Master Your Bliss Life

Narrator: 

You’re listening to Master Your Bliss Life. Join Kiera Masters and Lia Bliss as they dive into the magical, mysterious, and mundane elements of life, helping you to master your purpose and find your bliss.

Lia:

We can’t talk about that. We’re talking about…

Kiera:

Cannot talk about that on this podcast.

Lia:

We’re trying to keep it, this podcast…

Kiera:

At least somewhat PG.

Lia:

Like PG-13?

Kiera:

PG-13

Lia:

I think we try to keep it to one F-word per episode? So it’s still technically PG-13.

Kiera:

I think there might be a few more than that in there but it’s fine.

Lia:

It’s fine. We talk about, we, so, we were just joking because Kiera lives in the basement of her friend’s house. In like a basement apartment.

Kiera:

Uh huh.

Lia:

And, every once in a while, because we, I mean this is our job. Our job is to create content. Our job is to engage with people. When we were in Vegas, right, our job was to drink alcohol and impress IT professionals and sales people on the importance of LinkedIn. And  we are so good at it.

Kiera:

We are so good at our job.

Lia:

But yeah, some people might be like, like so my sister just moved in, and that’s been really fun. But every once in a while she’ll be like, “Are you working?” Is this your…

Kiera:

Is this your job?

Lia:

What are you talking about, you get paid for this?

Kiera:

I was just saying that my friends upstairs are probably like, “Uuuuh, I thought she said she was working.” I am.

Lia:

Just down there laughing hysterically. It’s only on the internal meetings.

Kiera:

Yes.

Lia:
Because our company is 80% women.

Kiera:

Yep.

Lia:

And single women. It is, I don’t think we have any married women that work for us.

Kiera:

Nope. We’re all single women.

Lia:

Nope. And only half of us are in relationships.

Kiera:

Yep.

Lia:

So…

Kiera:

So our conversations can get a little…

Lia:

We get a little spicy. We get a little… 

Kiera:

And then we reel it in, right?

Lia:

But we always get work done. We always get the job done.

Kiera:

Yes. We do. We do. We do.

Lia:

We do good work. So, Kiera, what’s, tell me about, thinking of your friend, you and her recently went to a women’s retreat. And let me tell you, as an active women’s retreat, both hosts and attendees, I was obsessed that you were going. Tell me about your experiences. What kind of women’s retreat was this? Tell us everything.

Kiera:

Ok, so, the women that created the – it’s called She Leads – that created this group for us to be a part of. They created it because they were kind of feeling alone. They were kind of, you know, que  stioning a lot of things in their life. They were, they felt like they needed that tribe of women to kind of connect with. And, um.

Lia:

Yeah, I mean, the reason we started this podcast…

Kiera:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So they wanted to…

Lia:

We wanted to bring women together.

Kiera:

Bring women together, connect, and not feel alone. Because a lot of times we’re going through some rough, a rough time in our life. We’re going through these trials, and even though you may have, you know, family and friends around, you still sometimes feel alone or you have these, these triggers from the past that you feel alone in.

Lia:

Yeah.

Kiera:

And so going to this – excuse me – event, what I went for was, of course, to connect great women that are looking to better themselves. Because it’s really important who you surround yourself by. What type of people you surround yourself by, right? If you’re surrounding yourself by people with no passion and no drive to do anything, I mean, it’s more likely that you’re going to also be stuck in this.

Lia:

Amen. Amen. You are the five people you spend the most time with.

Kiera:

Stuck… Yeah.

Lia:

If you’re with people that build you up build each other up, you go farther.

Kiera:

Yes. So, I wanted to connect with more women on that level. I mean, and they had a lot of things planned. You know, they, going into it, we weren’t 100% sure, they didn’t let really  anybody know what they had planned out for the weekend, right? So we get there Friday night and we had kind of an introductory kind of meet and greet everybody. Sit down and have some dinner. And then they had someone come in and do breath work. And…

Lia:

After dinner? That first night?

Kiera:

Yeah.

