Turning Your Pain into Purpose with Breast Cancer Thriver & Author, Crissy Florio

Two words forever changed Crissy's life: breast cancer. How would she cope? Could she survive (spoiler alert: Crissy is thriving)? Crissy joins us today to share her new book For the Love of Jugs: A Breastie's Guide and to show us how she turned surviving into thriving.

This conversation is proof that turning pain into purpose is possible. Crissy walks us through:

• The moment she found out she had breast cancer and what she would tell that former version of herself.

• How her breast cancer diagnosis, and eventual healing, led her to earn her 200-hour RYT in Therapeutic Yoga and certifications in Yoga for Cancer Recovery, Lymphatic Support, Myofascial Release (MFR), and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

• How Crissy supports women in their breast cancer journeys through teaching embodied wellness

In this episode, Crissy Florio and Ryann Watkin talk about:

• The profound connection between self-nourishment and healing (and how putting everyone else first can quite literally make you sick!).

• The deep insight from Louise Hay’s “You Can Heal Your Life” on the symbolic meaning of breasts and over-mothering.

• Why the "fight cancer" mentality can actually be self-defeating and how to find peace in your healing journey.

• Helpful things to say (and what to avoid) when a friend or loved one shares a cancer diagnosis.

• How to integrate holistic healing practices—like breathwork, nature, and fascia health—with traditional Western medicine.

• The vital realization: You can't heal a body you hate.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Gratitude

01:15 Transforming Pain into Purpose

05:56 The Journey of Writing a Book

10:32 Exploring the Mind-Body Connection

15:59 Navigating Motherhood and Self-Care

23:25 Overcoming Fear in the Face of Cancer

29:43 Supporting Others with Cancer Diagnoses

33:01 Lessons Learned and Personal Growth

Up Next: Core Confidence with Loni Markman

Resources: For the Love of Jugs: A Breastie's Guide: Creating Grace and Ease Through Your Breast Cancer Journey

Full transcript of this conversation with Ryann Watkin and Crissy Florio:

Crissy 00: 00:00

This is all temporary, right? Everybody can say it. And and it's not like you're just throwing again like that toxic posity, just layering on top of the negativity. No, it's just bringing you into the present moment of what is. What is for me at that time? Okay, I'm sad. I have cancer in my body. I'm frustrated. I want to punch something. But you know what? This feeling isn't gonna last forever. The cancer is gonna be gone soon, and I just have to be here.

Ryann: 00:55

She's also a wife to her high school sweetheart and a mom of two now young adults. She's got a decade of experience and blends vinyasa and therapeutic yoga, specializing in lymphatic and fascia health to support women on their healing journey. And she is an absolute powerhouse in all of these things. I'm so happy to be bringing this conversation to you. We do talk about Chrissy's breast cancer journey. We also talk about mindset and how to heal from trauma and Chrissy's experience with her lifelong things that she brought with her. And it just gets so deep, and I love it. Um, so this conversation is for you. If you know somebody going through a breast cancer journey, I asked Chrissy some good things to say to people when they have a cancer diagnosis because sometimes we're well-meaning, but we say really stupid shit and we just don't know what to say. So then we don't say anything. This is a very real, very heartfelt conversation. We touch on fear, the mind-body connection, and so much more. I hope you guys enjoy this conversation as much as I did. Let's jump in. Chrissy Florio, welcome to the Raising Wild Hearts podcast.

Crissy 00: 02:17

Thank you so, so much. I am I'm always just so beyond like grateful and honored when I get to do these types of things because I feel like there's a there's a sense of trust that you have in me to be able to speak to your audience and your community. So it doesn't go unnoticed. I I actually have the chills right now, you know, kind of thinking about this and a little bit of what we were talking about beforehand too. But it doesn't go unnoticed how grateful I am to be able to not only share my story, but also share some of my wisdom and my knowledge and hopefully be an inspiration to at least one person in your community, if not more.

Ryann 01: 02:58

That's right. A lot more than that. And this conversation, yes, we're gonna talk about breast cancer. You were diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, but also like this conversation at the core, at the heart, is about being human in this messy fucking world we find ourselves in. It's about self-love and about empowerment. So we're gonna go all the places. And the place I want to kick us off, like, tell us how you transformed this story from pain into purpose. Like, look at you. You wrote a book. You're, you know, you started a business. Like, I just can't wait to hear about it. But like a lot of people, you could put your head in the sand and just kind of take it and let it beat you down, but you transformed it to purpose. So take us along that journey.

