Trust your inner knowing. Everyone is intuitive. Everyone has an inner knowing that discerns what feels like a “yes” for you vs a “no”. This inner knowing is separate from the outside pressure or any societal norms placed upon us and it is something that does not need to be validated or explained. The challenge for most of us is to slow down enough to notice this part of us. And sometimes the greater challenge is to actually trust it and take action based on what this inner knowing part of you is saying. When you do, you will witness life unfolding for you in a beautiful way. It may be hard at first but you will soon recognize that living any other way doesn’t feel right.
Today, more than ever, wellness is at the forefront of societal discussions. From mental health to physical well-being, women are making significant strides in bringing about change, introducing innovative solutions, and setting new standards. Despite facing unique challenges, they break barriers, inspire communities, and are reshaping the very definition of health and wellness. In this series called women in wellness we are talking to women doctors, nurses, nutritionists, therapists, fitness trainers, researchers, health experts, coaches, and other wellness professionals to share their stories and insights. As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Emily Steines.
Emily is the founder of BoopBod. She has 15 years of experience teaching women to tap into the power of their body and mind through modalities like breathwork, movement, nervous system regulation, and unconscious reprogramming. She is a 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, an SFG Kettlebell Trainer, an Integrative Holistic Health Coach, Breathwork Facilitator, Source Code Solvent, and Embodiment Guide. Her mission is to equip individuals with the tools to get out of their own way and into their true aliveness through her in-app subscriptions, transformative courses, 12-week mentorship, and 1:1 coaching.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I’d love to! Since middle school, I’ve felt really drawn to movement and wellness. I used to do workouts in my parent’s living room, made up countless dances in their backyard, and tested new recipes with inspiration from whatever vegetable was in season. I truly dove head first into the world of health and wellness in college where I gained a B.S in Health and Human Physiology, a B.A. in Dance, and an Entrepreneurial Management Certificate. I also became a 200-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, SFG Kettlebell Trainer, and an Integrative Holistic Health Coach during this time. I worked 4 jobs immediately after graduation and while I was doing what I loved, I sensed a block in what I could offer my clients and students. People came to me for either personal training, yoga, or health coaching. Individually these were great, but I found myself continually dreaming up a way to share all of these different modalities and support people on a much deeper level. I was unable to do this with my current jobs so the vision for my business boopbod was born.
I began to hold local events and launched an 8-week course that combined workouts, yoga, journaling, essential oil use, and meditations. It was a hit. As I dove deeper into my own journey, I was blown away by how much power we actually have to transform the way we feel and live. I felt an immense responsibility to continue to share what I was learning. I tacked on several more certifications in breathwork, nervous system regulation, unconscious reprogramming, gut health, and hormone health. It’s wild how little we’re taught about our own bodies and minds. And I trust that when we know better, we do better so it’s been my mission to educate and inspire as many souls as possible to live with more aliveness and empowerment. I also deeply believe that accessibility is paramount and have created offers and experiences that get to be available for anyone and everyone that’s ready to say yes to themselves. I overflow with gratitude and celebration every time I witness the humans in my community making epic shifts in their lives. It never gets old. And I will never stop holding space and guiding people into their fully expressed selves.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
About 5 years into my career, I found myself in the hospital getting poked and probed after my body completely shut down. It felt ironic that I, a personal trainer, yoga teacher, and holistic health coach, found herself in a cold sterile hospital room after months of overexertion and undernourishment. On the surface, it appeared I was a beacon of health, but in reality, I was completely out of touch with my body, mind, and emotions. My body had been warning me for months: strained vocal cords, chronic fatigue, mental fog, sugar cravings, resentment, napping in my car between teaching classes. And I ignored it all.
This hospitalization was my big beautiful wake up call. I saw beyond the unrealistic demands and expectations of the health + fitness industry. Quick fixes. Bikini bodies. Restrictive Diets. One-size-fits-all approaches. This was not the route I wanted to follow or promote. And if I was led astray as a fitness professional, I had to show up and fully support other women. They, too, may be tricked into believing the false claims and empty guarantees flooding our feeds and inboxes.
So, every program, training, workshop, and retreat I’ve created since this experience has been rooted in the inner work and ensuring all parts of us (mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, energetic) are met and deeply supported in sustainable ways.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Oh, absolutely. I love sharing my mistakes! I deeply believe that I’ve experienced so many missteps so others don’t have to. A big mistake of mine was waiting to invest in myself and my business in the form of a mentor, business coach, and in hiring a team. I was committed to being a one-woman show and I was convinced that I could do it all myself. While my determination was admirable, it was also pretty irresponsible of me to expect that I could sustain a successful business without any support. I was queen of enrolling in every free or low ticket offer I found with the hopes that it would be enough. It wasn’t. And I was drowning. So I made the big decision to invest in a mentor. I remember the fear, discomfort, and sweaty palms I felt completing the intake form and checkout page. Thankfully, every bit of that disappeared after my first session. It felt life-giving to have someone in my corner who could help hold my vision, offer tangible next steps, and keep me accountable. I was kicking myself that I waited this long and have made a commitment to myself that I will always prioritize investing in my personal and professional growth. What I quickly learned was that I could grow faster, energetically hold more clients, and create even more impact when I wasn’t running the show solo. It changed everything for me.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
The core of the work I do involves guiding people back home to themselves in our wildly stimulating, fast-paced, and achievement-driven world. Even though we may feel super connected through technology advancements and our numerous devices, as a collective we are more disconnected than ever. From ourselves. From others. From reality, really. This lack of self-awareness most certainly contributes to the high levels of stress, anxiety, and burnout we face. And because this way has become the norm, it can be challenging to even know that there’s another option. That’s where I come in.