Lia:

Wow, ok.

Kiera:

Yeah, so, I mean it was probably about two hours after dinner. And they had somebody come in and do breath work, and I had never done it before. I had heard of it, but I had never really looked into it to know really the details of what to expect, or what it does, or anything like that. So, I was going into it blind. So, she comes in to do the breathwork, we do the breathwork, and I will tell you it was the… out of everything we did over the weekend, a lot, there was so many incredible things that we experienced, but this was the one that stuck with me the most. The experience was incredible. I was able to face a lot of past traumas and things through this breath work that I did. I mean it was great. I felt like there needs to be more of these for women across the world.

Lia:

Oh, yeah.

Kiera:

Where they can come together and go through this process together. I mean, I connected with women that I had no idea who they were. Some I knew from social media or from running into each other, mutual friends or whatever. But, the majority of them I didn’t know. I didn’t know at all, and I connected with them, some of them on more of a deeper level than I have connected with some of my friends that I’ve known for years.

Lia:

Yeah.

Kiera:

We opened up to each other. And we ended up doing some meditation, we did a cold plunge in the river up in the mountains.

Lia:

Oo Yes!

Kiera:

It was freezing. But I will say it was really funny because they had it planned to do this cold plunge in this lake up above the house. It was at an AirBNB, right? And, we walk up there. You know, it’s 40 degrees outside.

Lia:

Holy shit.

Kiera:

We’re walking up there with our towels. A group of 21 women, right? We get up there and I see this sign that’s like, “No Swimming, No Wading. No Animals.” No nothing, and I’m like, “Guys, we’re going to get in this?” And they just… and I was like, “Hey, well, wait, wait.” And so I stopped one of the girls in charge and I was like, “It says we can’t.” And she was like, “I’ve gotten in this my whole life.” And I was like, “Well, it says it’s protected drinking water.”

Lia:

Holy shit.

Kiera:

And so she’s like, “Oh.” And so we kind of keep walking and then we get this guy that just kind of yells at us, he’s like, “You guys can’t get in here.” And we’re walking with towels, right?

Lia:

Right. It’s obvious.

Kiera:

Yeah. “You can’t get in here. This is drinking water.” Blah, blah, blah. And, “It’s illegal.” And we were like, Oh. So, we ended up, after wandering around…

Lia:

The poor girls were probably like, “Oh, shit. What do we do now?”

Kiera:

Yeah, everyone’s kind of freaking out. There were some that were like, “Screw it let’s do it.” Like, face fears, right? And I was like, yeah there’s like you know…

Lia:

It’s not really a fear.

Kiera:

Facing fears and then there is like, doing shit that’s going to get you in trouble, but it’s like not worth it.

Lia:

But it’s illegal. Yeah.

Kiera:

Right? So, it’s like we didn’t do it. What we ended up doing is going to find, we kind of traveled around up in the mountains, 40 degree weather, finding this other little river. Stream-ish river? It was a little bit bigger than a stream. But, we found that and we all plunged in this ice, cold water.

Lia:

Oh my gosh.

Kiera:

Um, it was awesome though. Like, I ended up messaging my boyfriend. I’m like, we need to get an ice bath when we get a house.

Lia:

Yes. Oh my gosh.

Kiera:

And do this at least once a week, if not nightly. Like, it was so energizing. It was cold as shit to begin with, but after it you just kind of breathe through it. I mean, I’m glad we did the breath work the night before because it was like 7:00  in the morning.

Lia:

It just gets you ready.

Kiera:

Yeah. It gets you ready. So, as soon as I started breathing through it, it got a little bit better, and it was awesome. And we did some meditation and a couple other group activities, and shared a lot of things. You know, they had us walk around and, they gave us little sticky notes that we would go up to one of the people – we went up to every single woman in the group. And we would look at them and write our first thought about them.

Lia:

Oh!

Kiera:

And we stuck it to them. And so everyone’s walking around with these sticky notes stuck to them. Like, beautiful soul, bright, sunny, independent. Like all of these really nice things that they <inaudible> and then we put them in our journal that they gave us. And we went through an activity where we got to read what everybody said about us.

