Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Welcome to Chasing Life Podcast where we talk about fitness, running, career, and life tips to inspire you to live your best life. I'm your host Sarah Kane and I hope you enjoy today's episode.
Welcome to another episode of Chasing Life. I'm your host, Sarah, and today's guest is Jen Marabado. Jen shares how she conquered the transitions from high-level collegiate athletics to landing herself in a yoga room five years ago, where she learned that life can be more about collaboration and following her intuition and less about competition and pushing yourself to unhealthy measures.
She is now a yoga instructor, Reiki master, visual and written storyteller, and entrepreneur who co-owns a CBD and wellness business, People Grow Together, with the mission to provide the highest quality products straight from their hemp crop at a price that makes sense to the communities that they serve.
Jen and I first connected through common friends on social media. Then I attended one of her online yoga classes. This interview allowed me an opportunity to get to know her more. She shared beneficial yoga moves for runners and ended with one of my favorite answers to what does chasing life mean to you? I hope you enjoy this conversation.
All right. Welcome, Jen. Thank you for joining me today. Thanks so much for having me, Sarah. I'm really, I'm really honored to be on your podcast. Why don't you get started by just telling our listeners how you got started with your yoga practice and what inspired you to want to become an instructor? For sure. You know, I think we all have
these crazy turning points in our lives that bring us to where we are now. But yoga for me was at a point where
I was making a huge shift. I had made a huge shift before it was out of the world of basketball. So I was a division one women's basketball player, and then I played a year overseas. So I had just come back from Ireland and it was the first time I didn't have a team. I didn't have a group that counted on me. So any athletes going through that transition, it's
It's definitely a transition. So I remember sitting on my parents' couch like, man, what am I doing with my life? I really kind of really need some help right now. And that's when I received an email saying,
from our local yoga studio for this yoga program. And it was all intensive, 40 days of meditating and journaling about your feelings. And I was like, Oh, no, I really don't want to do this. But I know it's what I need. So that's when I really started. So man, that was like six or seven years ago, I started with the program and probably
practiced every single day and saw shifts really fast. And most of it was, was mentally for me. I mean, that's, that's what I remember the most of mentally, emotionally, I was feeling more grounded. I was moving my body, but physically, I mean, as, as you know, as a runner, you're
Physically pounding on our bodies is sometimes not the best if it's done over and over and over. So playing basketball my whole life and then transitioning to something that was allowing me to relax into poses, open up different joints and energy centers within the body was very, very healing. To get on to the next part of teaching, man, I never...
thought that I could be that person up there leading the group. So when I went into my teacher training six months after I started practicing,
I had zero intention of teaching. And what we worked through within the training were those reasons of why can't you be up there? What's behind all of that? So there was so much self-inquiry. And, you know, by the end of the training, I wanted nothing more but to share the practice with
And to, you know, it was almost like a duty of, I have this knowledge, I see how much I have physically, mentally, emotionally transformed, and simply just
I just became more of myself through the practice and being comfortable with who I was. I started teaching. My first real-time teaching were up in New Hampshire. I lived up there for a couple of years. And yeah, now it's back here in Binghamton for the past almost two and a half or so years. And just like memorable experiences being in the room teaching, I would have to say is...
There's so many small things in yoga, but as an instructor, you're watching, you're just feeling the energy of people moving. So a point that really stood out to me was just watching the whole class move.
at the same time with the cues that I was giving in class. So almost that I was like not even physically there. I was just watching this magical wave of humans and energy. But really realizing that, you know, man, they're healing, they're moving, they're like, they're in their bodies. We're all going through so many different things.
so many different struggles and to watch all of these different people of gender and status or age, just all, all together in one space. It was a really, it was a really nice moment that, that I have to take away as a teacher. But yeah, now I'm,
For the past almost year, I was looking at the calendar and I was thinking that, man, I think it was like March 15th or something like that of 2020. I had to cancel everything.
the class, our last class because of when COVID hit and not being in the room and not having the community and the space for people to go has been such a transition for probably so many people of that loss of community and
physically being around other humans in a safe space. So one of the other teachers and I, she had started yoga at Beartree. So we were tied, which was nice open space. But, you know, what really brought me to teach online was
It was about me and it was about our community. Creating that space where people can still meet, can still move and be a part of a group. That's really my reasons for starting that. And I teach on Sunday mornings, which is such a perfect, perfect way to start any day, really. But a Sunday is nice for our group.
