Yoga Vibes with Carleigh: Tackling Bipolar Disorder and Finding Your Happy Place

 Welcome to another empowering episode of advancing with Amy mental health warrior. Your go-to source for inspiring mental health journeys. Today, we introduce Carly, a remarkable yoga instructor and mental wellness coach who is harnessed yoga's ancient wisdom to navigate the turbulent waters of bipolar disorder. Carly's resilience as a Testament to the lifesaving power of mindful movement and connection. From finding her calling in a power yoga class at 13 to leading her own business Montas mastery Carly's story is an extraordinary example of transformation through self-love and holistic health practices.  Together. 

We explore deep insights into the importance of exercise, nutrition and a solid sleep routine. If you've ever felt held back by mental health challenges, this episode invites you to discover the healing potential within and the steps you can take towards balance and peace. Whether you're curious about yoga's healing potential or looking for a community that understands. You won't want to miss this powerful and intimate conversation. Join Carly and I, as we unfold a blueprint for thriving in the face of adversity. Tune in. And let Karlie a true mental lawyer inspire your next steps towards wellness.

Hi, this is Amy and today we're talking with Carly.

Carly, tell us a little bit about yourself.  Hi Amy, thanks so much for having me. I am a mental warrior. I work as a holistic mental wellness coach guiding others to naturally heal and transform their minds because I have actually learned how to master living with bipolar disorder, ADHD, and anxiety without taking any medication. 

Wow, that is impressive. And I know I've got a lot of listeners who want to do that themselves. I personally take medication, but I, I do hope one day to be in your shoes. So when things slow down, I plan on working on that. Tell me how you did that.  So it's been a long journey. This isn't something that It just happens overnight and it isn't something that I necessarily advise for everyone.

I never used medication, so I didn't have the process of weaning off of it and then going through those shifts. When I received my diagnosis,  my big diagnosis, which was bipolar disorder, I was 19 years old. I had struggled with substance abuse for many years. I had struggled with Anxiety for many years.

And the substances were my way of self-medicating and numb. Been there  yep. Yeah. Right. It's very common.  And, you know, had a lot of unhealthy outlets. I was quite promiscuous and, would stay up late drinking and then sleep the next day away. And it just, it wasn't a very healthy lifestyle.

And when I received this diagnosis, which was. During my first and only episode of Mania, I realized that I needed to make some big shifts if I wanted to truly heal. And I saw that I had two options that I could, and the psychiatrist was like, do you, do you want medication? Like, that's normally what we do.

And I said, no, thank you. I would prefer to not, to not need it. And I knew that if that was my choice, I had to really. Essentially get my act together and clean up my lifestyle and figure out if I could truly  find a lifestyle that worked for me to be this way of natural healing. So I went on a really deep dive.

This was at a pivotal point in my life. So that's also quite unique. I was in my about to enter my third year of university. I was about to go on exchange down to New Zealand and I was living in British Columbia, Canada at the time. So I had never, I'd never gone nearly that far. And it was like the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me, which is You know what triggered my manic episode, but  opportunity for a whole fresh start while I was there for the year.

 I started immersing myself in the outdoors. I, learned how to ski and. I got into like multi day hiking and started doing all these things that  were really good for me and that I'd always wanted to do but was a little bit too afraid because the other thing that's really important to mention is that at that time  I was so afraid of the possibility that I might have bipolar disorder.

It was like I was afraid of the potential of my mind.  Interesting. Why did you think that?  So I grew up with my father who was undiagnosed with bipolar disorder and we had a very, negative relationship growing up. We were both very stubborn and we had undiagnosed mental health and we butt heads a lot.

So I had this idea of what it meant to have bipolar disorder being this, really angry man who had temper tantrums and threw things and I didn't want to associate myself with that idea  I was very afraid that was possible and in my mind  The idea that I might have bipolar meant that I might one day have a relationship with my kids that reflects the relationship that I have with my dad and that was my fear, but when I actually, yeah, but when I actually received the diagnosis, it was like, Oh, I'm still just me and nothing is going to change just because I have this,  label and just because my brain works a certain way, I'm not going to all of a sudden become this person that I'm not.

 So it was like I had faced my biggest fear in the world and I was completely fine.  So that really set me up for the next stage of really actively facing my fears, making myself uncomfortable, facing the things that made me anxious to learn. What I was actually capable of. Wow, that's an amazing story.