Crissy 00: 03:43

All right. Well, yeah, being diagnosed in in 2020 was another smack in the face after going through COVID and quarantine life. And I was diagnosed in September. And in Florida, as you know, we were already starting to get back out and live life again and restart after quarantine life. And so when I was diagnosed, because of the uncertainty of times, I felt like I needed to go back into quarantine. I didn't know how my body would react. I went through chemo, I had a double mastectomy. I didn't know how my immune system would react to getting COVID or getting sick. So we quarantined again. And I gotta say, it was a blessing in disguise to go back inwards again, not only in quarantine before, where I took that time to start developing even more of a spiritual practice, but I was able to put some of that and a lot of my other practical tools in my spirituality and what I was just learning. And then obviously my background in yoga, having taught yoga for so many years, when I had to go through my breast cancer journey, I had to go inward. And I had the time to do that. I didn't have all the distractions. The only place I was going to was to my doctor's appointments and to chemo. I didn't have the distractions of normal life going on. So I was able to really, really go inward and start to really understand the importance of healing through this, not around this, healing mind, body, heart, and soul. And understanding that this is happening for me and not to me. And that's a really hard thing to understand. You hear those words, you have cancer, and you're like, what in the actual fuck? I thought I was a healthy person. How did this happen to me? There's no way, right? And and those thoughts definitely went in my mind. I mean, I'm not gonna lie, right? But I was able to just kind of hone it back in and say, okay, Chrissy, let's let's see really what this means and and how we can grow through this and get on the other side of this and not just play the woe is me um type of character in this story of mine. You know, granted, I have always been somewhat of a a positive person. I I've always kind of seen, you know, the the good side of things. But when you're going through that, there's a lot of dark days. And I think it's important to understand that we can have those days. And it's important to also work through those days and not just sugarcoat everything and just put positivity, toxic positivity on top of everything. It's it's you gotta understand that we have to feel all of the feels. So I also allowed myself to do that throughout my whole journey. And and it really wasn't until like a couple years later that I paused and I looked back and I was like, holy shit, I really I would read like journal prompts and or some of my old journal books, and I would look back and wow, I really, from the beginning, was fairly positive. Like, I got this. I'm gonna tackle this head on. And that's when I started to realize more and more that I needed to turn my pain into purpose and really help women who are diagnosed understand that it doesn't have to be a, you know, a prison sentence, understand that they can still create a life of peace, of joy, of ease in their diagnosis. And and again, but also understanding that they're gonna have hard days, they're gonna have good days, they're gonna have rough days, they're gonna have, you know, the in-between, but that it's super important to feel all of it. And I just, yeah, I think that's kind of where I was just like, I gotta do something. And as teaching yoga, um, I thought I was gonna kind of go down that route. So I got different certifications, like yoga for cancer recovery and yoga for the lymphatic system, understanding our physical vessel a little bit more about the fascia, even traditional Chinese medicine, all with a yoga like foundation. But I realized more and more that I gotta, I have to create something that I don't have to be in front of the person. And that's where I realized a book is really necessary. So yeah, so I started writing the book for The Love of Jugs, A Bresties Guide. Love it. Every time I say it out loud, I actually giggle. Yeah, because it's just funny. But you know, it just brings us a sense of lightness to what could be a very dark time. So, you know, she's been out now for almost six months, and um, I've been getting just some beautiful reviews and and even from people who have never experienced cancer, have read it and feel that it is very helpful for them in whatever trauma or life situation that they go through as well. So that's really nice to kind of hear from from different people with uh those beautiful reviews.

Ryann 01: 08:32

Yeah. Did you think while you were writing your book that this was kind of like a love letter or a warm hug to yourself on that day when you got that diagnosis? Exactly. Again, chills again. Yeah.

