Syd Vaughan | Why “Just Breathing” Might Be the Most Underrated Tool in Vet Med | POP-UP | 03

We're thrilled to introduce you to Syd Vaughan, Registered Massage Therapist, breathwork coach, and founder of 3 Well by Syd.

Syd shares her personal journey into breathwork and how regulating the nervous system can be a practical, effective tool for managing stress, especially in high-pressure professions like veterinary medicine. The conversation reflects on the speakers’ experience at CVMA 2025, where Syd guided a group of veterinary professionals through a breathwork session that challenged skepticism and reframed breathwork as a grounded, accessible stress-regulation practice.

Together, they explore the role of vulnerability, authenticity, and music in mental health and performance, and why sustainable well-being isn’t about doing more, but about learning how to pause, reset, and give yourself some grace.

Syd Vaughan

Syd Vaughan is a Registered Massage Therapist, Breathwork Facilitator, Dynamic Speaker, and the Visionary Founder of 3 Well by Syd. With over a decade of experience, Syd masterfully bridges the science of the body with the art of self-discovery creating profound, lasting change in the lives of her clients.

Syd launched her personal training business at just 20 years old. Since then, she has built a multidimensional career rooted in helping individuals reconnect with themselves physically, emotionally, and energetically. Syd empowers people to radically transform their relationship with their bodies, beliefs, and breath. With technical expertise she helps clients cultivate self-love, break through limitations, and build sustainable lifestyles.

Her unique skill set guides clients to take deliberate, transformative steps to evolve all elements of mind, body, and breath. From one on one training, facilitating transformational retreats, or captivating audiences from the stage, Syd brings a powerful grounded presence. Her signature approach helps individuals reconnect to themselves, unlocking deep, lasting transformation.

Instagram: @sydvaughan

Website: www.3wellbysyd.com

Transcript

Intro

0:00

Welcome Welcome to Don't Call Me Catty, the podcast where we don't sugarcoat the vet industry, but we do stir the pot. I'm Leilani. I'm an RVT and the CEO of Animal HealthLink. And I'm Jillian. I'm a financial education specialist and founder of Steady Gait Planning. This is Don't Call Me Catty. No fluff, just fur, fun facts and some good stories.

Jillian 0:31

Oh my gosh. We are here with Syd Vaughn from 3 Well by Syd on the Don't Call Me Catty podcast.

Leilani 0:38

So excited to have you here.

Jillian 0:39

So excited.

Syd 0:40

Good morning, ladies.

Jillian 0:41

Oh my God.

Leilani 0:42

Good morning. Yes.

Jillian 0:43

Meow. This is where we're at.

Leilani 0:45

Well, this is fresh off the cusp of our event last night. Yeah.

Jillian 0:50

And we're switching it up. We are taking this out of Vet Med a little bit. Hence the switch costumes.

Leilani 0:55

Yeah.

Jillian 0:55

To talk about you and what you do and how you help people. Yeah. I'm gonna let Leilani go deep here right off the hop.

Leilani 1:02

Well, I mean, for those of us who don't know you, I got introduced to you through Jillian, and then our first time meeting in person was at the event last night. You're a health and wellness coach, but you've got lots of other letters behind your name too. So tell us who you are. How do you wanna be known?

Syd 1:16

Amazing. Well,

Who is Syd?

Syd 1:17

last night was such an incredible event and you both put on such a phenomenal event with everybody and getting everyone involved, especially stepping outside of Vet Med. So, I'm a health and wellness coach, so by trade I'm a massage therapist, so I'm working clinically with clients, with the body, with the fascial tissue. Um, and then I also facilitate breathwork and movement. So it's really all encompassing in regards to somebody comes to see me whether they wanna enhance or improve or they've got areas of opportunity with their life, with their mind, body, and soul. Um, that's what I do.

Leilani 1:52

That's great. And so at the event for those of you who weren't there, so

Jillian 1:57

you missed out by the way. You were not there. It was like an experience.

Leilani 2:00

Place to be for sure. So we're at the CVMA

Bringing Actionable Health and Wellness to a Vet Conference

Leilani 2:03

2025 Convention, the theme was health and wellness. Jillian and I always try to make our events and our booth sort of match that. And so,

Jillian 2:10

And an experience we give everyone an experience.

