22 Sides

Finding the Yummy of Yoga & Tarot with Raye Lynn Rath-Rondeau

• Robin & Alexis • Season 2 • Episode 1

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What if peace isn’t a finish line but a muscle you train, one breath at a time? Robin sits down with Raye Lynn—teacher, studio owner, intuitive—to map a life shaped by meditation, yoga, and listening closely to that quiet inner nudge. From a fidgety seven-year-old learning to sit still in 1968, to sensing the Enron storm before it broke, to owning beloved studios and guiding hundreds, Raye Lynn shows how simple practices can reroute a lifetime.

We unpack what beginners truly need: start where you are, speak to your teacher, and seek alignment that works for your body. Expect real benefits—better sleep, calmer focus, fewer injuries—without chasing contortionist shapes. Raye Lynn reframes meditation as dropping beneath thoughts rather than forcing silence, using a vivid ocean metaphor to help anyone find the depth beneath surface noise. For those carrying anxiety, grief, or burnout, her specialty, Yoga Nidra, becomes a transformative reset: a guided glide into the edge of sleep where the nervous system unwinds and intentions finally stick.

Raye Lynn also opens the door to her tarot practice. The cards are a starting point, but the goal is your agency: seeing weather patterns in your life, spotting doors opening and closing, and choosing with clarity. We talk ethics, boundaries, and cadence, so guidance supports growth without dependency. Along the way, we return to community—the people who hold you when you can’t stand—and the truth that asking for help can be its own kind of strength.

If you’re curious about Yoga Nidra, meditation, or a grounded reading, Raye Lynn offers virtual sessions and visits Houston monthly with restorative and sound bath collaborations. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share with a friend who needs a gentle nudge toward calm, and leave a review to help others find the show. Your breath is a good place to begin.

Schedule with Raye Lynn: awakeningpresence.raye@gmail.com 

Pls write in the subject line: Yoga Nidra, meditation, yoga, or reading; add “podcast” or “newsletter” if relevant


Body Mind & Soul bookings: bmshouston.com, 713-993-0550


Yoga Institute Clear Lake  workshops: https://www.yogainstituteclearlake.com/workshops , 281-333-1646

You can donate to Raye directly through her email via paypal or Venmo @RayeLynn-Rath-Rondeau 

http:venmo.com/u/RayeLynn-Rath-Rondeau


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Robin- Host:

Thank you for listening to 22 Sides. This is Robin Mack, and today I'm blind solo. I'm here with a special friend of mine, Ray Lynn. She's here to give a little bit of information about herself and just reintroduce herself to some new listeners. So, Ray, how would you introduce yourself? Because we're not on camera, we're we're just on the mic.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So that's a really good question. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 1:

How would you introduce yourself?

RayeLynn- Guest:

I'm I'm Ray Lynn, and um I have been I've lived in Houston since I was five years old. Uh I was actually born in Orange County, California. My father worked for the Naval Corps of Engineers. Wow. Um and by the way, he was the the um maker of the Polaris missile. Wow. That's his name on the patent. I don't know whether I should be proud of that or not. But anyway.

Robin- Host:

I don't know. We all come from somewhere.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right? We do. And dad got a job at NASA, and uh so we moved to Houston when I was about five. And um I love my city. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love my city. Um, so as a young person, I kind of hit the ground running. Mm-hmm. Like a little firecracker. A little firecracker. You couldn't get me to be quiet to save my soul. Um, I remember distinctly putting my hands on my hips saying I couldn't wait to be old enough where people would listen to what I had to say.

Speaker 1:

Ooh, all the sass.

RayeLynn- Guest:

But I was a very back then they didn't have the labels that we have now. They probably would have said that I had ADD ADHD big time. Right.

Robin- Host:

Right. All this stuff is coming out now. Well, how old are you now, just for reference?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So by the time I was about seven, um we we realized that I was literally vibrating in my skin most of the time. And so um when I was seven years old, I had an opportunity to take a meditation class with the minister of my church.

Robin- Host:

Wow. Around about what year would this be for the listeners? Because they don't know how old it is.

RayeLynn- Guest:

This is gonna be 1968. Mm-hmm.

Robin- Host:

Now, at that point, was that in Houston or was that?

RayeLynn- Guest:

That was in Houston. Okay. That was in Houston, and um there were like maybe five or six of us, and that was a real turning point for me because the tools that I learned from him made a big difference for me in my ability to be still. Wow, my ability to listen, and my ability to be able to study and retain information. Um and so that was a big help for me, and it really got my family moving in the particul in that particular direction. My father had MS, multiple multiple sclerosis, and so mom and dad from the meditation class that I took, that led to other things. Edgar Casey studies, we became involved in the Carmel Center that was located in the Pasadena area, um, and did all kinds of fun things. We would go and um they would have cards with people that have illnesses or things going on, and they would give the name and the birth date and where they were, and we were to close our eyes and see what came up, what we got about that person. And so that really was the start for me in being able to key into what's going on energetically in people's bodies. So I because I learned to recognize where something is stagnant and where things are moving.

Robin- Host:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Um, and so that helped me. And then the other thing that we did was they had this projector where they would put a symbol up on a projector, and the person across from me could see the symbol, but I could not.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And I had to I had to visualize or guess what the symbol was. And so that was another thing that sort of really helped me. Fast forward a little bit further, and I'm gonna bounce back and forth between between yoga and the other aspects.

Speaker 1:

You're just bringing the true firecracker nature to it. That's all good.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Okay. So um when I was, I guess it was a couple of years later, about nine or ten, um my grandmother liked to take us kids to the zoo. And one time I decided that I wanted to wear this particular pair of shoes that I should not have worn.

Speaker 4:

Okay.

RayeLynn- Guest:

They were about a size too small for me. And my grandmother took pity on me. We sat down on a bench and sent my other cousins to go look at different things, and she started telling stories about the people walking by.

Robin- Host:

Oh, she was one of those. Yeah, I love people who would just make up stories about the people that are going. Or was it that she could actually know?

RayeLynn- Guest:

It was that she I thought she was making up stories.

Speaker 1:

She makes who she was.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Well, and then she said, Okay, it's your turn. Uh-huh. So she wanted me to make up stories about the people walking by, and what I realized now, not uh later on, not then, but what I realized was she was teaching me. Wow.

Robin- Host:

Wow, it's in the family.

RayeLynn- Guest:

It is. My my grandmother on my mother's side, as well as my mother, uh-huh, and my grandmother on my father's side were both psychic intuitives. They did different kinds of readings. Um when I was 11, I was still having some trouble in school. Um, I could get myself okay for a short period of time, but then I'd spiral out again. So one summer, mom was having a hard time figuring out where I was during the day. So she signed me up for a yoga class. Okay. And when I walked into this yoga class, I'm the only kid with a room full of women, adults.

Robin- Host:

Probably, yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And I sat down with my arms folded across my chest. You guys can't see me, but I'm doing a little pouty rage. Like I don't really want to be here. I did a practice called Trey Talk, where she turned down all the lights and lit a candle and had us all gather around the candle. And the idea is you focus on the candle flame, blinking as little as you can, not to the point where your eyes are watering, but you get the idea. And you do that for like a minute or so, and then you close your eyes and you'll see an image on the back of your eyelids from that candle flame. And the idea is to hold the flame still. And the tricky part is when you try, it moves. But when you relax and just soft focus and allow it, you can see it and you can find a way, you can figure out a way to get it to be in the center and where you can hold it still. I don't know what happened when we did that, but I walked out of there going, ooh, there's something magical about this.

