34. What You Have Been Missing: Unapologetic Authenticity / Tandy Gutierrez
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Tandy Gutierrez is the founder & creator of Unicorn Wellness, an online studio that supports a community of women with a unique blend of mind-body-soul practices. She is a master pilates instructor, tarot reader, intuitive-psychic, and a busy mom, thriving in an autoimmune body (celiac, thyroidectomy, IBS) with 20+ years in the fitness & wellness space. She incorporates pilates movements, astrology cycles, energetics and meditations to provide her members with a full system of support that uplifts their own authentic power. You are going to be blown away by Tandy's insights, intuitive connection, and amazing guidance. This episode we talk about how Tandy has worked through her own body struggles, how to unapologetically show up for yourself, why Pilates is so supportive for the body, how to work with your body and not against it, how to heal an autoimmune body, and how to get more wellness results by doing Less.
Unicorn Wellness Membership: This membership supports a consistent practice, to get you on your mat, and empowers a full mind-body-spirit practice with astrology cycles, energetics and meditations so that you can feel fully connected with your magical authentic self. It may be just the thing you have been missing in your movement practice! Check it out! https://www.unicornwellnessstudio.com/a/2147494687/L9gkjqzK
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Tandy Gutierrez 02:57
Thank you for inviting me. I am delighted.
Katie Kay 03:01
I already did your introduction. And everybody knows how much knowledge and insight that you have in the wellness space. And so I just want to start with your own personal story. How you really got into Pilates, and what kind of body struggles you're kind of working through to get to the point where Pilates was really supporting you and then even to a point where you started to evolve your own business and really share this with a community of women. So if you wouldn't mind starting with that, starting with your story, that would be awesome.
Tandy Gutierrez 03:36
Yeah, I will try to keep it as concise as possible. It's a long story. I think that when we have a career path we did not anticipate it's ever evolving. But the original entry point to the Pilates work was through my BFA program. So I have a background as a performer, and I have a BFA in acting and a BFA in dance. And our head of the dance department at that time, was really very forward thinking and very smart. And Pilates was a part of the dance program there. And so when it was first introduced to me, it was like, you know, the thing that everybody wanted to complain about, because nobody got it, nobody understood what it was, it was still old school, like, I'm 43 this is I was 18 at the time. And, you know, she knew that it generated athletes that had less risk of injury, and if they were injured, then we're able to heal faster and better and more balanced. And so it was a required piece of our curriculum, we would alternate between taking two and three times a week each semester. And it was the thing that everybody loved to complain about, like the thing we love to hate. And it was like, oh my god, this is the worst. And I hated it. I hated it. I think that's what makes me an excellent teacher at this stage in the game because I understand the resistances to it. I didn't get to choose to move into this format. And yet, by the time you're three rolled around Now that sounds like a long span, and I don't say that for everyone, I started to understand, you know, she would take photographs up just like a physical therapist would at the beginning of the year and the end of the year. And in our reviews for the for the year, she would bring these photos out. Well, in year three, she brought all the photos out from the beginning to the end. And from the very beginning of starting to the end, I was like, what that is a totally different person. Like, that's a totally different body. And I don't teach from a perspective of what the vessel looks like, I aim to not teach that way. But there is no you know, denying the physical changes strictly from the alignment perspective that came in my vessel. And so I came to dancing late in life, I was 18 when I began the dance program, and I thought I was too old, and I was really behind the curve. And I contribute, you know, a lot of the capacity for me to really be on par into audition and to work was because of that knowledge and that ownership of the Pilates program. So I don't know that I valued it. I struggled with it, but I needed it so badly. Like what I realized is that I resisted it because my vessel was so out of alignment, not connected, not embodied, not attune, you know, and what a learning curve to have at those ages and stages. Fast forward to I was five years in the program because I double major. My last summer I ruptured my right hip. So repetitive use injury, right, I went in for surgery, they patched me up, I mean, it pulled, you know, pulled away from the bone, the whole thing. It was hot, it was awful. And they patched me up. And we're like, You're gonna be fine in six weeks. And I was like, you do know what I do, right? Like, I'm moving six to eight hours a day. I'm in rehearsals and in performance. I'm in class. And they were like, oh, yeah, he'll be fine. I was not fine. And I didn't have health insurance at the time. So they did not recommend physical therapy. They literally just sent me home on crutches and I could barely walk. And I was sitting in class watching those my senior year like this is supposed to be like, you have every solo, you get to do all the things. And solos were cut. And I was just watching. I couldn't even I was in tears. And I finally got to this place where I was like, I have to get creative. Like I just I have to get creative. And so I had this moment of divine inspiration, earnestly, I realized now it was like such this gift from the universe that was like, you know, the hip series from the mat, like take it to the pool. And I was still taking Pilates, but it was like hyper adjusted. And she did recommend that I go into the studio, but I couldn't afford those sessions. And so I kind of patchwork together my own physical therapy that was enough to get me through. It never fully healed, like completely and well. And when I embarked on a full Pilates certification, I was really, you know, lucky to be the apprentice to people who were physical therapists, and also taught Pilates. And that was a completely different lens on the work than a dancer who teaches Pilates, right. And so I ended up like the woman who certified me as a physical therapist, and it just brought this whole new lens. And I was like, This is magic. You know, like all these things that I struggled with that were painful that I just couldn't do that I thought I'll never be able to do. And now because I've had the surgery, I won't be able to do them. It just it really healed and move through. And I was like this work is amazing. And so within that I was performing and auditioning. And I was also waiting tables and bartending. And it just got to a place in my life where energetically I couldn't sustain all of those things and was looking for another way to supplement my income. And I had, you know, decided to work for a gym doing membership sales. So like I have a long career in like fitness facilities and studio management. And that was the first entry point. And they started to ask me to teach and this is, you know, it's kind of going backward in time right now that I wasn't originally certified when I got asked to teach, but the fitness facility paid for me to go get certified. So the universe kept putting it in my path to teach and taking care of it for me, there was no way for me to say no. And I got to a certain place in my career, that it was just too much of a hustle to bartend and to audition, the energetics upside down it didn't feel good. Everything kind of fell off. I felt like hyper criticized, you know, auditioning as a dancer is like the worst for body image. And I just kind of took a pause and I started teaching full time. And that's so bloody seemed to be able to encourage people to support them and to see how movement generates personal evolution that has nothing to do with the vessel or fitness or wellness. And I just earnestly got so heart attached to my clients, and generated a really stable income from it that was super rewarding and not draining. And I ended up making the choice to not audition anymore not to perform anymore. Because that the path of Pilates and fitness and movement kept expanding itself to me and just felt really, you know, Soul centric, and really heart centric.