Leilani 2:12

An experience. Yeah. And so we invited Syd out to do some breathwork with our guests at the event, to kick it off and then went and started the party afterwards. But what I loved about it is that you gave these small snippets that you could utilize within five to seven minutes for if I'm having a really stressful day in clinic or at home or wherever I might be, that I could use those tools to regulate myself, bring myself down. Tell us a little bit about what you did and the work you did at our event

Syd 2:39

Yeah, of course. So with the workshop last night, what was really nice about it was that we had, a lot of individuals who had never experienced breathwork or some fascial maneuvers and I love it when we have

More Than Just Breathing

Syd 2:51

a blank slate. So I get a client in or I get a group of people in and they really don't know what to expect. And so yesterday what we did was we worked through some fascial maneuvers, so ways that you can take the body out of stress by just doing simple movements with a breath technique to allow the body to shift state. And I've said this and I said this last night as well too, when you allow yourself to shift your state whether that be once, three times, a few times a day, it gives us that long term fuel so that we can basically minimize the amount of inflammation or stress that we know is the number one contributor to mental health and disease and, it really impacts our life and our mental health. So we walked through some fascial maneuvers, so utilizing breath and tissue. So that we could mobilize and feel a little bit better in our bodies, which decreases our stress. It brings our body from this sympathetic, this charged fight or flight state or when we're that A-type kind of personality we have a lot of decisions to make. We're running a business, families and all of these high stake decisions that we can be just in the fast lane all the time. So having the opportunity to then move from that sympathetic charge to more of a parasympathetic that downregulated, more of that calmer, more relaxed state within the body. You feel a little bit better. And even though we don't necessarily know what's happening, you can feel that in the body. So from there we then shifted into, our breathwork, which is one of the greatest tools, that I've ever experienced in my life. And that's really what got me into this work was it wasn't just

Syd’s Path to Breathwork

Syd 4:25

by me saying, Hey, I wanna be a breathwork facilitator. It was crisis, my own personal crisis of stress. Just completely feeling like all of the parts of my life were falling apart. And then by the grace of the universe, I stumbled upon breathwork. And that's what brought me into this line of work in addition to what I already do as a health and wellness coach, to be able to provide a space and a container for people to feel, I would hope, safe in the capacity to move through their breath. To start to unlock and witness and experience what might be going on in their own nervous system so that we can start to peel back the layers of stress, of suppressed emotion, of just your own expression of self. Because that's what it is. When we're moving through life, from a place of suppression or we're not actually allowed to fully express who we are, from a place of love, and regulation, that's where we start to feel it in our bodies. And so. That's my, like my rant on breathwork there. But

Jillian 5:28

No, I love it. So I slid into your DMs like

Syd 5:31

You sure did.

Jillian 5:31

I don't know how that happened, but it did. So we are

How This Collaboration Began

Jillian 5:34

connected through like one of my best friends, Dr. Robyne. And I messaged Dr. Robyne. I was like, who is the Syd person? And she's like, you need to know her. And I'm like, okay. So you posted this sunrise or sunset photo, which is how I slid in. I'm like, "wow, that's beautiful". And then I posted one from what you did, I posted it and you were like, wow, that's even more beautiful. And I totally creeped your Instagram. I was like, who is this person? And there was a video that you had with your burning sage. And it was from that video I was like, Leilani, we need to do this. This looks so cool. I have no idea what it is. But it looks amazing. And Dr. Robyne said, let's do it. And when I talked to people about breathwork, like yesterday, we asked so many of our guests, what was that experience like? They're like, we talked about it all day, not knowing what this was gonna be. It's like, "oh, I'm just gonna breathe heavy". They reminded me of our CanWest event last year when I did that breathing exercise and I did the screaming Grinch, just to make everyone laugh. They were like, we thought that was gonna happen. And I'm like, "oh." And they're like, "for 45 minutes". I'm like, "oh God". And then they experienced it and so many of them were like, "I was tingling". There was, I saw that super vulnerable moment with somebody with you being like, "I started crying during an intimate part with my partner" and people were feeling things I didn't think they knew they could feel

Leilani 6:57

Well. And that was my first time doing breathwork.

Syd 7:00

Cool.

Leilani 7:00

My perspective I think was a little bit different because, being one of the organizers of the event, I love doing events. It's always so much fun. But there is a degree of stress that I think I compartmentalize because I'm there. I'm on, I want my guests to be having a good time, and that was such a great experience for me to be like. Like just to be able to relax and lay down and focus on my breath, and just like being in the moment, but surrounded with my guests and people I care for. It was so good. And to be able to start the event off on that foot. I'm so grateful for you.

Jillian 7:35

So grateful

Leilani 7:36

For being able to give me that because I just started off feeling like. Wow. We all feel a little bit more regulated. I could feel the vibe in the room and then it was, yeah, it was such a great kickoff

Jillian 7:48

But you, you are a vibe. We hung up with our first call with you and we were like. Syd's a vibe.

Leilani 7:54

Well, 'cause I hadn't creeped your Instagram yet. It's literally

Syd 7:58

It's all Jillian

Jillian 7:58

I am the Instagram stalker.

