A Varied Life

[00:00:03] I just get scared at how fast life goes Do you know what I mean? I think about, when I talk about being 20 or 80 That feels like five years anymore And I'm like, no, that was 20 years ago And then I think, what's my name? I know, well in 20 years I'm going to be 60 That's all my working time Come on Natalie, don't say that I know, I know Like, I do think, am I morbid or have I got this really A wee bit, yeah I've got this real sense of not mortality But just about life and the speed of it

[00:00:32] And then I thought, well I don't want to just be Like, I always used to laugh at When you saw like obituaries of teachers And they've only worked at a school for 40 years or 45 years And I know some people think it's really sweet But to me I was like If I only end up at one school for my whole life That is misery to me I just don't want to be like that I want to have a varied life of different things And I think after 15 years I was just getting to the point where I was like I've done this over and over again Scotland's women, our lives, our stories

[00:01:00] Now let's get on with the show Two year career break from my job As a deputy primary school head teacher And I'm currently a women's yoga pregnancy And mum and baby

[00:01:29] And I do face yoga and gua sha events This is a massive change for you Deputy head teacher to what you're doing now That's a massive change That's a whole new persona you're taking on here I loved my job And I really lived for our teaching I went straight from school to uni To do primary teaching And I've always been one of these people at school Where I was quite good at most subjects But I didn't really excel in one subject So I just didn't know what I wanted to do I think it's easier now

[00:01:59] But usually you didn't really know what else was out there My parents didn't go to university So I didn't know all the different things you can do And I just think Sometimes wished I'd known Everything that was out there And that's why I think it's quite scary To have to make that choice At like, what, 17, 18 I didn't come from the background Where you would take a gap year out And think about these things So I did teach him Because it was my mum's suggestion She went, you know You're quite good at most things You're a light kid So, you know, why don't you go and do teaching? I did, I loved it

[00:02:27] And I worked in a few different schools I went down with my husband Right after uni to go to Bristol And we stayed there for over a year For his job I got a job down there And I loved it I loved the sort of English curriculum I loved the diversity down there It was just a completely different feel And yeah, we moved back up Because his job then brought him back And then I felt a bit lonely down there I couldn't get a job when I came back And yeah, I just worked my way up Sometimes people hear your job title

[00:02:57] Before they hear you Do you know what I mean? I think what I was doing day to day Is like firefighting You're just constantly on the go Doing one, sorting out one problem Being a sort of agony aunt To the staff To the parents And just Towards the end Just feel like I wasn't doing a lot of teaching The reason I got into it in the first place I think it started Around COVID time And then just the seed was planted That maybe there's something different Maybe For me, I just get scared About how fast life goes Do you know what I mean? I think about

[00:03:26] When I talk about being 20 or 80 That feels like five years anymore And I'm like No, that was 20 years ago And then I think Stop calling me for the name I know In 20 years I'm going to be 60 That's all my working time Oh, come on Natalie Don't say that I know Like, I do think Am I morbid Or have I got this really A wee bit Yeah I've got this real sense Of not mortality But just about life And the speed of it And then I thought Well, I don't want to just be Like

[00:03:55] I always used to laugh at When you saw like Obituaries of teachers And they've only worked at a school For 40 years Or 45 years And I know some people think It's really sweet But to me I was like If I only end up at one school For my whole life That is misery to me I just don't want to be like that I want to have a varied life Of different things And I think after 15 years I was just getting to the point Where I was like I've done this over and over again I want to do something different I've always liked movement And yoga When I was in my 20s I did PE teaching in the school

[00:04:24] That was probably my favourite job I just loved I loved doing that I've always wanted to go into That sort of space And then I love wellbeing And just sort of fell into it I'm really loving the change I'm loving the different And I still get to work With a lot of women Because I'm from a very Female heavy career And I was around women All the time And I loved that It was part of the job I loved That you were always around people But then it can be quite lonely When you work for yourself By yourself Get to meet other women And speak to them That's a big change But it's one that

[00:04:54] I'm just going to go with it It's like being on a rollercoaster I'm just like See where it goes I remember Teachers at my school Trying to tell me What would you plan on doing I actually just don't have An idea You know I don't I know that I want to do this Yeah What a pressure I put on A 17 year old At that point You're a millennial generation That's how we were conditioned But now I feel like We're all starting to We get to a certain age Where we're all

[00:05:24] Like discovering ourselves again Do you believe that? Yeah 100% Like even now Like I tell my kids My oldest is nine I don't program him in To be like Well you have to go to uni You have to get a good job You have to get an education I'm like You have to find something That you enjoy doing But you can make money from Money's not everything But it allows you To live How you want to live But you have to enjoy What you're doing Because then it doesn't Feel like work You know And then They're like Oh I don't know what I like But that's okay You don't need to know