Katie Kay 10:40
Oh, my gosh, there's so much there. And it's amazing in the way that you really have been set up in the way that you have a really unique perspective, being an athlete, going through an injury, and now being able to support a community of women that just are dealing with having a busy schedule, and just day to day stuff. And, and the way that you've just progressed to what you kept saying kind of that universe aligned you to that place where it was like you really didn't have any other option. This was it kept showing up. And now you have a really incredible way that you can just help other women who maybe aren't an athlete or didn't go through a serious injury, but you get that whole other spectrum of perspective that really can help and support. And I love how you're saying you hated Pilates. And for the first you know, kind of hater, it's like, hey, we have it. And there's a reason for that, right? Because now you can really have that your own perspective is like, I really hated this, like, stay with it, you're gonna see amazing results in your alignment and balance and how you feel in your body. And so that's just helping support the women in your community just in that way alone. So it's really amazing to hear your story. I'd love to hear how that kind of progressed into your unicorn wellness. So your business now, and, and I heard you on a different podcast talk about you, your mom and you were really busy and having kind of a shorter workout to really gain that same alignment, but not having to, you know, go to the extra effort, go to the gym, do all this, you know, crazy hard work. And so, um, could you tell us a little bit how that progress? And then what Yeah, yeah, motor? Yeah, yeah. Because even
Tandy Gutierrez 12:37
as we're sitting here, I'm like, Okay, that brings us to a certain point in the path and the journey, and it's such a huge beginning and substantial piece, but it continues to evolve. So I have two children, I've had three pregnancies, one miscarriage, I've had, you know, I have three autoimmune issues, a thyroidectomy. I mean, my vessel has taken the litany of this lifetime. And so I really, genuinely do understand, you know, this concept of, of battling your body, you know, and feeling like you're just at the mercy of it, and it just keeps, you know, it keeps letting you down kind of scenario. And I do also, it's a different perspective, you know, understand additional weight on the vessel from being pregnant, and like how strange that is, and how it changes the movements that you're able to do or that you want to engage with. And so, I've had a long career in fitness and in wellness, and I think it's really important for me to make the distinction that fitness is really the manipulation of the vessel. And that can serve a purpose, right, as athletes you're like, manipulating to get to a certain goal, like, Can I do a triple turn? Can I do a backflip? Can I shave five seconds off my sprint? I mean, that's a lot. I was gonna say shit ton, but that's, you know, like, right, we have goals here. And so when you do when they relate things in order to get to the goal, and that's super useful. But wellness is really about how do you feel? How's it functioning, and I spent a good period of time I looked fit, but I was not well, right. And so the evolution just continued and exacerbated. So after I had my first son, my hips, stuff all came back, like because of those tendons and ligaments being stretched. They recommended like a full hip replacement. At that point, I was 29. And I was like, Oh, hell no. Went back to the gym to my friends who were like super smart and was like, Okay, I know what I can do in the studio, but I need another eye on this. And so I don't want to get lost in not answering the question, but it was another evolution of of again, understanding, oh, the vessel continues to change particularly as those of us who identify as female, those of us who have the opportunity to birth a child or just carry a child like changes, and nobody's talking about it, and then nobody's really addressing it in the fitness or the Wellness Center. St. Unless it's from a pure deficit standpoint, right? If you're not in chronic disorder, dis ease, then you're like, Hey, I'm wonder group class, hey, I'm gonna recruit a personal trainer, you know, but then no one really knows what's going on in your body. And then you don't know to communicate it. So it was a long evolution for me of working in fitness facilities, very high end spaces, celebrity clientele, very elite places. And I just thought, well, this is a little crazy. At this point, it's not accessible. My clients are paying me, you know, minimum of 100 maximum at that time. This is like, you know, 15 years ago, $350 an hour. And I'm like, what are all these people doing and thinking? It's like the light bulb went off of how we're marketed to specifically as women, a vessel that we go, Okay, I'm going to look at the external first, I want this result. And I'm going to embark on this program or this format. Meanwhile, the vessel that selling you that program or format didn't get to that point number one, with that workout they were hired, right to do. There was just all these juxtapositions, there were definite lies, and the marketing pressure and just the the lies of the industry. And I thought, as a female who's given birth now to two babies. Oh, this is a hot mess. So then we go to basics, right? How the hell does anybody get two babies, you know, two kids under five, in, let's say, winter in New York, because we're in Brooklyn, in their coats in their gloves in their boots, somebody is going to have to pee and somebody is going to cry, it's probably going to be me, right? Seriously, y'all. I'm super sensitive, and like high anxiety. I could not figure out how to get back to my fitness routine, right. And I had every resource, literally, privilege time, a tiny bit of help, and the capacity to go to facilities that had childcare, right. I couldn't get out the door. It was like a three, four hour process. And everybody was like, I didn't get anything else done. And I'm not sure that was worth it. So after the birth of my second son, my husband was traveling a lot, I was not ready to go back to teaching yet. I was just trying to get back and you know, air quotes to my regular wellness routine, my fitness routine at that point. And I was so desperate for things to be not stressful, that I finally was like, Okay, forget it. I'm not even trying to go to class, I'm not even gonna try go on the weekends, because it's just too stressful. Like, then I don't see my husband and all the dishes, or is this is not helping. So I started, I had a moment of pause again, there were these moments in my life that I went, when I was teaching full time, I really only did 30 minute workouts on my own. Because that's all the time I had in between clients, between managing and teaching, I had an hour to eat, and to work out. And that workout was about my stress levels, not particularly about the aesthetics of the vessel or how it performed. That was like I have six more clients tonight to prepare for this. And so I was like, well, actually, I've always been doing 30 minute workout. Okay, let's just start there. So my second son was not a great Napper. And it was really like, oh, like you cross your fingers. And I put him down and literally run downstairs and roll out my mat. And I could get about 20 to 30 minutes. And then if he slept past that, then I could shower or do the dishes. And I thought, Oh, this is working. So we that kind of templated itself, right? And then a little bit further down the road. The discussion comes up of like, between my husband, who's also my business partner have like, are you ready to go back to work? Like, are you ready, like my old fitness home, I have completely opened doors, and I think still does for me if I ever wanted to return. And so it was always just a matter of me saying I was ready to come back. And I just was like, that sounds insane to me. And I have two babies that I really do want to do all the pickups and all of the snacks. That's what I want to do. I want to take them to the park in the afternoon. And I don't need to do all day. But that is important to me. And so my husband Mateo woke up one morning, and he's totally this way. We're both super worried, but he woke up and he was like, Oh my God, I know what you need to do. And I was like, what? And he was like, we're gonna get you a camcorder. Let's launch, you know, a subscription base. And that doesn't sound like a thing now, but this was in 2012. And it was a thing and my performance background. My my perfectionist was like no, we don't have the lights and the crew and I have no idea how editing works and like that. little cameras never gonna do it, you know. And he was like, Look, he comes from a tech background and has experience in you know, subscription based products. And he was like, I've watched you for years, he was like content pours out of you, you have taught classes eight hours a day, for 12 years are by loves you. He was like, this is perfect, you know, and he was like, just give it a shot. And it was, I mean, I had a lot of growing to do, right. And these years, it was terrifying to me. It wasn't like it started gangbusters at all. And everybody thought I'd lost my mind. So I, I left the industry to launch this, because it gave us flexibility as a family, it allowed me to be with my kids, the hours that I wanted to, with my auto immune issues, it let me tend to my schedule on my time, which you know, auto immune bodies, you can wake up and go, nope, nothing's happening today. And it allowed me that. And so we launched a product, an online offering in 2013. And it sold so many pieces, I thought this is really what I'm doing as a mom of two, I'm really only working out 30 minutes at a time, it starts to diffuse a lot diffuse the lies of how you get to certain results. And it was super accessible. And that was important to me and still is. And I realized that accessibility is many different levels. But elite personal trainers are not accessible to everyone. And I know that has changed so much over the years. But Pilates specifically in its history has been very elitist, and very white. And so this offering, like the value of it when you get into it for the coaching and the training, I felt was very commensurate and accessible. And it also solved the you don't have to be someplace on time, because I thought I couldn't get somewhere. How was everybody else doing this, like, these moms in particular, you know, as I'm a mom don't always know when their free moments gonna come. And so when online offerings, like my trainers ready when I am, and I go press that button, this is about me. Right. And so in 2013, we launched an offering,
