TRANSCRIPT - 160 - Expanding Your Capacity with Heidi Lampard

Let's talk about burnout. Now I have the great privilege of being able to go into
so many different organizations. I also get to work with some incredible female
entrepreneurs and one of the things that I sadly see again and again and again is
how disconnected they have become from themselves and how they are on the verge of
burnout and that burnout is something they're not even comprehending,
they're not even aware of. And I know this because I have personally been through
this situation myself, in you to push through unless I was still had more in the tank that I needed to keep going. Now, our female leaders to be able to relax,
to take a moment to pause and to come back and reconnect with themselves. Because
as the leaders of our organizations. We are the barometer for the rest of our organisation. If we are not leading well, if we are not connected to ourselves, if
we are not showing up in the best capacity that we can for our team, then everything around us is going to crumble. Our communication is going to suffer, our decision making is slower, it's our ability to build relationships is impacted and I know this because this happened to me. And since I've been able to regulate my nervous system, bring so much presence and connection back into myself, I've been
able to shift that as well. So tonight, I have invited the beautiful Heidi Lamper to come and join us here to have a chat. Heidi is going to be one of our
facilitators joining us.
Where is Heidi?
There she is! Hello!
Hi Mel. Hello Heidi, how are you doing? Good, thank you. That's so good.
Thank you so much for joining us tonight. Now Heidi, you are going to be our yoga
facilitator at the Exhale Retreat, which I'm really super excited about. But you've
got a very personal story that goes with burnout as well. I do,
I do. About, gosh, it must be about 12 or so years ago now,
maybe 15 even. I was around 36 and I'm just about to turn 49 now.
And I landed myself in adrenal fatigue and,
you know, anxiety, panic attacks, and it certainly didn't happen overnight. It was a
build -up. I had a full -time full -time job in marketing and corporate.
I had a family, two daughters, at that stage they were in their early teens,
and obviously running a household and all the things that we do when we're when
we've got a family and we're working. And I definitely wasn't fulfilled in the work
that I was doing. So as with everything that happens for us illness -wise,
there's always many different factors that contribute to it. But yeah, I ended up in
adrenal fatigue and burnout. And that phase or chapter of Healing lasted about two
years and this is where I found yoga and all the beautiful practices that I share
with everyone now. Yeah thank you for sharing that with us because as I was just
saying when I opened tonight was that I have the ability to go in and work with
so many within so many businesses and I meet so many women and particularly in the
corporate world I think we are just so conditioned to continue to push through. And
as I was saying, unless we are on the verge of collapsing or we end up in
hospital, we kind of feel that there's more in the tank. And I was actually having
a conversation with a client today about the retreat and what's happening and their
senior executive leadership team and who would be actually, you know, a great
candidate to come and join us here because I see these women and they don't even
know that they're on their verge of burnout and I know that you know there's no
there's no shame or anything that I'm putting in on anyone there is because I was
exactly the same like I had no concept to the fact that I was right on the edge
of this burnout this precipice and what it was doing to my body and my body just
started screaming at me you know the same as you adrenal fatigue I had SIBO gut
issues hell like my skin was breaking out I had brain fog and I just kept wanting
to push through because 'cause that's what we believe we need to keep doing. And
that was one of the reasons I created Exhale was because I wanted to create a
space where I could introduce these very high -performing, ambitious women to a
different way of living, a different way of being. They're not necessarily gonna go
on step out of corporate world, but how do we actually bring more of that
peacefulness and those practices into our daily lives so that we can expand our
capacity to be able to hold more of those things so we you know we do these
things because I'm sure many of us actually enjoy being in the corporate world and
I'd love to know how you found that and what you found as a balance for it as
well. Yeah sure well during that time before I actually started doing the work that
I'm doing now full -time. I started just incorporating the practices into my mornings
and afternoons before and after work and the practices being pranayama meditation and
the yoga asana practice and so whilst I was still in the corporate work that was
that was something that helped me
help regulate my nervous system so that I was able to have the capacity to do all
the mum duties and show up in my work and home. Yeah,
and the practices were the things that kept my nervous system steady so that I
could handle all the things. Yeah. And how did you find that just the incorporation
of that to be able to continue to work in the corporate world So how long did it
take you to then transition out of corporate and into doing what you're doing now
full -time?