[00:05:54] What that is right now You can spend time Doing it But if you want something Or you want things You need to pay for them So you need to Understand that It's a bit of give and take Because I think I was brought up And it was Like get your career You'll get paid a salary And this is the sort of salary You want to aim for And then that'll Give you a pension And I just find it Really depressing That you get past 35 And the wool comes Away from your eyes And you're like I don't want to do this For the next 15-20 years Yeah because you're on You're still on that Rollercoaster

[00:06:23] That you've been conditioned To go on I love that Do what you love And try and make money Out of it Yeah Which is not No exactly And it's not Money's not the be all And end all But I mean kids Nowadays are not They're not taught The sort of money skills They need to be taught I sometimes find We're like 10 years behind What we really should Be teaching them I ask my kids Are you being taught about AI Are you being taught about Coding more And it's getting there But not enough They don't know about Bitcoin And trading And things like that

[00:06:53] And I just think That we need to Just I just think we need to Redo a lot of stuff And teach them In a different way But I just think It's quite archaic The way that The education system is And how we went through it It definitely is millennials I definitely think It was that old-fashioned Education system And I think Yeah I don't have regrets Or wish Oh I wish I was born now And I could do this Or do that But it definitely Makes you see I'm not going to keep waiting I'm not going to wait Until my kids Are older And then I'll go And do something For myself Or I'm not going to wait

[00:07:22] Until I get to 50 Retire and then do something I was like I'm just going to do it now I'm just going to I'm just going to do it I'm just going to go Tell us About that then When you made that transition Because obviously What you've just spoke about Sounds like teaching Didn't go with your values anymore As you were growing up Within the industry I think slowly I kind of started to feel like It was just very Bureaucratic And paperwork based And we were

[00:07:51] Doing one initiative After another initiative After another initiative We weren't even looking At what's gone before Or like looking It was constant You need to be able To progress You need to do better You need to do better And I was starting To see like Teachers in their 60s And they're going Oh here's another initiative And then I was starting To sound like that And I'm like Oh my god I'm literally half their age I have the same opinion I don't know if I can What if I get to 60 And I'm Is it going to be even worse It's just like You were never really allowed To just stop and breathe

[00:08:20] And enjoy it I remember when I first Started teaching If it was a nice sunny day You would plan to take The kids out And do something fun But now Have you got permission To put sun cream on them Have you done that What learning are they Going to get outside Because actually If you're not doing learning You can't go outside You can't do that And it's very like Rules based And I don't know I just We went through a big change Of leadership as well And I just think It's slowly coming You get more micromanaged And I think As you get older as well It gets harder To become micromanaged So it was almost

[00:08:50] Like a perfect storm For me of just I can't get micromanaged Anymore I don't believe In this system I'm not getting My views across And I can't tell Other people So I'm obviously A middle manager To tell other people What to do That I don't believe in And it started to Just really great on me And I just really Kind of Didn't see the point Of me being there Because I'm like Well what good am I doing I don't believe in what I'm doing I don't really want to be here So I need to look And do something else And I think People think that I just

[00:09:19] So I went on maternity To leave with my third son And I'm still Obviously on that break Now I'm on a prayer break But I think a lot of people Just watch you And they think That you've just Randomly Had a breakdown I've had that That I've had a mental breakdown That I've just Decided not to go back to work I'm not going back again And I've just sort of Pulled yoga teaching Out my backside But actually This was always a plan Like before I even Went on maternity leave I was studying To be a yoga teacher Part time I was training At the weekend I had a vision Of what I wanted to do And I had that plan

[00:09:49] In motion From before I even Had the baby I printed off Career break forms Before I even left So I'd always known In the back of my mind That I was going to do this But I think To some other people Often they look at Your journey And they think Just doing it Ad hoc And it seems to me As well From speaking to you When you're doing stuff You don't broadcast it You do it quietly And obviously You only broadcast it When you're ready To show something But that's Yeah Absolutely Yeah And I think It's maybe

[00:10:19] About being a sort of Middle manager In school I always find it hard To You couldn't really be Really good friends With the teachers Because you were also Their manager And then If you didn't get on With your leadership Because of Differences in opinion You didn't really have Them as allies So you kind of I didn't feel alone But I kind of Went in on myself a lot And yeah I just got good at Not keeping secrets But just keeping myself To myself And I think that was Another thing That started to get on me Throughout all my life I think I've been quite good At being small