Lia:

Cute.

Kiera:

Outloud. And it was so much fun. But I would say the best part was doing the breath work. That, I mean, I will tell you, it was pretty draining for the next couple of days. I think it was three days ago? Four days ago? Today is the first day that I feel normal.

Lia:

Feel normal?

Kiera:

Yeah. But I also feel very refreshed at the same time. So, I think if you have a chance to do anything like that, it was incredible. I think it’s so important for you to connect with people on that level and to connect with people that are on the, like, vibrate on the same…

Lia:

Wavelength as you.

Kiera:

Wavelength as you.

Lia:

Yeah.

Kiera:

You know, it’s going to help lift you up in so many ways that…

Lia:

Yeah, what’s that saying? Rising tide carries all boats?

Kiera:

Yes.

Lia:

Like, when you’re around people, like when the vibes are good, everybody benefits. No one is going to be <inaudible>

Kiera:

Yes, and that’s one of the reasons I think you and I get along so well is because we have always pretty much resignated and vibed on the same wavelength.

Lia:

Yes.

Kiera:

You know, we’ve, we maybe one of us is a little, one step ahead, but we’re pretty much there for each other.

Lia:

We’re pulling each other up along the way.

Kiera:

Yeah, pulling each other up. So, I mean, you’re definitely one of those people that I’ve had in my life that…

Lia:

Awwww.

Kiera:

Yeah.

Lia:

Thanks.

Kiera:

When I was at the retreat I was like, “I wish Lia was here.” 

Lia:

Aw. Honestly, so I did my first retreat – and this is in my book and I talk about it at length if I’m allowed to – but, when I had just gone through my really shitty breakup, and I was struggling financially, didn’t know what I was doing, Kiera and I were… you and I were still friends at this point. And I was going to this yoga teacher, and she, what’s interesting is I don’t know at the time, but she was also desperately wanting connection. And so she had kind of this one moment of bravery. Like, don’t be brave all the time, just one minute. She was brave for one minute, and invited 20 women on a yoga retreat. She was going to host her first yoga retreat, and I got picked out. And she was like, “Do you want to come?” And it was like $400, which I definitely could not afford at the time.

Kiera:

Right.

Lia:

That was like make or breaking for a significant amount and I was like, fuck it if I’m going to do it. And all of a sudden I find myself in this car with these women. Two of them are now my best friends. I mean, two of them were going to be bride’s maids. Like, that’s how much you connect with these women on <inaudible>

Kiera:

Yes.

Lia:

And, granted we’ve been friends for years now. But, all of a sudden my like, everybody rose up. And yeah, breath work and kind of just breaking your body down to give your emotions space to get out. We’ve talked on this podcast about how that your emotions are trapped in your body like lactic acid. And things like breath work and journaling and…

Kiera:

Meditation.

Lia:

Yes all those things are ways that you can exercise – both exercise and exorcise – your emotions from your body that aren’t serving you and are getting cluttered. So, I’ve done tons of these. I did a breath work class. The one that I went to, there was like 50 of us, men and women. And it was where you… so to give you an idea, it’s not just like deep breathing. It’s like two sharp breaths in and then you blow it out.

Kiera:

In and then you blow it out. Yeah.

Lia:

So go <breathing demonstration>

Kiera:

Yeah.

Lia:

And you do that for like 30 minutes.

Kiera:

Yep. 30 minutes. And it didn’t even seem like 30 minutes.

Lia:

No. It goes by in a flash.

Kiera:

It seemed like maybe 5? It was the craziest thing.

Lia:

Yeah, and then your body starts doing this thing called tetney, where your body starts to tense up. If I look it up it’s like respiratory alkolosis, AKA lobster claw hands.

Kiera:

Yep my hands did that.

Lia:

Where your hands start to like tense up and turn into these weird, like your body seizes almost. And then, the one that I went to, at the end they went and saged everybody while we were doing it.  And then they kind of like, everyone got quiet. And they had these gongs that had to have been four to five feet across.

