also be five minutes of conscious breathing. It can be five minutes of attunement, of just noticing the sensations in the palms of your hands and noticing the pressure of your hips on whatever support you're sitting on. It could be really simple. So that's my encouragement, really, is to let it be simple. I think the brain naturally and innately makes things more complex than sometimes they need to be. So I think just acknowledging that and knowing that, first of all, is step one. And then being like, let's just feel our bodies, you know? Even five minutes sometimes isn't accessible. Take two breaths. Don't have time for two breaths, take one conscious breath. Like allowing it to just be simple.
SPEAKER_00:Lindsay, it's great advice. And specifically with the corner of mindfulness, we've talked spoken about on this podcast, fitness, nutrition, and play. Mindfulness can be the most difficult to get the majority of people bought into and practicing regularly. So what I really hear you saying is no amount of time needs to be so rigid to the point that you can still get yourself feeling grounded and centered. It's just a matter of the attention to it and almost a commitment to build this type of practice in your life, if if I'm understanding correctly.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:So you're a big fan of what you call movement rituals. That's a scary word for a lot of people. Rituals, routines. Can you share additional examples that may take five to ten minutes a day to improve someone's mood or downregulate their stress level?
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. So I love that you equated, first of all, routines with rituals, because the word ritual sometimes can have a little bit of a stigma for some of them. I love that word, but I acknowledge like some folks just don't. And that's okay. So replace any words I use always with words that feel comfortable to you. Um, so a very simple routine, or as I like to call a ritual, um I love to play with personally is taking three minutes, taking a really short amount of time. If you have it, 10 minutes is even better. If you have an hour, hour and a half, that's great too. Um, but starting with something really simple, really basic. I am a big fan of fluidity. I feel like we move through our lives often like in these linear, straight lines, like little robots. So inviting more water-like movements into the body, to me personally feels amazing.
SPEAKER_00:What do you mean by a water movement?
SPEAKER_02:So it's circles, like shoulder rolls, like drawing your shoulders up to your ears, back, down, and around is literally creating a wave-like movement. You're moving like water.
SPEAKER_00:And that leads to the fluidity within your life.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. Exactly. So I'll start with shoulder rolls where it's like that is a planned movement. I'm like, I'm gonna stop my work and I'm gonna do some shoulder rolls. So this is a conscious map of moving from the head and into the body where it's actually a planned mind movement. I am going to do shoulder rolls now. So I'll start with shoulder rolls and from there, and this could sound strange and elusive, but I'm all about it. I then will ask my body to move me. Rather than me telling my body what to do from the shoulder rolls, as I'm continuing to do that, I start to really tap in what does my body want? And sometimes I'll start to move. Maybe it's circles through my chest or circles through my wrists or a side bend or something. It's like, oh, my body feels that I actually have really tight intercostals right now between the muscles between my ribs and wants to stretch those out. So that begins that embodiment practice of rather than planning a strategic movement to actually feeling into what the body's asking for and what the body needs. Sometimes when I ask my body to move me, I'm like, I got nothing. I'm still doing shoulder rolls. That's fine too. Like, okay, back to shoulder rolls. And but I always go back again and again like, what would happen if my body moved me? Which I feel just in my own system kind of taps deeper into the wisdom of my own body.
SPEAKER_00:The wisdom of your own body. The way you describe that, that's a that's a nice crown to the description. You may start with a planned movement, but then it's not this prescribed physical practice. It's what does my body need because I'm listen actually listening to it. Right. When you're teaching yoga classes, just like any instructor, we all have our kind of go-to sequences. Is this incorporated within your routines? And how do you have the practice go in the direction of the bodies in the room?
SPEAKER_02:So as you mentioned, I feel like every teacher kind of has their essence or like their jewels that they bring to class, regardless as to what they're teaching, like the heartbeat, their reason why they're showing up. I love to remind people of their innate wisdom, the the innate wisdom that lives within their bodies and the innate wisdom that flows through their breath. I say that after almost every single yoga class that I teach. So I'm aware, like that is my mission, really, is to remind people of that.
SPEAKER_00:That that wisdom's there.
SPEAKER_02:Always. Yeah, it lives inside of us. That's what I believe.
SPEAKER_00:That's good.
SPEAKER_02:Um, so I really don't enjoy set routines for classes so much, although I know that I have my like go-to postures and flows. I love to, I mean, I've noticed when I do plan, it never happens. Like when I first started teaching, naturally, it's like you kind of need that template and that structure to feel like you're prepared. And that's a beautiful thing. And I do come with some degree of intention. Um, and always my prayer as to how it lands in people, however, it lands is up to them and up to the way things flow. But ultimately, I love to listen to the room. So it's like every single person that comes in, things kind of shift and change. And then class kind of just becomes what it is according to who shows up and what is needed.