[00:10:48] And keeping myself Quiet and invisible And just People pleaser You know Just don't I don't like conflict Don't make conflict Me too At school If I had difficult Meetings Just try and sort it out So nobody shouts Nobody's angry Just want everyone To be happy But as you get older As well It's like That's exhausting Yeah and I have got Things to say And I might not Say them properly And I might Make mistakes And then take back What I want to say But I'm still Entitled to say it And I'm still

[00:11:17] Entitled to be loud And not be as Small as possible Do you know Do you believe That was always you Anyway Or was that a persona That you created I feel like I almost had two people I feel like Around my family My close friends I was like Really chatty I liked jokes And I was quite Opinionated And then Sort of my professional One I was like quite shy I didn't rock the boat I didn't want to Go against the grain And then when I started To do that

[00:11:46] I came up against A lot of resistance So when I started Saying well why Are we doing this What's the point of this It was like Shut up and keep going We're telling you to do this You don't need to ask why And that kind of Started to grey on me And I think The more sort of Confidence I got I was like I need to be free I need to be able to Make my own decisions And have my own opinions You know The transition When you made that Decision to Go right That's in the past Teaching's in the past This is what I'm going To do now Tell us about that

[00:12:16] Journey So yeah It was quite scary It was I'm not going to lie It was really Really scary And it was almost Exciting to start with Because I was focused On training To be a yoga teacher And then I Picked up face yoga And I was training To be that So I was Completely absorbed In learning And it was fun And it was like Being a student again And I was focused on that And then I started To have ideas For the business When I made plans To launch in September And take Start classes And then start events

[00:12:45] It started to become real And then It's almost It was just quite surreal I started with a Pregnancy yoga class And I always remember it Because the class started At half past seven But bless One of the ladies Came at seven o'clock And I think that Taught me straight ahead Like right You need to be ready Prepared Because Obviously she didn't need To come that early But I was like I've been watching you Set up Sort of thing Yeah I was like Panicking Running around Trying to prep this class That I'd never done before And it sort of

[00:13:14] Taught me straight away It just put me Into the deep end But again in my old job I'm used to that I'm used to Working in A bit of chaos And you can just Go the seat of your pants Sort of thing So it kind of Threw me back into that But afterwards The feeling was just great It was a lovely Serene Pregnancy yoga class Everyone left Feeling nice and relaxed And then I just felt A nice sense of achievement And then Just the more I did it And then I did Space yoga event It just sort of Was like This is good This is real I'm actually loving Going to work

[00:13:44] Like I'm actually Getting feedback Straight away From people saying That they had A fantastic time And it was just A weird feeling I never used to get that You know It was lovely So it must have been A lightning bolt moment Though When you've had This feeling And you had never Felt it before Did you feel like That was your true Calling and going Was in that moment Going No this is it This is working Yeah I really did I think it was For me it was

[00:14:14] After the first Face yoga event Which was the end of September I had never been To a face yoga class myself I had never been to an event I've seen some pictures On Instagram But you know I did my own room set up I did my own Like lesson plan Of what I was going to do I had my mum And my sister there as well Support Although I don't know How much that helps Because it just made me work But it was just Amazing to be surrounded By all these people Who really wanted To learn from you And I think Teaching children For so long

[00:14:43] Children obviously Are like Oh bored Don't want to learn But these adults Were like Give me more Like how do you do this And why am I getting this And they Sorry Sorry This fucking internet connection Natalie can you hear me okay It was really exhilarating

[00:15:13] Because I'd made Like a lesson plan And I probably Learned it way too much But I needed to know Like all the different moves That I was going to do With everyone And I had a few friends There as well Now that I think about And they'd all paid And bought For the tickets So I was like I need to make this Worth a while There are people Who have paid money For this I want them to go away Feeling absolutely fantastic And it was nice To have supportive faces Peering up at me As I was doing it So that was really nice And I have been So well supported By friends and family I think it was just Like people You could visibly

[00:15:43] See them leaving Like Yeah I feel so relaxed And oh my face Is tingling I feel so amazing I never knew I had this muscle In my cheek It was just that Instant feedback And people seeking advice And it was just A lovely atmosphere And I was like This is amazing And I only I think the morning Lasted It was an hour and a half Class And I left home And back home Within four hours And I was like Wow I want to do More of these Do you know what I mean Yes it was a Saturday morning Or Sunday morning I can't remember But it's only taken up

[00:16:12] Four hours of my day And it was absolutely Wonderful And I got away from The boys And my husband For a little while And just Fully was amongst Women And it was just A really nice Feminine time And I think that's why I enjoy it as well Because it's that sort of Break from The craziness Of family life To just Serene Silence And peacefulness You've been with your husband For a while It sounds like You've grown up together You've got three children And then all of a sudden You're going to your husband Okay