Robin- Host:

Nice, nice.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And so I started looking forward to my class and wanting to know what other classes I could take. And that when I went back to school that fall, the teachers called my mom wanting to know what kind of medication she had me on and how much of it was I taking. It was the yoga.

Speaker 4:

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And so we both knew that that had to be a part of our life from then on out.

Robin- Host:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And uh, you know, back then it was uh um Richard Heidelman's 28 Days to Yoga or Jane Fonda or Raquel Welch, you know, on audio, right? And uh so we were really learning by ourselves.

Robin- Host:

Yeah, the accessibility for that was really low.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And so fast forward. I think it's also important to mention that I had a big life fast forward. I I had a great husband, Kevin Rath, uh great musician here in the Houston area. We had a big life, and um I got a job at Enron when it was Houston Natural Gas. I worked for Enron for nine years and um I'm still taking yoga classes through all of this. That's awesome. And I'm reading for my friends and for myself. And mom and I got started doing readings at the Renaissance Festival.

Speaker 4:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Now that is the only time where I really felt like what I was doing was fortune telling.

Robin- Host:

Okay, so when you say reading, like what like what is that like?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So a tarot reading. Okay. Like literally fortune telling. Okay. Um, so I use the cards. I'm going all over the place here.

Robin- Host:

No, it's fine. I mean, people from Houston know the Texas Renaissance Fair, and and and that that's where they sometimes get their first readings.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right. Yeah. And we had barkers, you know, that were out there. Come on in. Come on in. Yeah.

Robin- Host:

Don't just eat the turkey leg, get a tarot card reading. Yeah, yeah. Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

There you go. Right. Yeah. And so we you I used the cards. We would also do palm readings, but we used the cards just to have a start place for the conversation. And at the Renaissance Festival, it really was about fortune telling. People were coming in, some were drunk, some were in a big group of people just having fun, cutting up. And some people were serious and really wanting some information. Yeah. So I got a a lot I had a lot of fun doing that. I mean, that was my one experience of being a carney. Because we would go and camp out on the weekend. Uh we'd pitch a tent, sleep on the ground, use the public restrooms and showers to get ready. And uh, we were speaking the King's English all weekend. Yeah. Um, so during that time I was working for Enron and um Enron during the week and Carney during the week. During the weekend, and and staying up all night at the clubs with my husband playing in a van. Right. I mean, it was a big life.

Robin- Host:

You know what you didn't do? Sleep. Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Exactly. You continued to vibe, yeah, yeah. I didn't do much sleeping. Um but the day came at the Enron that uh there were two people that were being brought in there towards the end. Can I say their names? Oh, if you want to. Mr. Skilling and Mr. Fastow came into the to the realm. And when Kinlay had the big meeting with all of us, introducing those two to us, I looked at the people on either side of me and I said, This is not gonna be good. Yeah, you knew, you knew. I knew. Yeah. And not long after that, my father passed away, and they offered a voluntary severance package. Now I mentioned my father passing away because the big hit that I got, aside from the loss of my dear father, was that um he spent his whole life saving for a rainy day. He worked, but he never played. And my message or the message that I got from him was that life is too short to be doing anything that you're not really happy doing.

Robin- Host:

So true.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So when they offered the voluntary severance package, I thought, I said, I went in and said, sign me up, let me be one of the first. I got out in the nick of time. We were only allowed to take a quarter of our stock share and Aesop money every year. I was able to get all of my money out before the you know what hit the fan. Wow.

Robin- Host:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

I mean I was one of the few.

Robin- Host:

Being present can be priceless. Being intuitive, being in the know of like, hey, this just is not right, let's take a different direction. How I mean, how could you have ever known where it went? But you were intuitive in that moment. Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah. Had no idea where that was going. And so when I left Enron, um my mentor at the Yoga Institute, I I started taking yoga classes. I found that's where I wanted to go with this. Sure. While I was working for Enron before the big event, I found my mother actually found Lex Gillen at the Yoga Institute in Houston.

Speaker 4:

All right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Uh old location 2150 Portsmouth Street in the Shepherd Plaza. And we started taking classes with Lex, and that again changed my life. And I think that had a lot to do with helping me to be present and be able to trust. Because we a lot of us are getting information, our inner being is guiding us, but we don't trust it.

Speaker 4:

Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And it's not until after the fact that we go, God, I got it.

Speaker 1:

I didn't, I just I feel like I knew something.

RayeLynn- Guest:

I got the message and I didn't follow through, or I didn't pay attention, or I didn't whatever.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Um, but so right after I quit working for Enron, Lex decided that he had taught 20 years. That's a lot of thousands and thousands of classes. Yeah. And so he decided he was gonna have a teacher training.

Robin- Host:

Okay.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And mom and I, and there were others that were in our circle that took that first teacher training with Lex. Um, some of you may remember Mark Lockhart from the old yoga institute. He was in that class as well. Um and uh it wasn't long after that I finished the teacher training and I thought, okay, what am I gonna do with all of this? Because I really didn't see myself as a yoga teacher, even though I did the teacher training. Um, I did work a little bit for Lex, I answered the phones, I subbed a couple of classes for him, but I I decided that I needed to get a real job. Sure. So I went back to school. I wanted to be a chiropractor.

Robin- Host:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So I started working on getting all of my prereqs together to go to chiropractic college.

Speaker 4:

Uh-huh.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And I was on my last semester, my last class. I was at the College of the Mainland in line to sign up for my last prerequisite, and I got a phone call. Now remember how big our cell phones were back then. Anyway, I got a phone call from Lex and he said, How would you like to have your own yoga studio? And I looked at my paperwork in my hands. It was a chemistry class that I had left, by the way. I looked at the paperwork in my hands, I thought about it for a minute. I said, When do we start? He said, How about tomorrow? I said, Great. I tried I grabbed my paperwork, I got out of line and went back and got in my car and went home. The next day, Lex and I met with um Curtis Totter from Pasadena, and he had a space in Pasadena that he wanted us to use for free.

Robin- Host:

Hey, that's that's important in the community.

RayeLynn- Guest:

It is important for the commun in the community. And so um we started working on that. This is 1993. Wow. End of ninety three, beginning of ninety-four. Wow.

Robin- Host:

And so um now I just I wonder for people who are interested in yoga, but maybe didn't quite understand the Houston vibe at that point. At this point, were there more people that were interested in yoga? Was there more accessibility or not quite yet?

RayeLynn- Guest:

We were the the Yoga Institute was the only game in town. Okay. We had people coming from Bay City, from Beaumont, from Dallas, from Austin and San Antonio. We we were the only game in town, folks. Okay. We were one we were one of the oldest, largest existing yoga studios in the country.

Robin- Host:

Thank you. That's what I thought. And then I also thought that there really wasn't anywhere else to go. There was no competition. There was no, like at some point Dawn Yoga came about, but you know, when when was that? I don't know, right?

RayeLynn- Guest:

I don't even remember when that came out, and that that was like a totally different style.

Robin- Host:

Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah. And a non-event. But we we opened our studio, the yoga, the second yoga institute studio on Strawberry Street in Pasadena, with 85 students signed up and paid in advance. Wow. Okay, well, how big was that space? It was 3,000 square feet. It was a big it was a big space.

