In this week's episode of Let Perfect Burn, I sit down with Lorraine Shedoudi— a yogi, a yoga teacher and the co-owner of LPY Yoga with studios in Lexington, Woburn and Burlington, Massachusetts. One of Lorraine's greatest passions is her Gratitude Adjustment— a 12-week training program for one's brain and heart that she created after the death of her mom, and a diagnosis for her young son. Above all, Lorraine seeks to cultivate a safe place to land, and the opportunity to exhale.

A graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Boston College, Lorraine’s career in counseling lead her to work in the fields of substance abuse and suicide prevention. Lorraine was always drawn to the places where it felt scary and dark, where we, as human beings, get lost.

In her day-to-day job as a substance abuse counselor, Lorraine’s physical and mental well-being began to suffer. It was then that yoga became her lifeline. She found she could still support people in the dark and scary parts of their lives, but in an environment where she could also thrive.

In her work, Lorraine asks us to remember, that even in our darkest moments, some things are working, even if it's just your breath, or the sun shining or running water or a hot shower. So that gratitude becomes something you can anchor to when your ship is in a brutal storm.

Lorraine reminds us that change, and transformation isn’t always lovely and wonderful, but often awkward and messy. She reminds people that it can feel like you are walking through fire. And Lorraine asks us to consider, “What if, instead of offering some trope to someone suffering, we hold space, learning about what they lost and what is still alive in them?”

Some highlights in this Episode from Lorraine:

" You know, it's not like I always walk in with joy and light.  There are days when I think, "let's just land". That's where we're the safest, when there's not a lot being spoken about. Just that place to feel like we exhale."

" In the yoga industry, I think transformation can get mispackaged.  And I try really hard not to talk about transformation as this always beautiful thing. It's awkward, it's messy, it's challenging death, and that feeling of something dying before it's reborn is really hard."

" That internal space is where we can realize that suffering is universal. And in that space, we can hold each other, until, there is room to hold ourselves."

Don't Miss a Beat.
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Reach out to Lorraine Shedoudi, Yogi and Creator of The Gratitude Adjustment:
https://www.lorraineshedoudi.com/
https://www.instagram.com/shedoudi/

Original Music for Let Perfect Burn by Eleri Ward
https://www.instagram.com/eleriward/