[00:16:42] This is what our roles were like And now I'm just Changing the game What was the reaction? Do you have to Rejig your entire life And how things Were going to work? Because I feel like Women listening to that Is the scary part Yeah When it's been like This for a while The system works And then all of a sudden You're changing The whole thing What was the reaction? Do you know I think probably Deep down He knew that I was Itching to do Something else

[00:17:11] And he knew that I'd gone to To study yoga Like part time Like when I was still To be honest He's always been My biggest supporter He's never said Like oh You know You better watch Or how we're going To bring that much money in Or you know How we're going to Match that And it was almost like Well if that's what You want to do Just do it I'm very close To my mum and dad As well And they're big supporters

[00:18:01] So I think

[00:18:31] That made you become Eyebrows up And being really expressive Which I like I love to be that Sort of person So I didn't know this This is all information I now realise But when I was 34 I remember I was getting ready For my birthday And we were going out For a meal And I put all my Expensive face creams on And my primers And my make-up And I thought I'm feeling good Like yay Happy birthday for me And I went downstairs And maybe about 15 minutes after that Maybe 20 minutes Before we were going Outside To the car And I looked in the mirror Before I went

[00:19:01] Just to check Everything And I literally had All my makeup Had settled into My big forehead lines There And I was like And literally spent Like 30 minutes Just doing all my makeup Why has that happened already I don't understand That looked awful And then It was like a light bulb Because I'd never been Aware of it before And then I hate these lines Hate these lines Hate these lines And I was So aware of Just lines appearing On my face I tried Botox And I've never been Afraid of Botox Because

[00:19:30] Another story When I was So I As a child And I still have one I have a lazy eye My left eye When I was younger I had a squint That went in the way And then I got an operation And now it sort of Veers out the way So when I'm tired Or I'm standing Really far away From someone It can whizz out Being a young teacher I was very paranoid About that And I remember Like teaching a class Of like P7s once And they were like I know I would say Someone's name And they're like Oh who are you looking at me

[00:19:59] Or the person behind me And I'm like And they didn't mean it Because they didn't know I had a lazy eye But I was like Oh yeah I was looking At the person behind you But I was there I was looking at that And I was like Oh my god It's my eyes So obvious So one of the things That didn't help Then It didn't help With the conversation Going off And the young person Yeah Excellent Yeah I've been So I think I was never Thought of that Because for me I was always about

[00:20:29] Controlling my eye So what they can do For that Is they can put Botox in It sounds horrific Can't even imagine I got this done They put it In your eyeball In your muscle In your eyeball Like at the side Of your eyeball Into your eye muscle Loads of people Get done There's really old People in the clinic This was done By the NHS It was quite different To getting it In your forehead Because they have to Put like electrodes Around to hear the muscles And make the noise And then they know When they're hitting a muscle What they want to do They want to paralyze That muscle It was really painful Getting it done

[00:20:59] Compared to putting it In your skin And I went through This my mum had to Come and drive me I'd have to go home She'd drive me home And I'd have to sit In a dark room For like a day And it worked Like it would make My eye poke astray But then the downside To that is If I was close range To someone My eye wouldn't move So then it was like Having a glass It just didn't work But because I'd experienced That Botox in there I wasn't ever scared About getting it Anywhere else So I was like Oh I'm just gonna I'm just gonna try it See what it's like And it was weird Like it wasn't painful Or anything

[00:21:29] But your face Does start to just Freeze And the woman That I went to first One of my eyebrows Was up here And she was like Oh that's fine We'll get that done In a minute And I was like Okay And I love to look Like your forehead's Totally smooth And I didn't have as much Crow's feet But I was totally Secret about it I didn't tell anyone Didn't tell my husband Didn't tell my mum No one Really? You didn't tell your husband? Well and he didn't notice So it just shows you Oh excellent He didn't notice But I think When random women Have had haircuts Like my mum My sister Oh you've had your haircut

[00:21:58] He did not notice So Yeah That was He didn't notice That's how bad it was I would just say I was going out For a nail appointment But So I had them I just felt It was quite shameful And then I just I mean I just felt Like I was It was expensive Botox is expensive So I was going to people That had like Clinics in their back garden Or You know Had a bit shady Premises And It just became a bit I don't know Shameful

[00:22:28] And then I went to this person For a consultation This was how they were So good That you had to Have a consultation first And it was a dentist A medical Dentist That I went to I just said On the phone call I was like I just want Botox I've had it before I just want it On my forehead And here And they were Sort of looking at me And they were like The thing is They said Your face Or everyone's face It's You should look at it Like a beach ball That is slowly Deflating over time And I was like Alright And he's like You know