Crissy 00: 08:47

Yes, yeah. You know, I wanted it to be the girlfriend's guide, the what to expect when you're expecting type of book, but in the breast cancer world. Because the moment you hear those words, you almost feel like the Charlie Brown, like, wah, wah, wah, wah. I mean, you you completely disconnect. You don't know which way is what. You, it's just, it's a lot, right? And you are getting thrown into this new world that number one, nobody ever wants to be in, but there's new lingo, right? You got to learn all the language of cancer, what type of cancer you have, what's your protocol is gonna be. Then you start doing research. Is this right for me? And obviously telling everybody and being that emotional standpoint of it. So the book really is for those women. The most because again, people ask me all the time, Chrissy, what my sister was diagnosed, my mom was diagnosed, my best friend was diagnosed, what can I get them? The book is what you get them. The book is, you know, gonna be kind of like their Bible, their journal, their guide to keep with them throughout their whole journey. Because not only is there the practical tools in it, right? But it there's a lot more of helping people to realize that there's more to healing than just the, I'm just healing my breast, I'm just healing where the cancer is. You have to heal mind, body, heart, and soul. So introducing to some people that don't even understand really what holistic healing is or an integrative approach to your healing, but how can you incorporate, yes, the the physical of the Western world to get the cancer out, but how do you also incorporate some of those ancient old wisdom, you know, and energetic type of healing practices from the Eastern world? And so, I mean, that's really what I did. I incorporated both into my practice and I felt like it gave me something to do on my own to help myself support myself and not need my doctors. And granted, I did need my daughter, doctors. I went through chemo, I had the mastectomy. So I needed them to help me get the cancer out, but I was also supporting myself mentally and emotionally and energetically as well, so that I could heal on those levels too. So I incorporate that into the book, as well as recorded meditations and a beautiful guide that they can get sent to them, as well as the book, that is just one more level, one more interactive level to the book. And we talk about all things in this book. We talk about nipples and sex and, you know, just like body image and things that people don't realize that we experience when you're going through like all of these changes that are going on in your body. And you just they don't talk about it really in the doctor's offices. And so, unless you have somebody that's been through it or who's really, really open, if you have a doctor that, you know, is a little bit more forward-thinking and talks about these types of things, then it's it's beautiful. But I didn't know some of these things. And so again, I just wanted to gift that to my pink sisters that come after me, of just giving them that sense of like, oh gosh, thank goodness I'm not the only one experiencing this type of thing..

Crissy 00: 12:00

Or if they do start to feel like, you know, sex hurts or it doesn't feel good down there, or, you know, like just moving your body and stuff, just the achy joints and everything, just knowing that it's normal, somewhat normal, or that you're not alone is is comforting.

Ryann 01: 12:17

Right. I love that you incorporated kind of the mind, body, body, mind connection in this book. I think that's amazing. Do you? I'm so curious because I was like kind of thinking about our interview. I was thinking about what we were going to talk about, and I was like, I wonder what Louise Hay has to say about like the manifestation of breast issues and what it represents. And symbolically, have you ever looked up in Louise Hay, You Can Heal Your Life? What it like the symbolism, I guess, of the breasts and breast cancer.

Crissy 00: 12:47

I have not, but that's beautiful, and I'm going to.

Ryann 01: 12:50

Yeah. Well, I'm going to tell you. I'm going to tell you right now, because I did. I have the book here. I was like, I gotta bring this up because I think it's really interesting, and maybe we can like dissect this because I'm curious your thought on this. So it says, she says, breasts represent mothering and nourishment, of course, right? And breast problems represent a refusal to nourish the self, putting everyone else first, over-mothering, over-protection, and overbearing attitudes. Like, how does that all land for you? And then we're gonna unpack it even more. Nipples are tingling here a little bit. I'm feeling it. Like, I feel that.