And then Wednesday night, we have another class. And I know you've joined class, Sarah. I have.
Recently, I haven't been able to run. So having that workout that I could plug into and join and just help to stretch out my muscles has really been a great experience. And I just want to say as one of the attendees of your classes, I feel like you have such a calming voice that I feel like you're perfect as a yoga instructor is it's just very powerful.
soothing to listen to you cue us through the moves. And so I'm just really glad that you found yoga and realize that that was one of your gifts that you could share with the world. So I'm glad that you became an instructor and that you're hosting the zoom workouts and trying to make the best of the pandemic that we're still dealing with so that you can still build that community feeling with so many others.
Thank you so much. I'm laughing when you say I have a soothing voice. I'm imagining myself as a point guard screaming out plays. We have really just connected more recently, but I had no idea that you were a D1 basketball player. So what was that like to kind of go off on that tangent? Yeah, I mean, you know, to compare it to basketball,
what's going on now and in my life. I mean, basketball was my life. We grew up playing down at the park and, you know, and then really deciding, you know, my dad asked me, I think I was in ninth grade maybe. And he asked, do you want to go through all of this training and all of this work and really try and earn a division one scholarship?
And like, yeah, I've been doing it. I've been, I've been working my butt off forever. I love, I love the game. So I, so yes. So I played at Canisius College up in Buffalo and it's no joke, collegiate athletics, really at any level, physically demanding. It's your first time living away from home. You have all these different responsibilities and it's,
the competitive nature of the sport and the level that you were pushed through, through injury, through whatever may be going on in your life. It was a time where I just pushed a lot aside because I need to play.
I need to be in that starting lineup. This is what I've worked for and I'm not letting anything get in my way. So that may be a mindset of a lot of athletes at that level. So I really kind of pushed everything else to the side and stuffed emotion down and kind of my, you know, my waking up happened when basketball was no more and
And everything that I was, what I had worked for, it was done. And I was just left with myself. And I was not pretty. And yoga is getting emotional because...
it's a big point for a lot of people and, and yoga is something that can, you know, whatever you might find, that's a, that's an opening. That's a release. That's something that brings you back to who you are. Like it's my job. It's, it's all of our jobs to, to serve others, to help them, help them get to those places of fullest expression of love, of,
you know, whatever your why may be, bringing you back home to you. So that's a big reason why I teach and why I had started a blog called The Self Stories, where these stories are being shared through photographs and through interviews like this, written stories as well. So that's
That's a bit about the basketball and the mindset and, you know, competition was basketball, collaborations, yoga. There's no competition when you're on the mat. And that's, that's something that, that I've learned, you know, in yoga, we are as we are, you do what you want to do. If the rest of the class is flowing through a million vinyasas and you just want to lay down,
Like I look up to you because you're doing what your body and your mind want. That's beautiful. I love what you said about how it's our jobs to serve others. From my perspective too of being a fitness coach, you know, that's my way of kind of passing on programs that have really served me is I want to share that with others. And it sounds like that's been the same.
reason for you too is you found yoga to change your life and you want to just share that with others too so I love that message that you you shared so thank you for that yeah I think um just one more thing I think our number one job is to serve ourselves though and then we'll be able to
to serve others. It's a great reminder because often we forget to take care of ourselves. And there's a saying that says we can't pour from an empty cup. So our first job is to take care of ourselves. So I want to share that as a runner, I was very resistant to yoga for a few years. And because I didn't feel like it gave me, let's see, quote, a good workout because my heart weight wasn't raising. And then I got injured. And then
I did a yoga program and I absolutely fell in love with it. I fell in love with how it made my hips feel and how looser it made my joints and how it strengthened my core and made my stride feel smoother. And so I was just wondering if you have any tips for runners on how to incorporate yoga into their life.