Leilani 7:59

It was just Jillian being like, we gotta get Syd on. And I trust Jillian so much. I'm like, okay, cool. So we get on the Hot Mess Express got on this call with us, with Syd and I was like, yeah. After the call I was like, Syd's coming up. That's happening.

Syd 8:17

It was so

“It’s Just Breathing”… or Is It?

Syd 8:18

synchronistic in just how. We were brought together. And then to be able to bridge the gap with Vet Med and then we're gonna do breathwork, most people would think Well, why are we doing this? Why is this important?"

Jillian 8:29

Yeah.

Syd 8:29

And just like you were saying, to be able to kick off the event and really feel the shift in the energy. The shift in everybody coming in like, we're buzzing. It's such a great time here. Everyone's connecting and there's so much to do that you can have that moment, especially with travel and when you're still working at a conference, like you get that moment to just pause. And instead of pausing in a meditation, you are doing something that's still active and it's exercising, you know, your lungs, it's exercising the musculature of the diaphragm, and the intercostals, all these like fun.

Leilani 9:08

Oh, you had us all twisted up.

Syd 9:09

Yeah.

Leilani 9:09

Like it was good.

Jillian 9:10

I did try that in the background. I wasn't laying on the floor

Syd 9:14

all of the muscles and the positions that you wouldn't normally put yourself in to get curious. And so I think too, even when we're looking at, veterinarians or, you have those moments in your day where things

Resetting After the Toughest Cases

Syd 9:25

are super stressful. That you can have one tool to take a pause, whether it's the physiological side where you're taking like a double inhale through the nose and then one exhale through the mouth. You can really feel that shift in state.

Jillian 9:37

Well, and one thing I always tell clients, when I'm public speaking is, they have to be able to take a minute, right? Like what the vet community goes through. They could be dealing with parvo puppies, they could be euthanizing someone's family pet that day, and it just hits them a certain way. And I'm like, you need to go buy a coffee. Advisors will totally give people slack for being like, "don't buy $8 coffees". And I'm like, "you have to think about what getting that coffee does for you", right? Like you're leaving that environment. You can put on a favorite song. You can call someone who's gonna tell you they love you. You spend $8 on a coffee that feels like a hug on the inside, and then within 20 minutes you've been able to regulate your brain. What you did last night was here is. Five minutes. Here's how you can just get into a mental state. Regulate yourself through breathing and people were just in a totally different space when they came out of it.

Leilani 10:32

That's what I loved about it is because you gave a tool that people could use in clinical practice. So I work with a lot of on-call veterinarians. And that's one of the, comments I got is I'm gonna do this in the truck when I'm between calving calls." Right?

Syd 10:47

Amazing.

Leilani 10:47

To just take five minutes to do this breathwork. And I was thinking about when I was in clinical practice, so I did emergency and critical care most of my career, and it is like 12 hour shifts back to back, emergency after emergency, nonstop nursing. Me personally, I would, I don't wanna say shut off my emotions, but sort of put them on pause because. My patient needs me in this moment.

Syd 11:07

Of course,

Leilani 11:08

I can't be crying, putting in, a jugular catheter.

Syd 11:11

I hope not.

Jillian 11:12

Could you imagine?

Leilani 11:12

Exactly. Yeah. If my nurse was doing that, I'd be like, "okay, hold up". Let's switch it. Switch it up. Do some breathwork. So what I would do is I would perform my duties I needed to do at work, and I wouldn't realize how much some of those cases impacted me until I was driving home, and tears would just fall from my face on that 15 minute drive home and I was just like, it's all coming. I've got, like, it's just how I would deal with it. But I totally thought about this breathwork during that time that that would've been perfect for me to be able to end my shift, get in my car, take five or 10 minutes to do some breathwork and then drive home.

Implementing a Breathwork Routine in Clinical Practice

Leilani 11:49

So I love that.

Jillian 11:50

And one of the questions that I received last night, I had a table of a couple of peeps sitting there and they were like, how do we implement this? In shift, like how do we actually get 10 minutes of Syd into our daily routine? Whether it's the team arrives to work and everyone takes 10 minutes to do this, or at lunch or after a really bad case. 'cause one case will impact the entire clinic. So how do we do this? Like how do we get Syd involved into vet practices? Because these people need it. Like the community needs people like you that are so full of light and love. Right.

Syd 12:26

Thanks guys.

Jillian 12:26

And I don't know, yesterday was like, I didn't do it. I am way too afraid to get that vulnerable. 'cause I would've been a bloody mess on the floor for sure. And I told Syd, she's gotta break me down before I do it, but like, how do we do this?