Ryann 00: 13:29

I do, I do. Yeah. I I love all of that and I can see all of that, right? Um, before I dive into that, you know, we have the left side of our body is the the female side, the mother side. The right side of our body is the masculine, the father figure, the male. And my breast cancer was on my right side. So I'm on the masculine side. And it's interesting that a couple of things. My upbringing was an interesting household. My father was died, uh, was, um, excuse me, was paralyzed when I was five years old. And I know that going through that at such a young age and watching my father go from somebody who was super um physical and an athlete and very much a man to somebody needing help a lot was a really interesting thing to witness and to watch. It wasn't a very easy childhood. And I love my father, but he's was is is, he's still alive, is somewhat of a difficult man to speak to and stuff like that. So when I got diagnosed and I realized it was on my right side, I'm like, well, isn't that interesting? Right. And when we when we talk about the breast in general, regardless if it's masculine or feminine, you know, that this is this is the way that we feed and nourish life. And I just think that when we become mothers, and it could be a mother of an animal too. No, you know, not everybody is, you know, can have children or choose to have children or whatever, right? But we tend to sometimes, and I think this is generations past, we do put everybody in ahead of us, right? We're the we're the doers, we're the givers. We're like, okay, what do you need? What do you need, right? And we just go, go, go, and we don't stop and pause to provide ourselves with the self-love. And it's beautiful conversations like this that is that invitation to anybody who's listening to this podcast, that it's not selfish to create a practice, a routine, a ritual of self-love daily. Daily. That could be five minutes tuning everybody out and going in your room and doing a meditation. It could go be going to workout classes or yoga or going out for a walk. It could mean getting on a phone with your best friend or making time to go hang out with your best friend. What are things that can nourish you, right? Because when we are little, we are being nourished from our parents, Hopi. And then when we have children, we nourish, but then it's like we forget to fill our cups once again. And that's really, really, really important to do. So that's everybody's reminder and permission. Like you don't need the permission, but we feel like we do sometimes, is to really allow yourself this time to love yourself, to nourish yourself, to fill your cup, to carve out time and space and not view it as selfishness, view it as self-love. We have one life to live. We have one vessel that we live in. And so showing up every day to just move our bodies or just to simply breathe or be is a form of self-love and so, so important. And then the other thing, too, for myself about the masculine and the feminine, it's interesting. I've, I've, I wouldn't call myself like a real girly girl, but I'm definitely more feminine than I am masculine for sure. We need a little bit of both in us in order to create. And I found that I was leaning way more into my feminine side, which I love. You know, we're girls, we're ladies. I love the feminine side. But I realized more and more like I also have to attune into the masculine side to do, to also be that part in creating, right? Because if you think about babies can't happen without at least a male and a female, it doesn't have to be together. It could be sperm and right there, but we can't do it without some form of fat um feminine and masculine. And we need to take that also into what we create in life. We need to tune into a little bit of that masculinity in us to kind of really bring that home to put it into action, but with the loving and the creativity and the expression of the female to like make it happen. So I really had to tune into that to actually create the book too, which was really fascinating for me to understand and to just have that moment of like, oh shit, okay, I see where you're going with that. So it was really just kind of nice, very cool.

Ryann 01: 18:04

So did the book like fall out of you, or did you have to like tape yourself to your chair or somewhere in between?

Crissy 00: 18:10

Somewhere in between. In the beginning, it was, it was, it was, it was bumpy, right? It was like, okay, where do I want to go with this? My brain can focus and create so many different things, but then it wasn't like making sense. And I would catch myself, fear would be coming in. And it would be like, hey, why don't you go schedule an appointment with somebody, go to lunch? Why don't you get up and go into the pantry? Yeah. And go into the pantry and go grab a snack, even though you're not hungry. Why don't you say, you know what? Oh, you know, you definitely need more coffee when you clearly don't, right? The fear and the ego and just that procrastination was big. It was huge. And just doing the type of mindset work and growth work and just being real and honest with myself, I saw that. I understood that. So it was taking me a lot longer in the beginning because of that. And then towards the end, I just was like, I'm doing a disservice to all of these women who are being diagnosed daily. It is one in eight women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime, right? One in eight. So I'm doing a huge disservice by not having this book out in the world. And I think that was like the fire. And then also be having that realization of the masculine and the feminine that actually really, really helped me. And I would do a lot of meditations where I would meditate around my heart space and I would see my heart almost like it was a throne. But it wasn't just a queen's throne or a king's throne. It was both of them sitting there. And it was like I saw them coming together and being in unison and working together to help me get this book out into the world. And it was really then that I then also put a timeline on myself. And I was starting to feel energetically, she has got to be out in the world. I just, I gotta get her done. I gotta get her done. And I kept just saying that over and over in my mind. And I just put the pedal to the metal and I just, I, I got it out. And you know what? She's probably not perfect as nothing is in life, right? And so I had to be one with the, it's never gonna be perfect. Just get her out into the world, be with what is. And then I I found my publishing team and um worked with them to finalize everything, and and here she is, six months ago. I love that.

Ryann 01: 20:38

I love that. So I want to talk about this like overmothering piece versus self-care. And I don't think we have to like pit these two against each other, right? I do believe because I'm practicing daily, like that I can be a mom of three and still care for myself. And sometimes for me, it sneaks up in these very sneaky ways. So, like today, 20 minutes before this podcast interview, wouldn't you know? I got a call from my son's teacher. You know, he's just feeling a little off. He's feeling a little stuffy. I really think the best thing for him would be to come home. And I'm like, yeah, that's great. And I totally get that. And I just I love how committed you are to my son's needs and how in tune you are to him. And mama's got shit to do. So I'm gonna um call you later. I'll let you know when I can get there. And in that moment, I actually hung up the phone and I had a good cry because I, you know, like feel that pull, right? We can feel this pull in sneaky ways of like, drop everything, gotta go get him, got, gotta put my thing on hold. And it's like, no, I I think it's a good practice to really be aware. Is this one of those times? Cause okay, there's gonna be that time, right? Right. But of course. Today wasn't, right? So, how in your experience, you have two grown-ish kids, right? Did you and do you continue to with adult kids balance that like overmothering versus like really holding your line and your boundary of yourself? Yeah.

