Welcome back to our Instagram Live transcription series!

Our guest this time is Taylor Morrison. She is the founder and owner of Inner Workout. She specializes in all areas of self care, which is much bigger than what a lot of people think!

I thought it'd be great to have her on to talk a little bit about what she does, why it's so special and how we can help everyone else have a little bit more self care, especially in times like now (i.e. during the pandemic).

We chatted with Taylor Morrison, Founder of @innerworkout, on what self care really means, and how we can all be more compassionate to ourselves.

A post shared by Eterneva ♾ Ashes To Diamonds (@eterneva) on May 14, 2020 at 11:49am PDT

Dani: Why don't you tell everybody a little bit about yourself and a little bit about Inner Workout?

Taylor Morrison: Hi, yes! So, my name's Taylor Morrison, and I created Inner Workout really because I needed it.

A lot of times I feel like some people who work in the wellness space are naturally good at things. For instance, they can meditate forever and it's something that they really enjoy. Not for me.

I come at this from a place of need. I've always been a person who really likes to work probably to a fault. And so, what happened was that I would burn myself out a lot. Inner Workout is the culmination of my own self care journey.

It feels like my life's work, but it's a company that helps equip people to build the skill of self care.

Dani: Burnout has been the topic that everyone's feeling in their hearts. So, I thought it'd be great to have a conversation about what self care really is and what it can look like.

Taylor Morrison: Yep! I think a lot of us come into this very surface level definition of self care because like you said, everyone's using it right now.

It's trendy to say that everything is “self care,” especially some of the fluffier things that still feel really good to do.

And yea, to an extent I agree. I still love taking a good bath and it can be really restorative.

But the definition that I like to use and that Inner Workout uses with regards to self care is that self care is listening within and responding in the most loving way possible.

I love that definition because it captures a couple of things.

  1. It captures the fact that self care is going to look different for all of us. What I need for self care might be very, very different than what you need for self care.
  2. It also captures this dynamic element of self care where what I need this morning may not be what I need before I go to bed.

We are constantly changing. We're these dynamic individuals! So, I love that definition of listening within and responding in the most loving way possible because it's encompassing of our nature as human beings that we're always changing.

Dani: There was a quote I saw on your Instagram that said, "The goal here is not to be perfect, it's to be whole." I thought it was so cool. The way you approach self care truly feels a little bit more 360 and holistic.

Taylor Morrison: I love that quote, too.

For us, we look at the five dimensions of wellbeing. It's rooted in yogic philosophy, this concept of the Koshas, and then we incorporate them as the five dimensions of wellbeing.

So, what I really like about that is when I first started getting into self care, I focused mostly on the physical.

  • It was about the baths.
  • It was about moving my body in ways that felt good.

And I was ignoring all these other aspects of myself.

So, when you look at those five dimensions, you do get that 360 picture. We look at the physical and not just in terms of what we've traditionally looked at for health, but really how are you relating to your body?

I had an old boss when I worked at a healthcare startup and she would say, "You exist in one of the most complex pieces of machinery ever."

And that’s so true!

We just take for granted all of these things that our body can do, and all the things that our body's telling us.

So there's that physical dimension, and there's the energetic dimension which we look at, too. It has a lot to do with how you're leading to your breath, how you're relating it to energy in your day to day.

Again, all of us are constantly shifting, physically as well as mentally and emotionally. I'm glad to see that more people are willing to talk about how they're feeling, how there are those ebbs and flows right now.

Next, there's the wisdom, which is tapping into –– you can call it a bunch of things –– but your intuition, and your inner knowing. It is about being really aligned to that voice inside of you.

And then finally, the bliss piece, which is all about connection. It's all about feeling connected to yourself, connected to other people and then connected to something beyond yourself, whatever that looks like for you.

Dani: What does that look like? I know you tap into different tools to really round out these sessions and really make that self care feel whole.

Taylor Morrison: Now, I can tell you about it and then if you want to experience it later, then you'll be able to have the chance to do that.

So, what we have in terms of the inner workout session, which is normally 60 minutes, sometimes it's 30 or 45, is an incorporation of those five dimensions.

