Some of the hot topics on her show are health, fitness, yoga, meditation and living the life you want as a woman and as a mother. Asana Journal had the opportunity to speak to Breegan about how these topics personally relate to her life today.
How were you first introduced to yoga, and what were your original thoughts?
I was introduced to yoga through a friend of mine that I looked up to personally and professionally when I owned a retail fashion store. She invited me to join her for a session at Maha Yoga in Santa Monica, and I loved it. Though the yogis may hate me for saying this, my first thoughts about yoga were based solely on my desire to get fit. I loved yoga because it helped me get lean and trim. When I first started practicing, I wouldn’t even inflatable slide stay for savasana. I didn’t think that I needed to cool down for ten minutes. Now that I’ve been practicing for a while, I appreciate savasana as much as (if not more than) other aspects of yoga sessions. My thoughts have completely changed now that I use yoga as a spiritually connecting activity.
How important is an active, healthy lifestyle to you?
It is very important, but it’s a daily challenge for me. I have to inten tionally consider foods that promote optimal health and simple but heart-healthy exercises that I can incorporate in between time with the kids, interior design projects and the radio show. I also complement those activities with occasional fasting, and I’ve begun growing some of my own fruits and vegetables. For me, it’s a mindful balance and challenge, especially when my schedule makes grabbing fast food and using my little free time to just rest on the couch so much easier.
Being a mom to two boys, is it hard to find time to do yoga and other fitness activities?
It’s very difficult to find time, especially with two energetic kids. Time is definitely a commodity that always seems to be lacking, but I’m grateful to have some great friends who have helped me tremendously with my efforts to stay fit. After having my second son, I reached out to Desi Bartlett, a yoga mom guru and one of my dear friends. I needed accountability and motivation to get back into my fitness groove, and she was there to help me. We now work out together every week. Working with Desi keeps me connected to my yoga foundations because everything she does has roots in yoga and spiritual principles. Her focus comes from such a pure, passionate place, and that keeps me grounded when I cannot get to my regular yoga classes.
What types of yoga do you practice these days?
I’ve recently enjoyed practicing Bikram yoga. I’m a person that detests being cold, so Bikram yoga and I mesh really well together. The best time for me to work out is typically in the early morning, and I hate being out in the cold, crisp, early morning air. That changed when I found a Bikram yoga pula pula inflavel class that started extremely early before I needed to start my day. It was so nice to get so warm in the class, but it was also great knowing that the heat was helping detoxify my body. Now I love the morning air when I walk out of a class. It’s been very refreshing for me.
When connecting with other mothers on your radio program, does the topic of health/fitness after giving birth get raised a lot? How do you help these women on your show?
Health-related topics happen pretty regularly. One of the things our show does well is introduce our listeners to experts who can help in their respective fields. One of our trusted experts is Desi. We did a fitness segment with her on the show in January because there were a lot of female listeners that had New Year’s resolutions to get back into the gym.
As far as helping women, my co-host T. Lopez and I are both real moms, just like our listeners. We strive to help give women real, unpretentious advice to help walk out motherhood. We constantly share practical tips to help maximize their lives as strong women and mothers. Practical is extremely important when you’re low on time, high on stress and inundated with a long to-do list every day. So when it comes to topics like healthy living and fitness, we want to come from an authentic, genuine place that reflects support and inclusion. Our goal is to impress upon women that even if they don’t have fitness completely mastered, that’s normal. We’re all in this together, and we’re all going to get there.
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To read the full article please download our Asana Journal App or purchase Issue 170 February 2017.
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