Robin- Host:

Arn Shepherd was was quite sizable with the one room.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Well, the the original studio was probably about 1,500 square feet. I doubled the size when I did the big expansion. That was in 2004. Okay, okay. Um but it wasn't unusual for us to have 60 people in the yoga class. People were literally doing yoga in the bookshop at the studio in Houston. So the vibe of that many people is just awesome. It is. Yeah. And so when we opened up the studio in Pasadena, um, I started getting notices on my door from the local churches about us being heathens.

Robin- Host:

Oh, oh, were you now? Uh-huh.

Speaker 1:

Or did they say they they thought so? They thought we were yes.

RayeLynn- Guest:

They, you know, like who are you? What are you doing here? We don't like what you're doing. Judgment and labels.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And and so did they actually sign who we is?

RayeLynn- Guest:

Oh, they had the name of the. Oh, just the church. Okay. Okay. Um, but it it uh it happened a couple a few times enough that I realized that maybe me being a psychic intuitive or card reader might be a conflict of interest. So I kind of put a cap on that. I still did my own stuff and I still had friends that I read for, but it wasn't anything that I was promoting.

Speaker 2:

Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And we moved from the Pasadena location. Um, Mr. Todder passed away, unfortunately, and we moved from Pasadena to Clear Lake. Um after about a year and a half. So that was nineteen ninety-six, I think. Um, and we were on Upper Bay Road at that point. Now that location is no longer there. They literally tore it down and put in a parking lot. But we have a new location. I say we, it's not mine. It's now Catherine Day's. I um I owned the Clear Lake Yoga Studio uh Yoga Institute from I started buying Lex out as soon as we moved to the Clear Lake location. So by 1997, I owned the Clear Lake location. And in 1997, Lex asked me to take over the Houston location. And at first I said no. And then he said, if you don't do it, I'm gonna find somebody else to do it. And I'm like, oh no, that's not happening.

Speaker 4:

Oh no.

Speaker 1:

Well, okay then I change my answer. Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So I took it, I took over the Houston location, and we hired Becky Jordan to help manage the Houston location, and shortly thereafter, we also hired Katherine Day to help manage the Clear Lake location.

Robin- Host:

Wow. So Catherine's been managing it for that long. Off and on.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Catherine had a baby at some point during that. Now Emma's, I think, 18, so wow.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So there was a p a short period of time where she was big time mama and focused on family and um and so kind of out of the picture, but it wasn't long after Emma started school that Catherine was back in the fold and doing things at the studio and teaching and what have you. And um And Becky lived in Houston. And Becky lived in Houston at that time. And um Becky and I became best buddies, and uh at some point she and I um this was after the John Friend, John Friend came into our lives. We develop we created and and started a teacher training business called Sacred Art Yoga.

Robin- Host:

Um we need around what year are we in now?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So I'm gonna say this is probably two thousand and two thousand and eight. Mm-hmm. Okay. Because Kevin was still alive when we started. Okay. Um I lost Kevin in 2009 to lung cancer. Um and during all of that, Becky was coming to the house and we were writing the manual and getting everything together to prepare. And um, I think we actually had our first training before he passed. Wow. Um but anyway. Yeah. Um so I had two teach I had one teacher training business and two yoga studios. Um, and that went on until 2016. And over the course of that time, not only did I lose my husband, but I lost my favorite aunt and another very dear friend, uh Janie Bose Wright. Uh Janie Bose Wright, um, who was also a teacher at the Yoga Institute. Um, we miss you, Janie. Anyway, uh it's just like all of those losses started adding up, and the studio business started getting harder. I I expanded the studio, the Houston studio in 2004, um, doubled the size. We were the we were still the only game in town. The day the renovation was finished, suddenly there was yoga on every street corner.

Robin- Host:

Yes, the yoga boom. The yoga boom.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And boys and girls, I want you to know my rent was nine thousand dollars a month. That is a lot. That's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. It's a lot of money. And I'd have been okay if we'd have still been the only game in town. But it became a struggle when there was yoga on every street corner. Um but we made it.

Robin- Host:

Hey, hey, you know, and I think a lot of people have experienced that in their cities, whether it's just Houston or Los Angeles or New York, you know, it does look like there's a yoga place on every corner, and and then it's sort of like uh survival of the fittest at that point, or survival of who can get the loan or whatever, you know, and or survival of groupon. Like there were a lot of cultural shifts at that point that um were also happening, and then you had a lot of grief at the same time. So that's that's tough. And then I mean, when you walk it into that, Houston was also going through a lot of uh uh like natural shifts as far as like disasters happening and floods happening and things like this, and so that waxes and wanes on your attendance as well, whether it's Clear Lake or Houston, sometimes both, right? Because Houston, when we get hit, we get hit through Galveston sometimes. Right. So it's like both. I imagine it's a double whammy on the bottom line, right?

Speaker 4:

Right.

Robin- Host:

But it sounds like you had really strong solidarity ties with the people that were helping you, Becky and and uh fellow teachers, fellow students, and you kept going business-wise to some extent uh uh a bit after that, actually.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Oh yeah. I I had 17 teachers between the two studios. Yeah. Some days it was like herding cats.

Robin- Host:

We all know how how how hard that is, yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Um but you know, it being a studio owner was one of the greatest gifts. Those were really fun and exciting times for us. Um the John Friend scene back then was very exciting. Um, there were big workshops, big events, big retreats. Um there were music tours. Music tours. I met Krishna Das. I had Krishna Das come to the Yoga Institute in Houston more than once. Dave Stringer, um Benji and Heather Wardheimer, Shantala came. Uh uh Wah came and played at the studio. I mean, like we really were blessed with some great people. I have I have goosebumps when you threw a party, it was at capacity. Yes, yes. We had over 400 people in the studio for a Krishna Das event.

Speaker 1:

Talk about the energy of that place.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yes, it was incredible. And and the and the caliber of teachers that I was able to experience and bring to the Houston community was really big. And you know, of I I've I've sold the studios. Um, unfortunately, the Houston location uh is no longer in existence. Um I still see a number of the teachers and and students, and I love them and miss them dearly, and I'm so sorry that that's the way that it went down. I'm grateful, so grateful for Catherine and the Yoga Institute in Clear Lake. Um we've got a brand new studio. Well, it's not brand new anymore, but uh i it's a few years old, but it's beautiful, yeah, incredibly beautiful studio down in Clear Lake, and um similar teaching style, yes, um, and uh beliefs behind, you know, and it's all about the community and what can we do to elevate the community. And for those of you that don't know about yoga, um I think the first thing that people realize when they start doing yoga is body awareness. Some of us were naturally gifted with body awareness. We came into the world with body awareness, and by body awareness I mean, you know, you can feel what's going on in your body, and when something isn't right and when something is, right? You're you have that level of awareness, and you know, them bones connect to the other bones, right? That kind of thing. But there are a large number of people that really don't have any body awareness. In fact, they're really not inhabiting their body. Right. And so one of the first things people get in the yoga is wow, I have a body. Yeah. And if I do this here, it makes a difference there. Yeah. And if I'm breathing and I'm moving and I'm stretching my body in every possible direction almost every day.

Speaker 1:

It's like big eyes, like a whole new experience.

RayeLynn- Guest:

It's a whole yeah, yeah, it's a whole new game, folks.