Kiera:

Oh wow.

Lia:

Huge suspension-hung gongs. Like three or four of them. And we were in a room that was maybe, I don’t know. Enough room that 50 people could lay down comfortably, but not much more room than that.

Kiera:

Yeah.

Lia:

And then they banged the gongs as loud as they could. It was loud. And it was chaotic loud. And then everyone started screaming. And it was, oh my God it was incredible.

Kiera:

My experience was different than this. 

Lia:

So how did yours end?

Kiera:

So, towards the end she just had us take slower, deeper breaths.

Lia:

Like slower…

Kiera:

And not do the <breathing demonstration> anymore and she would have us hold our breath for as long as we could. And then, and man, I will tell you, I’m pretty sure I held my breath for like five minutes.

Lia:

Yeah. After that…

Kiera:

I don’t even know. I was just like, how am I still alive right now? Like, my thoughts in my head was like, I should be dead.

Lia:

Well, because your blood is so oxygenated. And that’s what you’re doing. You’re like, over oxygenating your blood which causes that euphoric feeling.

Kiera:

Yeah, it’s just this tingly sensation throughout your body. It’s this, I mean my face puckered up and did this like weird, my face was tight. I couldn’t…

Lia:

Your hands get crazy, your face sinches up.

Kiera:

Yeah. It is…

Lia:

I’ve heard that, not, I have not experienced this – I wish – but I’ve heard that people like orgasm during it.

Kiera:

Really?

Lia:

Yeah.

Kiera:

Well that did not happen for me. It could have happened to the women around me.

Lia:

Yeah, like that’s how intense it is.

Kiera:

Yeah, I mean, and everybody had a different experience. I mean, similar things with their hands and the tingliness and everything, but where their mind went, where their subconscious… everything just kind of, it was incredible. She had some really soft, really beautiful flowing music playing in the background. We did not get a gong.

Lia:

Oh my God the gongs, you got to admit, because then you scream.

Kiera:

I bet that would have been pretty cool. She just kind of pulled us out of it slowly and just had us lay there, and we all kind of came out of it at different times.

Lia:

That’s so nice. Did you have a debrief? Like, did you talk about it afterwards?

Kiera:

Um, yeah, we did. We all sat in a circle and kind of, whoever wanted to share could share.

Lia:

That’s nice. Got it. Cuz we didn’t have that at all. It was like gong, scream, and then you could lay there in meditation and then go home.

Kiera:

Oh. Yeah, we…

Lia:

Like, no further conversation. I was like, I need a debrief. Like, this is trippy…

Kiera:

I need to express everything.

Lia:

Yes. You’re like, go journal.

Kiera:

It’s not the same.

Lia:

It’s not the same.

Kiera:

I can’t go tell my friends that aren’t here, they’re going to think I’m crazy.

Lia:

Yes. Yes, they’re going to think I’m crazy.

Kiera:

I remember telling my boyfriend and he was like, “Really?” I’m like, “Yeah it was intense.”

Lia:

It was awesome.

Kiera:

It was awesome. Yeah, they, we had a debriefing. People who wanted to share, shared. And I mean, it got, things got so deep with this and it was…I mean there were things that people shared that, you just go…

Lia:

God damn.

Kiera:

Yeah, “Wow I am yeah, like I thought I had it bad.” Or, you know, or maybe you did. Maybe you were the ones that had it worse. But everybody in one way or another had kind of the same feelings of feeling alone, feeling like they’re not enough, feeling unworthy of love, or you know have these fears of abandonment. Or just so many things where, you come together, this group of 21 women we’re just like, “I get you.”

Lia:

Yes.

Kiera:

I, it just gave me chills saying that. That like, I get you. I feel you. I feel for you, but I am on the same page. Like, there was one woman there that I’ve known her, we’ve known of each other, but have never really had a conversation. And it’s one of those that based on social media and our short run ins with each other. And I think I dated a guy that was friends with her group of friends and I’m sure he talked bad about all the women he dated. Like, you hear these things through the telephone game, right?