Syd 12:39

Well, and that's the thing, right? Like even just the experience last night with the 20 individuals is it was just a taste of what a longer session of breathwork can do for each individual. We can figure something out to get me into the vet clinics and how we can build that out for everybody. But the tools that I would suggest is taking a moment, whether it's a team meeting at the beginning of shift, and just looking at how you can really build a practice for yourself, your own self-care practice, and beginning to witness and understand like when am I feeling a little bit, too stressed or I'm starting to feel that overwhelm because we know when we hit that overwhelm, it's like, "oh"

Jillian 13:24

I feel like

Tools You Can Use Tomorrow

Jillian 13:26

there's so much talk about wellness in vet medicine and taking care of you and be resilient and all of these things. And you can read all the books in the world, but you literally drove people to action.

Syd 13:37

It's the application. Right. And so that's where I would say doing a physiological side. It's a double inhale through the nose. Exhale. You could do that five to 10 times if it's after, a really intense case or again, you're starting to feel that, that tension, that stress starting to come on, the blood pressure's going up. Or you can just take a moment outside and do, even like a grounding breathwork technique where you're taking an inhale for a count of four, you're doing a hold at the top and then you're doing a longer exhale. For about six to eight seconds. So you could do that. Inhale for four, hold for six, exhale for eight. And that's gonna start to stimulate, that vagus nerve and getting the body to start to down regulate when we're feeling a little bit stressed or we're feeling a little, little bit of that overwhelm. So I think again, it's taking your own action to start. Because when we can be aware of how we are feeling, it then allows us to take the right action to then regulate or seek out help. Or talk to a colleague or a friend and be like, "wow, that was challenging."

Jillian 14:42

I'm just gonna call

Syd 14:42

you. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.

Jillian 14:46

We're besties after this

Syd 14:46

Call Me Catty.

Jillian 14:49

Sorry Robyne

Leilani 14:51

The other thing I really loved was, and this will segue

This Is Not Spa Music

Leilani 14:54

into one of our other questions we ask all of our podcast guests, the music that you played. Cool. So it was not the typical music like, this sort of music you hear at a yoga studio or in a massage therapist room. Like you had some Coldplay on there.

Jillian 15:10

it was very unassuming.

Leilani 15:12

Yeah. It was great. But I really liked it. It was, I don't know how to describe it, but it just brought the energy to this certain level where it wasn't I feel like I'm gonna fall asleep. The only way I can describe it's, it almost helped me really zone in and focus on what we were doing. Almost like, when you go, what do you call when you do the cycling space? Spin classes. Spin classes, yes. And you're like,

Jillian 15:32

I love my Peloton.

Syd 15:33

It's the RPMs.

Leilani 15:35

And you're doing, you've got like a good jam on there and it's like, and you can focus on what you're doing. It was the same, obviously not that fast of a tempo when you're doing breathwork, but I love that. So. First of all, how'd you decide on that music? And then we'll have a follow up question after about this.

Jillian 15:52

Yeah, and I have another question. So, yeah,

Syd 15:53

I mean, music is my love language, so music speaks to me like frequency of music speaks to me as well too. So when curating a playlist, it's important that I really feel connected to the music. And also, with the BPMs of the track list, it's really about finding something. For me that A, I like, but also that I feel I can use that rhythm with whatever style of breath I'm doing because then that allows, the participant to still have that engagement of not having to overthink what they're doing. But you begin to embody the breath. And that's what I love to speak on is because we can cerebralize everything.

Turning Down the Mental Chatter

Syd 16:31

Am I doing this right? Am I breathing right? Oh my gosh, I left the stove on, did I turn the stove off? You start thinking about all of the to-do lists and everything while you're trying to breathe and meditate and then you walk away and you're like, well, that wasn't successful.

Leilani 16:41

Right.

Syd 16:42

So for me, the way that I like to facilitate is really encouraging that embodiment of feel into the music, trust my guidance, but then also allow your body to show you what it needs to do whatever pace feels good for you within your capacity. Because everyone's nervous system is sitting at a different capacity in terms of the amount of stress or, excitement that they can, tolerate at that time. So with the music, it's definitely more of a, what do they call that, like lo-fi beats or like a Beats music. And then I use some frequency and hertz in there as well too because different frequencies can help energetically when you're working on the chakras and whatnot to help encourage whatever needs to move through the body.

Leilani 17:24

Well, I almost felt like I was on autopilot

Syd 17:26

Cool.

Leilani 17:26

Like that I didn't have to think about the breath. You were almost like one of those aerobics instructors where you're like, and then we're gonna, you know, but it was calming and on autopilot. Like, I felt like I didn't have to think about it because of the music.

Jillian 17:38

The video that we have of you I shared it on my Facebook or my Facebook. Facebook.

Syd 17:43

Facebook. How old are you?

Jillian 17:44

Instagram. I'm old.