Any particular moves, though it might be hard to describe over audio here, but any advice that you have for runners? For sure. I mean, a lot of people are resistant of getting into the room or doing yoga on their own, whatever that might be. But I'm glad that it's become a part of your life. And specifically for those areas on your body. So really, yoga is so good for runners because you're
pounding on your joints, and you're not necessarily stretching them as you're running, but really what yoga can do specifically on your hips, your hamstrings and your inner thighs that tends to be like the tightest areas for runners. You know, I'll go into a few
poses for those areas. But really what running or I'm sorry, what yoga can do is, as you were saying, increases your range of motion because you're struggling.
stretching your muscles, you're allowing them to open in yoga, you know, can help with your stride length, if you're looking at lengthening the hamstrings and calves, and just running economy in general, what yoga does is it, you know, it can help more so equalize the left and the right side of your body. But on the left, left side, you're super tight, it might be a
it's likely that it's adjusted with your running. There's something off. So your running economy can better with yoga and alignment per se.
But yeah, to focus on the different muscle groups. So if we're talking about the hip flexors, so when you're running, you're always just, you're putting your knee to your chest a lot. So that front of your hip, which is your hip flexor, the iliopsoas muscle can really tighten up. So a really nice stretch for that is you can look up runner's lunge or crescent lunge and bending the back knee.
So by bending the back knee, you'll notice your tailbone is going to want to point behind you. But while you have that knee bent, try dropping your tailbone. So lifting the front of your pelvis and dropping your tailbone to the ground.
That's going to get you a nice stretch. And from there, so that's nice for flexibility as well as strengthening. But you can also just drop that back knee and go into a low lunge. So your knee is down and then you're letting your hips just soak and melt forward. And to really give that a bit more, you can lift your arms, you can go back. So this way you're really opening up the entire front side of your body.
So that'll probably be intense. It's funny you bring up the hip flexor because that was the first issue that I had was a tight hip flexor. And I landed in PT and they taught me some stretching exercises. Now I'm very conscious of
stretching that area because I know that it's a problem area for me. Yeah. And if you find that you have like, like these muscles are really tight, which, which they probably are for runners, you get a roller, a doll, like a muscle roller. I don't really know exactly what they're called.
rolling out your muscles is another way of stretching them. So just thinking of it that way, you're rolling, you're massaging, you're lengthening the muscle as you roll it. So what else do we need? We need the hamstrings. So lengthening the back of your thigh. So you can go into a half split. So
you're kneeling down on the ground and you'll just straighten one leg out in front of you. So starting position hips are going to be over your knees and then just simply dropping the hips back and folding forward over that stretched out leg will be a half split or if you're ready for a full split go for it you get the hip flexor and the hammy.
if you want to kill two birds with one stone and then we'll go to the inner thighs so you can start lying on your back in a butterfly pose so bringing the soles of your feet together letting your knees just splay out to the sides
So you're just relaxing back, knees are splaying out to the sides and you can just put your hands on your knees if they, if you want a little bit of an extra stretch. So that one's good but if you want a bit more of an inner thigh stretch look up frog pose. So in frog pose
Imagine yourself kneeling, hands and knees are down, and then widen your knees as far as you can. I would suggest to, you know, don't do this on a hardwood floor. It might not feel great on your knees. But when you're in that position, you have your knees wide, you're going to look at your joints. You're going to look at your hip joint. You're seeing that your hip joint is at a 90 degree angle.
your knees are at a 90 degree angle and then your ankles are at a 90 degree angle. That one is intense but it is very good and you can just hold you know you can hold these poses a couple minutes. Thank you very much. I hope that
other runners found that just as helpful as I have. So are you currently pursuing any particular goals as a D1 basketball player? You probably pursued goals for a really long time and that maybe is a cautious word for you, but what are you kind of doing with your fitness outside of the Zoom workouts? Well, I have a small business called People Grow Together.
