Summary
In this episode, Victoria L interviews Kyla Gagnon, founder of Sacred Essentials, about her journey from the fitness industry to embracing the importance of embodying emotions. Kyla shares how she discovered the disconnection she had to her voice and the profound experience she had during a breathwork session. She emphasizes the importance of getting to the root of the stories we carry and reclaiming our power. Kyla also discusses her podcast, Reclaimed, and her online community, The Essentials. She invites listeners to trust themselves and follow the first nudge that excites and lights them up.
Takeaways
Embodying emotions and reclaiming our power is essential for personal growth and self-discovery.
Getting to the root of the stories we carry and challenging their validity is crucial for personal transformation.
Finding a community of like-minded individuals can provide support and inspiration on the journey of self-discovery.
Trusting ourselves and following the first nudge that excites and lights us up can lead to profound personal growth.
Listen HERE
Read the Episode HERE
Victoria L (00:01.728)
All right. Hello everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Victoria L. Women's Holistic Health Strategies. I am your host Victoria. And today I am really excited to be able to bring you this amazing guest. She is the founder of the Sacred Essentials and I've been following her through for a long time, actually, I think all the way back to doTERRA days and all that kind of great stuff.
Kyla is here and I want you guys to get to know her and if you're not following her already on social media you really should you really should be there for those that don't know her. She's an amazing woman who offers both one-to-one coaching and group sessions through her sacred essentials community. She empowers women through practices such as somatics, breath work, embodiment.
and I'm just really excited to have you here today. So welcome to the show. And I'm very, very grateful that you would join us today. So if you could just take a second, introduce yourself. I would love that.
kyla gagnon (01:08.402)
Yeah, thank you so much. Well, you did a really great job. Thank you for all of that. Yeah, my name is Kyla. And, and yes, I work in the realms of somatic work and embodiment work and supporting women. And I mean, I work with everyone, but I'm I if I was to niche in this, as we're told to do.
Victoria L (01:27.596)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (01:27.858)
It would be, yeah, it would be working in with women and really helping them reclaim that sense of power, reclaim that sense of self, that deep connection, that like, yeah, this is me, this is who I am, energy. And that's been really fun for me.
Victoria L (01:38.205)
Mm-hmm.
That's lovely. So I wanted to just kind of jump right in. I've been listening to your podcast, Reclaimed. It is excellent. I'm really enjoying the new episodes. So I would love for you to just share a bit with us how you've transitioned through, from the fitness industry where the focus is, you know, really, really deep on the physical appearance to embracing the importance of embodying so much more of who you are, your emotions.
And can you just take us through your personal journey a little bit and how you've been able to navigate this shift from, you know, focus on physical into the emotional body?
kyla gagnon (02:21.406)
Yeah, happily. It feels like, yeah, yes, I will. Okay, so when I, I'm giggling because like it's, I don't think I knew how important it was and how off, like out of alignment I was. And then of course like hindsight's everything. And so here we are. And so I just giggle thinking of my journey. Okay, so when I was, where does it start? When I was 20, I'll start there. When I was 20, my mother,
passed away and I went into like pretty
Yeah. Pretty sphere, like self protection and then, which makes sense. And I, I moved really deep into fitness at that time. And I was already in the training to become a trainer. Like I was studying to become a personal trainer. And, uh, when my mom passed, I took, you know, a year off of everything and just kind of sat in this unknown space and moved to a new town and found a woman who took me under her wing and.
Victoria L (02:58.685)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (03:24.214)
prepared me and trained me for a fitness competition. And at 21 years old, having your whole life just flipped upside down, probably not the best time to get into something like that. But what it was for me, it was a way that I could control something.
Um, it was the only thing that I could control. And so I dove headfirst into that. And, and fast forward, I then was in and out of competing in fitness for over a decade. I was working as a full-time personal trainer. I was running my own personal training business and I liked it. And I was, you know, doing really cool things in the fitness industry and working with the supplement company and magazines and photo, like photo shoots and traveling and like all of this really like externally, very neat stuff. And you spoke about it in the beginning, like how it's all very much about.
appearance. It's very surface level and I could feel that like as much as I was having a good time I could feel like I just knew like ah there's got to be something more this doesn't feel fully right and what I'm going to say because this makes sense later is in all of those years so 15 years that I was in that career and in that like really intense connection to fitness yes I was working with my body but I was so disconnected from
Victoria L (04:36.488)
Hmm
kyla gagnon (04:37.546)
body and I had no idea. I had no idea, but I was in a deep self-protection. I didn't want to access any of those deeper layers of myself because if I access those deeper layers of myself, I would have to go into the grief and I didn't want to go into the grief. I had tucked it away. I'd pretended it wasn't there. I'd put on this like, I'm good. I'm fine mask and, and just really avoided any opportunity.
to go there. And so I was so disconnected without knowing it. So fast forward.
