Power of WE
By Neissa Brown Springmann
Power of WEApr 13, 2024
Episode 11: The Health Benefits of Resetting and Following your Circadian Rhythm
Tracie Reichel joined iGnite Austin in the fall of 2023 and I've had the pleasure of getting to know her a bit on some visits to the area and have heard all about her enthusiastic passion for all our classes! The last time I was in town, she joined a mini-retreat we did as a presenter. As a functional health coach, she has lots of really interesting knowledge that aligns perfectly with iGnite. At the retreat she spoke with us about the importance of our Circadian Rhythm. I knew a tiny bit about this 24-hour internal clock, but what she shared was so much more fascinating than I expected, that I knew she was going to join me for a podcast on the subject. In addition to her role as functional health coach, Tracie is mom to three girls, married twenty years to her husband Lee, and has been a come and go Texan for most of her life. She's also a fairly new goat mama to S'more, Mocha, Chai and Oreo - who happen to be her favorite form of self care. I mean who can be unhappy around adorably sociable, hopping goats? Those goats are also what get her going in the mornings and help to kick start her circadian rhythm. In this episode, Tracie walks us through her health journey and how she delved deeper to discover the power of living with intentionality, the importance of the circadian rhythm and how that led her to her role as functional health coach. As she explains, if you've ever experienced jet leg, you'll probably remember how tired you felt at “the wrong time” and how much harder your body had to work to stay awake. This is what it feels like to work against your circadian rhythm. That's because the body has a master clock called the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the brain, AND you have "peripheral body clocks" throughout the whole body. These all need to be in sync and working in harmony for the body to generate a strong circadian rhythm. Why is this important? SO MANY REASONS! Listen to this super interesting and information packed podcast on Spotify HERE or YouTube below and let's get your rhythm back on track! You can contact Tracie through her health coaching business, Morning Light Mamas at www.traciereichelcoach.com To read more on the blog post and see all of Tracie's recommendations, click on this link: https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/circadian-rhythm
Episode 10: She Fell Overboard and into the Adriatic Sea for Eighteen Hours. Simone's Story of Survival, Love, Miracles, Strength and Resilience
In June 1991 when Simone was a 21-year-old college student, traveling abroad with her best friend Tina between junior and senior year, she fell off a night ferry, and was lost in the Adriatic Sea for over 18 hours.
I can't even write that without getting chills. Deep, dark water is one of my greatest fears, yet Simone says for the many hours she was in the water, she often felt peace - the water was calm, the night was clear, and the saline helped to keep her afloat. A fellow traveler she'd met only the day before and instantly connected with, Larry, jumped in when Simone went overboard, and they spent the night encouraging each other, talking and making plans to someday marry once they were rescued. But by the time the sun came up, finally warming her, Simone was alone.
After 18 hours, Simone was finally rescued by Austrian Fishermen and you are going to love her beautiful story of survival, love, miracles, strength and resilience.
You can see pictures and get links to Simone's website and Instagram here:
Episode 9: 61 Years Old & Unstoppable! How Strength Training, Yoga, Pilates and an Unshakable Spirit Enabled a Remarkable 3-Month Recovery from Two Broken Bones and a Dislocated Elbow
I love women's health and fitness. It's been my passion forever and I've built a business out of this love. I can tell you all day long how important it is to be strong and healthy in body, mind and spirit, and you can understand it intellectually, but then something happened to my dear friend and iGnite member, Dr. Marion Forbes, that illustrated the importance of strength in a way that is 100% hard to ignore.
I met Marion about 8 years ago when she joined iGnite in Austin, Texas. She was brought into iGnite by our amazing Pilates and yoga leader, Amy Younkman (if you haven't heard Amy's podcast about Ayurveda, you've got to check it out HERE). Once Marion joined, she JOINED! She jumped right into our strength training, HIIT, Pilates and yoga classes and immediately was a part of the group. We really bonded when she came on our 2019 Lake LBJ Escape and we did a karaoke duet to Adele. Nothing bonds like karaoke!
During last summer's Lake LBJ Escape (summer of 2023), Marion was playing pickleball she took a hard fall. That day, Marion dislocated her right elbow and found that she'd broken her wrist as well. After being released from the ER and returning home, she woke the next morning to pain in her hip flexor. She had lots going on that weekend, so she just continued on. On Tuesday afternoon she went to the orthopedist to have her arm checked and casually mentioned the pain in her hip. The orthopedist ordered x-rays of her arm and hip and that's when Marion learned she'd broken her hip as well, and needed surgery that day.
For the average person, this would take them down, but not Marion! Because of her commitment to strength training, HIIT, yoga and Pilates throughout the last 8 years, along with her unshakable spirit, she was completely healed in less than three months! This is the power of commitment to your physical, mental and spiritual health.
Click HERE for all podcast notes
Episode 8: The Mindful Practice of Ayurveda and the Benefits of Knowing Your Dosha and Living Aligned with Nature
I have known Amy Younkman, my guest for this week's podcast, for at least seventeen years. If you've listened to the Power of WE Episode 7 with Austen Brower, you'll recognize Amy as the person who gifted me his book, Gratitude: A Work in Progress. Amy is a bright light who radiates her passion for exercise, yoga, fitness, Pilates, nature and living an Ayurveda Lifestyle. We got to talking about what this lifestyle means and I was fascinated by the idea of living more mindfully not just with the seasons, but also with the seasons of our lives.