Leilani 17:46

The millennial in you is coming up. Boomer. We've identified the boomer. Yeah. Not boomer.

Jillian 17:51

I'm a Millennial, but uh, with Instagram. I shared it this morning because I thought I didn't wanna mute the sound because the music with you, your timing of the counting, like your mesmerized just in an 18 second clip.

Leilani 18:06

Yeah.

Jillian 18:06

Like it is so powerful what you were doing.

Syd 18:09

Yeah.

Jillian 18:10

And no one would believe it unless you did it.

Syd 18:12

It's funny you say that because most people are like, well, tell me what breathwork

Just Try It

Syd 18:16

is. And it is one of those modalities where I'm like, you just need to experience it. And so I love to encourage people to just get curious because when we get curious, we stop seeking the answers. Because I can't give you the answer as to what breathwork is. I can tell you a little bit about it and maybe what you might experience, but people are like, well, I wanna know what I'm gonna feel. But when you're working with the body, sometimes you can't know. You can't necessarily know. And I think that's where when we can get curious about, questions in life and experiencing different things and maybe tools that might seem a little bit outside of the box, that could be the one ticket that actually allows you to feel more regulated, more relaxed, more calm, more clear, and also more connected. Because when we can come back into feeling more connected to self, everything changes.

Leilani 19:06

Well, and I felt more connected to, because we did it as a group. So I felt connected as a group too. Like it was, it was a vibe. It was great.

Jillian 19:13

I, well, and that's what I think was uncomfortable for me,

Leilani 19:16

Uhhuh, because

Jillian 19:16

I just giggle. Like I go to yoga and I'm like, ha, oh my God, I'm so awkward. I'm awkward in general. But then like Syd asked me, she's like, do you do breathwork? And I'm like, does it look like I do breathwork? I run at a level that is literally the most ridiculous energy ever.

Syd 19:32

I won't be assuming.

Jillian 19:33

No, I know.

Syd 19:34

You never know.

Jillian 19:34

I know. But for me it was, there's all these people here that I know. And they know me at a certain level and as much as they get vulnerable with me, I can't get as vulnerable as I want to get here.

Leilani 19:46

Let's fix that.

Jillian 19:47

I know, I know.

Leilani 19:49

Okay, so back to the music question. So music is your love language, so I'm so excited to hear your answers to these questions.

Jillian 19:56

Uhhuh.

Leilani 19:56

Music is something that connects everybody. Everybody's got, I mean, unless you're a sociopath, everybody likes music, right? Love it. Everybody's got it. There's different genres and that sort of thing, but yeah, red flag. If you ever meet someone who's like, I don't like music.

Jillian 20:08

If you don't like dogs, you don't like music, you're out. Red flags.

Syd 20:12

Or, if I'm a vegan Then I'm also out.

Jillian 20:14

Oh my God, what was that last, I swear to God, I thought you said you were vegan.

Syd 20:19

You looked at me with the chicken and waffles and I was like, oh my gosh, there's chicken and waffles, and you're like, are you vegan? And I'm like. Absolutely not.

Jillian 20:26

I was so confused. I swear. I thought you said you were vegan and then I'm like, do you want my chicken and waffles?

Leilani 20:33

I mean,

Jillian 20:34

oh God.

Leilani 20:34

Even for a vegan chicken and waffles, it's hard to resist

Jillian 20:36

Yeah, right. Like it's all good. There's no judgment here. There's no judgment.

Playlist Picks: Funeral, Walk-in, and Win Songs

Jillian 20:40

Sorry.

Leilani 20:40

Three songs I want you to tell us, that would be on your playlist. So funeral song, your walk-in theme song when you walk into a room. And then your win song. So when you close a great deal, you get great news. You,

Jillian 20:54

when you finally got ahold of me to book your room and flights three days ago before the event, and you were like, fuck yeah, Jillian called me.

Syd 21:02

Oh my gosh. So I think for me, the songs change depending on my mood.

Leilani 21:09

Well, the funeral song, I mean, you're dead. You're dead. This funeral song,

Syd 21:13

I know I'm dead. So really play whatever you like.

Jillian 21:16

I mean, we had Sounds of Silence on here earlier and we're like, oh, it's real dark.

Syd 21:21

Okay. I feel like my entrance song in this era right now and why it's coming to mind and everyone's gonna be like, really, Syd? That's the song that you chose would be I Am Woman. Oh, I woman hear me roar. What that like? What's that I am woman. I am fearless. That's my song. Singing. Sings that one. I don't know. I forget. That's all I can, producer Kaleigh can pull it up. Producer who sings, oh gosh, she's not there. Who sings that song? Anyways, that one's coming into,

Leilani 21:44

we're flying solo.