[00:22:57] You have got A little bit of Hollowness Was this a guy Yeah Yeah It was a guy And he was like You have got Hollowness in places And to be honest Yesterday I was I was asking for Botox But actually Filler would be better For you In the temples And the chin And the cheeks And I was like Oh my god And he was like I'll send over Some pictures Of client work And get that book To him And I just came off The call Like oh my god Like I need it In my chin My cheeks Oh my temples Are hollow And I came with

[00:23:26] All this anxiety About how my face looked And he sent me The pictures of the clients And they were like In their 60s and 70s And I was like What is he trying to tell me Like It was really scary So I think it was like A light bulb And I was like This feels wrong And what you start doing Is the more sort of Things like this you get I remember I must have come up On Instagram And it was like Oh get Botox here And it was like In your chin For like pebbly chin And then I was like Oh I need that I've got a pebbly chin And then Well you don't

[00:23:56] Well this is the thing It's like It's normal That is what normal But it's The aesthetics industry Is just making these things That are perfectly normal Feel like flaws You know And they're like Oh you need under eye filler Well no you don't It's like Our under eyes Are lighter skin That's why We've got fullness Sometimes Some of these people Have literally been trained For six weeks Like it took them Less time and money To train That's it Yeah

[00:24:25] Put needles into people's faces Than it did for me To teach face yoga And that's really concerning Well they don't They don't know Proper anatomy Yeah Of the body They're not medical professional No They've not been taught That in medical school You get taught that Yeah In body anatomy That you do have to Have certain muscles To operate other things Otherwise You're just not going to be you No You're going to turn out Not being you You know Absolutely And a lot of people Especially if you're prone To like autoimmune diseases And things

[00:24:54] A lot of people Have a lot of Botox Side effects But they don't know That the side effects Of Botox Because it's just like A general fatigue Like brain fog Skin condition Gut issues That can all be linked back To Because it is It's botulinum and toxin That you're putting in your face Do you know And the more I read up on it I was This is not something I want to do again Do you know And then At the same time I was doing yoga I was learning about yoga And I was thinking Like why Does all the exercises We do And like All stop the neck We work out our shoulders

[00:25:24] We work out our chest But we never go Beyond We've got 57 muscles In our face And our neck Which is insane So I sort of went Into a deep dark hole And I came out with Face yoga And I tried it And I managed to Retrain my forehead And it's mainly By you doing eye exercises You retrain your forehead And it just worked And I stopped Raising my eyebrows as much And actually On my eye pain But I get quite a lot Of eye pain Because of my lazy eye

[00:25:53] It got so much better I didn't have sinusitis All the time I didn't get like Eye pain migraines That I used to get And I was like Wow Works This really works And it's an ongoing journey Do you know Like I'm still working On the exercises To build up your cheeks And to help your jaw And I think I'm doing sort of Part of the face At a time And learning about myself And then teaching it To other people And then from there I sort of got into Gua sha Which is like The stone I've got one here So I got into that And that's like

[00:26:22] More about relaxing The muscle Especially Like The neck And our head Our forehead We need to I've always been A little bit Questionable About those stones Because You're pushing it And I'm like I don't know If I'm doing this right What do you do then? Like why is it so important To use it? Like how often Do you use it? So I think What's really interesting And in fact This came up And so Just literally Two months into The business I got a call From the local Newspaper Which is Over here

[00:26:52] It's the Courier And they wanted to do Like a wellbeing special On She'd heard that I'd started face yoga And this journalist Wanted to know What it was And how it is And I showed her Some face yoga And then I said Do you know I use like Gua sha And then I do Red light therapy She's like Oh is that Is that what works then? Is it the red light therapy? I was like No That's just one thing There's lots of things And she basically Ended the article And was like Yeah it's all these other things It's not the face yoga It's all these other things That And I was like No it's not It's everything together So for example

[00:27:22] Because it's for your whole face Yeah Like if you imagine Like some different muscles On your face Like if you're going to do A gym workout And you want to do Like work on your biceps You know And you're going to Really pulse them up To bulk them up You would do that Something like that On your cheeks You want to build up The cheek muscles So that the muscle Underneath it Is high and tight So then over time When everything Kind of does Go slightly We've got that bulk Up his cheeks And it's helping it But Your neck muscle

[00:27:51] So it's called your platysma If this is really tight This can actually Pull your jowls down And pull your chin down So you want to Relief this muscle So this is where Like your gua sha With lots of oil on You would just What kind of oil? So just any face oil You're better like 100% organic Plant based oil So I use A lot of different types Your whole butt oil Is really good Because if you've got So again I used to have Really combination skin