It was about a five -year transition actually because once I did all my training,
I first
I guess about 12 years ago I did my integrative nutrition training so I'm a
holistic health coach So I started that first and I was seeing clients and still
working in corporate and then a couple of years on I did my yoga teacher training.
So I was doing my health coaching and teaching yoga classes morning and evening and
doing my corporate job during the day. Does this sound like you were running back
into burnout again?
Now, but I did it and then eventually over a few years it was a tipping point and
I was able to.
very clear on that.
I had been with that particular business for about 16 years,
and so they were definitely like family. So that aspect, the actual work I didn't
enjoy, but the people I loved.
And yeah, I guess, What was your original question?
I got sidetracked there. What kept you there? Because I know I love being in this
corporate world and like it kind of extracts me from that would be very, very
difficult. What kept me there was I was raising children and the steady income.
I think when you break it down that's what kept me there.
Absolutely, that's it.
- Necessity. - Yeah, exactly. - Yeah.
- But that last five years, or before I did my training for the other modalities,
I was applying for other jobs in health food stores, 'cause I've always been
interested in alternative medicine and holistic health from a very young age that I
was brought up that way by my mom. And so it's always been in me. And So I was
applying for all these different jobs, marketing roles for sure, I love fashion as
well so I was applying for, you know, Spell and Arnhem and all these things. And
nothing would ever, nothing ever came of it and, but I know now why because here I
am. Yeah. This is meant to be. Yeah.
Well, look, I think there's probably a lot of things in that that other people
would be resonating with and then what I would love to know is how have you found
these practices enable you to expand that capacity and build that resilience in us
and I know you know I'm earlier on in my journey from coming out of burnout having
done my meditation practitioner training now and you know I'm slowly entering into
this world and hence the reason I've created Exhale and I've bought some really
amazing facilitators together such as yourself to help me support this group of
women. Like what are some of the ways that this work is actually going to help
build more capacity in our nervous systems and that resilience in our day -to -day
lives so that we have the ability to kind of to come back from our this retreat
and bring that stuff back into our day -to -day lives and be able to continue on
without that pressure and that burnout kind of creeping back up on us. What I found
the practices do for myself and everyone that I work with is it helps to definitely
rewire the brain, regulate the nervous system and create this equanimous mind where
you're in non -reactivity. So you're not you're not reacting, you're responding to
life and you're way more accepting of reality as it is in each moment.
Because as we know, pretty crazy sometimes and there's curve balls and twists and
turns and things happening, don't expect all the time. And what I've found the
practices do for us is yet create that ability to meet life as it is in each
moment, whatever's rolling up to your and you can be present with it, respond with
it, rather than go into that reactivity. - Yeah, that's spiraling. And I'd have to
say, that's my own experience as well. And I've been doing a lot more study around
the nervous system and looking at our window of tolerance and that expansion, that
space where we can actually sit with more, we can hold more, we're not marching off
or spiraling out of control whenever something kind of little starts to happen it
gives us much more of that capacity and you know for me that's meant that you know
I'm not as reactive I can you know have more you know engagement in my
relationships better conversations my decision -making's improved that brain fog's not
there it's just maybe much more of an even tempered person I'd have to say as well
yeah much I mean much more pleasantly yeah Yeah, absolutely.
Absolutely, absolutely.
I shared on my Instagram a little snippet or a little clip that Elizabeth Gilbert
released today. And I love her. She's definitely one of my teachers,
even though I've never met her in person. I love her books and I love everything
she does. And she was talking about herself in her younger years,
you know, 20s, 30s, even 40s, she said, because I think she's certainly probably in
her 50s or later 50s now. But she said she can't believe that she even left the
house because she was just so discombobulated and certainly not, you know, didn't
have the practices in place and wasn't grounded or steady. And she was just talking
about the importance of in the world right now as it is, the importance of having
that, of all of us to have that steady nervous system so that we go out of the
world and we're kinder. You know, we're kinder, we're calm, we're grounded, we're
actually useful to ourselves and others. Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's,
it's interesting that we don't learn these things earlier. And maybe, you know, it's
not that we're not ready for it until we're in those later years. I'd be curious
to know with everything that you've learnt now and with your young children, how
have you found that sort of transfer of information and knowledge to them and how
have they taken that on board and has that changed and shaped them in any way?