Jillian 21:45

this is why we're getting away with so much right now. Kaleigh's not here. The handler has left the building

Syd 21:53

right now. I would go with, Viva La Vida for a celebration song. I'm loving the Coldplay. They're back on tour. That's

Leilani 22:00

a controversial one too, after that lawsuit.

Syd 22:02

Yeah, I know, I know, right? Yeah, I know.

Leilani 22:05

I think they won though. We're good.

Syd 22:06

I mean, Coldplay's always gonna have a soft spot in my heart, so we're just gonna, we'll put a blinder on that one. And then, so we had funeral song, and then we have

Leilani 22:15

your walk-in song, and then your win song, like your amp up, my

Syd 22:18

win song.

Jillian 22:20

Ooh. I feel like you're gonna have a real good win song, just your energy, or it'll be an unassuming win song. Yeah.

Leilani 22:28

What are you like in front of the mirror?

Jillian 22:30

Yeah, like when you're rocking out. You're also a CrossFit trainer. Let's talk about that. Like Syd it as a badass. Oh, I know.

Syd 22:38

She's a baddie. So I will say I'm one of those weirdos that loves to listen to country when I work out Country? No, I did not assume

Plot Twist: Country Music

Syd 22:46

that. I seem very unassuming. Yeah. Okay. I love to listen to country and it gets me into a zone

Jillian 22:52

uhhuh of you lost your dog, your truck, your spouse. So, but here's

Syd 22:55

the thing, when I golf and I am in a sad, somber mood, phenomenal game. Wait, you're sad

Leilani 23:02

and somber, golfing?

Syd 23:03

No, listen, because I sometimes feel like I'm more relaxed when I'm tense I grip that golf club like nobody's business.

Leilani 23:10

Oh, okay.

Syd 23:10

And my golf game it just sucks. I just envision, Syd

Jillian 23:14

crying, while trying to hit a golf ball and I'm like, fuck golf. I make it three holes. I'm like, this is so

Syd 23:21

stupid. Okay. My pump up song. Oh yeah, sorry. I gotta give you a pump up song. What's on my playlist right now? Truly, I listen to a lot of acoustic, relaxing, City and Colour vibe. Like I'm into Hazlett right now. Dallas Green. Um, who else am I listening to? He just came out with his new album country guy. Where is it coming up? Oh, Morgan Wallen. Thank you. You're welcome. See pump up song. Like I, I do love some Kendrick Lamar. Okay. Yep. Wow, you got me there. Yep.

Leilani 23:46

Kendrick Lamar. Simple. Let's what the song you were talking

Jillian 23:48

about the other day, Bodak Yellow. Oh yeah.

Leilani 23:50

My pump up song is Bodak Yellow by Cardi B. Okay. I was gonna post something with that

Jillian 23:54

song and I listen to the lyrics. I was like, I better not do that. Oh my, no, that's, oh, my Leilani.

Leilani 23:59

If you haven't heard it, Syd, you should listen to, I will listen to that. Yeah, because I feel like you'll align with the lyrics for that one.

Jillian 24:05

Okay, fantastic. I'm in for it. So I wanna know, I mean, this is so much fun, but I wanna know. What you think people should know. Like we are very much unassuming Canadians about what it is that you did like. Cool. Your content that you posted was so engaging. Like that's what brought me in. And obviously the referral from Dr. Robyne. Thank you. But shout out to Dr. Robyne. Yeah. We love Dr. Robyne. Absolute gem of a human. Everyone needs to follow Syd and follow Dr. Robyne and then us like, Don't Call Me Catty. Yeah, please follow up. But like, what do you want people to know about what it is that you do? And who you are, and I wanna

If This Helps One Person

Jillian 24:37

ask you about your trauma, if you'll actually talk about your trauma,

Syd 24:40

sure. Where do you wanna start? I don't

Jillian 24:42

know, start,

Syd 24:44

do I ask you about your trauma and then you ask me about mine, nuh uh I'll be on the floor crying. What do I want people to know about breathwork? About what I do? Really what I do, in the way that I see it is my purpose is to empower and inspire people. To know that they can really shift and change their life, and they can do it from a calm and embodied state. And that it's, if I can make somebody feel like they're like, you know what, Syd, I'm gonna start a new workout routine because you've inspired me, or, you know, you've really opened my eyes to a different perspective in a different lens of seeing something, about, the way that I think, or the way that I view my body, or the way that I move my body. Or, when I'm working on clients in terms of their tissue work and stretching them and working with fascia is really that, there are so many ways that you can seek everything outside of you to try to, support or guide, your own health and wellness routine. But you have all of the tools within yourself, whether it's doing your own fascial release, your own meditation, your own breathwork, your own movement. And it doesn't have to be of the extreme. And so really my purpose here is to inspire.

Jillian 25:58

You do that the minute you're in a room. Yeah.