[00:28:20] When I was younger I had quite bad spots When I was a teenager I would never You've got muscle skin Honestly I would never I used to have to Go to the doctors And get that sticky Thamper That you used to Put on your face I think it had like Pure benzoyl I don't know You've got gorgeous skin But honestly Now I'm not afraid Of face oil I realise That there's ones For all different skin types But your whole butt oil Is really balancing So if you have Dry skin Or oily skin It really balances it out And when I'm Washing my face

[00:28:49] I wash it with Special cleansing oil Because I used to use All your foaming Stripping face washes Because I thought Well if my face Is really clean And really Really feels Like squeaky clean It's not going to get spots But actually What you're doing Is you're stripping The natural oils From your face Ah right And you don't do that With your body You don't sit And take all the oils And comb you Because obviously You were training yourself And learning more about it What did you learn About yourself Natalie? The first sort of Exercises that I did

[00:29:18] Were all to relax The forehead And engage the eyes more And it makes you Consciously realise How often You lift your eyebrows up So if you think The old one is like When you put mascara on You lift your eyebrows up But it's Affirmating how much As well That you scowl So you go like that And you pull your brow in If it's really sunny outside And you're like So it's amazing So like now When it's sunny I'm like I make sure I do that first Just to get used to The sunlight And then I have My sunglasses on I just realised

[00:29:48] That you can manipulate Your face Way more than you think You can It's just about Having that control And it's a bit like If you had really bad posture And you were sitting like that And someone said Oh you need to sit up Be aware of your posture Imagine you've got a rod up your back Shoulders down Head up Whatever It's kind of like that So imagine I say to my husband He must be the world's worst Squinter He literally Scowls all the time I'm like Craig you look really grumpy You're constantly scowling I often do

[00:30:18] Face taping on him Because I'll experiment With different ones And he quite likes it Because it does release All your muscles So I'll do it on The bread And I've got loads of Bowls of him With it on Things you've got to do For the missing Exactly Exactly But yeah It was just for me It was that release Of just releasing your expressions A little bit Because we are We're so tight up I used to get horrendous sinusitis At least once or twice a year Constant tension headaches And I would never think Anything of it And in fact

[00:30:47] Just before I started face yoga I had a recurring Like really twitchy eye And I bought A hot LED wand That was supposed to Pulsate and relax It didn't work I tried like compresses Like different eye Nothing worked I just couldn't get away With this twitchy eye And it was probably stress And a little bit of It was just coming out In my eye muscle And it was just about Learning how to relax that And now I know what to do If it comes back It's just about having That control of your muscles Just like you would have

[00:31:16] On other parts of your body It's having it in your face As well You didn't set out To do face yoga You had a business plan And it just sort of It became a personal journey That you want to share With other women How do you feel Now practicing face yoga? I think for me It makes me feel Really empowered Because you know As I say I had that horrendous Consultation With an aesthetic doctor Over a year ago And it makes you Feel powerless You feel like

[00:31:45] You just need to Give these people All your money They'll solve your problems And you're just Going to keep going back You're at the mercy Of their work And whatever they suggest But now I feel like I don't want to get rid Of all my wrinkles I know that I'm going to age And I just want to have Control over how I feel If doing this at night Helps me feel relaxed And actually sometimes I do it in the morning Before the stress of the kids I'll be like And I just do five minutes And it actually makes me Feel really relaxed The whole act of doing it And this feeds into

[00:32:15] A bit more of the self-care Taking that time out For yourself Doesn't make you feel better Doesn't make you feel good It does make me feel better And it helps The face oil Absorb in more for me And it helps My face look more Relaxed and open So it has benefits I feel really empowered That using our own hands That we can have Control over aging Rather than Someone else A big needle In their hand Yeah That's another thing I think Especially women

[00:32:44] Have difficulty with There's a whole sense Of guilt Because We put this facade on Like we've got it all together We're super women But deep down Sometimes It can get so chaotic Women are not Just taking those Ten minutes to do that To make themselves Feel better And know that I want to do these things So would you say It's about creating a habit? Absolutely Because I feel like in women Do you feel like it's creating a habit? Because some women

[00:33:13] I'm one of them too It's like I'm looking for permission To take that time for myself When I've not done stuff And it's the people pleaser in me Yeah Absolutely And I think it's about being Unapologetic about it Like For example Self care is not about Taking bubble baths And go for afternoon tea I mean these things are lovely But It's Taking time where you need it For example I like to To do little workouts Most days And my husband knows this And he knows that if I don't I'll be really grumpy It'll be really moody It'll really affect