Katie Kay 22:27
wow. When I'm hearing you talk, it's I can really tell that there's so many of these underlying deeper truths that you really connect to, and just the words that you use, like the vet like describing the body as the vessel, and just some of those concepts I can really latch on to and it's beautiful in a way that that kind of gives you a really unique Foundation. And man i i want to just like I want to describe it, I don't even know if I have the words to but it's like there's the our surface lives we have limited time we're busy, there's Reality of Things, and the reality of you know, exercise and feeling good in our body and what we need to do. But then there's also this layer of almost like a deeper reality that you really describe so well in the way that you said it's it's really personal development, it's not so much about the vessel, it's not so much about the body. And it's getting into kind of those deeper understanding deeper layers. And I loved how you were talking about just kind of being set up to like you, you had all of these availability, you had all of these privileges. And if you couldn't make it work, and you had all the knowledge in the wellness space, you were thinking, Well, how does anybody else have a chance. And I love that perspective. And I can see how you really were almost called to be this person for a support system for all of these other people. And it just lined up that way and and when you were talking about you have a auto immune disorder and you have all of these different struggles and the pregnancies and the miscarriage, it's Life is funny in the way that it really sets you up. And it struggles to be this amazing support person for other people because you've been through it and you've been through some of that really hard stuff that none of us want to go through. But if you can be a light in the world, for other people, it's it's truly amazing and the way that you've really set yourself up to be that light for other people. So I really want to acknowledge that and I and I do Do you want to kind of talk a little bit about the name unicorn wellness because I also think that that's a really good way to understand you more as a person and the way that you have so many different layers to this business addressing the, you know, surface level struggles, but also addressing some of those deeper truths behind it all.
Tandy Gutierrez 25:22
Haha. So unicorn wellness, I never chose, I actually was quite annoyed, it did come to me in a meditation and in multiple card readings, and my spiritual practice is like a second, you know, parallel story of its evolution and how much space it started to take up and, and it really pushing me to listen, the universe has always been very noisy and loud with me. And so I was in a place in the business that we had launched it in 2013. And it had had to branding transitions, because just like people, businesses evolve, and then people are asking for the things and you offer additional things and, and it changes and it shifts. And so I was in a place of, there was a decent amount of visibility on it. At that point, it was in a interesting stage of the internet. Whereas it's very noisy right now, it was much more viral at that point, it was not a pay to play environment. And it really was being shared. And I've been showing up in my private groups for years prior to having something to launch, right. It was a very different scenario. And I was in a struggle point of this, like acceleration and putting out content that people wanted or expected. That didn't resonate as me. And so the witchy, we started to call me more, and I spent more time in my own meditation and more time in my own cards and more time delving into just the self, you know, the personal development work, because I knew that would guide me into the right place. And so we're into this growth phase. And I'm like, feeling kind of, like uncomfortable sketchy about it, of like, I don't, I don't know that this is really what I want. And in meditation, the name came to me and it was unicorn wellness. And I was like, What the fuck, that sounds so stupid. Like, I'm like, I didn't like Pilates. This name comes through, and I'm like, everybody's gonna think I'm crazy. Because that sounds silly. We definitely had that feedback, right? Where people were like, that sounds to you like, silly, but I trust the messaging. And so then I started to do research in the night, my cerebral, Brian, my human mind needs to understand and go, Okay, I trust you. We're gonna call it that. But I need to really understand why. And there's two stories. One, the symbolism of unicorns is truly about hope, healing and infinite potential. Yes, please. And they only present themselves to the trough of heart. Right. So you get these wonderful layers of symbolism, and mythology and energetics and metaphor, you know that true healing, you have to be willing to be wrong. And you have to be earnest in your approach to that, right? Otherwise, it's just not going to work. And so that opened up a whole thing where I was like, okay, I can totally get behind that. That makes so much sense. And that's really how I approach the work. It's always been a very intuitive process, even when I was coaching one on one, it's always been connected to the energetics of play that are hard to understand sometimes or to explain. And it's always that heart connection. I'm deeply connected to my community, and my clients. And you can feel it as a healer and I am a high impact when you have that trust space, doesn't mean it's going to be easy. And it doesn't mean you're not going to have some really uncomfortable hiccups through it. But it does mean you can move through it, right. And so I really got on board with it. The second piece of the unicorn bit was that we were living. I've told the story a couple times to like we were living in Austin, for the second time, we'd move back from New York, and I just thought we'd move back and slot into our life and like, it would be awesome. And here I had this online business now. And it was not a warm welcome. Because of the visibility and the growth that had happened in that period of time since we left. People were not kind. And I would go to lunches and meetings and social and networking things. And they all just looked at me I remember having this conversation with my husband in the kitchen, because I would go to these things totally open hearted, totally like I can't wait to share this. I can't wait to learn what other people are doing, like a way to connect with people. And inevitably, they would look at me like I was silly. Because I was in an online space at that time. They thought it was not legitimate. And they were rude and condescending and They thought I was too much, too loud, too eager to driven too many boundaries, just too much. Right. And as a woman, we need to know what those flags are, right? But I came home and he was like, How was today? I mean, like, I joined so many things. And he looked at me, he goes, it happened again. And I was like, oh, yeah, I was like, the minute I start talking, they look at me, like, I have a horn growing out of my head, like, I'm the craziest person they have ever come in contact with. And I had people who were rude to me to my face, you know, again, with the name and the concepts and the astrology and the, you know, I had, we made this third branding shift. And we had what felt like a bloodletting of membership, right, like 25% Cancel. Because when you go from fitness and Pilates to your authentic self, which I did, it was it was just too much for them, they really, in their eyes, I'd lost all of my expertise. I had no validity, like all of my intelligence gone. And they left. And it was challenging. And it was a bit like coming out of the witch's closet, right. And it was not easy. And I it's taken time, to rebuild, to readjust to review and to understand the lessons of that. So like, there's so many levels, I could not live as my not authentic person. But it didn't initially come at a cost that has, you know, continued to grow and heal over time and expand it is in this really beautifully lovely place. But the name came with some baggage. And I think sometimes still does. But it also comes with hope, healing, infinite potential, that childlike joy, the capacity to maybe be a little silly, not take it so seriously. Right? And that when it resonates with people, then you know, it's a fit, like people who are like I rah, rah is just not serious enough. And it's like, yeah, it's not for you, boom, keep going.
