Chats at the Campfire with Carrie Taylor – A Journey of Fire, Feminine Power, and Wholeness

(0:00 – 2:38) Welcoming Carrie: Yoga, Presence, and Inner Knowing

Andrea warmly welcomes her guest, Carrie Taylor, to the Campfire, describing her as a yoga instructor with an extraordinary presence. Although Andrea had practiced yoga for years, she confesses she didn’t fully embrace it until encountering Carrie’s yin classes. Carrie’s grounded energy and gentle yet powerful way of speaking made a lasting impression. Andrea reflects on how, despite knowing little about Carrie at first, she intuitively sensed that Carrie was someone who had “walked through fire.” Carrie confirms this is true — she has weathered many personal challenges. She introduces herself as not only a yoga instructor but also a consulting hypnotist and hypnobirthing educator, whose passion lies in helping people reconnect with themselves.

(2:39 – 6:46) Supporting Women Through Transition and Holding Sacred Space

Andrea speaks of the profound generosity involved in holding space for others, especially during the pivotal years between ages 40 and 60. Carrie agrees, noting how many women at that stage are depleted from years of giving. Her offerings — yoga, hypnosis, and birth coaching — are all rooted in helping women reclaim time for themselves. Carrie emphasises the importance of inner reflection, letting go of societal expectations, and reconnecting with the soul. Her yoga classes, especially yin and restorative, are designed to help women release emotional and energetic burdens. She explains that yin yoga focuses on deep tissue and emotional release by holding poses for 3–5 minutes, while restorative yoga uses props to support deep relaxation. Flow classes, by contrast, engage movement and breath, but all forms ultimately bring students back to the breath — the core of yoga’s mind-body union.

(6:46 – 8:26) Sitting with Discomfort: Lessons from Yin Yoga

Andrea reflects on how yin yoga has confronted her ego, noting how challenging it can be to remain in stillness. Carrie shares that the real work in yin begins when students want to leave a pose — when fidgeting starts, that’s often where transformation happens. She encourages people to stay a little longer, because beneath the discomfort lies insight and emotional release. Carrie likens it to a life skill: yin trains us to remain present even in discomfort, helping us breathe through difficult situations both on and off the mat.

(8:26 – 18:00) Menopause, Embodiment, and the Heroine’s Journey

Andrea and Carrie explore how physical discomfort during perimenopause and menopause often mirrors internal shifts. Carrie shares that hips, thighs, and knees are common areas where emotional pain settles: hips reflect self-image, thighs hold unspoken frustration, and knees relate to heartache and grief. She explains how the left side of the body represents the feminine, while the right reflects the masculine, helping women trace emotional and relational roots of physical discomfort.

Andrea describes menopause as both a betrayal and a rebirth — a fire that strips away illusions and demands self-reclamation. Carrie agrees, calling it a detox of outdated roles and identities. They speak of the generational conditioning that encouraged women to suppress emotions, work harder, and push through pain. Yoga, Carrie says, is an inward journey, a “work-in” rather than a workout, and a powerful antidote to the inner critic. It creates space for self-compassion, allowing women to soften, fall apart, and rise again. Together, they reflect on the heroine’s journey, where women initially follow masculine ideals, only to be undone by divots, boulders, and breakdowns — trials that ultimately polish them into brighter, more authentic versions of themselves.

(18:00 – 21:37) Reclaiming the Inner Voice and the Power of Choice

Carrie opens up about a defining childhood wound — being rejected from the glee club at age five. That moment silenced her voice and shaped her into an observer. For years, she listened rather than spoke. But life, she says, had other plans. Carrie describes the push she received from a personal “tormentor,” someone whose harshness became her greatest teacher. While the experiences were painful, they forced her to walk through fire.

Her turning point came during a walk with her dog. The scent of freshly turned dirt triggered a childhood memory and reawakened her sense of wonder. In that moment, she gathered wild daisies, made herself a daisy ring, and committed to putting herself first. It was a quiet but powerful reclamation. From that point forward, things began to align — she realised she was meant to teach yoga, found her teacher, and began to rebuild her life on her terms. Carrie reflects on how often she had been stuck in victim mode, asking, “Why me?” That narrative eventually gave way to self-responsibility and empowerment. Though she still has hard days, the shift in perspective changed everything. Now, when fear shows up, she knows it’s an opportunity — and a doorway.

(21:38 – 27:37) Integration, Motherhood, and the Wisdom of the Crone

Carrie and Andrea explore the deep healing that comes from reclaiming younger versions of ourselves — the child, the teen, the young woman. Andrea shares how she thinks of her 12-year-old self as someone she can now support, hug, and converse with. Carrie echoes the importance of integrating all our inner ages into our present self, saying we must “bring them home.”

They then turn to the archetypes of maiden, mother, and crone. Carrie reflects on travelling with her daughter and standing in that in-between space: still a mother, yet stepping into the emerging role of wise woman. Andrea references Crones Don’t Whine, a book that reframes aging as an empowered phase of truth-telling and authenticity.

Carrie speaks honestly about the evolution of motherhood. She’s learning to let go, allowing her adult children to make their own mistakes without interference. While it’s difficult to resist the urge to manage and monitor, she now sees the wisdom in stepping back. Over-involvement, she notes, can disrupt a person’s natural growth. She recalls how her own detachment wasn’t initially conscious — it arose as a survival response while walking through her own fire — but ultimately, it was liberating for everyone involved. Her children are more than fine. They are thriving, and so is she.