SPEAKER_00:Who's there that day and what's happening in the moment.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, man. Yeah, I relate that a lot to life, is sometimes we show up and we expect our day to go a certain way, and then we try to force it to become that way when that day was not supposed to be that way.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_00:And we see this in your description of a yoga class where instead of forcing the routine, it's a matter of helping people become more attuned to their bodies, and then you, as the the guide, taking them through that connection with their body.
SPEAKER_01:Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Quite interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I I love these conversations because this is not my world. This is not something that comes quite naturally to myself as just someone on this planet with those to-do lists. So I'm interested to take this even further. Movement can sometimes just be described as physical. Or from your perspective, Lindsay, does it spill over to emotional and mental as well?
SPEAKER_02:Yes, I feel like it absolutely does. To me, movement encompasses everything. In my own life, I feel like movement has been the medium to bring my entire being, physical, mental, emotional. For me, I throw in spiritual, like another trigger word. Some people aren't into it. That's totally fine. Leave it to the side. But truly, like all aspects of self. I'm a very movement-based human. Movement, again, is the most efficient way I have found ever that brings my entire system online. And it's through movement often where I notice certain aspects of myself are not online. And I can access them and reconnect them.
SPEAKER_00:So there's certain times through your physical practices that you can see something mentally is off, emotionally, just not right, or spiritually, maybe not connected.
SPEAKER_01:Correct.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And, you know, I just my head goes to a PB strong class, you're lifting weights, and I think about man, am I really mentally present there? Am I actually paying attention to what I'm feeling? And even asking those questions that are more than just physical in the moment. Um you you've worked deeply with people on helping them create these resets in their life and helping them redefine self-care and and coming up with these rituals. Whether it's in your work with massage or yoga classes, what do you notice people are most in need of when they come to you?
SPEAKER_02:So I feel like most people are most in need of self-regulation tools. I feel like people are wanting to feel at home in their body, whether they know it or not. And again, I don't want to be presumptuous, but this is just what I feel I see. Whether it's on the massage table or on the yoga mat, people are wanting to reconnect with the deepest essence of who they are. And I love offering them tools to remember what it feels like to do just that.
SPEAKER_00:You mentioned tools. And I'm kind of in my head here thinking about how I'm pretty sure most people don't roll up to their massage appointment or to their yoga class and say to themselves, man, I've got to get deeper with in inside who I am. So, how do you bring that out of them? What are some additional tools that you use?
SPEAKER_02:So when I say tools, I'm referring to like internal tools. So the simple act of noticing breath and noticing the difference between thinking about breath, which is what people usually do when you cue them to start noticing their breath. Like, I'm thinking about my breath. I am inhaling, I am exhaling. And that's beautiful. That's that's the way in. But that's different than actually somatically on a sensation level feeling your ribs expand and soften. So that's a tool right there, is just noticing the breath and then noticing the different layers of actually thinking about the breath and then feeling the breath. And from there moving into breath practices, as you mentioned before, counting inhales, counting exhales, extending exhales for more relaxation.
SPEAKER_00:Um playing with it a bit more. And and you mentioned the biggest need being self-regulation, besides the breath, or maybe even you personally, how do you go about self-regulation more so in the moment, not even in a class or a setting where you you may be more conscious? What's what's that look like?
SPEAKER_02:So, me, myself, and my own practices I've mentioned already. So it's kind of echoing what we've already been discussing. Um, but I'm a very sensation-based human. I find that I ground my awareness into the moment and into my body through feeling the physicality of my body. Um, so as I'd mentioned, it's like feeling, truly, truly feeling the sensations that are happening in the palms of my hands are a big one. Um, noticing the pressure of my body, noticing gravity, actually feeling it and experiencing it, knowing that there is this force that we all experience on this planet of a gentle pressure that holds us on the planet. We're not floating around in space. So that alone, just bringing awareness to these things that we often leave unnoticed, where we really start to zoom into them and zoom a little bit deeper and deeper and deeper, is fascinating to me and is one of the ways that I self-regulate and something that I very much lean on in my classes and also in my massages of really encouraging people to remember and learn how to soften. Because there's this tendency to kind of armor and become rigid and to clinch and to hold at all times. And there is a time and a place for that. But generally, we are safe enough to relax our jaws, to soften our shoulders, um, and to let the armor down.