Lia:

Right. It’s the hearsay. Yeah.

Kiera:

So you just have this idea in your mind about this person. And I had this idea in my head about her, she had this idea in her head about me. And she was one of the ones I was first paired with. First thing. And…

Lia:

And you’re just like, fuuuu…

Kiera:

Yeah. So we sat down and we started talking. And it wasn’t like, Oh great. But like, it was one of those like…

Lia:

You’re nervous.

Kiera:

I’ve wanted to get to know this person on a deeper level because I know that my thoughts on her are based on assumptions, right? And I wanted to kind of know the truth. And I’ve always kind of been like, I wonder if she’d be a good friend? I wonder if like…

Lia:

Right?

Kiera:

Right. One of those people. But based on everything, all the other interactions, I was just like, Alright. And so, we get together and we had to go over something of like, write down like one of your biggest fears and share it with the other person. The other person has to tell you, like give you advice almost, on like how to face that or how to get past it.

Lia:

Wow. Ok. Vulnerable, immediately.

Kiera:

Yes. So I had two written, I had to write down two and she had two written down, and ours were exactly the same but flip flopped. So as soon as I like said the first one, her face just dropped and she was like, cuz she was like, “Do you want to go first, do you want me to go first?” And I was like, “Um, I’ll just do it.” I could tell she was scared.

Lia:

Yeah.

Kiera:

And so I was like, I’ll just do it. And I was terrified, too. But I did it, and her face just dropped, and she’s like, “Ok. What’s your second one?” And I told her and she just started, like she doesn’t really show a lot of emotion, but you could tell that she wanted, like, she was holding it back. And she was like, “Those are mine, too.” And it was like, how do we give advice to each other on…

Lia:

The same thing.

Kiera:

On the same thing. Right? But, we tried. And it’s so crazy how you can give somebody advice so easily with something that you’re struggling with as well, but not be able to take it from yourself. But I turned around and gave her this advice, and she gave me this advice. So we decided because they were the same that I would give her advice on one, she’d give me advice on the other.

Lia:

Right.

Kiera:

And I said, I was like, “How is it that like, I can dig down deep and find that for you, but when I’m struggling with the same thing I can’t find that for me?” I’m getting emotional right now. Oh my gosh.

Lia:

But it’s so true.

Kiera:
It’s true. And you know, we completely bonded.

Lia:

Good.

Kiera:

The rest of the weekend on that retreat and we have a totally different outlook on each other. And we’re like, let’s get together. I mean, she lives about an hour away, so it’s let’s get together like once a month. Let’s do lunch. Let’s figure something out. And I, it’s just, crazy.

Lia:

Right, because all the… and it’s so true that like, on the one hand…

Kiera:

Really I’m crying.

Lia:

We as women, we really do have to, we bond through storytelling. And that’s a biological hunter/gatherer type shit. But then, yeah there’s so much in there. How does social media, how does preconceived notions, how does everything that we thought we know about someone…

Kiera:

He said, she said.

Lia:

Come out of alignment and how is it that we can help others so much easier? It is so much the encapsulation of womanhood, is all of those things right there. And that’s why it’s a women’s retreat.

Kiera:

Yep.

Lia:

But, yes, everybody go… you can find one in your area. Go on one. If you are in Salt Lake City and you want to attend one, please send us a message on Instagram.

Kiera:

Yeah, reach out.

Lia:

We would love to put together a women’t retreat. Like this summer, let’s go glamping.

Kiera:

Let’s do it.

Lia:

Let’s do shit in the woods. Let’s go do weird shit in the woods together. Bond!

Kiera:

Let’s do it.

Lia:

But if you ever need anything, of course reach out to us. And share this with your friends. And we’ll see you all next time.

Kiera:

Yes.

Narrator: 

You have been listening to Master Your Bliss Life. Make sure to check out the show notes for any relevant links and follow Kiera and Lia on Instagram and LinkedIn.