Katie Kay 32:26
100% I think that that just takes a lot of courage. And I also really believe that that's what's missing in the fitness space, and we need more of it, we need more of it, and especially with the online space, just getting so crowded, it's like, man, if you're not being authentic, and you're not showing up in your truth, and then why are you showing up at all and, and, and just making it more busy and just, I feel like, that's just really cool, how you gave yourself permission to trust that if you moved in that direction, that it would line out, and it would work for you and your community. And just from what I've seen, you've created a container for other people that they can feel fully supportive, because you had created that space for them. And, and so you can really help people with more potential in that way. And I saw that on your look through your website. And I saw that in the way that you integrate all of these different really special tools of chakras and tarot readings and astrology. So you can have per month you have an astrology reading and and I think that is, I mean, some people may look at that and just be like, Well, why does that fit in to Pilates? And why does that fit? And it's like, those deeper layers, right? And if we're living at the surface, we're living in that resistance and in that judgment, and I believe it's not until I fully opened up my heart and and just allow the space for like, some of those energetic things that it and just like have fun and, and the body like you like how are we calling it the vessel, it's, it is it's a vessel of energy, it's literally made up of energy and, and really accounting for all of those different layers to come into just treating your body in the way that it really needs to be and the healing and the and the support and the community. I just I think that you're just spot on and the way that you transition your business into that way and I love the unicorn I think it's like everybody really wants to feel fully themselves and aligned and unique. And that's what the container that we're creating. It's not like, here's the hip circles, you know, 15 reps, and then we're doing this and we're doing this, it's like it's a full body personal transformation, so that you can get into that space, you can let go of your resistance, and feel more free in just who you fully are in yourself. And so I am totally 100% on board on your unicorn wellness. And I bet my listeners will be too. Because we really want to uplift the uniqueness and authenticity of every unique individual. So I think that's really amazing. And the way that you created that space,
Tandy Gutierrez 35:46
thank you. And this is really the goal. It does seem weird and odd one I love efficiency. I love a one stop shop. Like if you're interested in the witchy woowoo, energetics like why do you need to go to 17 different places to get them. And when you're working with 17 Different teachers or mentors or channels, sometimes that's confusing, because the work of one person is not the through line in their interpretation. And so it's like, again, unicorn wellness does aim to be this home of support. That isn't confusing, that shows how if I listen to this moon energy forecast that's going to help me navigate through these two weeks, then the movements that I'm doing on the mat are going to support the physicality of that, because a holistic system right speaks one to itself, the soul speaks to the vessel, the vessel speaks to the emos, the emos speak to the intelligence the subconscious is like. So there's this crazy party, the multi layer cake habit in your body, that is like, again, my members and clients, I resonate for them, right. And I'm so grateful and blessed that that happens. And they're like, you know, I don't really trust other people and all their other stuffs kind of sounds crazy. And quite frankly, I don't have time for that shit, I don't have time to go look for another thing. I don't have time to layer this in. And so you know, good entrepreneurs, you create what you want in the world, you solve something for yourself, and then hopefully fingers crossed, right? It resonates. And I am in full agreement with you and appreciate that you see it that we need more of this in our fitness and our wellness. And I wanted to add a little like, because you mentioned something and I thought I think that's really important to hear of like, why is it Pilates? Because people will think magic. And woo. And our assumption, right is yoga. And I personally felt a little imposter syndrome for a while with that, because it's like, oh, magic means yoga. But the longer that I've lived in it. And I know that my own path is my own path. Right? Is that one, there's an assumption in there. So what it was assumptions do, right? That we also do need to be mindful in our movements of appropriation. Right. And yoga, although can be practiced by so many has really been culturally appropriated by the fitness industry in Western culture. And when we're typically practicing yoga, we're practicing the Asana is not the full eight limbs of yoga, right. And Pilates. Although it doesn't seem magical, it feels like super Taipei. It's actually a healing modality. It was created as rehab in like 1918. So when you're talking healing, now, I know I do know firsthand how healing yoga can be. But I personally have like, you know, have had this push pull relationship with it of the, you know, when you learn it in this 200 hour certification process that's in and out of a fitness facility. It just doesn't resonate with me, I have those. I've done those. And you will see yogic sensibilities. And I also honor that we're channeling things, we're going to use the energies at play. But I really work from a healing perspective in all its modalities, right? And Pilates is that it was created as rehab for the vessel. And so that's why it's the baseline of what I teach. And also great clarity. I teach the practical and the magical, right? We have a 3d vessel food, water shelter, if you don't eat and hydrate, you're going to have problems. So we need to know how to do that physical addressing of the vessel, the alignment, how does it actually work? How does it actually get stronger? How does it actually get more mobile? What's the point of being stronger or mobile? I really want to shift the conversation from ABS and asked to like, well, how or why would I choose to do that? Right, because for years as a coach and a trainer, what do you think is the best thing For this well, or Or what do you think is better running? Or the trampling? Like for cardio? Right? Well, what's your goal? How much time you have to give to it? How much money do you have to invest in this project? Does this make sense in your life? Like, do you have a close running trail and a safe space to run? You know, do you have a place to put that mini tramp? Because we need to start really shifting all conversations to curiosity, and what's the goal and trying to solve? Rather than I'm right, you're wrong, this is best. And it's best because I'm selling. And so it's in there is a conversation shift that I feel very deeply about, clearly, I'll get off my soapbox now. Like, I do want us to go deeper. And the work of Pilates is rooted at the core. Right? I love that word play. When we get to the core of our issues, the core of our strength, the core of our weaknesses, the core of our triggers. That's where healing happens.