Absolutely, absolutely. I mean they're 21 and 25 now, so they're definitely into the
adult
And I mean, it's it's certainly not as with everything, whether it's friends,
other family members, or your own children. It's not it's not me telling them
things. It's just me being me now in this in this upgraded version, upleveled
version, just how I show up in life is having a beautiful effect on that.
Yeah. Yeah. So is that ripple effect that just happens from your presence? - Totally,
yeah, yeah, it's that whole, you know, one nervous system effect in the other, you
know, one nervous system can have a positive effect on the person that you're with,
yeah. - Yeah, absolutely, and we've, exhale retreat coming up.
What are some of the things that our attendees can look forward to experiencing in
the sessions with you? Well, each session is like a,
it's like a journey. We usually start with some meditation and pranayama.
That will be roughly probably 20 minutes. And then there's always a,
I create a specific sound journey or playlist that has an effect as well.
So we have that, you know, you're going on a journey with the sound, you're going
on a journey with the breath, with the meditation, and then the poses.
And so you come out the other end and, you know, sometimes people come out of the
out of Shavasana and they're like, what just happened? You know, it's, yeah, it's
pretty cool. These left to us by the yogis, thank goodness for them.
- Yeah, I'm really looking forward to these sessions. It all sounds incredible to me.
And I'd love to know, like, you've led a lot of retreats. You've been a retreat
leader for many years now. What are you found the most sort of benefits for people
who have been on retreats? What are those sort of lasting impacts that they will
take home with them after being away, immersed in these environments, completely held
and taken care of for a number of days. What can they kind of experience there?
Um, what I've what I've witnessed in people is the realization that to feel vital
and healthy and alive, it's, it's so simple. It's like it's not complicated at all,
we over -complicate it. It's literally simply connection with like -minded people which
is what you get on a retreat. It's alive whole foods that you're being and you
know regular meals which is great for the digestion.
It's having that spaciousness where you're not rushing from one thing to the next.
It's obviously all of the practices that that are shared with them on the retreats
and yeah and and sometimes I don't know if are you having body work on your
retreats and then and then the body work as well like a massage or or not at this
retreat we've got some breath work happening though so that's going to be a really
beautiful big deep dive with the amber hawk and coming to do a breath journey for
us as well. Yeah, so just a combination of the practices, the food,
the spaciousness, the rest, the downtime and the and the connection with the like
-minded people that are on the retreat including the facilitators. It's just a recipe
for success you know it's it's so easy to feel vital and well it's and even in
the space of a few days it doesn't take much like within the first few hours there
yeah yeah yeah and I think that's the thing um you know I think some people think
that a retreat's an absolute luxury and you know whilst you're going to have still
a very luxury experience whilst you're in this space it's also so revitalizing for
your system and the fact that we don't get that ability to step away and I know
particularly as women you know with children and demands of households and you know
our careers and things as well having that space to just step away and have someone
else completely take care of us not have to lift a finger not have to cook a
thing have everything done for us as you said not rushing from one space to another
but just having that ability to actually switch off because we don't have to be
anywhere, we don't have to do anything, there's not those 200 tabs can actually
start to close down and not need to be on all the time. So, you know, I think,
you know, I don't believe that going on a retreat is a luxury. I think it's
actually a necessity.
My children are creeping in. No, you need to go, please. Off you go.
There's really bad time and I need to go. Off you go, Ty. No, no, no, no. You
can stay for a little bit.
So... Real well. Yeah. Come on. Get in.
So, one of the other things I wanted to ask you is, you know, the slowing down
part that's going to happen at this retreat and the things that I want people to
take away from that experience as well of actually slowing down. What can you share
with us about that? How does that actually help us? Because I know that we're so
we're so busy and we're rushing from one thing to another. What are the impacts of
that that's happening on our bodies all the time and our minds? Yeah I mean the
impacts of slowing down that I've experienced with others that have attended my
retreats and practices is that people can actually start to hear their own wisdom,
you know, and it's we've all got it, it's there. And when, you know,
when you start to peel back the layers, you can actually hear it and you get these
beautiful creative download. So exciting. It's yeah, it's really beautiful. Yeah.