You start with a physical practice. It's on your mat. I grew up dancing, doing ballet and dance teams, so we incorporate dance. We incorporate movements from yoga. We incorporate just good old fashioned stretching that maybe you did in gym class.

It's all about you listening within. So, if I'm teaching or if someone else is teaching, they're the facilitator, they're giving you a starting point and then you get to say, "Man, my shoulders are really tight. I want to hang out in this pose right now."

You're not obligated to do exactly what I'm doing.

When I look out in a room, and it's a little bit different when it's virtual, but when I'm doing this in person, I look out and see everyone's doing something slightly different, I feel so good because that means I'm doing my job.

After the movement, then we move into breath work. Again, we are trying to tap into that energy and then from there, we do journaling. There's normally two different journaling prompts and then there's meditation. Then, the last few minutes are your choice, whatever you need to round out your practice.

It is this idea of really helping you. Yes, you feel like you've practiced self care after you've done this class, but then also you're building that skill of being able to listen to your body and see what your body needs. You are building that skill of being able to listen to what's happening emotionally and so, you start to listen to that voice in a new way.

That's what it looks like and every class has a theme, too. So everything is always tying back to the theme, which could be gratitude or it could be grief. It could be anything.

Dani: I would love to hear from your experience since you've started doing this or using this method, how have you noticed changes in your own life?

Taylor Morrison: I feel a lot more aware of what's happening. Now, that's why the self care definition has two parts because there's the listening within part and the responding with love part.

I think when I started out on my self care journey, I wasn't even always listening. Maybe my body was telling me that it was tired or even something silly, like I'm feeling hunger. But, I'm telling myself I have to do these emails or I have to do this thing before I eat. Then, I'd look up and all of a sudden I hadn't eaten all day!

I feel like now I'm more attuned to those signals that my body or my emotions are giving to me. I'm getting better now at the loving response.

It's that two-step of, “OK, I hear you. I hear you body. I hear you emotions. I hear you inner voice.” Then, you have to figure out how to respond with love.

I feel like that responding with love piece is something you're always learning and growing in to. I don't know that I'll ever have it completely figured out.

Dani: That is, I think, the core of who we are and why we also love what you do. Do you feel like that's still an ongoing practice for you?

Taylor Morrison: That's something I'm still working on.

I think that's something really important, especially in the self care conversation. When we have definitions of self care that are tied to certain tasks that we have to do, we end up beating ourselves up because we're like, "Man, I didn't get up at the time I said I was going to get up,” or “I didn't work out for exactly as long as I said I was going to."

Then, we say to ourselves, "I failed at self care. I'm such a failure.” We're kicking ourselves. Not only did you not do that thing that you thought was self care, but then you also are beating yourself up, so you're ending up in a worse spot than where you would have been otherwise.

Compassion is super important here, and that's why I love to encourage people to check in with where you're at right now.

How can you lovingly respond right now knowing that that probably is not going to look the exact same as yesterday?

Dani: If you could give everyone one prompt or a thought or a mantra, what's a good one?

Taylor Morrison: One of my favorite things, and it's more of a mini practice that you can do at any time, but I love to take at least one deep breath and then just ask myself, “What's here for me right now?”

  • Sometimes it can be, “Man, you need to pee it and you've been holding it for like an hour!”
  • Sometimes it's, “Oh, you're actually really sad about this,” or “Oh, I'm having a lot of nervous energy.”

I love that one because it doesn't take a long time and it leads you on this conversation with yourself. I return to that a lot.

Just in general I'm always talking to myself, sometimes out loud, especially a little bit more now that we're in quarantine. A lot of times in my head, though, I'm having that internal dialogue.

Dani: Times are hard, it's easy to burn out. Taylor, thank you so much for just coming here and sharing all your wisdom. Is there anything else you want anyone to know today before we see you for next time?

Taylor Morrison: I think you ended in such a good spot. I think if everyone can leave this just feeling a little bit more self compassionate and also a little bit more curious about what's going on maybe beneath the surface, I will have felt like I did my job.