I started teaching yoga, thought, oh, maybe this is it. Cause it was, you know, it's a softer side. We're getting into some emotions. People are like slowing down. They're present with their body. There was this new layer of connection. So I was like, oh, this must be it. This must be it. And it wasn't fully, it was something, but it wasn't fully. And then I was invited to a breath work session. I was invited to a breath work session in 2019. So not that long ago.
Victoria L (05:23.56)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (05:37.826)
and I didn't know what breath work was. I thought it was what I was doing in yoga. So I actually really resisted going. I didn't feel like I needed to. And anyways, I eventually ended up in this class, excuse me, and had a incredibly profound experience where I realized the disconnection that I'd had. I realized first and foremost,
the disconnection that I had to my voice, like this was the actual opening piece for me, is how disconnected I was from my voice. The breath instructor was asking us to make sound and clear energy and like be heard and like, you know, release our emotions and I totally couldn't. And it was this whole experience for me and in that I left the breath session knowing that, oh, this is the thing.
Victoria L (06:01.984)
Hmm
Victoria L (06:14.205)
Mmm.
kyla gagnon (06:23.606)
This is the thing. I have never felt more in my body, more connected to myself, more in line with who I am, more connected to my power. Oh my God, WTF, how? And so I asked, it was like, it actually blew my mind. And anyone who hasn't experienced that is like, I don't really understand what you're talking about. And then anyone who has, they're like, oh, I know exactly what you're talking about. So I left that session, I asked who her teacher was.
Victoria L (06:44.959)
Yeah.
kyla gagnon (06:52.398)
Um, I proceeded to stalk him online, register for his next immersion and start the process of burning my business to the ground, which I did and probably the next six months and went back into that cycle. I didn't work for a year. It's so interesting to like, Oh, here we are again, almost 20 years later. And rebuilt myself from a place of alignment, like from a place of, of myself, not of anything or anyone outside of myself.
Victoria L (07:09.031)
Mmm.
kyla gagnon (07:21.262)
And so now it's, you know, almost five years, I guess. And it's like, I've never done anything other than this is what it feels like.
Victoria L (07:21.789)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (07:30.316)
That is really powerful. I know that feeling of when you have that moment where it just becomes clear and you're like, oh, okay. Yeah, it just becomes so, you become so into your being and it's really quite the experience. And it's really a powerful shift when you start to step into that authenticity, to step into your voice.
kyla gagnon (07:42.474)
I'm so weird right now.
Victoria L (08:00.84)
step into who you are as a person, as a woman. And I know that there's so many women out there that probably are just maybe on the verge. I find, so I'm in my forties now and I find my grouping of people around me, the women are just starting to find themselves, to find their voices. I know for myself, that's where I am too. And
I really appreciate people like you who are willing to step up to become the leaders in this community to share your experiences and to empower other women to become who they really are supposed to be through the breathwork, through the embodiment. And I would love if you can just share for us, especially those of us who are trying to step deeper into finding all these parts of ourselves. Can you share?
with us maybe some of the practices or how you have been able to continue to use your holistic being to grow deeper into finding who you are in your voice.
kyla gagnon (09:10.838)
Yeah, thank you for what you just said. A big piece for me that I keep coming back to with myself and with clients is the root of the stories that we carry. And so I'm just gonna make up a situation here and I'll use the disconnection to the voice. And I'll use myself as an example, coming back to a memory of an experience that I've had.
Okay, podcast. I was gonna launch a podcast a while ago and I got really excited about it because I thought it'd be really fun. What a neat way to connect with other women and other humans. And then I started to go into the thinking of how much work it would be. And so there was that like, well, I don't even know how. I don't know how. I don't have the skills. I don't know how to do that. But the bigger piece around the voice was like, what do I have to say? And who the hell would want to listen to me? Like that.
Victoria L (10:01.95)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (10:08.018)
And so we all have plenty of stories. Let's be clear. We have plenty of stories and plenty of these subconscious beliefs that have been in bedded into us through our life. And let me just place this here. They're not true. And they're not even ours. I just want to say that this is the, this is the piece. It's like, okay. So when you can catch yourself in, let's say you want to have a conversation with your partner or, or a new partner or dating or.