And we were a hemp farm and CBD retail and wholesaler. So for that, that is a huge part of my life. So we're really looking to take our business to the next level, whether that means bringing ambassadors on board, just growing our community, growing the impact. Our thing is really growing
the highest quality at prices that makes sense. So this is such a, this is such an industry that's been, um, inflated and we're, we're just moving into our second year of official LLC. So we have, we have lots of, lots of goals, but, um, you know, start serving our community as, as number is number one. So that's, you know, growing that business is,
is a huge, is a huge goal of mine. And, you know, all the while just balancing life during the pandemic, I really let that take over. And, you know, it's been as of recently that I've gotten into yoga again, more and really just taking care of myself. So, you know, I think another, you know, health goal per se is, you
is is maintaining this balance that I've found the past few months um just because I'm a yoga teacher just because I'm the person in front of the room doesn't mean that I have my life together more than a student does we're all students so you know I think that's a really big takeaway um
of your listeners, you know, who are listening to all of these people that you have, have on your show, they're, they're no better or prepared or whatever than anyone is. So yeah, my self care is, is a growing, is a growing thing. And I don't really know what an end goal would look like. But that's something that I'm working on.
But my biggest goal right now is to be the best auntie that I can be. My sister is having a baby. So yeah, that's a...
I don't know if my goals are very specific. Hey, they're all about the intention and direction on where you're focusing your energy. So I can definitely relate to being the best aunt. I have five nieces and nephews. So anytime I can see them, I just love being an aunt to them and playing with them. And I also have three godchildren. So I really just enjoy the time that I can spend with them and try to be the best aunt
aunt to them and godmother to them as well. So I can relate to that. Now, can you tell me a little bit more about People Grow Together and how you got started with that and, you know, what kind of products you guys sell and, you know, how you've
tried to get out in the community. I believe you saw a local farmer's market. So we officially established our, I guess, getting our products out there just over a year ago. But it's been two years. It's myself and my business partner, Daniel. We started the hemp farm. So first year, we have like 12,000 plants. I was learning how to drive a tractor. I don't even know what the heck was going on. But I think that's normal.
All new business owners, right? You know, and your podcast is about chasing life and chasing opportunities that feel right to you, even if you have no idea what the heck, like, how do I shift this thing again? I don't even know. I needed like a, I should have had a sticky note on the dash telling me which way to shift.
But yes, my partner, Daniel, you know, was really to get into this industry and create a product that, like I said before, that is the highest quality at a price that makes sense. And we've given out product to people in need. We have significantly lower prices for for
for everything that we offer, which are oils. So that's a really common way that someone's going to take their CBD is through an oil, just placing it under your tongue. They'll take it for anxiety or pain. Very good for epilepsy, seizures.
Sleep. So we've really developed our product line from the oils to our smokable flour, which is actually the fastest way to experience the benefits of CBD. So helping you relax or easing pain are really kind of the one of the main
the main reasons that people come to us for CBD. And we have gummies, which are just yummy. They're vegan gummies. So we're staying as health conscious as possible. People love the gummies. I mean, I love the gummies. And then we have a soap.
that it actually has kombucha SCOBY in it, as well as your CBD and all these amazing essential oils, as well as muscle salves. That's the CBD portion. And I'll just mention something else about the CBD portion that I was able to really
incorporate was Reiki healing. So this is a method of energy healing that I've been attuned to. So it's something that the practitioner can use to help heal anything from plants to animals to people. And it has, I don't know if you're, if you're familiar or you're, if you've ever talked about
Reiki healing before Sarah, but it's a different type of healing modality. So I gave our hemp fields and I've given our hemp fields Reiki healing and I infuse it into our products and ingredients. So it's kind of like setting a really nice intention for something to happen for a product to
get to the person and really help them. It's like, it's an extra oomph to me, you know, for those who may not be familiar with the energy world. That's kind of a way I might be able to describe it to them. So love and intention is in all of our products.