Crissy 00: 22:07

Or for yourself. Yeah. And for yourself, right, exactly. Because, you know, the truth of the matter is we're, you know, we're different people. We wear different hats, right? We're self first, then we are mother or wife or friend or sister or daughter or whatever. But we have to make sure that we are whole and centered and aligned and filled first. But when people need us, right? It is that very much pull. And it's interesting that you're saying this now because my children right now are 20 and 23. So yeah, they are now adults. But my daughter just had her all four of her wisdom teeth pulled last week. And so her being home and I felt like it brought me back to when she was little and she needed me, right? They don't need you as much. They still need you, but they don't need you as much as they get older. I don't need to, I'm not gonna work, I'm not gonna do anything, I'm just gonna be here for them. But then I realized like that's off balance. And I think that, you know, obviously in life, I'm a Libra, as we talked about this. I'm a Libra. So I really hone in on the scales and balancing of things, but not everybody is like that. And not every moment in our life is gonna be fully balanced. Like I fully understand that. Hot, like myself wasn't feeling right with that. So I was like, you're gonna be fine for a little while. I'm gonna go for a walk, or I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna make you soup, but I'm going to, you know, or or giving yourself grace and saying, I'm gonna give you my all right now because you need it and I appreciate you and I want to get you up and running. So I'm just gonna put certain things on the back burner for right now. So I don't feel pulled to also do this, right? So it's almost like setting the expectations within yourself to say, I'm gonna focus on this right now because this is this is present and this is what's needed. And those all of those other things, you know what, they're not my priority right now. So I think that's also something that we can create within ourselves, is not the need to do everything on the to-do list right away and it has to be done, right? Certain things can be pushed off to the next day and what have you. So that's super important. But for you in your case, where your child calls, the teacher calls, and and they need you. I think some of these things also are really good learning lessons for our kids to experience when they're little. Not every time that I have a little sniffle or I'm like, you know, almost and you're giving them like the power to like kind of push through a little bit. And I don't want to say push through in a very like, no, suck it up buttercup type of well, the gift of trusting someone else too.

Speaker 01: 24:49

Yeah. The gift of trusting that he's in good care.

Speaker 00: 24:53

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And also that like relax a little.

Ryann 01: 24:56

Yeah. Well, and he's a boy. I think I can like let him push through a little bit more than my girls, like, you know, parenting them differently. Like I want my girls to be understand that they're cyclical and that they, you know, they have that kind of rhythm. But him, I'm like, okay, like take a hammer and go beat some shit out back. Yeah, yeah. It's like a kind of a different, you have a boy and a girl, right? I do. I do. Parent them definitely differently for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So interesting. Okay. So I want to circle back around to fear. We dipped our toe into like the fear that came up when you started to write your book and when you continued to stay the course. What was that fear voice like for you in the beginning of your breast cancer journey? And how did you ultimately, I'm assuming that you did, because I know you and I know your story. I'm assuming that you did shift it from fear to love. And how was that journey for you? Did you have to embrace the fear? Did you have to say, like, fuck the fear? Did you like what did you do?