Robin- Host:

Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. And and still to this day, even though we're in 2025, we're about to end this year, and there are people that have never considered stretching. They they don't know the benefits, they think their body is just the way their body is, and uh they think their breath is just the way that their breath is. And and even though yoga, I would say, is now the most accessible accessible it's ever been, you know, we can live stream into India classes if we wanted to, right? Like that's that's amazing. That's huge. Yeah, and um you have brought in a lot of teachers and a lot of uh music guides and had so many different workshops and taught so many different people and had people become teachers under your guidance, with your guidance to be themselves, not to be a doppelganger, but to go out into the world and highlight therapeutics first so people are taken care of. And I think you've always stayed really true to Hatha. And uh that's a beautiful thing. I mean, the ripples are quite endless. You'll you'll never you'll never know the reach of that. Do you get to hear where some of that goes? I mean, have you gotten to soak that in a little bit or some.

RayeLynn- Guest:

I mean, I look at people like you and I see how much of an impact you make in this community, and that makes me feel really good because I had a tiny bit of influence in that, and the rest of it was all you. Yes, and I just encouraged it and gave you the opportunity.

Robin- Host:

You really did, over and over and over again. Like it, I I would not have been able to participate in yoga classes because I couldn't afford it. And I worked across the street from the Yoga Institute on Shepherd and Farnum, and quite honestly, I just had this awareness that some of our best customers were coming from your classes. And, you know, they were like had the yoga buzz and they were really nice, and and those are the people I wanted to be around, but I didn't really know where they were coming from. And so once I started, you know, asking them and getting to know them, I thought, I don't know, maybe I'll do yoga. And similarly, I was at a college, um, I was in college myself trying to become a physical therapist assistant. I ended up being a massage therapist, but I had to get a uh PE requirement of all things. And I did athletics way too much before I got to college. I ended up having to have a shoulder surgery. And so to get to college and need another uh weird requirement, I thought, oh, fine. And my options were yoga or swimming. And I thought, well, I'm not gonna smell like chlorine all day because I had to go take a bunch of classes through the rest of the day. So I took yoga and the lady there did really impress me and it not just having me feel my body for the first time in a really new way, I could lift my body weight without having to lift weights. I could lift my body weight without having to lose weight.

Speaker 4:

Yes.

Robin- Host:

I was baffled, like, whoa, what? I was a top heavy weightlifter of my senior class, and I could never do like a pull-up or anything like that. But in yoga, I could immediately get guided into a plank, get guided into push-ups in a way I've never done it, get guided into uh handstands, you know. And I thought, I really want to continue this. And when I looked at the prices, it was quite expensive for me at the time. And then I had mentioned to you I was saving up to get to classes, and you said, throw me a pound of coffee and get your ass on the mat. And that was my Starbucks mark out, you know. And and I thought, wow, how cool. So in the true uh uh tradition of yoga, like you donated it to me, you know, and I continue to teach donated classes because of that and make it allow it to be accessible for people. And it I just only thought the only way I want to become a teacher is to do your teacher training. And that was through you and Becky. And and actually what would have been my first class was Kevin's funeral, you know, and you so generously invited people to that funeral. And I never met Kevin in person, but I felt like I met him by going to the funeral to support you. And you know, Becky and someone else, uh maybe Catherine, I'm not sure because I don't know everyone, but I was told if your teacher invites you, you go. And I went, and for the first time ever, I saw you as the strongest person I had known in class not be able to stand. And they held you.

Speaker 2:

And I thought, I don't know if I'm gonna have people to hold me when I can't stand. But I want to learn how to be that humble. I want to learn how to go through those times. And I did get to know Becky in the training because you were grieving and managing things for Kevin and whatnot. And you said sometimes we're not supposed to be on the mat. You know, sometimes that's not the time, right?

Robin- Host:

And if people have not tried yoga for whatever reason, if they have not tried meditation for whatever reason, it's okay. You know, maybe it's not your tool, but maybe there is a season or a teacher or an expression that is. So don't completely cancel it out because it's such a big thing.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Robin- Host:

They have yoga for vets with post-traumatic stress, they have yoga where you just rest and it's not even cardio or very Americanized, you know. They have yoga that is just literally all about the breath practice. And one of the things that I noticed from the first day on my mat to today that I'm so thankful for is you don't ever have to fall out of love with yoga because we could literally do yoga until our last breath if we're consciously dying, you know? It's it's amazing to me because being an athlete, I miss some of the things that I fell in love with. My body isn't going to do the things all the time forever that I love to do. But I tell people, use yoga to keep continue to do the things that you love, right? The stretches that you like will help you be a runner, will help you be a weightlifter, will help you do whatever, will help you just laugh better. There's laughter yoga. Like, that's amazing. You know, we can all use some laughter. And so I just it was the only game in town. It was a game that was close to me, but what really kept me there, Ray, was the welcoming vibe that you and your students always gave. And I, too, when I ended up going, was, you know, significantly younger than most people there. And I had to have a shoulder surgery, so I was significantly uh upset in my body, not knowing, not being able to do the things I wanted to do, and then having to do this thing called yoga, you know. So I came in with a similar pouty face as you did to your first class. So if you're going to yoga and you're pouting and you're not, you know, like just there looking like the posters or the marketing, that's how that's okay. Just stay, you know, just stay. And most of my students could care less about anything that they would think yoga is because of overmarketing issues, but they want the benefits. They're like, I don't know that I want tight clothes or I don't have a click, or I don't know if I can ever move like most people, but I just need to be able to put on my shoes. I just need to be able to balance and not fall. I just need to be able to remain uh in my independence as long as I can. And I'm like, great, we can support that, right? And and time and time again, uh my classes, my students have, and I I thank you for that because I learned it from you. I learned it from focusing therapeutics uh first, not uh over-aerobicizing, you know, aerobics or whatever, you know.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Well, and we've all done the gamut, right? Like I've definitely done the yoga robics, I've definitely done the ashtanga hot yoga thing, I've done just the stretches, and I've found, and I've done the yin, I've found that for me, balance is key. So not all one or the other. The thing of it is the yoga will always meet you right where you are.

Robin- Host:

Yes.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And if you can get over the fact that you don't look the same when you're 50 as you did when you were 30, and you can't right? Who does? So what? Let go of the things that are no longer serving you and embrace the things that are. The yoga, so yoga is movement, breathing, stretching, exercise, meditation, relaxation, concentration. Did I say breath? Definitely breath.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Um sometimes chanting. And sometimes chanting. That's right. Sometimes chanting. We love the chanting. Um I love the chanting. Because it's all vibrational, right? And it's all frequency. And so all of it feeds all of it feeds the whole. And and the whole reason for the practice is for us to be able to be in the middle to be able to be wherever wherever we are, even Grand Central Station on Friday night at midnight, to be any but to be wherever you are and be okay. Yeah.

Robin- Host:

That's a beautiful thing. I've met so many people who say I just don't feel safe in my own skin. And I don't know why humans say that. You know, I I've I've had those similar feelings, but it's a it's a it's a serious uh saying, you know. And I think yoga, I know yoga for me has allowed for me to find that centering, allowed for me to to come back to who this is right now in this moment and in this alignment. And I think, I think to be fair, if you're ever just curious about this, like we are all always just trueing ourselves up to who we are in this moment over and over and over again, right? Like we're all aging, you know, we're all changing all the time. So it's like a new invitation, which yoga allows for me to explore some of the things that don't really feel good. And then they allow for me to get to some of the things that feel like what you would say, Ray, is yummy, you know? And and you know, Ray in class would say, uh Find the yummy uh smile, damn it. I mean, like, you know, it's it it it was it was actually you know, it can be intense, but but we found the laughter, you know, it can be intense, but we found the alignment together. And what I love from the students to the teachers is we all had a similar sentiment about that. And and I've ran into some teachers along the way um long after the institute has closed, and we just share a moment, you know, and it's a beautiful moment. And then when you come in and teach, and uh when I'm able to go to a class, you know, it's it's like a reunion, and that like that's a beautiful thing. It really is. Yeah, so thank you.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah. The yoga teaches us to be where we are, and it really is an invitation to befriend the one person who is with you literally from the moment that you were conceived until the moment you take your last breath, and still that's who you are, right? Like so the yoga really gives us an opportunity to experience ourselves as embodied beings. Yes, yes, and to experience this quality of even though the world feels very chaotic and very uncertain, and a number of people comment on not feeling safe in their own skin, not being at peace in their own skin, not feeling comfortable with themselves in their own skin. That that I find is one of the biggest causes for suicide and addictions and all kinds of nasty things happening to people's in in their lives. And it's because we've never been asked to take the time to get to know ourselves.