Syd 26:00

Thank you. Like

Jillian 26:01

I, I don't even know if I could explain that any better I saw you at the end, like the bottom of the stairs last night, and I was like, the energy or aura, I don't even know

Leilani 26:10

there's like a white light It was just

Jillian 26:12

like, here's our. Savior, you know? Aw, thank you.

Syd 26:16

And it really is, it's just about like, the more I can be in my authenticity, and we spoke about this a little bit last night at the table, was the more I can be in my authenticity and really get clear on what aligns with me, and what doesn't, I just wanna show up as I am. And I'll talk on this a little bit and I know I spoke on this a little bit last night about being gay

Embracing Authenticity and Overcoming Trauma

Syd 26:36

and how there was. 20 years of my life where I let myself be in the shadow and I let myself feel, or I didn't give myself the permission at the time because I was so terrified of being gay, not being accepted, not being seen, not loving myself. That could, we call it trauma? We could, but I can relate to feeling so much self-hate. I can relate to. Suicide ideation. I can relate to mental health. I can relate to not wanting to be here. And I think when we talk about mental health and really getting to the nitty gritty of things in terms of being at your lowest that you can rise above it and you can come out from it. And for me it's about really being in my truth. Especially in this era of my life, because for so long I did not allow myself to be in my truth. And it was debilitating. It was debilitating to feel so shut off from the world, shut off from my, myself, my own heart, and from really just following my passions and what lit me up. And I'll tell you, I'll go vulnerable here. I landed in Victoria yesterday. Got in my car and the last couldn't get ahold

Jillian 27:52

of me.

Syd 27:54

I couldn't get ahold of Jillian, so I didn't know where I was going. So I was like, well, I might as well just stop off here and figure it out. Yeah, exactly. But I started driving and I just took a moment and, I mean, I've been out to Alberta so when I started driving, and I just took a look around at my surroundings and I just started to cry.

Leilani 28:14

This was the other day. This was the other day, okay. I started to cry and

Syd 28:18

it was the most beautiful experience I have with myself because in this phase, in this chapter of my life, the tears are because I feel so blessed to be alive. The tears are because I feel so grateful that I get to experience and witness all of life's beauty, whereas there was such a chapter and many chapters of my life where I didn't see the beauty in life because I felt so suffocated by my own mindset, my own lack of self love, my own challenges, and not having the tools or the support systems to be able, to help me out. Yeah. Well, and you get to

Leilani 28:57

experience it in your truth too. Yes. Yeah. This time around. Yeah. So

Syd 29:01

stepping into that truth era, and breathwork was such a key. Key part of that for me, which is one of the reasons why I just would love for everyone to experience it or to build their own breathwork, practice. Even if it's just doing a physiological sigh. Taking that double inhale and long exhale out at the beginning or the end or the middle of their day, doing a box breath, a four by four inhale breath, hold with an exhale and another breath hold. The tools that you. You have, and they're so readily accessible and that's where breathwork is, is so accessible.

Leilani 29:37

I love that. You know, you talk about being your authentic self. And being your authentic self is why you're sitting in this chair today. Yeah. Is because Jillian saw you post something that was so authentically you. And the next thing you know, you're flying over from Toronto to the other side of the country to sit with the Hot Mess Express. Yes.

Syd 29:57

I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else. I, I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else.

Jillian 30:02

Thank you for sharing your vulnerabilities with us. Thanks Jillian 'cause I think this community needs that. Yeah. Like they need people to be, like, being vulnerable is hard, but it's also okay. And it's also okay not to be okay. Yeah. 'cause you came out of darkness and like, I couldn't imagine where you were and

When We Share, We Connect

Jillian 30:21

if. to be somewhat vulnerable with you in return. I lost my mother to suicide, my brother to suicide, and my dad in a traumatic accident. And like people who can see that, like they who see who you are. Mm-hmm. It makes all the difference in the world.

Leilani 30:37

Yeah.

Jillian 30:37

You know,

Leilani 30:38

I feel. Like we're the opposite, I don't know what the word is, but the opposite of trauma bonded because you brought this like wonderful tool over to us. Like I feel like we're like wellness bonded or I don't even know how to,

Jillian 30:51

how beautiful is that though? Oh my God.