Amy shares that she first became interested in Ayurveda - which translates to Knowledge of Life - after reading Autobiography of a Yogi, the firsthand account of Paramhansa Yogananda, who in the 1920s became the first yoga master from India to permanently live and teach in the West. The 1920s! I had no idea yoga had been introduced to the states a hundred years ago!
Through our conversation, Amy explains that Ayurveda is about finding balance in thinking, diet and lifestyle and living in tune with the seasons. In Ayurveda, balance is the natural order; imbalance is disorder. Health is order; disease is disorder. Our job is to find that balance between the two and when we do, we just feel better.
I'm always interested in learning new things and can absolutely geek out over ideas that feel right and harmonious, and the simple things that Amy and I talked about really resonated with me. I hope you enjoy listening to this packed podcast HERE or YouTube below, and take away some tips to help you find more balance as you move through your year.
For podcast notes and to take the Dosha quiz, head to the blog post HERE.
Episode 7: How a Consistent and Simple Gratitude Practice Can Decrease Dietary Fat Intake, Reduce Stress, Repair Relationships and Help Achieve Your Goals
I'm a big believer in gratitude. It's even one of my core values and after reading Austen Brower's book Gratitude: A Work in Progress, I became an even bigger believer! Austen's book about his 365 day gratitude project as well as other gratitude project examples he sited re-inspired me! While Austen felt and witnessed the positive impacts of his daily expression of gratitude, in his book he also provides plenty of the science-backed evidence that daily gratitude positively impacts our physiological and psychological benefits. Prior to reading Austen's book, I thought I knew a lot about gratitude, but I learned so much more, such as: 1. When we write down our daily gratitudes AND write down our goals, we are 20% more likely to accomplish our goals!!! (Download our freeand printable Goals-Setting Workbook and start writing down your goals.) 2. Dietary fat intake is reduced by as much as 25% when people keep a gratitude journal. WOW! Gratitude is like a muscle. The more often we use it, the stronger it gets and the better we and the people around us feel. Austen's simple framework for creating your own gratitude practice is so practical and thoughtful, which is why I knew I needed to bring Austen (our very first male guest) to the Power of WE podcast to learn more. After listening to this relatable podcast on Spotify HERE or YouTube here: https://youtu.be/orISo7gsNkM?si=asqKHgEaiMRpmk_3, I hope you'll consider adding your very own gratitude practice. I know I sure am! You can check out the notes via our blog post here: https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/power-of-we-podcast-how-a-consistent-gratitude-practice-can-decrease-dietary-f
Episode 6: Learn How to Identify Your Core Values, Know Yourself Better and Design Your Best Year
Of all the valuable wisdom I've gained from my time with Martha Lynn, my executive coach, one of the most important has been learning and understanding my core values. This has been an absolute eye opener, and in this podcast we'll explain how to identify your core values, explore why going through this exercise can give you such precious insight into yourself ad others, and how you move through and interact with the greater world.
As we launch into a new year, this work can be so important as you design and define what you want to do in your life, as well as with your work in the coming year. This enlightening podcast will help you discover and maximize your core values!
For podcast notes and core printable, click on the link HERE
Episode 5: Learn How to End Your Year, Clean the Slate and Start Your Year with Greater Clarity and Purpose
I'm not sure what I'd do without my Executive Coach, Martha Lynn Mangum. Martha Lynn is more than just an executive coach, she is a highly intuitive dear friend and part of my wise council. Her coaching and wisdom has guided me through both personal and professional highs and lows and this Clean the Slate exercise she has me do at the end of every year is one of the most simple yet cleansing, productive and purposeful ways to end and start the year. Like mine was and always is, your mind is going to be blown away by how liberated you feel during and after this reflective exercise.
Also, if you can't get to it by the end of the year and need to do it in July, that's totally great too! This is a beneficial tool to use annually, quarterly or more!
You can check out the blog post here: https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/how-to-end-the-year-with-clarity-and-purpose
Episode 4: After Losing Five Family Members in a Tragic Flood, She Chose Joy and Asked God What, Not Why
**This podcast is in honor of Cristen's family. This podcast was recorded one year ago, and today Sue Sue would be 80. Happy Heavenly Birthday Sue Sue!**
Sometimes you meet someone and their story stays with you. That was the case when I met Cristen Daniel in 2019 in San Diego. Unbeknownst to me, I already knew a little bit about the event that changed her life on Memorial Day of 2015.
Her family owned a riverhouse on the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas - a cute little town just 45 minutes southwest of Austin in the beautiful Hill Country. Her family originally bought the property in 1978, and she and her sister, Michelle, and her parents, Sue and Ralph spent glorious river time there on the weekends and summers in an RV until they built a vacation home in 1980. The family and the girls spent the next 35 years sharing the place with friends and eventually, Cristen and Michelle's own families.