Victoria L (10:24.828)
Mmm, yes.
kyla gagnon (10:34.762)
your children or there's this conversation that feels like, oh, there's like some weight here. It feels important, but probably not going to because it just, you know, there's nervousness there. Whatever it is, there is a story. So the work is like, can we get clear on what is that story? Maybe it's like, I'm not good enough with my words, right? I'm not good at my words. So no one's gonna, they're not gonna respect me or I'm not gonna come across like I know what I'm talking about.
Victoria L (10:39.242)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (10:55.39)
Mm.
kyla gagnon (11:01.138)
Okay, the story is I'm not good with my words, or the story is no one's gonna wanna listen to me. So then the work is like, let's find the root of that story because that story has been showing up probably your whole life, and it will not go away until you find the root. It's like a sickness, it's like a disease. You can band-aid it and act tough for a second, but it's gonna come back if we don't get to the root. So a lot of my work is like, okay, where is that story from?
Victoria L (11:18.1)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (11:28.118)
And we'll go into a practice around that. We'll get into a meditation. We'll get into an embodiment practice and we'll actually feel like our body has so much information for us. Our head will come in our thinking mind, our survival tools will come in to keep us safe air quotes. And that's not where that's not where we need to be. That's not where the information is. That's not where the truth is the truth and the information, the wisdom is in our body. And so we need to come back into our body to start remembering who we are. So once we get to the root of those stories.
there's usually a pretty clear indication that like, oh, right, that actually wasn't mine. I heard that from my uncle. I heard it from him all the time. So that's his story. That's not my story. And so when we can get clear on holy cow, this thing I've been saying my whole life, the story I've been believing my whole life isn't even mine and it's absolutely not true. So then we have an opportunity to start anchoring in a new story, a new truth. Like what actually is a yes for me, you know?
Victoria L (12:08.972)
Hmm
kyla gagnon (12:28.422)
Now I'm not pretending that we, we go through that process and all of a sudden we have all the confidence to do the thing. That's not it. Cause it's now it's like trying on this new suit and trying on this new, this new way of being and Ooh, okay. It's going to be a little bit scary. And like the, you know, how do I say this nicely? I'll just say it because it is based. Yeah. We like life is really short. Someone else is going to say it. Someone else is going to do it. Like
Victoria L (12:49.888)
Just say it.
kyla gagnon (12:57.922)
fucking do it. Like there's this like self accountability. Like we can sit in woe is me. We can totally choose to sit in woe is me forever. Do your thing. Yes. And then we don't get to complain about it not being different. So there's a part of us as grown ass women. Let's acknowledge we've been through some, can I swear? Been through some shit. Yes, absolutely. And it doesn't dictate how our life has to go.
Victoria L (12:58.868)
Yeah.
Victoria L (13:06.793)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (13:17.457)
Absolutely.
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
kyla gagnon (13:27.666)
It doesn't, it will. And this happened to me, this happened to me, this happened to me, this happened to me, but we also have a choice. We have everything as a choice. So you can choose to sit in it or you can choose to want more for yourself and start doing things differently. Start doing things that are like, Ooh, this feels really edgy for me. And I'm going to try to do it anyway. You know, we, it's like radical. I keep saying it like radical self responsibility. Like no one is coming.
Victoria L (13:29.241)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (13:37.47)
Yeah.
Victoria L (13:48.948)
Yeah.
Victoria L (13:54.376)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (13:56.79)
to save you, but you.
Victoria L (13:59.572)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that's powerful. Thank you. No, I appreciate that. And I think it's so true because we do get caught in our stories. We get caught in the stories that other people have told us of what we should be and what we shouldn't be, whether it's societal narrative or family narrative or friend narrative, doesn't matter. We get stuck.
kyla gagnon (14:05.026)
money.
Victoria L (14:23.7)
And then you get stuck in that, that well was me or it'll never be me. It's not my turn yet or any of that stuff. And really, if not now when, right? So I love that.
kyla gagnon (14:34.926)
It was like, it's yeah. You know, everyone says this and we all, we know it. And we're like, yeah, yeah. But like life is really short. It's nothing is promised. We are also like, when we really pause to think of the fact that we're these little teeny specks on like a spinning ball in the middle of like this galactic space, like it's all actually not that big of a deal. Like it's, it's a blip. This is a blip. Like it's not that big of a deal.
Victoria L (14:43.522)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (15:03.321)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (15:03.411)
Just do the thing.