SPEAKER_00:So it's those subtle reminders of removing tension. Right. And being aware when there is tension present in the first place. Because those simple examples of like a clenched fist or rigid jaw, you know, I I always like move my eyes a lot, or like when I'm in the zone, go in that go, go, go mode, not even recognizing the physical cueing that I'm doing with the different anatomy of my body.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_00:It's it's a great reminder today, for sure, Lindsay.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, it's really good stuff because all those things are communicating with our nervous system. If you think about it, when our eyes are moving in a bunch of different directions, are we're causing a lot of input visually. So that can be very stimulating to the nervous system. That information can be really important, but often in yoga, like and also like riding bikes and in life in general, it's like where your eyes go, your body follows. So if you're looking a million different places, if you're allowing your eyes to kind of dart around, sometimes that can feel like overstimulation where your nervous system doesn't know what's going on or if everything is okay. So just allowing your gaze to settle on one spot and to allow your gaze to soften, to consciously invite your body to soften, to move into deep belly breaths, all of these things are literally communicating and signaling to your nervous system that everything is good. You are okay. And it allows the system to soften, to relax.
SPEAKER_00:Now, if someone listening wanted to begin today, we've shared a lot of different practices. What's one simple body-based practice you'd recommend as that daily reset?
SPEAKER_02:So I love to um go back to starting with the mind-implemente movement. Shoulder rolls are a really great way of relaxing through the head, the neck, the jaw, the face, letting go of tension in the body. So inhale, shoulders up, exhale back down and around, and just beginning to invite that fluidity into the shoulders. And then as you continue to move through your shoulders, see what it feels like. Just do the experiment to see what would happen if you asked your body to move you. And this can feel really awkward, just to acknowledge that initially. Like that can feel weird. It can feel awkward. That is normal. But just see what happens. You might be surprised. You might start moving innately and naturally, you might not. You might kind of freeze. All of this is information. Give that a couple moments, go back to your shoulder rolls. Again, ask your body to move you. Sometimes being more specific, ask your hips to move you, ask your belly to move you and see what happens.
SPEAKER_00:You're saying you can ask a specific body part during this practice.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:And just see how it responds.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Wow.
SPEAKER_00:Man, I'm thinking I'm gonna ask my hips here in a little bit.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. There you go. You'll have to report back.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I will. No doubt. Well, you've shared so many ways people can tune into their bodies. And I love the shoulder rolls being something that can be conducted anywhere at any time. It's it's so inviting to those out there who are who are disconnected. Now, stepping back from all the practices, the techniques, our our focus on mindfulness, I'm curious to ask you our final question. What does wellness mean to you?
SPEAKER_02:So, wellness to me one word is wholeness. To me, wellness is consciously inviting. All aspects of myself online. Wellness feels like I am in contact and embodying my mental world, my physical world, my emotional world, my spiritual world, and honoring them all as fully as possible.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks, Lindsay. Yeah. Man. It's been such a blast today. So fun. Yes. I just want to hold gratitude for you being here and being connected to this team. We're so grateful that you uh decided to move to South Carolina.
SPEAKER_02:Yes.
SPEAKER_00:And uh I'm thrilled that more members are going to be able to experience not just your classes or a massage with you, but how you approach life, how you approach these concepts that are foreign to the majority of people living. And I think that's a really special quality you hold in a space that you hold that not only will have I felt it during this podcast, but that many people will experience when they're with you in the future.
SPEAKER_02:Thank you so much.
SPEAKER_00:I'm so happy to be here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Listeners, feel free to hang out with me for a few more minutes and get some healthy momentum for the rest of your week. If you're anything like me, it was an important reminder that there are so many things in life that come quite naturally to us, but listening to our body is definitely not one of them. And that connection between physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, stemming from the physical, that's a next level way of thinking about how to become more aware in our everyday life. And we haven't had a conversation like that in a while. So I hope that you key in onto the fact that we have been born into the madness. We've been born into the go, go, go, check the box off the list, and we've been pushed into a momentum tunnel, Lindsay's words, not mine, that drives us in a direction where it's so difficult to know what our body wants. And when you're deep in the momentum tunnel, gosh, what came up for me is the imagery of a vacuum cleaner sucking us up like dust. It feels like there's no getting out of it at times. Once our world pulls us in, the to-do list take over, the I need to cross off X, Y, and Z, you're already sucked up. So if that resonates with you today, this is the perfect time for you to slow down. Give yourself permission to pause, breathe, and actually notice what your body is asking for. Remember, even one intentional moment of awareness in your day has the ability to shift the entire trajectory of your day. Together, we can keep learning how to step out of the tunnel and live with more alignment, energy, and presence. That is a wrap on this week's episode. If this conversation inspired you, share it with a friend who might need that same reminder. And remember to actively participate in life on your terms.