Crissy 00: 25:55

Yeah, definitely in the beginning of my journey, everything was fuck cancer. Everything. I had that mentality of like, fuck that, this, this, you know. And it wasn't what's interesting is from a fear-based standpoint, maybe, maybe the universe knew I was gonna be okay. I never had the moment of like death, the fear of death. I didn't go down that path. And I know I've spoken to so many people who have been diagnosed with cancer since me, since my diagnosis. And there's some people that definitely are fearful of dying. They're fearful that cancer is going to take them. It's interesting, I never had that moment. For me, the fear was how is my body going to react to a chemo? How is my body going to act react to putting implants in? These implants that I never wanted. And yes, I had the decision if I wanted them or not, but I had a double mastectomy. I have zero breast tissue. I would look like a 12-year-old concaved boy if I did not have implants and I didn't go big or anything, but that that fear of how is my body going to change? How is my body going to adapt? And leaning into my yoga practices and tools and spirituality, I had to visualize my body healing, my body gonna be okay. I I had to lose the attachment that my body is never gonna be the same, ever. Not even just my breast, but my body. I mean, what I what you go through when you're going through chemotherapy is or radiation or the the surgeries, your body changes and adapts. You have to lose the attachment to the number one, to the outcome, just be in the present moment. And I think that was one thing. The moment I felt fear creeping in or sadness, because there was a lot of times where I would just get sad. I couldn't just go out to happy hour or hang out with my friends or go for walks with people. I mean, my best friend literally would have a take a COVID test every time she came up here to come lay in bed with me on, you know, a day or two after chemo. She would literally take a COVID test, come up here and stay with me for a day or night, help me with my daughter, give my husband a little bit of break, you know. So that was really the only interaction that I had outside of my husband and my daughter. My son was already off to college. So there was a lot of sadness. So when those feelings of fear, of sadness, of anger, of frustration, of confusion would come up. I, number one, always had a mantra in my head of this is all temporary. Be here, Chrissy. This is not gonna be forever, right? One day at a time, one foot in front of the other. And that goes for anything in life. You're having a tough day with your children. Okay, this is one day at a time, this is all temporary, right? Everybody can say it. And and it's not like you're just throwing, again, like that toxic posity, just layering on top of the negativity. No, it's just bringing you into the present moment of what is what is for me at that time. Okay, I'm sad. I have cancer in my body, I'm frustrated, I want to punch something, but you know what? This feeling isn't gonna last forever. The cancer is gonna be gone soon. And I just have to be here, be with the emotion, feel the emotion, release the emotion, right? And not just layer it on with that positivity. And because it just subsides and it pushes in and it stays in our connective tissue, right? There's a there's a statement or a quote the issues are in the tissues. I learned that when I did my teacher training back in 2012. And it's so true. We hold on to these emotions in our the cells and the tissue in the connective fat um, connective tissue of our fascia. And If we don't release it and move and just breathe and learn to love our body and just let things go, we hold on. And then that's when they can ultimately turn into dis-ease in the body. So I just knew that fear does not serve me, anger does not serve me, but they're gonna come up every now and then. And we have to just be one with it more. Be okay with it. It's gonna come up. It's gonna shock the shit of you sometimes too, you know, on days that you least expect it. But just notice it, be aware of it, and then see what you need in that moment. Because we always do need different things. And if we're aware of like, I see that fear creeping up, I can see how that's showing up. And now I'm acting in a certain way, or my thoughts are coming more negative, or my actions, my words, or you know, or I'm lacking in doing anything, right? I'm pausing, I'm fawning, right? Or freezing even. Then you can understand, like, if you have all of these different tools in your toolbox, then you can start to see, like, okay, well, what do I need right now to be with this and then to move through this? Whether it's breath work, getting out in nature, just go standing out in the sun for a few moments, journaling, tapping, shaking, right? There's so many beautiful practices that we can call into to help us through that moment and to kind of just release and uh feel at more at ease and calm in our bodies and regulate the nervous system.

Ryann 01: 31:30

Yeah. I think a lot of us have trouble witnessing someone in a challenge. So, like if we hear that someone has a cancer diagnosis, we say the stupidest, most like awkward shit. And I'm sure you heard a lot of that. So, what's one or two helpful things that we could say to someone who recently received a diagnosis?

Crissy 00: 31:55

Yeah. Um, you know, I'm I'm a little different because I don't get easily offended. And I think it just depends on the person, right? Because like some people can, well, first of all, don't ever say I'm like, oh, my, my, you know, mother-in-law died of that, or don't ever bring up death or, you know, or like the negative side of things. I would say try to be uplifting, supportive. You know, some people don't love the you got this, but like that's supportive to me, right? You know, I I just try, I don't know. Again, I'm not very, I don't get my feelings hurt too often. And people say things are, you know, one thing that people would say to me all the time is like, maybe they hurt themselves or they got a stomachache or something like that, like, oh my God, but it's never, it's not as bad as you, Chrissy. And I always stop and pause and I say, but you know what? Your experience is just different than my experience. Yeah, okay, yes, it might not be cancer, but you had an injury. So who's to say that that's not worse or better or whatever? Like, who's to say that? So just to, you know, kind of be open-minded and put yourself in their shoes a little bit and just imagine, really think about what it is that you're saying. And just be as positive as you can, but not like overly. Just, you know, always support. Ask what do you need? And I'm trying to think of like what I don't remember really any. The only thing that I would say that really, I think bothered me the most was just getting a text, how are you? from people that are really, really super close to me, but I haven't talked to in weeks. Making the people not feel like you're just checking in so that you like just to get your update and you know what's in the know. But then also like just give a little bit more, like thinking about you, sending you love to where it doesn't feel so like, how are you? Bitch, you don't get to know how I am if that's if you haven't reached out to me in in weeks. And you really don't want to know, like, I've been running to the bathroom or I can't eat, I'm so nauseous. I feel like I'm gonna pass out every time I stand up, right? Like, that's not things that I'm gonna text over the phone, like especially if you haven't reached out to me in a while. So just again, being mindful in your approach into the reaching out is make it soft, make it meaningful, make it like you have their best interest in mind. And it's not like you just are texting so that you know. So that you feel like if somebody asks that they know what they're talking about, right?