Victoria L (15:05.672)
Yeah, yeah, no, I 100% resonate with that. That's how I'm here doing the podcast. I told myself so many stories and I was just like, you know what, this year, fuck it. I'm doing what I wanna do this year. I'm not listening to the narrative anymore. So no, I appreciate that. Yeah.
kyla gagnon (15:18.965)
All right.
kyla gagnon (15:26.11)
Cheers. So good. It's also this really interesting time where there is like this rise of the feminine, this rise of the voice, this rise of the power of the connection of the us coming together. And that feels really tangible and powerful. And it's nice to know that like we aren't alone. We aren't alone in any of it. We aren't alone in our grief and our pain and the shit that happened to us. We're not alone. You're not alone in that.
Victoria L (15:39.338)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (15:43.093)
Yes.
kyla gagnon (15:49.254)
And you don't have to be alone in your rising. You don't have to be alone in your finding yourself. You don't have to be alone in your success. You know, we've got to do this together.
Victoria L (15:55.048)
Mm hmm. Yeah, I love that. And I do. I love that you've built a community around that. I know that you have a beautiful online community as well as even just on your Instagram. There's so many women that come together there and lift each other up and they rise together. And I absolutely I love going to your page for inspiration when I'm feeling like
kyla gagnon (16:18.964)
Oh my god.
Victoria L (16:19.924)
what do I need today? And then something will pop up and I'll be like, that's what I needed today. So it's been, um, it's been a good resource and I love that we, um, especially as women, I'm a big advocate for women. I really feel like we are stepping up together. Like you said, the feminine is rising and it's a beautiful thing. Um, yeah. And on that note, let's talk about your podcast Reclaimed. Um,
Tell me about it. How did it come about? How are you loving it? What is going on there? Because I love it, but share with everyone.
kyla gagnon (16:53.87)
Mm-hmm. Thank you. I also want to thank you for saying that about my Instagram page. You don't know these things. So hearing that fills my whole heart. Thank you for that. There's always that, like, is anyone even looking? Does anyone even care? Oh my gosh. OK, reclaimed. So like I said, I thought about running a podcast a while ago and then talked myself out of it.
Victoria L (17:07.876)
Yeah.
kyla gagnon (17:18.706)
And then something happened in late summer of last year, late summer of 2023, where I was like, ah, you need to do it. It was this lightning bolt. And thinking of names, it was instantaneous, because I'd already been talking in the dialogue of women reclaiming their power, women reclaiming their voice, women reclaiming their wealth, women reclaiming their sexuality, women, all of it. What do you want? Yes, yes, it's there for you.
Victoria L (17:38.05)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (17:44.968)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
kyla gagnon (17:46.786)
And so the word, the title of it came really easy. I was like, okay, is it the reclamation? Is it reclaiming? That reclaimed and I was like, are any of these taken? And anyway, landed on reclaimed and that felt really good. It has this like powerful punch to it. And so my best friend and I were talking yesterday and we're just talking about like, yeah, how we show up online and how people view us and what are our powers and like, what really is gonna support us? And she's like,
Victoria L (18:02.673)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (18:13.974)
You know what I love about you is you've got like a bit of an edge. So when I was in fitness, she nicknamed me Darth because if I was dieting for a show, I was clearly not a very nice person. But she said, I love that about you. I know it was a joke and you were kind of shitty, but, but there's an edge about you. And I love that. I think that's your superpowers. You're really sweet and people love to talk to you and you listen and you hold no judgment.
Victoria L (18:28.007)
I'm kidding.
Victoria L (18:32.541)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (18:37.526)
but you've got a bitchy edge and it's kind of fun. And I think we need it. And so she was like, I really urge you to like play that up a bit, which I'm still pondering on but it feels right. And the reclaimed feels a bit edgy. Cause it's like, okay, yes, I'm a woman. And yes, I'm reclaimed. What are you gonna do about it? Like, and I'm gonna invite all of these women to have conversations about how they're also reclaimed. What are you gonna do about it? Like there's this like fucking bring it energy. And in it, you know, like
Victoria L (18:49.851)
Mmm.
Victoria L (18:56.235)
Yeah.
Victoria L (19:01.428)
Yeah.
kyla gagnon (19:08.006)
It means something different to everyone. What does reclaiming your power mean to you? It means something different to everybody and I'm excited for more of these conversations coming in the last few I've had a ton of interview I don't like calling them interviews conversations in the last week I think I've talked to like seven women this week on my podcast, which is so fun and The theme there was like three in a row when I asked what are you reclaiming? They're like I'm reclaiming my power and I just about peed myself. I was like Yes
Victoria L (19:13.3)
Mm-hmm.
Victoria L (19:26.432)
Nice.