Leilani 30:54

Because you hear that all the time. You know, we're trauma bonded which is okay. We can trauma bond., we totally can, but there's like this whole other word for what Syd has

Syd 31:03

brought to us. I dunno. Syd's magical. I think too, it's like. It's taking, again, a different perspective or a different lens on what vulnerability is. And I mean, maybe we're starting to see this in a lot more of the work and with breathwork or just, talking about, mental health and normalizing it to a sense that it is a conversation and therapy is a positive thing. And that vulnerability is a superpower. Yeah. Because it also allows you to be seen, again, it's knowing when and where. Yeah. But I feel like when you can create that trust and that safety within self, sharing my story, maybe sharing your story, we're able to share our experiences. And then it also, it helps one individual, or it helps, a thousand. But I feel like having vulnerability be seen as more of a superpower instead of a negative. You could, you can only be as strong as your weakest link. Or as the one who might be, not on their A game today. And so if we look at a team and we look at working together as a unit, if somebody's gotta pick up 70% and the other one's got 30, then we just need to know where we're at today. But,

Jillian 32:09

well, and I think that's the thing is like, we didn't know how many people were gonna show up to the breathwork. Right? Because as you say, you put the cool in the woowoo WOO. And then as Dr. Mandrusiak said it, she's like, she was the WOO in woowoo. Right? So shout out to Hayley for that. Um, but Leilani and I just wanted to impact one person. Yeah. And I think in return we, within 10 seconds of meeting you, you were like impacting us. And then the 25 other people that showed up for us and you Right. It

Syd 32:40

was incredible. It was incredible. I'm so grateful for everyone just having such an open mind. So open and getting curious. And it was just, it was just so great because like even the dynamic with the two of you and meeting you Leilani and Jillian, we hit it off from the get go and it was wanting to impact one person. And so I'm like, absolutely, I'm here for this. And then look at what we created and then the ripple effect of what this now is gonna, I

Jillian 33:01

am fangirling. Like it's ridiculous

Syd 33:03

how this is gonna then help other people at the clinic or other, colleagues. That's what's just so beautiful

Jillian 33:08

about, so what would you call your era? 'cause I want you to talk about your era.

The Receiving Era and Villain Era

Syd 33:12

Okay.

Jillian 33:12

What era? What's your era?

Syd 33:14

My era right now? Yeah. What are you

Jillian 33:15

calling it?

Syd 33:19

I would say this era for me right now, I'm in my Receiving Era. I'm allowing myself to receive and I'm allowing myself to flow. I'm not looking to push, but I'm really looking to just be in my truth, and be slow. Like I'm really here to just be slow right now but move with grace. Yeah. That's that Era for me.. Leilani?

Leilani 33:41

So. I say I'm in my Villain Era

Syd 33:43

right now. It's the cat ears I know. And the red hot. Right now it's the red hot.

Leilani 33:51

I say it not as in I'm looking to do anything malicious, but I think one of the things that can happen with me sometimes is that I find it hard for me to say no. And so I really had to sort of embody an alter ego. Which was like my Villain Era where when you think about a villain, 'cause I'm a huge, like nerd about comic books and superheroes, zombies love it. And so I was like, okay. When you think about a story like that, the hero in the story often needs a villain, as part of their character arc in order to be able to push them to limits that their mentors and their friends and their loved ones won't so while your friend, or your mentor might highlight a lack of knowledge in you so they have something to teach you. The villain will often highlight a lack of courage for that hero in the story. And so I was just like, I am in my Villain Era because the other thing about it is I think people, so especially the position I'm in right now with being the CEO of my own business is people often will see just the decisions that you make, but not the choices that you had in front of you. And so you have to be comfortable being the villain in someone's story. And as long as I know that I did everything, according to my morals and ethics, then I'm okay with that. I can sleep at night.

Syd 35:19

Oh, I love that. And I love what you said there too, like people will see the decisions that you make, but not the choices that you had. Like, I want that on a shirt.

Jillian 35:27

Well, we're gonna get, there you go. Cat shirts

Syd 35:30

With the cape and the villain. Yeah. The merch is coming. Yeah. The merch coming. Yeah. Merch is coming. So come support

Jillian 35:36

the

Syd 35:36

podcast.

Jillian 35:37

You go. So we can pay for Syd

Leilani 35:39

because right now

Jillian 35:40

Syd doesn't know she's working for free.

Leilani 35:44

Well, thank you so much

Gratitude and Closing Remarks

Leilani 35:45

for being on the show. I'm so glad we switched it up and had someone outside of Vet Med, on the show, because I think you have so much to give our industry. Thank you for being at the event last night and sharing those tools with our friends and colleagues and yeah, we're just so grateful. We love you to have you here. we love you. Well,

Syd 36:02

The gratitude right back to the two of you. It's been such a great experience and, I'm happy to be out here. It's been, it's been a fun trip so far and, I'm really grateful that I was able to share the experience of breathwork and my energy and just a different perspective with everyone here. So. Thank you both.

Jillian 36:17

Yeah, thank

Syd 36:17

you. And this podcast is fantastic. Like congratulations This is so good. Is like celebrate Yeah. Awesome. Thanks you both. Thank

Jillian 36:27

you.