Katie Kay 41:10
I think it's a really important topic, just to kind of your rhetoric. He reiterate, how do you say that dandy something free Italy, re nailed it. Re iterate over and over again, because there is this system of right and wrong in our culture. And we were talking about that curiosity. It's I think about it as the beginner's mind. And I really think that it's special and fun, and playful in that way that it's like, Oh, I'm gonna follow this. Because something's telling me it might feel really good. And just, you know, trying it out without putting a label on it. Like, that's where empowerment comes in into it, because it falls into choice, and it falls into what's your following that feels good. And I could tell by your face, you're just super nice. Yes. How loud? Can I bomb drop? Yes. So yeah, I just think it's perfect that you brought that up. And I do want to hit on some of our topics. And we were talking about how, how to get more wellness results by doing less. And so I want to talk about that. And that's a good kind of lead in from you. We're talking about Pilates and feeling aligned. And, and so how, how can we really, for me, personally, I like this is a kind of a sore spot for me is and that I'm trying to work through right now is that not everything has to be hard. And I have this limiting belief that if I'm going to be successful, if I'm going to do it right or a quote, unquote, that it needs to be hard. And so oh my gosh, it doesn't need to be and I need to say that to myself every day. It doesn't need to be hard. Katie, it doesn't need to be hard, Katie, and I've seen people be really successful and just making life easy. And, and when it comes to wellness, yeah, let's get into this because
Tandy Gutierrez 43:16
we're gonna try to like be really concise, because this really excites me. Like a whole lot. And I want to be of service here. So the let's start with the basics, right? The practical aspects of it. Our fitness culture sells us a Lie Number one, okay. They, they the marketing, right, wants to keep us in fear and wants to keep us in deficit in order to keep spending money. Okay. And this is one of the things that led me to leaving a fitness facility, very high end facility, and the launch something that I that I wanted to be more accessible at that time. I still want it to be accessible. But like, that was like a weird shift in that space. Right? Because clients weren't doing that much to get results, but they had to pay $350 an hour to get it right because they let someone else make it a little easier for them. They had the resources recruit a personal trainer. So one when you make things easier, you recruit help, and but not all help, unless say this carefully, is created equally. Right? Again, resources, experience, expertise, education, they count and we tend to discount them when it comes to movement. As long as somebody looks hot, we don't hire them. Some of those genetics y'all, like they can't bottle that I'm sorry. I wish or do I don't you know, we don't I mean, so by you know, there's a lie to the industry. We live in a toxic patriarchal, masculine culture. And that set point in a toxic culture is willpower go do beat it up, beat it into submission. I like that book. Theater kidding me it's coming out, I have a lot to say about this, um, you know, will push us into overworking our vessels for burnout. And for blowout, it is just a complete misconception from a strategic fitness space, working out his stress on the vessel, that's what it is. But putting the appropriate amount of stress on the vessel, so that it begins to shift and change. And doing that, in a macro and micro cycle four week cycle is actually required. And I don't think there's enough education out here about this. So people are being sold fitness, keep coming hour and a half at a time, at least an hour, and it's gonna be five to seven days a week. Again, who's got time for that shit. Meanwhile, people are like, I just need my back not to hurt and I'd like to drop 10 pounds, I don't need to be a fitness guru. So we have this elite celebrity mentality in our culture, too, that says, I have to be a millionaire, I have to be an elite athlete. No, you don't know you don't. To cultivate shift in the vessel. 30 minutes macro and micro cycled over a four week period of time repeated thoughtfully, generates results. Tiny and mighty habit and repetition, equal result hands down. And any coach or trainer will tell you that, right? And I always like to say half assed actually is better than no last fucking show up. Be shitty at it, don't do it very well, you're still going to be proud of yourself, you tick the box, and you got it done. Right. And the more you do that, the more you start to like it, the more the endorphins kick in. And so my calling card has always been to back people way off. So the other main piece is that the 30 minute mark, like, okay, fitness is a workout of stress on the vessel. We are already so stressed in our culture. And so busy, the amount of cortisol in our systems these days is too much. Okay. And so then you go into these aggressive workouts, that you're going to be really pushed, they're not macro and micro cycle. So you don't have an ebb and flow. You don't have you know, a calm stage, you don't have a constructive rest phase, amplifies the cortisol, you're actually going backwards. This is why when people are doing so much, and they either retain or gain weight. Now I know the difference between gaining weight and gaining muscle mass, right. So we're just really off, we just are overworked. And so when I was in a fitness facility in a studio one on one, I was a strength and conditioning coach also. And I worked with other coaches. And so the clients that would come in to me that were looking to Yeah, manipulate the vessel and have fitness outcome, I would peel them off of everything, I say you have to stop, you have to stop lifting, and you have to stop doing cardio, you will come to the Pilates studio with me. And we will probably spend 15 to 20 minutes on mobility. I'm stretching, like mobility is different, but then into the work, right? So they're not even doing a full hour of work, removing the vessel and moving the body mindfully. And they would be with me and doing that for three months. And they're like, What the hell just happened? I just dropped 15 to 30 pounds that I've been trying without even adjusting their foods, why they got mindful within how they're moving their vessel. And their cortisol levels actually dropped because they were doing movements that weren't fully based in push pull. aggression. Right. And it was transformational, and it was like a thing, you know, and that's the same thing that happens online because people go okay, well, they were with you in person. Yeah, well, it's the same thing. Online, it's 30 minutes, all you have to do is show up and press play. It is macro micro cycles within four weeks cycles in perpetuity. You are getting a personal trainer at every point on the path. Then if you just add hydration to that, more results, most bodies are dehydrated. So all that we're struggling with right to drop five to 15 pounds because this is the typical ask of the basic, you know, audience if you start to hydrate with half your body weight in ounces, half your body weight in ounces of water a day. You're flushing everything out. You can lose three to 15 pounds depending on your vessel simply by being hydrated. So all the shakes all the cardio I love cardio, y'all but it's for your heart. It's not for weight loss. It's not It might be for your mental health, right? But there are simple things. Water, right, we hope it doesn't cost a whole lot, right? It should be for everyone. That's a, that's doing less to get more results, getting out 30 minutes at a time, four to seven times a week, whatever works for you. That's way less than getting in your car driving to the gym parking getting in paying for a personal trainer on top of that time. Right. And so it's really about the lifestyle things, I also have, you know, at some points, people really shift into their bedtime ritual, because sleep is this unbelievable catalyst for our wellness, a lot of results are thwarted. Two biggest cortisol, dehydration, and lack of sleep, you know, rest or recovery time. And so then it starts to become not so not so pretty, you know, it's like, oh, so it's actually not about my workout, maybe not about my coach or my trainer, it's definitely not about the leggings I'm wearing, right? You're telling me to go to bed, and to drink water, and to move mindfully for just a little bit. And then we see how it shifts into self parenting, better adulting more basics, you know, when you strip it back, that's when results start to happen. Right. And we also know you, you talked about it earlier, we get so in our heads about things that if we're not addressing the emotional, or the intellectual blocks, it has physical repercussions. So when we get in really good places in our brain, and in our fields, the body follows.