Robin- Host:

Right. And there are so many ways we can numb out and disassociate away from that for sure. Exactly. You know, and and it is and you know, with that I will say that if you feel uncomfortable exploring that by yourself, that's okay. You know, start with friends, start with practitioners that you trust, start with doing it in public, maybe doing it, you know, it's it's a it could be it could be a tough thing in your own head. You can be kind of your own worst enemy sometimes. And and then just like practically speaking, because now there's all these uh videos and apps and whatnot, it it's really hard to watch an app and do something where you're trying to maintain balance and and and and and look at an app and not hurt yourself. So, so you know, like even if you're a really confident person, you're just taking it to the next level and you don't have any extra time and you're doing this at like midnight or five in the morning, it's okay. Like, you know, it start with what is accessible to you, go slow, do what you can and skip the rest, don't hurt yourself. Like, keep looking for the right thing, is what I want to say. Because, you know, sometimes sitting with yourself or doing it yourself is just like not the right match. Sometimes it can be a beautiful match.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And and here's the thing: if it's new to you, go take a class. And and and I say go take a class rather than turning on a video, take a class because the teacher can see you. Yes, the teacher is looking at what you're doing and how you're moving. And they can give you some guidance and in some cases literally help you with your alignment.

Robin- Host:

Because I'll tell you modifications.

RayeLynn- Guest:

When you are in alignment with you, whether that's physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually, when you're in alignment with you, things are easy. When you're not in alignment, things are hard. You can take the most difficult yoga pose. And if you're in good alignment, it's effortless.

Robin- Host:

And I think the key point there you said was in alignment with you, not the rest of the class. Right. You know, and and finding the pose for you, you know, and and a tea a true teacher can help you find that. Start with good reviews, start with something accessible towards yourself. Also feel free to go early and actually talk to the teacher if you have any uh health issues, body issues, you've had any injuries in the past, things like this, because uh they can help you um maybe steer yourself away from some poses that you shouldn't do yet, or you know, give a little extra extra help because they know you're new to it and props and help you actually get there. So, you know, there's a lot of things that can be done in person if you communicate with the uh practitioner.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And and it's also okay to to pop an email or pick up the phone and call and say, I just want to have a conversation so that I feel more comfortable or doing. And and I'm also gonna say, I have a very strong opinion about this. If you're new to yoga or a particular kind of yoga, take a beginner class. Yes. Take a beginner class, and if they don't offer a beginner class, find somebody who does.

Robin- Host:

Yes.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yes, it's important.

Robin- Host:

Start from foundations to build up. Yes, you gotta you gotta root down to rise up. You gotta you gotta learn the basics to get to the advanced. For sure. For sure. Even if you're I've been guilty of this. I'm like, I'm hypermobile and my schedule only allows for the advanced class. I'm gonna go. Well, you know what? That's hard. It's harder than hard. It's it's it's not it's not advised.

RayeLynn- Guest:

It's not advised, and it really puts you, if you're doing that, it puts you in a in a disadvantage and it could be risky. Yes, you could because how many, how many people raise your hands, have have started an exercise program and two weeks into it you've got an injury and you have to quit.

Robin- Host:

Yes, yes.

RayeLynn- Guest:

How many times?

Robin- Host:

Yes, how many? Just so many people in in most January occasions, right? Exactly.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yes. I mean, you know, it took you this long to get however you are. Yes, it's gonna take longer than a week to make it different. Yeah, it takes a while.

Robin- Host:

It takes a little while, and it's worth it, and you might feel benefits that you weren't even in it for. Like a lot of times I hear from my students, wow, I didn't know I was holding my breath. Yeah. Or, wow, uh, is it me or am I taller? I feel taller. You know, spinal decompression can happen in one class. And, you know, or ooh, woo, woo, woo, my feet are sore. What's that about? It's like, oh, you use the muscles in ways that you don't use in your shoes, which will help with your balance, but we got to go slow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right.

Robin- Host:

You know, and so those are some things you can expect uh, you know, relatively soon in your practice, probably, but there's a whole lot more, like good sleep. It definitely helps with sleep.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Definitely helps with sleep. It definitely helps with the mental chatter. Um, I think that yoga and meditation teaches us to be more discerning about where we let our minds go and how long we let our minds hang out somewhere. Um it it has totally changed my life and it's changed the lives of so many people that I know. Um, I'm gonna go back and mention Janie Bowes once again because mm, Robin mentioned that it's something that you can do right up until you breathe your last breath. I was with Janie right before she died. And she was doing ujay breathing. Nice, nice. Yeah, yeah. Until she wasn't breathing anymore. That's a beautiful thing. It was so beautiful and it was so peaceful. Yeah. So peaceful. And I think that's the other thing that I want to say. If you're looking for peace, try yoga. Meditation, people have a weird concept about meditation, I think. Um people come to me and say, Well, I've tried it, but I just can't do it. Uh, I can't figure out how to get my mind to stop. You know, I can't sit still like that. Um we there's a method to the madness. You cannot just sit down and close your eyes and expect your mind to stop and get quiet. It doesn't work like that.

Robin- Host:

Right. We're not wired that way.

RayeLynn- Guest:

We're not wired that way.

Robin- Host:

Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And and so, and that's part of the reason why some people have such a hard time going to sleep. You don't know how to go to sleep. And you don't know how to relax. You don't know how the mind is not the only time your mind stops is when you're sleeping. And sometimes my mind is still going after I've fallen asleep, but at least it the it seems that way. But but the only way that you're able to fall asleep is that you're able to drop down beneath the thoughts. So that's the key to meditation. You're not trying to stop the mind. You're just trying to drop down beneath the thoughts.

Robin- Host:

Nice.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So if you think about meditation in the sense of start by becoming aware of where you are, be aware of what you can see, and then close your eyes, be aware of what you can hear.

Robin- Host:

Safely, in a safe space.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah, like don't do this in your car, folks. Please do not do this while you're driving or while you're walking, when you're sitting, when you're in a safe place. You're gonna sit somewhere and just give yourself a little time, you know, five, ten minutes. It doesn't have to be anything big. Yeah. And um let yourself start by acknowledging your surroundings, what you can see, what you can hear, um, closing your eyes that gives you a clearer perception of what you can feel and what you can hear. You can start to notice the texture of the fabric against your skin, the coolness of the air on your skin. And so you you work from outside in. So then you start to feel yourself breathing. And you know what? Just feeling yourself breathe, just being aware that you're breathing in and breathing out, that changes everything. Everything. So you become aware of breathing, come become aware of breathing in and breathing out, and then you follow your breath inside. Inside of yourself. I like in meditation like going underwater, being at the beach. Let's say being at the beach. Okay. On the surface, there are waves, waves of sound, waves of thought, waves of memory, plans, dreams, um notes, lists, all of that stuff, all happening on the surface. It's really loud inside of our heads. It really is. Yeah. It's really loud in our world.

unknown:

Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

But if you drop beneath the waves, things begin to get quieter. And the the further down into the depths of the ocean you go, the quieter and the stiller it becomes. You can literally lay on the bottom of the ocean floor, maybe not in Galveston. Maybe on a good day in Galveston. I mean, this is in your mind.