How old were you when this was happening?  I was 19 at that point. Oh young. I wasn't diagnosed bipolar till my 30s. They originally thought it was major recurrent depression and then finally settled on bipolar and that fit better for me and definitely took a long time for me to be able to manage it.  So it's been a journey. 

 Do you eat differently? What do you do?  So, for me, It's an entire lifestyle. And, I say that I don't take any medication, but I do have quite a strict self care routine that makes up, you know, takes the place of that necessary medication essentially.

So I guess that's what I mean when I say it's not, it's not easy. Like it's a daily choice every day. I'm putting my mental health first because I know. Like,  I exercise every single day because I know that I need those endorphins. I need my body to move. If I don't exercise for two or three days in a row, I feel more anxious.

I feel more irritable. I might be snappy. I'm having trouble sleeping. So exercise is a really, really big one every single day., I make sure that I'm eating foods that I know I'm going  to feel well enough later on. Like, if I eat a whole bunch of junk food tonight, tomorrow, I'm not going to want to exercise.

 And then that's going to throw off my sleep. And then,  all of those things. So they're all of the things I do are very interconnected with one another, but it's, it's essentially just boiling down to making sure I'm taking care of myself and giving myself what I need. So it's exercise, nutrition, a solid sleep routine, which I think people often underestimate the power of,   getting a good sleep or what it actually, how it actually affects you when you don't.

 So that's a really, really important one and  there's so many correlations when it comes to  both depression and bipolar and anxiety with poor sleep. It's like getting  Too much sleep is both a symptom and a trigger for depression. Not enough sleep is both a symptom and a trigger for mania.

So you really need to  prioritize that sweet spot of, it's different for everyone, but it's roughly in the 7 to 9 hour range on average. A lot of people don't actually get that much. For me, it's closer to the 8 to 9. In the winter, up to 10 hours,  every single night. And that needs to be, after exercise, that's probably my priority number one.

Sleep is priority number two. I do not function well without sleep. I do start to get manic very quickly.  And I'll get loud, and I'll get 20 million projects going at the same time and then finally I'll end up having the crash.  Right. Yeah. Not a good situation. Exactly. 

 On the topic of, a million projects starting and feeling really high. When I first experienced mania, I was probably hypomanic for about a week or maybe a little bit more and then it went into full blown mania for about two or three days but If I could be hypomanic all of the time, I absolutely would be when it's still enough that you can eat and sleep, but you just have this energy.

It's like everything is amazing, but then it goes too far and then the crash comes and it's like, no, I don't want to do that again.  I agree. Hypomania is the place to be. If you could live there, that would be perfect. Unfortunately, it's, yeah, it doesn't work that way. So, tell me a little bit about how you've been helping others. Yeah, so I currently have my signature program that is called the Eight Simple Steps to Naturally Heal Anxiety. I have the focus on anxiety because that is,  I found in my experience, through all of my  different mental health experiences, that anxiety is the thing that sucks the most. It's like that thing that, it's constantly there and it's  It just attacks your brain and it's so loud.

So I've experienced deep depressions and I've experienced high highs, but through all of it, the anxiety is the thing that it's like, I just want to learn to get a grip on this. So that's actually my main focus is even though,  I live with bipolar, but not all of my clients do. It's so widespread in our modern society, especially it's like we've set up this system that just feeds anxiety and teaches us that we need to, have these beliefs that we need to be better than we are and always be chasing something and it just, it's not conducive to self love and acceptance and presence in the moment.

 So essentially my program helps guide people to set up a lifestyle that is going to be conducive for their healing. So I have, my regime that works for me with my seven pillars and the things that I do every single day that I've found over the years have worked for me. I essentially guide people through an eight step process over the course of four months to learn what are the things that you need to have in place every day to feel your best. 

And, that starts with self love, how can you fall in love with yourself first and move forward with healing from a place of, acceptance and love and compassion. And then we go from there and start bringing in all these other pieces of their lives. It's a very holistic way of truly healing.

Yeah. That's amazing. I know when I first was diagnosed with bipolar, I had this. hatred for myself. And I just said all these negative things, you know, when your brain is just saying you're stupid and you're mean and  you're just not a good person. And it took me a long time, a journey to get to a place where I'm 53 now.