On Memorial weekend of 2015, both of Cristen's parents, her sister, her brother-in-law Randy and her nephew Will were at the riverhouse along with friends of Michelle and Randy - Jonathon, Laura, Andrew and Leighton McComb - everyone there for the holiday. On the evening of May 23, it started raining; a Texas downpour that turned into catastrophic flash flooding. Later reports said that water in the normally peaceful Blanco, had risen fast and was moving at 28 cubic feet/second - roughly the rate as Niagra Falls. Built on stilts, theoretically to protect the house from flooding, against that wall of water, the house was swept away.
In this podcast, Cristen shares how her faith in God gave her the strength to endure the loss of her five family members and ultimately, choose joy, and ask God what, rather than why.
Can you also read about Cristen's story and see pictures of her beautiful family here: https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/choose-joy-after-losing-family-members
Episode 3: Women's Heart Health, Risk Factors and Protective Habits
I'm a healthy woman with no history of heart disease in my family, so heart health was just not on my radar. However, I was recently invited to speak at a luncheon and at the same event was Austin-based cardiologist, Caitlin Giesler, M.D., who has a clear passion for educating women about heart disease awareness and prevention. I learned SO much that day that I knew this was information that I simply had to share with out whole community.
Dr. Giesler speaks in plain language about how we're just now recognizing the differences in heart health in women and men. That blew me away! Women simply weren't included in heart health studies until the 1990s, so the data we have is still new and being added to each year.
Listen to this whole fascinating and important podcast to get some topline information about risk factors, protective habits, and the easy "think 30" tip that Dr. Giesler shared.
Listen to this whole fascinating and important podcast and get some topline information about risk factors, protective habits, and the easy "think 30" tip that Dr. Giesler shared. Click on this link for the blog post: https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/heart-disease-in-women If you have more heart health questions for Dr. Giesler, email us at igniteyourlifehello@gmail.com or neissabspringmann@gmail.com
Episode 2: An Ordinary Idea Turned Global Movement. The Turquoise Table Story
Meet Kristin Schell from Austin, TX! Kristin is married to Tony Schell, and is a mom of four. As Kristin says, she’s a card carrying extravert who loves God and loves people. Several years ago Kristin had a desire to know her neighbors and use her spiritual gift of hospitality. The result: she painted her picnic table turquoise (her favorite color), put it in her front yard and the rest is history. Kristin’s desire to create “Front Yard People” by way of a Turquoise Table is now a global movement! You can find turquoise tables across the United States and in 13 countries around the world! You can also check out our blog post, where pictures and links to Kristin's website, book and details on the Harvard Study https://www.igniteyourlifenow.com/post/turquoise-table-movment-and-the-health-benefits-of-community
In today’s podcast, Kristin shares the story of her stubborn acceptance of her God-given spiritual gift of hospitality (after wishing it were something different and better). Allowing God to lead her to use her hospitality gift, she did something ordinary, like put a table in her front yard, and then witnessed God do something extraordinary.
This is a story about trusting God and how He uses ordinary people and things to do extraordinary things. The Turquoise Table and Front Yard People movement is a movement about connection and being in community with others–a spiritual need we all have.
Per Kristin’s favorite scripture, Romans 12:13 “Take every opportunity to open your life and home to others”, without saying a word, the Turquoise Table invites others to sit down, enjoy a cup of coffee, tea, cookies or something as simple and impactful as a conversation. All in all, God's power transcends the limitations of human understanding, and what may appear ordinary or unremarkable can be the vehicle for divine intervention and transformation.
Being in community with others is one of our greatest spiritual needs and when that's met, it's one of the greatest gifts we could ever have.
I hope this podcast inspires and encourages you to know and use your spiritual gift, to Trust God, and to get to know your neighbors and enjoy being in community with others.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 "Two are better than one because a good return comes when to work together. If one of them falls, the other can help him up."
Love,
Neissa
Learn all about Kristin and The Turquoise Table by clicking HERE
Take the Spiritual Gifts test by clicking HERE
We'd love for you to join our Austin, San Diego or At Home community HERE , and most importantly, thank you for being part of the Power of We Family!
Episode 1: Professional Tips & the Mind-Body Benefits of a Clutter-Free & Organized Home
Our surroundings often reflect our mental state and a clutter-free home isn't just about aesthetics; it's about nurturing your mental and physical well-being and health.
As someone who has a propensity for clutter and disorganization, I share my recent and very impactful experience when transitioning our home from the summer season to "back to school", and the process of decluttering and organizing. I had an amazing conversation with Amy Brady, a Professional Organizer in Austin, TX and Founder of The Clutter Consultants. Amy highlights the different areas of the home, from the kitchen to the closet and includes practical and affordable ways for tackling the clutter and organizing.
I hope this podcast inspires you to embark on your own decluttering and organizational journey and experience the transformative effects it can have on your life. I am confident it will significantly benefit your and your family's peace, joy and holistic health and wellness, just as it did for ours.
Click HERE to see and purchase all of Amy's great recommendations!
If you are in Austin or San Diego, we’d love for you to join our fitness community, but if not, I’d love for you to join me and our At Home fitness community. Most importantly, thank you for being part of the Power of We Family!