Mind Cake
THE HEALING POWER OF YOGA: Movement and Mindfulness with Amy Alexander
EP 305

THE HEALING POWER OF YOGA: Movement and Mindfulness with Amy Alexander

Movement and Mindfulness: How Yoga Gave a Bionic Woman Her Body Back. At 14, Amy Alexander was told she had severe scoliosis — a spine shaped like a proper S — and that without immediate surgery she'd have a hunchback and be in a wheelchair by 21. The surgery involved two metal rods, six screws, and the very real possibility of paralysis or death. She signed the consent form herself, went home, made a regimented recovery plan, and four weeks later was at Sylvia Young Theatre School doing movement. Thirty-odd years later, Amy — actress, vocal coach, yoga teacher, cacao ceremony practitioner and occasional Idris Elba collaborator — is calling from Bali, where she just completed a 30-day yoga challenge that she started because her life seemed to be falling apart and a voice in her head (not Idris) told her it was going to be okay. This is a conversation about movement as medicine, yoga as empowerment, the fascia muscle, yin vs vinyasa, cold water swimming, cacao ceremonies, chronic fatigue syndrome, emergency gallbladder surgery, and why your body is the only one you're getting so you might as well develop a decent relationship with it. Plus: Paul is in Ipswich in a Travel Lodge eating a chippy, and the great Scottish fish supper debate — one fish or two? — remains unresolved.

Listen on Spotify ↗

Show Notes

Guest: Amy Alexander — actress, vocal coach, yoga teacher and wellness practitioner. Find her on Instagram: @travellingwellnesswarrior

Topics covered:

Amy's backstory — the bionic woman

  • Severe scoliosis diagnosed at 14 — spine in a full S shape, no symptoms whatsoever until her sister's back pain led to a family check
  • Mr McMaster in Edinburgh: hunchback and wheelchair by 21 without surgery, possible paralysis or death with it — Amy signed the consent form herself, age 14, and felt completely calm
  • Multiple previous surgeries for hearing problems had given her an acceptance of medical situations most teenagers wouldn't have
  • The surgery: two metal rods, six screws, spine clamped straight — had to relearn breathing, sitting, standing and walking
  • Told she wouldn't be a prima ballerina — immediately wanted to prove that wrong
  • Mr McMaster's instruction: move every two hours. This principle underpins everything she teaches now
  • Four weeks post-surgery: at Sylvia Young Theatre School doing movement
  • COVID brought severe lower back pain — thought it might be cauda equina (can cause paralysis) — emergency hospital trip. It wasn't, but led to steroid injections and a new relationship with Pilates
  • Edinburgh Fringe: collapsed on the street, rushed to hospital — emergency gallbladder removal. Another square one
  • Chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis at 17 — led to energy in motion therapy, learning to spot tiny emotional triggers before physical crashes

The road to Bali

  • Acting career disrupted by writers and actors strikes, cost of living, work drying up — multiple dominoes fell at once including her living situation
  • A coaching exercise where strangers identified her core value: movement. Her Pilates instructor Lucy said the same word independently, within 24 hours
  • Lucy's suggestion: go to Bali, come back a yoga teacher. Light bulb moment
  • The voice in her head (not Idris Elba) said: it's okay, you're going to Bali
  • Saw Bali and New Zealand on the map and started crying without knowing why — followed the emotion

Yoga — what it actually is

  • Not about flexibility, not about comparison, not about anyone else on the mat
  • About embracing who you are in the moment — particularly powerful for Amy given she's literally made of metal
  • Bad experiences in yoga classes: teachers fearful of her back, making her feel unwelcome — fear is counterproductive to what yoga is trying to do
  • Shambhala Retreats in Sintra, Portugal: the retreat that changed everything — 40 years' combined experience, completely inclusive, all abilities. She did a headstand she didn't know she could do
  • The 30-day challenge: started because she felt her mental health slipping, needed accountability — the response from followers was overwhelming
  • Now teaching: beginners yoga, hatha, yoga for voice, cacao and yoga combined sunset sessions

The types of yoga explained

  • Yin: slow, three to five minutes per pose, gets into the fascia muscles (the sheath over all muscles — source of a lot of held tension and emotion). Deep release, often felt later in the day
  • Hatha: one pose at a time, breathing into each position, very present
  • Vinyasa: flow, movement with breath, faster paced
  • Ashtanga: deliberately frustrating — teaches you to work through frustration. Amy slammed the mat

The mental health connection

  • Discomfort on the mat = practice for discomfort off the mat. The coffee shop queue, the car that cuts you out, the kids who won't put their shoes on
  • Where focus goes, energy flows — you choose where to spend your energy
  • Emotions stifled in the body come out as physical symptoms — illness, pain, injury. This connected directly to her chronic fatigue experience
  • The parasympathetic nervous system — yoga activates rest and digest mode, slows everything down
  • The vagus nerve — runs from brain to body, activated by yoga and cold water swimming

On cold water

  • Amy swims in every cold sea she can find — activates the vagus nerve, trains your body to calm under stress
  • Lee's whiskey barrel setup in the garden — drain tap, handles, lid — thoroughly endorsed
  • Both agree: you never stop finding it cold. The point is learning to calm yourself through it

Idris Elba

  • Amy worked with him on Booking.com Super Bowl commercials
  • He is, apparently, wonderful
  • The hair flick does not translate to audio

Post-episode Paul check-in:

  • Paul is in Ipswich, one fish in the chippy (contested), doing two shows a day, eating badly, drinking beer — planning a better nutritional path on return
  • Paul lost 10 pounds on his anti-inflammatory diet, 2,300 calories, 3 litres of water daily
  • Still doing 8,000 steps — which is harder than it sounds when working from home
  • The great Scottish fish supper debate: one fish or two? Listeners invited to adjudicate
  • Paul is playing Robert Mohr (Nazi, not to be confused with the character from Monaco) heading to the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh — Polar Express Christmas show to follow

Mind Cake's one-year anniversary: recorded on 1st November — Lee forgot to do an Elmo Pickles Halloween message and will regret this forever

Referenced:

  • Shambhala Retreats, Sintra, Portugal — the retreat that changed Amy's yoga journey. Does classes online, subscribe by month
  • Yoga with Adriene — YouTube, free, excellent for beginners. Motto: find what feels good
  • Lucy Poticek — Amy's Pilates instructor and the person who told her to go to Bali
  • Wim Hof method — referenced in the context of cold water swimming becoming mainstream
  • Booking.com Super Bowl commercials — Amy and Idris Elba
  • Matthew McConaughey — no mobile phone until 16, wanting his son to know his own thoughts before the world tells him what to think
  • Jay Shetty — the 20 people in your bed metaphor for checking your phone first thing
  • Cacao ceremonies — plant medicine, 5,000 years of use in South America, opens blood vessels, increases dopamine and serotonin. Mama Cacao. Amy teaches these

Note: This episode was recorded during Paul's tour — hence the iPad audio quality and the one fish chippy.

← All episodes