And I can finally say this last couple of years, I felt really good. And it's a whole new world. Yeah. It's like, okay, now I can do the things I've been dreaming of for so long. Cause I'm not struggling through each day. That's amazing that you've gotten to that place. Yeah. Oh, thank you. So tell me  this program of yours.

Is it  a self, like you do it on your own or is it like something you guide them through? They meet with you weekly. How long does it take? What is the synopsis of that?  Yeah. So the synopsis is we have one on one meetings every two weeks. Basically in between each module, there's eight modules that are recorded.

So people watch those on their own time. There's worksheets and reflections and yoga classes and meditations to go along with these modules. And the reason we only meet the once every two weeks is because, it's, I like to say kind of the difference between therapy and coaching is that therapy is,  a lot of it is talking and a lot of it is kind of looking a little bit.

At the past and seeing what has happened to you  to bring you to this moment and how can we, talk about that? And that is beneficial. Absolutely. But the difference with coaching is we're looking at, okay, well, here's where you are and here's where you want to be. So how can we take tangible steps to get you there?

And the stuff that happens here doesn't happen while we're speaking to each other. So we can talk about what's working and how you're feeling about various things and what you're processing. But the work that's done in this program really happens after we get off the call and you go and you apply these things to your life.

And you find out, you start to recognize how do I feel after I exercise versus on the days that I don't and how do certain foods make me feel and how much sleep do I actually need and what does it mean to put myself first? So  that's kind of the things that the modules spark all of these reflections.

And then we come together  and we discuss it and we say what's working, what's not working. Here's where we can tweak some things, here's different ways of thinking because it is coaching and I do notice. the way that people are speaking about themselves or their lives and offer suggestions to tweak, their thought patterns and processes and that sort of thing.

 It's a combination of self paced  with my guidance. And eventually I would like to launch it as a group program. So I have multiple people going through at once and we have calls where people can discuss their experiences with each other. Cause I find the power of community is very, very strong.

Yeah, definitely.  You mentioned yoga and I'm actually fascinated with that because I don't, I'll be honest, I don't exercise and I'm seriously thinking about trying yoga, but I'm a little afraid because I'm 53 and I'm not in the best shape. So tell me a little bit about how you got into yoga and what that has been like.

I  have a couple things I want to say on that. Number one is that  yoga is for everybody. It doesn't mean that every style of yoga is for everybody, but yoga as a holistic eight limbed practice that is much deeper than just the physical movement and asanas,  is for absolutely everybody. so I, highly do recommend, , giving yoga a try, go to some beginner classes or just go on YouTube. I could send you a nice, friendly class if you'd like just to try it out at home. Okay. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. I like to actually say that yoga saved my life. Oh, wow. When  I was 12 years old, I experienced the deepest depression that I've ever had. And I actually planned on taking my own life. Wow.

And it was a very dark time where I didn't see,  I didn't see a reason to keep going. And I'm really grateful that I never acted on it because I had a plan. I had the means,  I didn't act on it and, that's such a blessing that I was able to. To find light on the other side, but when I was 13, I recall my dad took me to my first yoga class and I had never done yoga, heard of yoga, like I was quite young, and I'm in the back of this like power yoga class at this, hip studio.

And I remember thinking, I want to teach one day.  And I have no idea that yoga is anything more than just this like physical practice where we're all sweaty and hot and it's hard, but I remember seeing the instructor and just, it was probably the energy they were giving off. I was like, I want to, I want to be on their team.

I want to be up there. That was really where it began. And I don't know that I went. very regularly after that. I was still quite young. I was probably just, exercising the way that most 13 year olds do, which is, I don't know, running around at the playground or whatever. But when I was 15  and I had a lot of, I'm really blessed to have had a lot of bright shining lights in my life and little moments of like, Oh little moments of transformation and aha and healing and people who helped me  to be those guides.

Exactly. Yeah. So.  When I was 15, I went on with my dad. We went on a juice cleanse in Costa Rica.  And it's funny, cause I mentioned how,  my dad and I didn't really get along when I was growing up. And yet we had all these really beautiful experiences together because he really did want to heal it.

Just that we were both sick and we didn't know so we went on this juice cleanse together and there was yoga every morning,  maybe even every evening as well. But I recall in the first couple of days, I noticed that if I was holding  And I would start to think about something back home, something that stressed me out, something about school, whatever it was, I would start to shake, and I couldn't hold the pose as nicely, whereas when I was just focused on being in my body and being in my breath, I wouldn't shake nearly as much, I was much more stable.