Robin- Host:

Pick the best piece in your mind.

RayeLynn- Guest:

In your mind, you can literally be on the ocean floor and looking up, and you can see the sun coming through the water, and you can still see the waves crashing on the surface. But you're in this quiet, barely shifting, very barely moving space, and you're just aware of breathing in and breathing out. Breathing in and breathing out. Just that. That level of slowing down helps us to eliminate the hurrier or the waiting until the last minute to walk out the door. So I'm anxious when I get on the road person. You will start to notice as you begin to do a practice like yoga or meditation that you are different. You are you. You are you, and you're not reacting to the onslaught of everything that's happening around you.

Robin- Host:

It's a beautiful thing.

RayeLynn- Guest:

You're you're contained and at peace in your own skin. And that means that you're gonna be kinder.

Robin- Host:

Mm-hmm.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And more aware. And more aware.

Robin- Host:

Differently aware. Uh-huh.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Mm-hmm.

Robin- Host:

Mm-hmm.

RayeLynn- Guest:

I mean, if we want to eliminate road rage, oh yeah. Yoga and meditation.

Robin- Host:

Definitely. Definitely. Definitely.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And and and there are all kinds of yoga.

Robin- Host:

Oh yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right? I mean, uh you could you could spend a lifetime studying and working with di different breathing practices, different pranayama techniques. You could spend a lifetime doing things like meditation and bhakti yoga, which is the devotion or the chanting. You could spend a lifetime just exploring the physical as the physical aspects of asana. I mean, there's so many different avenues that you can go.

Robin- Host:

Yeah. Um yoga nidra is one of them, right?

RayeLynn- Guest:

And yoga nidra is the yoga, it's called the yogic sleep. And um, it is the most sublime, rejuvenating, clarifying, clearing practice I have ever done. Wow. Yeah. I mean, it the the yoga nidra takes you to that place where you're right between waking and sleeping. When you're in that space, you are closest to oneness. You are, and when I say oneness, I mean oneness with the divine, oneness with source, oneness as in you are a drop in the ocean. And you're the ocean. You're not just a drop, but you're also the ocean. Um, and when you're in this space, because you're right between waking and sleeping, you've been able to disidentify with your physical body, with all the thoughts running around in your head and all of the to-dos and all of the chaos in your life, you're able to disidentify and drop back away from all of that, right? And um, in this space, there's no conflict. So anything that is any any sort of um in the Yoga Nidra, the Yoga Nidra is done lying comfortably on the floor. We use a lot of props so that you don't get cranky being on the floor. Ideally, you're on the floor, but if you've got to be in the bed or on the couch, be on the bed or the recliner or the couch wherever you can be. The idea is you get your body into a comfortable position so you're not fidgeting and you're not anxious, you're not try, you know, constantly adjusting. You really want to take the time to be comfortable. And then as I the the Yoga Nidra is a guided process. So I literally talk you from being animated and physical to dropping back and beginning to disidentify with all of the things that we identify with. Um, and into that place where you're right between in the in the deepest part of the Yoga Nidra, where you're in that place right between waking and sleeping or waking and dreaming. And in that place, you there's no conflict, right? So that's the perfect time to reset your hard drive. If there are old beliefs, old habits, old patterns, things that are triggering you that you would like to shift, you can create a very powerful integrative intention about that. That we then at the deepest parts of the Yoga Nidra give you an opportunity to say those, say that intention for yourself, or if I'm doing a private with you and we've worked together on your intention, then I say it for you so that you're just receiving it. Um this is one of the most life-changing practices that I have ever done. Um, I have a client that um was really going through a very difficult time and having a difficult time settling in himself. Um, this is someone who went from living in his car to living in a five by seven office with no windows. Um and I started teaching him meditation and start and then gave him a Yoga Nidra on tape that he started playing for himself every day. Twin days into it, he you wouldn't you wouldn't even recognize the sound of his voice, let alone the expression on his face. And he told me, thank you. This has totally changed my life. I have never felt this at peace and at ease in my own skin ever in my whole life.

Robin- Host:

So if somebody wanted to work with you after hearing this, how would they get in contact with you?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So the best way to get in contact with me is uh to email me. That's the fastest, easiest route. Um my email address is awakening presence a w a k e-n-in-g P-R-E-S-E-N-C-E dot ray, and that's R-A-Y-E at gmail.com. And if you'll put in the subject line Yoga Nidra or meditation or yoga or a reading, whatever it is that you're interested in, that'll give me a clue. Um and um and or you can also put podcasts somewhere on there so I know that that you're calling. This is where you're coming from. Right. That this is where you're coming from. Um and then also uh I am in town once a month, the very the first Saturday of every month. I am doing readings at Body, Mind, and Soul Books in Houston. That's over off of I 10. Um you can um schedule. Schedule an appointment with me at Body, Mind, and Soul for the first Saturday of the month. Tomorrow is the first Saturday, by the way. You can schedule an appointment with me by going to bmshouston.com. And if you'll look at the the options, though there's an option for readers, and I'm I'm on there. You can find me there and schedule an appointment there. You can also email me for an appointment, and we can schedule an appointment anytime because this is what I do now. I'm doing readings. You do it virtually. I'm but I'm doing it virtually because by the way, and I didn't mention this, um in 2017 I met my now husband, Denise Denis Rondeau, who I love very much.

Robin- Host:

She's like mushy, she's mushy for for Denise. Yes.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Interestingly enough, we met um at the Yoga Nidra training that I took in Florida, a place that I thought I never wanted to go.

Speaker 1:

And there you were, blissed out.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And there I was blissed out. So m let me tell let me just say this quickly. I came from Houston to the training in Florida. Denis came from Canada. Wow. And he wasn't taking the training. He was he was actually supporting my roommates that I was doing the training with. They had a son at home that that uh that he was helping with. And uh um he showed up the second to the last day of the retreat, and or the training rather. And um uh we went for a walk. Uh all four my two my two roommates and Denise and I went for a walk and they disappeared, the world disappeared, everything disappeared except me and Denis.

Speaker 1:

Wow.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And like, you know, we had 36 hours before we both went home. He I hadn't even made it to the airport, made it to the to the plane yet. And he had already called me and left me a message. So we messaged back and forth. He came to visit for Christmas.

Speaker 1:

Don't ever give up on love.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right, don't ever give up on love because you know what, you guys You never know. You never know. My friends kept saying, You need to get on the dating app. And I'm like, no, I'm not interested in the dating app. Well, you won't date a student, you won't date a fellow teacher. How the heck do you think you're gonna meet anybody? What do you think? They're just gonna walk up and knock on the door?

Robin- Host:

Well, actually, yes, I'm gonna take a random walk and then I'm gonna meet the love of my next part of my life.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right. Exactly.

Robin- Host:

I said it could happen. Because I'm Raylan Ratz.