[00:33:42] I'll get narky with the kids The kids Are used to me working out They sometimes do it around me as well They join in But I'm like That is my time And if it's 20 minutes At half six in the morning Or if it's 20 minutes At half six at night If I'm doing it That's what I want to do And it's a bit like Yeah If I'm doing my exercises In the bathroom On my face The boys know That's what I'm doing Doesn't mean they can't come And interrupt me But they know that I'm going to stand there For five ten minutes And I'll get to them When I've finished it But I think it's getting used To having that time

[00:34:12] And my husband for example Loves gardening And he'll be like He'll make it look like He's doing chores Like oh I'm going to go And cut the grass And I need to go And tidy this up And do that But actually He goes out He's having a great time He's by himself There's no children around And he takes about five hours To cut the grass And that's his time That's his thing That's what he wants to do And I have certain things That are non-negotiables for me So is my house The tidiest it could be? No And I know there's some I've got friends Their thing is cleaning I would still like They feel relaxed When they're cleaning

[00:34:41] Or they get all their anger When they're cleaning Or that's their workout When they're cleaning And they go mental I would love to be like that But unfortunately I just can't understand it Because I would rather Go out for a run Or go and do a proper workout But as a result Yes My house could be tidier But I'm like Do you know what? I'll get to it It'll be tidy But with your kids It's never going to be that tidy It's just going to be A revolving door And at the end of the day You're going to be exhausted But it does work for some people

[00:35:10] And occasionally it works for me I can tell when I'm angry Or whatever I have to do things And then when it's good I light a candle And then I'll look back And go Oh Like that But then there's other times I shift I don't have the same pattern Maybe that's my problem But I think that's okay Because I think as well We're conditioned And this is a lot With like workouts and stuff You're taught to be really regular Like you need to work out Four days a week Or need to eat this diet Three times a day And you could have one cheat meal

[00:35:40] And then if you fall off that But actually women Because of our like Natural cycle We are a little bit All over the place And my weeks look different Even though I don't do Different activities My weeks look totally different From one week to the next And I try to put in schedules But now I'm just sort of like Oh maybe I could do that At seven o'clock on Tuesday night Or maybe actually I'll go and do this And I think it's just saying It's okay Like it doesn't mean I've failed or I'm chaotic It's just That's the excitement of life It can just be different You know

[00:36:08] I think that's me as well Like it's failing I do have a fear of failing And I don't know Where that comes from It's just who I am But I am working at it Because it's not who I want to be Yeah But yeah You're absolutely right And thank you for saying that And it's about Giving ourselves permission Going give yourself a break Our weeks and monthly cycles Change all the time And what's the general feedback From the women

[00:36:37] That you're teaching This face yoga Because as a woman The aging process Is very scary What's the response That you're getting From the women I would say There's a lot of excitement They've heard about face yoga But never tried it Or they've always wanted to try it So they're very excited That there's somewhere Local in Scotland That we're doing it We're running an in-person event A lot of face yoga That you'll see Is like really young Beautiful Russian girls In their 20s

[00:37:06] On TikTok and Instagram Have no wrinkles in sight And they're doing I can't relate to that I mean that's not real to me Yeah And it just is pointless And that's why I've probably skipped over it too But what are they even doing It's not realistic Some of them Are they get the tongue down And they're really contorting their face I think what I do Is a bit of a milder version of that It's more accessible We do a couple of funny faces In the event And I tell them before That we're going to do it And we'll have a laugh I've been really impressed With everyone They really go for it They really try And then afterwards They do notice a difference

[00:37:36] And then they'll always come up To me and be like Oh you know I'm noticing My cheek here's sore Or I have a little issue here On my jaw What would be a good thing And just ask advice So there's definitely There is a hunger out there For a different way And a more holistic way Sometimes they ask for things I don't have yet Someone says Oh I'll never remember Anything you just taught Can I have your lesson plan And I'm like No But bear with me And I'm looking at Uploading videos So they can have Almost like a little membership Of somewhere Because I'm the same I like to be led

[00:38:05] Through exercises I'll do yoga workout In the house Just because I'm a yoga teacher I still like to look at Other people doing yoga And leading me through it It allows your mind To switch off And same with face yoga If I'm sitting thinking For my own face What am I doing I start to get Really stressed And then forget All the things So I have to write it down Or I'll follow A routine of mine But So I think that's What people are asking For next It's getting that Accountability I need it in front of me I need to see it Because otherwise I won't remember it

[00:38:34] So that's the feedback I'm getting as well And they love the gua sha A lot of people have been Just really enjoying it Because when you're In the event And we do it It's just really relaxing And you can see people Just taking that care With their face And we do it As an extended period Of time Like 40 minutes Now you would never Gua sha your face For 40 minutes normally But it just allows them To get comfortable With the stone And learn all the different ways And not be scared To use it I think Everyone You're always scared That you do the wrong thing Yeah Sort of teach That actually