 And that was probably my first realization that  presence is so powerful, and where we put our energy is,  is such a powerful thing. Yeah, so that was probably when I was like, wow, there's really something, to this practice It's much deeper than just let's go through the motions and think about whatever we're thinking about.

It's a whole immersive experience of mindfulness and movement and breath and presence, right? So Flash forward i'd been practicing regularly and going to studios and you know When I was in university taking classes on campus and that sort of thing And when I received my diagnosis, at 19, and I was on my way to live in New Zealand for the year, one of those things I decided to do that was going to be a little bit scary was actually get my yoga teacher training.

So I was 20 years old at that point, up in Thailand. I did a one month immersive just over school holidays, from my semester, my year abroad.  Incredible. Absolutely life changing experience.  The most beautiful thing was so at the yoga teacher training, we were meditating for an hour every single morning.

And I remember the first couple of times that I had to sit there for an hour, it was like,  I could barely sit. It felt like three hours. I could barely sit still. I'm moving around. I'm like opening my eyes and looking like, is everyone else still sitting still? Yeah. Okay. And try to drop back in and it's uncomfortable and it's painful.

After a month of doing this most days, I think it was six days a week and I may have skipped a couple of the meditations,  um, at 6 a. m.  That's fair. After doing this most days for a month, the last few days felt like 20 minutes. And it just flew by and it was like the power of practice  moving forward from that just after graduating.

 Yoga teacher training is a very, very deep introspective time. You're practicing yoga for three plus hours a day. You're doing a lot of self reflection. Of course, you're learning a lot and there's lectures, but it's, it's a very internal process. And that's actually why I went was because I was on this deep healing journey.

I had no intention to teach at the time.  That came later when I realized I need to share this gift, but  the day or two after we graduated, I was speaking with some of the people that I'd become really close with some of my, in that moment, they were my best friends in the world after spending this immersive month together,  speaking with some of them about this realization I had that there's nothing wrong with me just because my brain works in this certain way and that I can learn to you.

Bring myself up when I start to feel low, I can learn to ground myself when I start to feel high. And that's ultimately all that it is coming from that place of self love. So I had that realization because of the yoga teacher training. And from there, it was like just this deep knowing that  having bipolar doesn't define me and that I can still love myself and let others love me regardless of.

What my brain is capable of exactly my daughter is 13 and she has autism and She was not diagnosed until she was 12, and I asked her, you know What do you think? How do you feel about this diagnosis? Do you think it's accurate? What do you feel about it? And she said yeah, I think it's accurate and I don't really feel much about it because I'm still me and I was like, exactly.

Yeah. You're still you. That is beautiful. Yeah. This just gives us some resources. So that's such an amazing conversation to be having with your daughter and it's cool that she's so self aware when she's 13 and saying like, yeah, cool. It's it fits, it fits the picture. Yeah. Now let's move on.

Exactly. Yeah. I love that.  So, tell me, how we can find you and where are you at on social media?  Yeah, so my social media and website are manas. mastery. So, manas, I'm just going to explain this a little bit, is the Sanskrit word. Sanskrit is an ancient, Indian language that is the basis of yoga.

 So it's a Sanskrit word for thought or perception. So, My business name is Manas Mastery because it's all about mastering the mind, mastering the thoughts, mastering our perception. So on Instagram, I'm manas. mastery and my website is manasmastery. com.  Great.  And you said you might have something for our listeners there.

Absolutely. Yeah. So for anyone looking to get into this style of healing, for anyone to start to learn how to master your mind and So if you want to fall in love with yourself at the same time, I have this guide. It's called the First Step Toward Overcoming Anxiety because as I mentioned, anxiety is the thing that sucks the most and if you can get a grip on that, you'll feel so much better. 

So you can find that guide at ManasMastery. com. Forward slash freebie f r e e b i e.  I'm definitely going to grab that. And I, you know what you were talking about how, when you saw that yoga teacher, they had that energy that just made you think, you know what, I'm going to do that someday. That is really cool.

I want that energy. And I can feel that from you. You emanate that you have a very positive energy and I love it.  That's so beautiful. Thank you. I'm glad. Yeah, I'm definitely going to try the yoga now.  So awesome. Thank you. So is there anything you want to leave our listeners with today?  I think just the knowledge that it is possible to truly heal. 