Katie Kay 51:52
Yeah, I think this is so important. Just have somebody save this message that's really knows the fitness area, and they know the science backing it. But it's and they see the results. And I just I feel like for me in my own story, it can be so hard to let go of the idea that it doesn't have to be hard. And, and, and it was like I felt like I was grasping on so hard so tightly, that it was almost comforting to be in that place of it's hard. I'm crushing it. And I'm going to be successful, and I'm going to win at life or whatever I thought it was. But in reality it was when I couldn't do it anymore. And I had to hit a low point that allowed me to let go of some of that grasping on. And obviously I'm still working through some of that, because I was told over and over and over and over again in our society that this is the way that it's done. So now I have to go over and over and over again to undo it. Yeah. So yeah, I think it's really valuable just to say, like there is there is the science backing it obviously. And then you were talking I mean, the consistency and showing up 30 minutes in what everything that you were talking about. And but I think the hardest part, at least for me was Yeah, letting go of the emotional attachment on to it. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. And, and it's like, I'm glad you're addressing that because we're not really like we're told, okay, you need to let go, you need to let go of the control. It can be so easy. But then you realize there's like this internal perspective, and you've you've held on to it that it is a process and a different process for everybody to realize that. Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't have to be so hard and and I can let go of some of these expectations that other people put on me. And then I found myself. And it's just like I realized, like, oh my gosh, I'm in a place where I'm just like so much more compassionate to myself. And the way that I see my movement is totally different now because it's actually opened up like just letting go of a little bit of that expectation on myself. It's opened up so much space where I could start to be more intuitive and I start to see movement and whatever. You know, yoga, Pilates or dancing or whatever I choose that day is just a release of stuck energy in my body that I'm really healing my way, the way I can heal myself and my body by just finding a little movement. But anyway, so that's my own experience with it. But I just think the more that we're reminded of this message, the more we can kind of let a little little of the grasping go and realize that there is kindness and compassion on the other side, if, if you can see that the perspective shift is all you really need to do. I mean, all you really need, right, right. It's hard. It's hard. But it's, um, there is a light at the end of the tunnel that, like at least you have a direction where you're like, Okay, this is something I can work on. And yeah, you don't have to go to the gym like 18 More times this week, you can meditate or journal and just find a little bit more peace within yourself in your body.
Tandy Gutierrez 55:31
Absolutely. And I again speak from a place of knowing I used to live that life, right. And as an athlete, and when you first step into the strength and conditioning space, and I was like, this anomaly to people because I had so much strength, and they couldn't figure out how like the skinny white girl like, What the hell are you doing? You know, he's like, but I had a Pilates background. I'm just at the core, like these leveraging pieces, but it blew out my system. And it exacerbated my autoimmune issues. And so I think, you know, if people really love data points, and they want to attach to one, the 30 minute marker with a workout is where you hit the cortisol, where you can start to really hit stress in the vessel. So if you only are doing a 30 minute workout, you're getting the benefit, but you're not hitting that stress level. And I have heard so often from our members, you know, two major things that I think are important that they you know, will three, that unicorn wellness is the thing they never knew they needed, like most of them made fun of it before they started. Like, I'm not well, I'm not doing that. Men get in and they're like, Oh, my God has changed. Because you may say, but that oh, you know, to that they've stuck with this longer than anything ever that this has brought consistency, this is brought I hate permission. But you know, we do need things sometimes to show us permission to only do 30 minutes to not overwork ourselves to not stress ourselves out. Right? And that that 30 minutes works, that when we start to understand the interplay between the practical and the magical, right, what do I really want from my vessel? Do I really care what it looks like? Do I care? You know, like it? We have to, it's just it's a powerful thing to get connected to the vessel? And it can it happens in these tiny and mighty ways that are layered over time, that create real lasting long term results. So I don't teach from a place I don't coach from places like 3060 90 days. Yes, there are functional practical things that happen at those 3060 and 90 day markers, right. But we're aiming for the long haul here. This is the long game. And so it's very important to me that people understand this, when my autoimmune issues finally got diagnosed, everything got worse for me first, and then it started to get better. But so much of that support system was because I like held on to. I only work out for 30 minutes. Right? And it makes it more it's like, Yo, we brush our teeth every day. Right? So we are bodies are built to move, which is kind of move every day. But when it doesn't feel so heavy and so grand. This is not a thing, like part of me is like Yeah, so I wanted to make it this sacred thing. But I also go, just it doesn't need to be a thing. Just show up for it. Yeah,
Katie Kay 58:25
I'm glad you brought up that auto immune body again. Can you dive a little bit deeper into that? How do you heal an auto immune body?
Tandy Gutierrez 58:34
One by really tending to the self care, I think that's the biggest piece of information. So again, I went through a Gosh, 12 year journey before I got diagnosed, I look back and I'm like, why are people not testing my thyroid levels like this is insane. I had a nodule that was discovered at 18. And it was kept an eye on but they assumed they were just looking for cancer. And so when they biopsied it, and it wasn't cancer, they just left it alone. And it was getting to these stages. And again, there's been a lot of trauma in my life at a lot of different points, like really extreme things that I just didn't my vessel just couldn't hold all of it at a certain point. And I knew there was something wrong with me and again, having the privilege of white skin. I had resources. I had health insurance at the time. That was awesome. And I went to all the places and spaces and tried to recruit help and everyone told me that everyone handed me a prescription for anti anxiety meds or anti depression meds. And I was so angry. I was like, This is bullshit. There's something really wrong. Like I'm, you know, vacillating. And there's stretches of constipation stretches of diarrhea, I have cystic acne and I you know went to herbalists I went to acupuncturist and went to nutritionist. I went to dieticians, and like you said earlier, I really appreciate you seeing because I do feel like the universe just set me up for things. But I was so angry in the process, right? That I was like nobody had an answer. And I was like, This is ridiculous. All the education, all the certifications, and nobody can really take a swing at this. It was a long process that finally I had a doctor who tested my, my thyroid levels, and they were like, I don't know how you're still alive right now. Honestly, they're like, why are you not having thyroid storms? Because my TSH was completely burnout, it was less than point 00 1%. And I was so angry, right? Like, yay, for finally finding somebody who's a female doctor, by the way. I learned how to fiercely advocate for myself and be comfortable being a bitch and asking again and asking to be tested and asked, you know, that we finally got some answers on it. But healing, it is such another thing. So I finally got diagnosed with celiac with it was never it was looked at as benign. You know, goiters, I ended up having nine growths on my thyroid, that were bigger than the thyroid itself. And so they recommended medication and the removal because it was just done. And everything was supposed to get better. And they removed it and everything that works. Because they put me on medication that had gluten. So it was like hyper dosing my system with gluten. And it was because of all my personal reading research, and then I would go in and ask for certain tests and things. So this healing of an autoimmune body like mine is with thyroid issues. That is my personal experience. It's the self care that made the biggest difference, because that allowed me an upswing to then advocate for myself. And I just wouldn't take no for an answer for certain things. And if I didn't feel like doctors are really listening to me, I have the privilege of being able to go to another one or find another one. But the healing prospect, the two the biggest things is your self care, right? If you are into a movement pattern, or you'd like to be, you have to keep to that 30 minute or below was life changing for me. And the food is the biggest piece. My 41 Day food reset saved my life, hands down, continues to every day, my husband, you know, nine years later, he's like, because I forget how like not healthy you were in the like it was hard on our house. And he looked at me the other day, and he was like, and you're eating so many things that you couldn't eat before. Right? Like, technically, I have IBS, I have thyroidectomy and I have celiac. And the food saved my life.