RayeLynn- Guest:

That's right. That's right. And and by the way, the first person I dated did actually walk up my onto my and knock onto my front porch and knock on my door. There you go. He did. He was there to help me design some landscaping, but one thing led to another, and that was the first guy that I dated. But anyway, Denise and I met in Florida.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's right. Sometimes they come to you. It's fine. It's fine.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah. Get to know you. Uh anyway. So Denise and I met in Florida. Uh, we both went home. We talked on the phone literally every day, sometimes all day.

Speaker 1:

Hey. It was crazy. That's when you know you love them. Uh it was crazy. You're like, I might need a new phone place.

RayeLynn- Guest:

So we we did this, oh my God, what time of year was that? It had to have been in the fall. It was in the fall. Because Denny came to visit for two weeks right after Christmas. And when he left, everybody cried. Me, Denise, my dog, everybody cried. And um, within about a week and a half, he was in his car driving back to Houston. Yeah. We were married um three months later. Wow.

Robin- Host:

And uh Love can be a solution and a problem. Right.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right. Um, and uh that was happening all about the same time I was um selling the studios. Yeah, and uh sold the Clear Lake studio in 2018, and right after that, well, I should also say I had to have hip surgery and all of that, but maybe not, maybe I don't need to say that. Well, that's okay. Whatever he did, yeah. Um, but d Denise and I took a trip to see my mom who lived in who lives in Palestine, and um something happened. I don't even know what happened. We went in the backyard and I started looking around and I thought, and I said out loud, you know, I could live here. Went in the house and said to mom, you know, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think I could live here. And she looked at me big-eyed and she said, Well, you know, the people that live across their across the street are fixing to put their property on the market. Intuition again. Intuition again. Yep. Anyway, fast forward, we bought that house in Palestine, and I'm living in Palestine now with Denis across the street from my mom. We live in the piney woods and what I call the East Texas Hill Country. Uh-huh. Um, and it's ex it's incredibly beautiful. I love being in the country. I love being able to look up at the night sky and actually see the stars. Wow. Yeah, yeah. And um that's nice. And I live in a place where I don't have to put any curtains on my windows. That's nice. That's nice. You know, I have that much private, that much space that people can't see in. So um, I love it there. And um I love what I'm doing. So I'm coming here, that's where I was going with this. I'm coming to Houston once a month. The first Saturday of the month, I'm at Body, Mind, and Soul. And then the Sunday after the Saturday, I'm doing readings, I'm teaching something. I'm either teaching at Body, Mind, and Soul, or I'm teaching at the Yoga Institute Clear Lake, which is what I'm doing this weekend. I'm teaching at the Yoga Institute Clear Lake on Sunday, and it's a Yoga Nidra and a holiday restorative yoga, which is yummy. But you're famous for it. And then the double yummy is the yoga nidra, and the triple yummy is that my friend Farita McGuid, who is also an incredible yogi and yoga teacher, and she's an incredible musician in her own right, and she's got these beautiful alchemy sound bowls. Wow. So she's playing the alchemy sound bowls through the restorative yoga and the yoga nidra, and I guarantee you you will be blissed.

Robin- Host:

Nice. Ouch. Nice.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And you'll feel the effects for for several days. Um and so to do the do the yoga nidra, um, you can go to uh yoga institute clearlake.com and look at the workshops, backslash, forward slash, rather workshops, um, and it's right there on that page. Um or you can call 281-333-1646. Did I give the number for body, mind, and soul? I know I gave the website. So website for body, mind and soul, bmshouston.com, the phone number 713-993-0550, um, and the yoga institute clearlake.com or 281-333-1646. And if all else fails, email me awakeningpresence.ray at gmail.com.

Robin- Host:

Yes. So they have virtual options if they're just willing to reach out to you and create a personal plan. And then they have two places where they can be in person, one for tarot reading and then one for the yoga practice. And, you know, it's a it's you know, you can dip your toe in whatever part speaks to you, basically. And Ray can help you find what works best if you just reach out to her first. And if you happen to call these places, everybody knows Ray. Everybody knows, you know, uh what her next offerings are, so they can remind you of that as well.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And if you want to be on my mailing list so that you know where I'm gonna be and what I'm gonna be doing in advance, um, you can also email me and put in the subject line newsletter. Newsletter.

Robin- Host:

Yeah, perfect.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And I can definitely do that. Can I talk a little bit about the about the readings?

Robin- Host:

Yeah, I think you should maybe just sort of let people know what to expect with that.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yeah. So um whether you make an appointment with me virtually or whether you're making an appointment to see me in person. Um I also do phone readings, by the way. Okay. Um and and it doesn't, here's the thing, it doesn't make any difference as far as my ability to pick up on you and read for you, whether we're in person or on Zoom or on the phone. We connect energetically, we connect heart to heart, and that's all that's needed. Time and space makes no difference whatsoever. Um, and so generally what I do is I start by having you choose a card to represent you for that day. And I do this with the cards face down. There's four queens and four kings, and I put the either four queens or four kings face down for you to choose. And if you're not there, I'll say pick a number between one and four. And that, and then I'll flip it over, and that gives me a real good indication of what's going on for you energetically, what's going on around you, what do you need to be aware of? Who can you call on, or what can you call on for support? Where are your advantages and what are your disadvantages? Just off of that one card. Just off of that one card. And then while I'm shuffling the cards, I'm calling in our angels and guides, the mystics and sages and holy ones, angels, uh, father, mother God, and just asking that they speak through me to you in a way that makes sense to you and that really gives you the guidance, information, inspiration, help, hope, support, whatever it is that you need for your greatest joy and your highest good. And then um the first spread, I'm usually asking, what do they want you to know? And I'll tell you, nine times out of ten, maybe nine point eight times out of ten, whatever it was that you were hoping to get comes out in that first spread.

Robin- Host:

And they're able to take notes. Are they able to record?

RayeLynn- Guest:

Yes. You can take notes, you can record. If we're doing Zoom, please ask me to record because I don't always remember. But we can absolutely record it for you. Yeah, we can absolutely get it recorded for you. And then if you've got a particular area or a specific question that you want to ask about, you will you'll have an opportunity to do that. The reason that I do these readings is because it I find that it's so helpful to know what the weather patterns are. Just like you look at the weather to know do I need to wear a jacket? Do I need my umbrella? Is it gonna be hot today? Like, what do I need to know? This is gonna give you that kind of information. What do I need to know? What's the bigger weather pattern? Like, so here's this there's the bigger weather pattern, things that affect the whole planet or the entire country, um, or a particular organization or group. Um and then there's weather patterns that are specific to you. And those are things that we get into. I'm not interested in beating the drum about what's wrong. You already know that. You don't need me to tell you that. But what I am interested in is where is your leg up? Where are the opportunities? Where is um where's the opening? Like it's really important that we pay attention to where and what are the doors and windows that are opening and where and what are the doors and windows that are closing. And the tarot and a reading with me will give you a good indication of that. The tarot, the cards themselves are just a place to start, you know, it's a storyline, it's a way to start the conversation, and it can uh give guidance as to when we ask a different question how how does that shift? What other things are pulled in when we move into a different area of your life? What do you need to know? Um I want my goal is for you to walk out or walk away from a reading with me, feeling like your feet are on the ground, your head is clearer, your heart is open, your hands are open, you're not clenching your fists, your shoulders are more relaxed, your belly is more relaxed, and you have an idea of the direction that you're going and what to look for and what to ask for.