That you are  fully enough as you are and you are so capable and deserving of feeling your best and of truly thriving, no matter what any doctor has labeled you or any diagnosis that you've received, it doesn't matter, it has to start with self love and you are so, so worthy of your own self love.  Yeah, I love that.

Yeah, everybody is worthy of their own self love and so many people need to hear that. Thank you so much.   

 Did you have any questions for me? I have some questions about your experience.  Yeah, go ahead. So you,  you weren't diagnosed with bipolar until you, how old did you say you were? I was in my thirties, my early thirties.

In your thirties. Yeah.  Yeah. Which is still, I mean, compared to a lot of people, still quite young. My dad wasn't diagnosed until he was  in his late fifties or early sixties. And I think watching him  suffer before his diagnosis was a big part of the reason that when I was diagnosed, I was like, okay, well.

This is what I need to do with my life because,  I was, I was 19, almost 20 at the time and already so self aware that I was like, seeing my dad, he suffered for 40 years longer than I did. I need to help people. I have a duty to show up for these people who are. unaware of  what's even going on.

That is so cool.  And I remember being diagnosed with the major recurrent depression and I thought it was accurate because I definitely kept falling into depression.

Actually, they put me on Prozac at the time, which I don't know if you know, but Prozac can make bipolar worse.  And it can bring out some volatility, some anger and things like that. And so I ended up, just being mean and I felt mean, and I went to my psychiatrist at the time and said, I'm yelling at my son and I don't know why.

And I don't like the parent I have become.  And that's when he was like, you know what, maybe this is bipolar. And then after that, they switched my meds, but they weren't working yet. And I did start to have some mania and one day, decided on a whim, I was going to take up all the carpet in my whole house and redo the wood floors.

Of course, I took up all the carpet and years later, I never redid the wood. Yeah,  so it's been a journey.  No kidding. So you didn't actually experience mania until after you had received the diagnosis of bipolar?  Well, that's a great question. That's the first time I knew it was mania. When I was a little younger, when I was around 18, I did things like move to, let me back up.

I started and I went to Connecticut. To be with a friend for a while over the summer in between college and the next year , decided on a whim overnight to pack up everything at seven o'clock at night and move to Florida on a whim and just restarted my whole entire life. That looking back was mania.

Yeah. Slept on beaches and just. Crazy stuff that I did and had a great time. Yeah. Yeah, I did. Did some stuff I shouldn't have, but, definitely, had some fun along the way.   It's just really cool to, get an insight in, into other people's lives that have experienced bipolar and are, on a healing journey with it.

And it's beautiful to hear that because. I know, my dad, of course, and I can think of two other people, maybe three other people in my life that I know who have been diagnosed, and these are like people scattered throughout the years, from the time I was 20 to, when I was in university, I met someone else, and one of my friends that I know who was quite recently diagnosed

so it's just cool to, to be expanding my circle of people who are living with bipolar and still living high functioning, happy lives because it's important to show people that's possible.  

It's just noticing like, okay. I'm a little bit higher. What do I need to do to bring myself back to baseline? And it's the same on the flip side. If I'm feeling a little bit lower, it's like, okay, well maybe I need to, let myself eat a little bit more chocolate today and I need to maybe force myself to go to a yoga class.

If I don't really feel like it when I'm not feeling my best and do the things that I know will bring me back up to baseline. So it's just always monitoring and trying to keep yourself. around your baseline and only you know what that is. That is great advice and  I'm definitely going to be taking it.

All right.  I appreciate you coming today and I sure wish you well. Thank you so much for having me. It's been a pleasure. 

 📍  As we wrap up this enlightening episode with Carly. A true mental lawyer. It's hard not to feel inspired by her story and the wisdom she shared today. Remember though the journey to self-love and managing mental health is deeply personal. It doesn't have to be walked alone. Head over to Maness mastery.com and grab your free guide first step towards overcoming anxiety. 

Take that pivotal stride on your path to wellbeing. Don't forget if today's episode moved, you.  Make sure to leave a review, share it widely and help others find the support they need. Your insights and contributions are the lifeblood of our show. So if you're feeling generous, visit advancing with amy.com and leave a tip or become a patron on Patrion to help us continue creating content. That makes a difference. Lastly, join our vibrant community on social media. All the links you need are waiting in the show notes, stay connected, take care of yourselves, and let's keep advancing together on this journey. 

See you next week. With advancing with Amy. Mental health warrior.

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