Katie Kay 1:02:46
It's so valuable just to hear that, and especially anybody that's really struggling, I mean, the way that you showed up for yourself as an advocate, like, that's really impressive. I mean, I see that I'm like, Man, I don't know, if I went to doctors, I might just kind of bail out because you feel like an inconvenience. And then it's not like even if you have health insurance, it's like it's still not free. So if you have a family and and it's like, man, we I think there's this really common feeling of just not feeling good enough. Yeah. And it bleeds out until into not being an advocate for yourself and your health. And so I think your story is really powerful. The way that you showed up for yourself in that way,
Tandy Gutierrez 1:03:33
I super appreciate that. I'll tell you, I didn't feel powerful. When I was doing it. I felt crazy. Everybody made me feel like I was crazy. You know, I tend to look younger than I am also. And as a female, I get patted on the head a lot. And the only thing I can contribute to it is my intuition and connection to spirit that it was like those whispers those consistencies that allowed me to trust that like, okay, they just don't know what's going on. I mean, and life has evolved, right since these years that this was going on. Now autoimmune protocol is a part of our vernacular as a culture, you know, gluten issues, and celiac is now a part of the of the culture it wasn't before. Right? And it really wasn't in that timeframe. So it is and I I do hear you and I also appreciate, receive that reflection, that it took me a lot to stand up for myself. It took me a lot to keep going and it is exhausting. And I say this with a lot because I understand the privilege that I had of having insurance of having white skin, right of like being articulate and kind of a pain in the ass that was like you're not listening to me like you're not hearing me. This is not normal. Like and I refuse to believe that this is normal. Somebody knows something. But it was exhausting. And it took a really long time. And the beauty of the internet was that I was just relentless with searching and finding things and reading things. And I look for the overlapping truths like of multiple stories. And then that to me is like, Okay, that's a core truth and right, and I can go with that. And I can try that. And the real honest truth is I was desperate, I really thought I was going to have organ failure and die. I was down to 104 pounds, I had chronic diarrhea. I was exhausted all the time with terrible cystic acne. And I just, you know, so again, the food reset was an act of desperation. And I didn't just take really weird things. I had an endocrinologist that finally listened. I'm still with her today. I think that female doctors are super important. Because they will. My experience, they listen a little bit. But she just, you know, allowed me space and allowed me a sounding board. But when we figured out that the gluten in the medication, she was like, Wait, are you celiac? And I was like, that's been a question for a really long time. I said, But I quit eating it about three weeks ago, and you can't pay me to put put it back in my vessel, because I got another for fourth week of detox. And she was like, okay, so she switched my medication, to a gluten free medication. And there was an upswing, but it still wasn't enough. So then I got online, and I started to look at all the fillers and all the generic brands. My husband was like, What are you doing? He was like, for sure you can find this website? I don't know. And so I would call, apparently, this was illegal. I didn't know, I would call because she was like, Wait, you're doing what I was like, I called the pharmacy and asked for a certain generic because it didn't have the fillers that I knew food wise were triggers for me. And she was like less point have a generic because you don't know what you're getting. And I was like, well, the other ones have me on the toilet all day. So I'm not taking that one, you know, and then medication has come out that is for those with celiac, or with food issues that, again, made a huge improvement in my life. But yeah, I'm kind of relentless. Honestly, I am.
Katie Kay 1:07:10
There's something that you said that I want to hit back on as the you're talking about being in tune and being intuitive and connecting to that higher self. I think that that is something that I am just really focusing on in my life. And just in in, it's just so powerful in the way that like you were talking about, like, it's a little whisper, man, I didn't know that little whisper was something like actually real and truthful. And actually something that I could follow and have it guide me. And so I think that like from what I've learned from a place of feeling really helpless, and just really wrapped up and control and expectations to a place of being able to show up for myself a little bit more, and really be feeling more confident and my authentic self. And I think there's something to be said that that's just really valuable. And there's just different ways that you can connect to it for me, my meditation practice is just kind of a non negotiable now. And it's taken me a really long time to get to that place where I actually could sit down for 10 minutes every day. Which is, you know, it's funny looking back now, but it's it wasn't funny at the time. It was hard and yeah, but like really valuable. So I'm glad that you you brought that up. And, and I don't want to rush out of time. So I really want to kind of tie in that intuitive guide with the with one of our other topics, how to work with your body and not against it. Yeah. So Tommy. Yeah, like, I think that's a beautiful tie in, because that's kind of part of what I found is working with my body being able to listen to it. And so yeah, maybe you could expand on that a little bit more for me and the listeners.