Speaker 01: 34:41

Yeah.

Speaker 00: 34:41

Just be more aware and supportive about that.

Ryann 01: 34:45

Yeah. So you seem like a very wise and grounded person, Chrissy. I'm assuming part of that is like yoga. I don't know if you like came out of the womb like a little monk or whatever, but maybe, maybe you did. Um, but I'm so curious now because I, from where I'm standing and kind of sitting, I'm looking at you and I feel as though I'm sensing as though you've gained even more wisdom walking this path. You have really needed to walk through the fire, so to speak. And so what would yourself today say to the former version of you? Something maybe that you didn't think of. I know you were always so positive. You were so like really internally motivated to like get this and get over this. But like, what would you say to yourself today?

Crissy 00: 35:34

I've really witnessed a lot of trauma in life from my dad, you know, um, his injury when I was young and seeing him overcome it. That, yeah, no, I don't believe I came out of the womb like a little monk, but I came out of the womb, you know, I was the baby. I was not necessarily a planned pregnancy. So that kind of also I think is a little traumatic, even though I didn't really realize that until years later, really until 2020, before I was diagnosed, I started to realize, like, hey, you're not a mistake. You're not an oops baby, right? But so all of these little traumas that we experience in life give us the opportunity for a little bit more growth and a little bit more wisdom and a little bit more of like we see other people, like with my father seeing how he overcame what he overcame. So when I got to my big trauma, I was like, I can do this, I can do hard things, right? So I kind of went down that route. But seeing myself now, and if I were to say to Chrissy, 42-year-old Chrissy, who is just diagnosed, who went into, no, I got this, I'm gonna do this, fuck cancer, right? I would say, I did this, but I didn't know I was doing this. Change your language, be it more calm, be more at one with the cancer, and realize that you're not fighting yourself. You, because the cancer, it's still your cells. It's your body, right? Yes, we want them to go because they've gone rogue and they're not necessarily good. So we want those to go, but we don't want to attack ourselves. We don't want to fight ourselves. So I had the pleasure of working with a pranic energy healer who you know, Faral. And you know, she did a beautiful protocol on me and she changed my way of thinking about the chemotherapy at that moment of just like, please go where you're needed and leave the rest of my body unharmed. Right.

Speaker 01: 37:32

Yeah.