[00:39:04] As long as you're not Safer with a gua sha You're not really Pulling down on the skin There's nothing you can do wrong But it just might not Be that effective And I teach them The right ways To feel it Yeah I've definitely had Really good feedback On that And how does it make you feel That you're empowering women Yeah It's quite scary Again Coming from Like an education background Where you shouldn't be On social media You shouldn't have an opinion You just quietly Do your job

[00:39:33] And be thankful That you're getting paid At the end of the month I think Now to get a bit more Public facing Put myself on social media It's quite scary But actually The feedback you're getting When you have someone That's Oh wow I love that Thank you so much Or when are you doing More of this Or oh your event's sold out I'm really annoyed I wanted to go to it When are you doing another one It's exciting that What I believe in And I know that works People are also Believing it And they want more of it It's very exciting And I'm just really grateful I'm really grateful

[00:40:02] For everyone's Excitement about it And I love it Because you're helping women You're not trying to Sell them Anything they don't need Yeah I figured out ways To how to manipulate Your anatomy on your face Even more Working together And how they can help themselves You're giving them the tools And the skills Absolutely To help themselves Which I love Where are you now Natalie What are we going to see More of from you I've just launched My own face tape

[00:40:32] This is something That I also do Most nights And it's just Taping Certain places Mainly on my forehead And on my crow's feet That helps with Side sleeping And it helps with Tension at night time You can tape During the day as well I've had a lot of ladies That are a little bit Older than me And they've been asking For like lip line Tips There's lots of exercises We can do to help that But also taping Really helps Just to smooth it out And it's something You can do while you're Sleeping That you don't really Think about I've brought out The face tape And with it

[00:41:02] I've done Like a 25 minute Guidance video For people to Go to the type of Taping they want to do That's been really Exciting to bring that out I think Coming up We're definitely Looking at a Membership type thing I don't know Sort of what platform yet Or what Modality it's going to be But somewhere where people Can get that sort of Daily or Every couple of days A dose of face yoga So that they don't Have to think about it Because it's when You don't have to Think about it That it becomes a habit And that's definitely What we're looking forward to

[00:41:32] That's great Because Someone like me I need To take accountability I do need somebody Checking in with me And having that support Thank you so much Natalie For coming on Scotland's Win Is there a quote That you'll live by That keeps you going Every day And just resonates With you And You know there's one That I've had since I was young It's probably not a Very trendy one But it speaks to my Mindset And it goes Fail to prepare

[00:42:03] If you fail to prepare You prepare for failure And basically It's all about Planning For what you want to do It really resonates With me in terms Of being a teacher Obviously my whole life Was spent Planning Before you do something And if you didn't Do that Then you would be Sort of floundering And I think I've done that Throughout my life Lining up what I want To do Preparing for it Planning for it And having a Backup plan If needed As a quote It could be Probably seen as Quite suffocating Fail to prepare

[00:42:32] And you'll prepare for failure You have to I totally get it I totally get it Yeah Because if you've got No plan And it's not written down Again you're not Taking accountability I feel like When you write stuff down You've got to focus Otherwise Swimming up in your head Exactly And that's where I find If I don't have a plan For something I'll just sort of Randomly Do stuff And then I won't feel Very accomplished Because I'm like Oh I should have done that But I forgot Or oh I was meant to do this But I forgot So I think You could relate that

[00:43:01] To self-care as well If you don't say to yourself Right do you know what I'm going to quickly Even I'm going to Quit to paint my nails tonight I need to do it The breaking off If you don't do that Then you're like I forgot to paint my nails Or I forgot to To do this So I think It's about seeing it As quite empowering That actually If you plan to get Your bit of self-care in Or if you plan to Meal prep Or whatever it is That's important to you Then it makes Your life easier And it actually Is more enjoyable Because you feel like I've achieved something I've accomplished it Natalie Thank you so much

[00:43:31] For being a part of Scotland's room Podcast And I can't wait To chat to you more In the future And follow your journey Thank you so much For being here And sharing your story Thank you for having me I've loved it Thank you so much Take care Natalie Bye See you later Bye I'm Natalie McConnell And I am the owner Of Unfold Yoga And Unfold Face Yoga If you want to know more About women's yoga Or face yoga Then come and visit me At

[00:43:59] www.unfoldyoga.uk Or you can follow us On socials We're on Instagram At unfold Underscore Face yoga Or unfold Yoga Thank you for listening To Scotland's Women We would love to hear From you So please visit the website At scotlandswomen.com As every Scotland's Woman has a story To tell And please subscribe On wherever you get Your podcasts Podcasts