Tandy Gutierrez 1:09:04
Yeah, that is the heartbeat of when we launched online is really, and that has stayed right of learning how to work with it rather than against it. Because in our culture, it's a toxic masculinity, patriarchal culture, we are taught to battle things, right? We battle cancer, we battle our vessels, we go to bootcamp to get fit, and it's like, oh, no, we right. Where's the divine feminine? And so where's the balance? Where's the duality? And that was huge, because I was constantly doing something to fix my vessel. And it never did anything. But when I was desperate, and scared and finally took a pause and was like, What do I what do I need? What do I need? Right? It led me back to basics. And so that's why I my concept here is one there's We're so busy, we're over busy. Stop being so fucking busy, who's really accomplishing anything? Who's changing the world right now? Honestly, you're just busy and tired, and stressed. Right? So doing less, to me is making the time for that meditation. Don't watch that Netflix, actually don't go get coffee with that person, don't take on that extra project at work. Stop it, right, just stop the busy, right? It is absolutely about like, you don't need to spend an hour in the gym. I get it. It's some people's dream. And they love it. I'm not talking to them, right? We're talking to people who haven't found their fit yet, who are still seeking and craving something that resonates? Like let it be 30 minutes, let it be simple, right, sometimes easier to have trouble with because we will still have challenges, we will still have to put forth effort. But at least let it be simple. Right? Don't complicate it. And when we talk about getting more results, and working with the body rather than against it, learn how a vessel actually functions, what food fuels, nourishes and bolsters you, uniquely, individually. Right? Because our food culture is working against us. It is battling our body. And a lot of the issues that we have is because of our food sources, or because we're eating food products, and we're not actually eating real food. And because we've got this, you know, emotional, like dysfunctional emotional connection to foods, it should taste good. I should love it. And it should be fun. No, actually, it shouldn't. Sometimes it gets to be bad. And it can be gorgeous, right? So that peace of intuition that comes with working with your body rather than against it like to me again, my the capacity to channel and messaging from spirit and just being connected and being able to listen is just, I'm not saying it's always been easy, or I'm always right. But it has always been loud and present. And I have learned enough that Oh, when I don't listen to that she goes really wrong. So I better just listen and be uncomfortable. Right? That when it comes to your intuition, your body is this gorgeous, beautiful communicator. It's communicating all the time. Even if we just look at the practical. What are your bowel movements look like? If you have a cycle? What is your cycle look like? Or if you don't? What does that look like? What's your skin look like? It is communicating to us all the time. What's the disconnect is our translations really off most of the time, because we're at a lack of education, right, and a lack of grounding in ourselves. And so it is transformative, to get into meditation consistently. It is transformative to start to approach the vessel and your workouts from a space of embodiment and energetics, rather than deprivation and shame and judgment. You know, because there's so much shame in our fitness and food culture. And so one of the things that I hear back from a lot of our members is like, again, you don't need my permission. But actually it's nice to hear permission. Because as females, we don't get a lot of that. And so we have to take our own but then we're confused. Is it okay for me to do just like you said, like with the doctors, well, then I feel like I'm a bother your health and your wellness is not a bother. So we better get real good at speaking up, right? And so getting on the mat and just trying, right? I don't care that the girls are touching your nose or your chin like can you breathe? Let's just move them around. It'll be okay. Right? I don't care that your toes are 700,000 miles away, your low back is still way happier that you approach that today. Right? So this connection to mat work in particular, this is why I teach what I teach. It deepens that connection to self the capacity to one hear those messages into to take action on them to trust yourself that oh, hey, I heard that message. That's probably something I should do something about. And it can be as simple as like, peppermint tea sounds good today. Instead of I'm going to go buy another coffee. Right? Your body's trying to communicate what it needs what it wants. You know, instead of there being shame it like when you're like ready for bed at nine o'clock. Go to bed. The FOMO is like how do we get to this place y'all. Good man.
Katie Kay 1:14:37
It's pure gold. I love it. Dandy you are like so amazing. I'm so grateful that you could be here today and what a perfect way to end the episode. I just I feel like everything that you're saying is just aligning perfectly. I think with in general like there's just a lot A lot of resistance and you're talking about all of these things and the judgment on ourselves and expectations. And, and really like what you're allowing for is really letting go of the things that are not serving us. And to each our own right, we have our own right and wrong. And so we get to decide. And like I said before, like that's the empowerment. But in the process of that of letting go, what's not serving us, we get to open up space, and really break free of that, all that yucky stuff and open up for the inspiration and the hope and adding the new and, and I felt like that was kind of like our whole conversation of really addressing like, what's the resistance? What's coming up? Like? What are these things that hold us back? And then what you do so beautifully is open up so much space for all this hope and inspiration to, you know, make the change that you want in your life? And so I just Yeah, I think that was I'm so blown away by you and I and I'm just so glad that you were here today. And is there any last messages that you want to leave us with? And then also let us know how we can find you. Unicorn wellness and your contact info. And I'll put all of that in the show notes as well.
Tandy Gutierrez 1:16:21
I last messages is I really have had a litany of of things to heal and to move through it really is one of those that I'm like maybe I should do a podcast at some point that like lists all of them not that like trauma Olympics, I don't need to win. And yet, you know, I really do feel like if I can heal through these things, right. This is the whole point of being a healer. I did not choose this path. It was absolutely chosen for me. And I totally understand now that everything that was put in my path was to prepare me for this and I go, this is the weirdest thing. Why would I choose this? Right? Like, if I can heal through these things, and I'm continuing to move through them, then you can too. And the issue is is that I felt so alone, when you talk about like, you know that you're just going to bother the doctors, I did feel like a bother, I did feel like nobody cared, I did feel like no one heard me. And as souls we all need to be heard and to be seen. And I do feel like I just as a healer, I say, you know, we don't know anything more than anybody else. We're just further up on the path. And we're shining that flashlight back behind us. I do want to be helpful. I don't want people to feel alone. I don't want them to feel desperate and unseen. And there are ways to heal. And I get it, I spent a ton of money and a ton of time and nothing worked. And I totally get that. When something resonates at that soul level, that's worth the next effort. Right. And for all the things that haven't worked cool, at least you checked it off the list. We know that didn't work. So the solutions got to be out there somewhere. Right. And I do absolutely believe that every time we embark on this personal, you know, evolution work, the more we heal ourselves, because as individuals we can go there's a lot of of collective issues out there to solve. healing ourselves is the work, right? We show up differently in the world, we take up more space, we advocate for ourselves differently, this changes policy, this changes how people practice their businesses, this changes offerings, where we spend our money changes a capitalist culture, right? So the more mindfully and it all starts here, learning how to connect with yourself, advocate for yourself, that becomes, you know, real advocacy in the world. So for some unicorn wellness will just be their fitness offering, right? For others, it'll be their, their wellness home. And for others, they will lean deep into that personal evolution of really trying to show up better in the world. Right. And so if anyone's looking to find me, super easy to do. So at unicorn wellness studio.com There's a little Start Here button at the top for a self care package that we've put together. And it's really cool. I like the giveaways to be something real. So there's a real 30 minute stretch series. There's the seven, you know, points to becoming a unicorn that are basic wellness practices, like we've talked about hydration and meditation and bedtimes because I'm a big advocate for bedtimes. And if anyone's interested, I'm on Instagram at Tandy underscore Gutierrez send me a little message. I love to hear how the podcast lands and if I can be a help if you've got any questions.
Katie Kay 1:19:53
Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, and I always love hearing from you guys too. Yeah, please. reach out to me. Let us know how the podcast resonated what you loved. Maybe somebody you didn't love. We just mean like, that's why we're doing this work as we want to connect. And there's nothing that makes my day better than hearing back from a listener. So thank you, Tandy, thank you so much for being here and listeners. I will see you all next week.
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