Crissy 00: 37:33

And I think it was that moment that I started to realize like, I've got to kind of be one with this. But I was still saying, fuck cancer, I'm a warrior, right? So I think that kind of for the people who are just getting just, you know, diagnoses try not to use that language. So that is very hard, negative fighting language. Just starting to immediately create the sense of peace in your journey and in your healing and understand this is one thing, like, yes, teaching yoga for as long as I did, I understand the power of the body and I understand the power of the mind. And I always talked about the mind-body connection, but it really wasn't until like I was in it, and then even more after doing some of these additional certifications of how important the body-to-mind connection is, how we need to be more in our body and in the experience of the senses of our body, and then how that directs up to the mind. I also have a lot of herniations in my low back and bulging discs and all of this stuff. And when it flares up, I mean, it is really super painful. And the more think about this, like when you have any type of pain, the more you think about it, the worse it gets, the more, you know, throbby it gets and intense it gets, right? But when you are more in your body and you try to not think about like that pain, the pain is the brain signaling down to those nerves to throb. And there was a beautiful book that I read, Heal Your Back Pain, that he actually, this gentleman, this doctor, Dr. John Sarno, way back in the 80s and 90s, was realizing that it's more of like the body to the brain. Let's change that direction of the communication. Um, to, you know, when you have a pain, to redirect it with a certain affirmation, to recognize that that is fear, and that is the fear signals from the brain trying to keep your body safe and your nervous system safe to keep you where you are. So it's really an interesting, fascinating book. So the more things that I learn about that, and like with the fascia, our communication system of our bodies, we can change the communication signals and we can move from body to mind to create more of that ease. And I feel like I wish I would have known then the power. I knew somewhat of the importance of it, but really that direction of body to mind and the power that our bodies have to heal. And we don't give our bodies enough credit in healing. We tend to look outside of ourselves. We run to doctors, we run to medication. And granted, I did, but I also incorporated an integrative approach to it as well with that holistic healing. But I think that more and more, especially Americans, need to understand how powerful our bodies are when we nourish it, when we feed it properly, when we limit external toxins and environmental toxins, and when we quiet our mind and when we can go inward, we can create a healing vibration in our bodies. And, you know, I could talk about this all day long, but you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of self-image, body image issues in a lot of us, right? We put ourselves down, we have that inner critic in our mind. And that is really defeating to ourselves. And one of my good friends, who's also a breast cancer thriver, has said to me, you can't heal a body you hate. And that was like, holy shit, you can't heal a body you hate, right? And think about all of these beautiful humans walking around with the idea that we have to be perfect and we have to put Botox in our faces and all the fillers and, you know, show up to these extra class exercise classes every single day and put on the perfect clothes and be perfect. But that's not what it's about. It's about finding that self-love and going inwards and meeting yourself with compassion and appreciating your imperfections as much as what you think the perfection should be and understanding there's no such thing as perfection, right? So learning to love yourself with how you are, who you are. And yeah, we want to make, we want to show up for ourselves, we want to be better than we were yesterday and we want to do things for ourselves, but we can't have that negative tone, right? Because then our bodies can't heal. So we have to create this inner and outer environment of love and compassion and peace and and strength and power to help our bodies heal.

Ryann 01: 42:18

That's right. The mantra I've been ending my meditation with the past like month or so is peace begins with me. And sometimes when I say it, it's like, really though, shit. No, not today though. But but it is. It's, you know, peace begins with me. That inner, you know, that inner love, that inner peace, and it exudes out. So I love that. You are a gift. Thank you so much. Where do we find you and follow you? Where do we get your book? Tell the people where they can get all your stuff.

Crissy 00: 42:48

Yeah. So the book is on Amazon and on my website. Again, it's called For the Love of Jugs, a Bresties Guide. Again, I giggle every time. And you can also get it on my website. So you can go to forthelovofjugs.com and there you'll be led to the beautiful landing page with all of the stuff about the book. You can also download the Bresties Meditation Guide there, which is the has the recorded meditations and a lot based around the book, a lot of journal prompts and things like that. And the book has even more journal prompts and interactive components to it as well. And then you can learn other ways to work with me, getting ready actually in October of 2025 to do a four-week program called Rhythm. And it's helping breast cancer thrivers kind of get into this rhythm of routine and healing mind, body, heart, and soul. So it is kind of based around some of the features of the book as well. But if you all want to just follow me on social media, Instagram probably is the best. It's Flo. I'm sure you'll put this in the um things, but it's Flow F L O underscore with Chrissy Florio. I would love to keep in touch with you and all of your community. And this was just so much fun. Again, thank you from the bottom of my heart for trusting in me and having this beautiful conversation. This was wonderful.

Ryann 01: 44:04

Oh my gosh, absolutely. Okay, now we're gonna wrap up and I'm gonna ask you the three questions I ask everybody at the end of the interview. They're kind of like rapid fire. The first one is what's bringing you joy today?

Crissy 00: 44:15

This conversation. Honestly, I love deep, really real, authentic conversation. So this is bringing me joy. And I taught an awesome class today earlier, too. So that made makes me very happy as well.

Ryann 01: 44:28

Amazing. The next question I have for you is what are you reading right now, if anything?

Crissy 00: 44:34

I am reading. I am reading. I actually have the book right here, Be Seen by Jen Gottlieb. Cool.

Ryann 01: 44:42

I love the work. Okay. Very cool. Yeah. Awesome. And then the last question I have for you, Chrissy, is who or what has taught you the most?

Crissy 00: 44:50

I, based especially on this conversation, my breast, my breasts, the cancer, learning that we really can do hard things, it has brought me to a completely different relationship with my body, with my mind, with my energy, with this life we get to live. I view life way differently. I easily could go outside and just look at the preserve behind me and just lose myself in the moment. And I really didn't do that before. I was a go-go-go type of person. And now my breast and my cancer diagnosis has created true presence and this true concept of being, of really being, living through life, slowing down.

Ryann 01: 45:40

Thank you so much again for being here.

Crissy 00: 45:42

I love you, girl. Thank you so much.