And I think that's one of the things that I'm looking forward to the most at the
retreat as well is because that spaciousness to be able to you know you're going to
clear so much space through all the practices that we're going to do and create you
know like leave all that noise behind but then there's going to be this void
that'll be able to be filled and it's like what do we allow to come back in and
fill that void and that's where that creativity piece comes back in and our ability
to realign with our lives and our businesses and our careers and where we actually
want to be and where we want to go and be really intentional about what we let
back into that space that we've created. Yeah, yeah, yeah, there's the clarity that
comes in and then when they go home, you know, things won't be the same and
they'll be able to put those changes in place.
Now, what are some of the potential nervous system resets that women can actually
then take home and experience as well. Have you got anything that you'd want to
share with us to give people a little bit of a taste of some of the stuff they
might experience at the retreat, but also then some of the practices that they might
be able to take home to support them post -retreat because we don't want this to be
a one, you know, just a weekend. We want this to have some lasting change and
impact. Definitely. I would say having a pranayama practice,
which I will share with them on retreat, and it can even be, you know,
it can be a five minute practice, it can be a half an hour practice, it can be a
one minute practice, it can be whilst you're driving your car, you know, it's really
adaptable, but using the breath with intention in these subtle pranayama practices is
definitely something that they'll be able to take home. Yeah, amazing. And, you know,
of all the retreats that you've led, has there a special moment or a memory or
something that you think has just imprinted on you about your experiences with
holding these spaces for women? - For me, with the retreats,
every single closing circle, it's like just one of those profound it's in time where
it's like the magic is palpable you know because everything is so peeled back like
it's the raw heart stuff and you know the shares and the tears and the joy and
it's just it's it's pure joy and goosebumps every single time for every single
person that comes you know It's not just one person, it's every single person that
comes into these containers. And as I said, it's only a few days and it's super
complicated about it. But yeah, that's mind blowing every time. And what do you
think creates that? Is it just the intimacy and the fact that we have been sharing
such a small space for such a very finite piece of time? Yeah,
absolutely. Yeah, as I said before, it's the connection, the like -minded feel, they
feel seen, they feel held by themselves and everyone else. Yeah.
I'm super excited about hosting this retreat and I'm so glad that you are going to
be there to share it with us and to guide our guests through some of these amazing
practices and share your wisdom and your own journey with them in more detail
because I think these are the things that we need to understand is that we're not
in these situations alone like the amount of women as I said I've connected with,
even my friends, like we're all just kind of hanging on wire threads sometimes and
just to know, you know, there are other ways that we can help to support ourselves,
support our nervous system, support our capacity to be able to really thrive in life
as opposed to kind of struggling through it. And that's what I really want to
impart on people by having the opportunity to come and experience this retreat and
experience some of these other modalities that they can incorporate back into their
daily life or seek out practitioners close to where they live so that they have
this support system around them to really enable that nervous system regulation
because it makes such a positive impact in your life and the lives of your
children, as you said, and I know that with myself, myself, my ability to have my
relationships with my kids now has improved. Thank you for tolerating my little one
who decided to join us earlier. It's really been quite something to experience.
I'm really looking forward to learning from each of the facilitators joining us as
well. I'm really excited about it. Yeah, amazing. Thanks for having me. No,
I'm so excited. So look, thank you very much for joining us tonight, Heidi. And if
anyone's interested in finding out more, there will be a link through to the
retreat. You can check it out on my website, it's melissamaster .com .au. So the Exha
Retreat is happening in the Twin Valley in October, on the 23rd to the 26th.
It's being held at the beautiful Sila Valley estate. Now this is one pristine piece
of land that is in the tweed valley and it backs onto a beautiful nature reserve.
So we're going to be completely immersed in nature and I think this is one of the
beautiful things that around why I chose this particular property for the retreat is
because it's got beautiful natural flowing rock pools for us to be able to swim in.
It's got just a beautiful atmosphere and it has a real presence around it and just
a complete ability to disconnect and immerse ourselves back into nature. I think this
has such a beautiful opportunity for us to again reconnect with everything the world
around us because I think again natural light, connecting back into that ability to
sit out under the stars, sit around the fire and connect in with these other
beautiful women that are going to be there. It's just going to be an absolute
magical time and I absolutely can't wait. Amazing. Yeah, it's going to be so good.
Well, thank you so much for joining us tonight, Heidi. I really appreciate it, and
I can't wait to welcome you onto the retreat with us. Thank you so much. Bye.