Robin- Host:

And about how long would you say these readings generally take?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So I most readings are either 30 minutes or an hour. Bigger things, when there's bigger stuff going on, it can take an hour and a half. I've had them take as long as two hours. Sure. Just because the person has a lot that they're really going through and looking at. Um a lot of us have big things happening right now. Sometimes the big things take a little longer. Sure. Um, but it's also about your time. How much time do you have? It's also about the dollars and the cents. Sure. Um I will say that as a general rule, I don't turn people away because they don't have the money. But I also know that what people pay for they value. And you need money too. And I need and and this is what I do. This is what happens. This is what I do. I'm not independently wealthy.

Robin- Host:

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's that's that's all you have a light bill as well. This is yeah, this is how I make my living. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And and it's and you're you're generous, but it it it is important. And um I I want to say, like, I've gotten more than one reading from you. I think tw I think two if I if I if I'm right, but I would you say that sometimes readings last a really long time, or uh like maybe you only you only need one depending on what the person's going through, or would you say a lot of people come regularly? Like, I wonder if I was new to this. Personally, I come situationally. Like if I am looking for guidance during a particular season, and I've always valued the fact that absolutely what you're saying, you're a very positive reader. You know, it's not a lot of doom and gloom, even if, even if that's what you're going through in your life. I was going through a major grief crisis when I lost my sister, and the reading was all gold. You know, it was like all very like, hey, let's like exactly what you're saying, let's look at, let's look at what you have working for you. And when I couldn't see that, you could see that for me and put me in that direction. Some of those words, those sentiments, the guidance sticks with me years later, you know, and then sometimes it is very situational, so it kind of times out like, hey, take this opportunity, not this opportunity, that sort of thing. Would you would would what would you say like the regularity is for people on readings?

RayeLynn- Guest:

So some people come once a year, either at the first of the new year or around their birthday. Yeah. Some people come once a quarter.

unknown:

Okay.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Because the seasons change, right? Yeah. And some people want something more often than that. They want to come once a month. Yeah. Makes sense. I have a cli a couple of clients that it it's every two weeks. And I have one client that it's every week. Okay, great. Yeah, yeah. And there was a period of time where it was almost every day for a little while because things just were that difficult. And um Yeah. He he needed somebody to hold his hand. So I did that. And and so it just it depends. Now, I will say this. If I recognize that you're obsessing about something or someone, and you're continuously coming back and asking me the same question about the same thing, hoping that I'm gonna give you a different answer, I'll say, okay.

Robin- Host:

Hey, yeah, we gotta look at this.

RayeLynn- Guest:

We gotta look at this. And and I think that getting a reading every other day or every week right now for you is too much. Good for you. I don't want you to lean on me that much. That's wonderful. I want you to be that's why I'm doing this, is so that you can stand on your own two feet, not so that you're dependent on.

Robin- Host:

That's great. That's great. I can see that even in your teaching, it's like you wanted people to be very independent, you know, not dependent, and have their own autonomy. And and it it's great to know that um people aren't being taken advantage of or they're left with tools to stand on their own feet. And I'm sure, you know, I mean, you every field has representation that's not very honoring of their field in movies and things like this. And so it's just really good to get a full vision of what what should people expect, you know. And uh you've always been a person of integrity, a person who's taken many wonderful, ambitious things on, like the institute, and and to have that be offered through reading, I think is is a beautiful expression because uh some people do need that um guidance. And like you said, the the cards are uh one tool that can get you there. And I've definitely come to you for, you know, some business advice or coaching or you know, like direction because sometimes we go through non-traditional paths, you know, and you have had that corporate path, that non-corporate path, and you don't bring judgment um to the table, and you you just keep a really open mind for for the individual that's in front of you. You hold a very generous space that is hard to find these days. You know, you don't make it about you, you make it about here's the facilitation. And and um I I just appreciate the amount of efforting and work that that takes to do for people because it's it's not easy, you know.

RayeLynn- Guest:

It's one of my gifts is to hold space for people. That's why the Yoga Institute worked so well for me. And one of my gifts is also that I can, without being intrusive, I can feel into what's going on for people. And so I was reading the room. And and when I was doing one on one stuff, even in the yoga, you know. Information comes through and I don't, you know, I just say it. And people don't know that that's what I'm doing, but that's what I've always done. And so it it's uh really unique. Yeah. And one of the things that I love about teaching in person a yoga class is that um I can actually sit in one spot in the room and watch and feel the whole room breathing and moving together. Yes, I love that. And as people are moving, I can sort of feel where they're getting stuck, feel where they're more open. Yes. And and and so and that's it's the same with the ch with the reading. It's amazing. It's yeah, and um, so it's just yeah, yeah. I I love I love being able to hold space for people. Um, and you mentioned when uh at the funeral service for for my late husband Kevin. Um I I had a really hard time asking for help prior to that. That broke me. That broke me.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

RayeLynn- Guest:

And um I I don't know whether you knew this, but I didn't teach for almost a year after I lost Kevin. I observed it. And I had a number of the teachers that picked up the ball and kept things going for me, and people like Janie that showed up at my house every other weekend and took me to the water and you know, fed me and pumped me up, and yeah, um, I started learning that we're all in this together. Yes, yes, and none of us have to do it all by ourselves. Yes. And just because you can doesn't mean you should. Because people benefit when you ask them for help.

Robin- Host:

They do. They do when you let them in, when you when you allow them to contribute. We there are a lot of people out there that would contribute in so many different ways if people would allow it. And and I know that it is hard to ask, it is hard to make yourself vulnerable to do that. And you've always said that yoga brings you know just very different people together. And and and so if if what you have in common is yoga or you know, your Pilates class or whatever, whatever, you know, it's it doesn't have to be just yoga, but if you're encouraged in any way to start to get out and meet new people, new groups, things like this, go at the the pace of trust, you know, and and and it's amazing how people will show up for you. It's a m it really is baffling. It really is. And sometimes you have your emergency friends, and sometimes you have your movie friends, and sometimes you have your like I'll meet you on the mat wherever you are, friends. You know, it just depends, you know, and and and I hope that people have a variety around them because sometimes it takes that, right? And if you don't have it immediately right now, it's okay. You know, sometimes it comes when it's needed.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Right. And like lovers, communities show up for you. Love shows up when you're enjoying yourself, when you're feeling good, when you're having fun. So if you're looking for new relationships, go do things that you enjoy doing. That you enjoy doing. Thank you.

Robin- Host:

You know, not not what looks good, not where you can meet that person, not where whatever. And and like you said, sometimes it's just being open to taking a walk with your friends, you know, your friends that brought somebody. You know, I I do I think statistically, people still meet people through trusted friends, but you have to show up, you have to go, and it's if it's a few things, but even if nothing avails itself, you're doing something you like, and that's a beautiful thing. So thank you for taking care in this season. Thank you for being in the conversation with us. And Ray, I just I'm endlessly grateful for you and your offerings. I really, really am. And I hope that these tracks and these um offerings, however it is through 22 Sides or maybe some new tech or something can can offer reunions with the people who who have been afar from you but still love you, right? And then uh some new friends because you're so welcoming, you know, like it's it's really, really beautiful. And I love that you can see people in person or do virtual um offerings for them. So, you know, I appreciate you clicking play. I appreciate you having us between your ears, and wherever you are on your path, just keep taking care and may you find the yummy and may you smile, damn it. And thank you for uh subscribing or leaving a review or even supporting the podcast if that's what you're called to do. And if not, sharing this with a friend may be just what they need to hear. So thank you for sharing it as well.

RayeLynn- Guest:

Bye, bye, thank you, Robin. Thank you, everybody. Be well.

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Robin Mack

Host
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Alexis Melvin

Co-host