Victoria L (19:37.736)
Yeah.
kyla gagnon (19:39.023)
Amazing. But it's inspiring having conversations with women on or off the podcast. I get so inspired by having potent conversations with women. It's fired me right up. So to be able to record it and keep it forever and ever and ever, it's my growth. I grow from it. And I can't even begin to think of how big it will be and how much growth there will be
Victoria L (19:48.908)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
kyla gagnon (20:07.474)
expansion my like brain and my heart and all of it is going to have from these conversations.
Victoria L (20:12.268)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I agree. It's as much as, you know, we record to put things out there for other people, I really do feel that a lot of the times it's like me sitting here just filling my own cup and it's really a wonderful thing. And I love that you're in this space and that you're sharing. And I agree, you have an edge about you. It comes across, but it's like, it's like...
It's like you don't judge people, but you're like, I'm going to be on your side and I'm going to kick ass with you kind of edge. And I love that. So I really appreciate that. Yeah. And your journey has been really inspiring. I really have enjoyed, you know, starting from the top of the podcast and going through it and listening to your transformation.
kyla gagnon (20:51.27)
I appreciate that.
Victoria L (21:06.092)
to anybody listening, I highly recommend that you go. It's on Spotify. You can just type in reclaimed. It comes up. Start at the beginning, listen to the stories, listen to what's happening over there. It's an amazing journey. And before we exit out, is there anything else that you wanna share? Do you have anything special coming up or what's the best way for people to access you? All that kind of good stuff.
kyla gagnon (21:32.802)
Yeah, do you know when this will be aired? In terms of what.
Victoria L (21:35.837)
in two weeks.
kyla gagnon (21:38.35)
Okay, so the best place to find me is Instagram. I pretend to have access to all the platforms. I don't use any of them. I use Instagram. So the sacred underscore essentials is me and I will happily connect with you there. My sweet little baby is the essentials. It's my community, it's my online community. I think it's just the absolute bee's knees. We connect every week, those of us who can. We don't always, but they're recorded.
Victoria L (21:47.124)
Yeah.
kyla gagnon (22:05.226)
Every week we drop in for big breath work journeys twice a month. The community aspect is incredible. And then there's a whole plethora of on demand practices for people, breathwork, meditation, yoga, fitness. It's, it's like, I call it like your one-stop shop for your mind, body, soul. $55 a month. It's like an obvious, it's just a yes. So come on in, no contracts, stay as long as you want, meet the community, do your thing, be supported. And then in April, I'm running a six week mastermind for women in business called claim it.
Victoria L (22:21.534)
Hmm.
kyla gagnon (22:35.05)
And I've just uploaded it to my website. So it is there. And that's going to be, yeah, there's going to be like one-on-one access. There's going to be group mastermind access calls, somatics, breathwork, business support, uh, it's going to be the bee's knees. And that just came to me last month. So I've been like frivolously like putting it together and it's now like up on the website and so we start April 1st. And so that should be. Available by the time you, yeah, I think our timing.
Victoria L (22:51.098)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (23:05.003)
Yeah, cool.
Victoria L (23:06.143)
Yeah, yeah, that'll be out right after this, so that's awesome.
kyla gagnon (23:09.642)
magazine. So I'll share all of that with you.
Victoria L (23:12.276)
Awesome, thanks so much. So I'm, again, thank you so much for being here. We'll wrap things up now. And as we head off into our own things today if you have any last little nuggets of wisdom for anybody listening, I would love if you can share and then we'll wrap it up.
kyla gagnon (23:28.878)
then.
kyla gagnon (23:34.794)
I think it's, it's that, well, how would I, yeah, just the urge that I urge you, urge you, urge you with so much love and so much like, yeah, I got you kind of energy to trust yourself and the trust the first nudge that comes through because the second one is your mind being like, no, not a good idea. Trust the first one. If there's an, if there's an
Victoria L (23:45.771)
Mm-hmm.
kyla gagnon (23:58.934)
like a test that takes your breath away or feels like really expansive in your body and really excites you and lights you up and makes your heart flutter, that's the thing. That's the yes. The piece that comes after it that's like, oh, probably not, meh, meh. That is not your truth. That is your protection of your ego, of your head. Please do not listen to that.
Victoria L (24:21.)
Yes, 100%.
kyla gagnon (24:22.122)
That's all. And I say that to myself as well. Let me be very clear. That's like a very human thing.
Victoria L (24:27.464)
Yes, yeah. Well, thank you so much for being here today. I really do appreciate that you took the time out of your day to join us and be here on the podcast. And that is all for us today, guys. So until next time, please take care and be well.
kyla gagnon (24:46.324)
Thank you, love.
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