Yeah. And then a year ago when the pandemic hit, we needed some hand sanitizer. So we made hand sanitizer and we use a blend of essential oils for protection. And it actually smells very nice. If we didn't make it for everyone else, I would just be glad to use it for the year. But that just went absolutely crazy.
crazy. We were shipping out, I don't even know, two pallets of hand sanitizer every other week in a facility that, you know, we didn't, we didn't realize we would be using it for hand sanitizer. Our, you know, our business has been a huge journey and as difficult as it's been to
I can't even begin to tell you the people that we've been able to help. And I don't know half of them. I probably don't know a hundredth of them, but I think what's really amazing is having the opportunity to have so much one-on-one contact with people who call, with people who
who are struggling, who have questions for themselves. There's so many people who've been struggling during the pandemic and I'm really grateful that our product has been able to make a lasting impact to help bring them back to who they are. So if there's any, you know, if anyone has ever has any questions about CBD,
you know, it's going to give me a high, like what, what is this going to do for me? I would encourage them to, to reach out and, and ask because it's a, it's a beautiful natural plant. And, and yeah, we do a pick your own hemp during harvest season. So that's a really nice time for people to actually see this is where it's coming from. And this is what it is and really have a
Have a nice experience. Thank you for educating us on both the Reiki healing and the CBD. So I appreciate the education and I hope our listeners do as well. And I will link to your website, Facebook page. Just people grow together.com. Same on Instagram and Facebook.
Great. Yeah, so I'll definitely link those in the show notes. So if anyone has any questions to encourage them to reach out to you. So to end with a couple fun questions, what's something that you are obsessed with or loving right now? Thursday night reading night with my sister. Tell us about that.
My sister's on the couch, my mom's on the couch, and I open up our baby book because my sister's expecting in May and they say, Jen, read to us. So it's our chance to get together to prepare us all for
my sister's baby who's coming and we, my mom always gets special healthy baby, healthy snacks for us. And it's a, it's a nice bonding time. That's something that's really lightened me up. That sounds really nice. How did you come up with that? Well, I'm over here always wanting to educate and looking up the latest health things and whatnot. So I'm,
This is a, it's a nice opportunity for us to get together and educate through reading in books. And yeah, I think it's...
A lot. I've never had a baby, but it's got to be a lot that you go through. So having the and being able to support my sister in that way and her supporting us just by being together is kind of what prompted it all. So it's, it's stuck.
That sounds really nice and a great way for you guys to bond and also look forward to the birth of the baby into your family and a really memorable experience for all of you. So one last question that I like to ask all my guests, and I've gotten a variety of answers, so I love asking this, is what does chasing life mean to you?
Chasing life. So right when we're chasing something, we have to forget that we have fears to some degree, right? We have to forget that we have fears that if we allow, right?
have the potential to hold us back. Because we're always going to have things that are, that we're afraid of. But what I think chasing life really means to me is knowing that, yeah, I certainly, I certainly have fears. But if I can trust myself and know that this is something that I want to pursue, or simply a conversation I want to have, then I'm
I'm going to forget. I'm going to try to have myself forget those fears and just do it anyways, knowing that where I want to end up, you know, is much greater of a reward than, than, than anything, than, than listening to my fears and, and letting them control my life because they have. And I think, I think we all,
really need to honor our process and honor each part of our journey. Because it's easy to say,
oh, I'm here right now at this time. I don't want to be here. But taking the opportunity to say, okay, why am I here? And what is this? What is this teaching me? That to me can even mean chasing life, embracing where you are, and just going, just trusting your intuition, forgetting that maybe I shouldn't trust myself, or maybe I should listen to these other people,
get good with you and, and trust that and go. I love that. Thank you so much for sharing that. That's a wonderful thought to remember. Yeah. Yeah. That was a great answer. I speak through, you know, making a lot of, a lot of different decisions and knowing that the right one is, is always the one that, that feels right to me because we have this intuition and let's use it.
Absolutely. Thank you for that reminder, because I think it's tough to listen to our gut, especially if there's a lot of outside noise from other people in our life that are trying to direct us and where we should go or what we should do. So I think that's a great reminder to really just look inward and trust our guts and trust the feelings that we get of others.
You know, if we, if something keeps creeping up in our mind or we keep getting signs on certain things and that's the universe trying to tell us something. So thank you so much for your time, Jen. I've really enjoyed our conversation. I've learned a lot, not just on CBD, but just about yourself. And so it's just been an honor to speak with you. So thank you so much. Thank you so much for having me.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it on social media. Tag me at SarahChasingLife or at Chasing Life Podcast. If you haven't already, please be sure to subscribe and rate this podcast. That helps me to reach more listeners.