I refuse to allow people to live a monotonous, isolated, unfulfilling life on auto-pilot. I am here to wake people up to their power and their ability to feel good in their body, master their emotions, release self-sabotaging patterns, and honor themselves on a deeper level. As individuals become more present, self-aware, and in tune with their bodies and emotions, they naturally become more in touch with their needs and desires. This self-awareness empowers them to make choices that align with their authentic selves. Ultimately, these practices help individuals reclaim their personal power, which often gets lost in the noise and demands of modern life. And when individuals are more connected to themselves, they tend to live with greater intention, authenticity, and joy. They are also better equipped to foster deeper, more meaningful connections with others. This ripple effect leads to a community and society where well-being and authenticity are more prevalent.
In the bigger picture, the impact is a world where people are healthier, more connected, and better equipped to navigate life’s challenges, ultimately creating a more harmonious and fulfilling existence for all. What a world that would be, right?
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing?
1 . Get out of your head and into your body. We mostly live from the neck up, in our non-stop monkey minds that fill our daily life with “shoulds” and strip us from our true needs. And while your brain is brilliant in many ways, it can also feed you lies that make life feel harder than it needs to be. When you allow yourself to shift from your mind to your body through modalities like breathwork, movement, nature time, dance parties, and meditation, you bring your true self back online a bit more. This mind-body connection is essential for you to notice your thoughts, check in to your emotions, take action on when you need support, recognize your body’s signals when it’s time to rest, let new ideas surface, or get clear on a boundary that will support you. Living solely up in your head often leads to more anxiety, overwhelm, self-judgment, shame, and burnout. Your body is wise. Your body truly has the answers if you’re willing to drop in and notice what it’s ready to reveal.
2 . Speak kindly to yourself. More specifically, take a moment right now and say “thank you. I love you.” to yourself. Does it feel a little awkward or unfamiliar to say these words? These words are something I incorporate at the end of my guided breathwork sessions, meditations, and yoga flows inside my Hype Hub app subscription. I’ve also incorporated it in keynote speaking engagements where many of 2,000 people in attendance were speaking these words for the first time with tears in their eyes. I can imagine that you are pretty hard on yourself. We tend to be our own worst critic. So, this is your reminder to speak lovingly to yourself. You are doing the best you can at this moment. Trust that. Your 100% today may look different than your 100% yesterday and that’s okay. Let kindness and self-love propel you forward rather than shame or judgment. I promise it works better.
3 . Befriend your nervous system. Each of us has a brilliant self-protection system in place, yet we sadly are not taught how it works or how to let it truly support us. In your earliest years of life, a database of information was collected and stored based on what it experienced as safe, dangerous, or life-threatening. As adults, we are likely operating from this same database, even if these “threats” are no longer relevant. If being messy or imperfect got you in trouble as a child, as an adult you may operate as a perfectionist or feel extremely anxious when faced with situations that require an imperfect or “messy” version of you. When you can start to witness these patterns and your body’s response to people, environments, thoughts, and situations, you reclaim your power to reprogram your nervous system. A big part of befriending your nervous system is for you to get curious and collect information about what state you’re in, what activates your fight or flight, what helps you feel regulated, and when you may find yourself in shutdown mode. Becoming more aware of your mental, physical, emotional state will help you determine your nervous system state too. And don’t forget, certain situations may affect you differently than other people based on your own trauma and conditioning. I break all of this down in my Nervous System Toolkit if you’re craving more education and experiential tools. You do have the power to shift the way you feel and teach your body what is actually safe and possible for you!
4 . Break up with your old self. Okay, this may sound harsh but stay with me. This is the first step, the “B”, in the “B.O.O.P. Method”, which is a systematic 4-step process I created to help people get out of their own way. You are not the same person as you were a month ago, a year ago, a decade ago. Yet, innocently you are still likely operating based on the same belief system or sense of identity as those past versions of you. This makes sense. You are not alone. And when you can recognize your limiting beliefs, self-sabotaging patterns, strategies for love, and coping styles that aren’t actually helping you get to where you want to go, it’s time to part ways. These elements have served you in many ways and allowed you to get to where you are now, and they are not a part of your path forward. In fact, they are likely the exact thing that is keeping you stuck or blocked. So, get curious. Notice what these may be for you and allow yourself to consciously release these parts and lean into a belief, action, or version of you that aligns with your true self.
5 . Add in more play. Did you know that play is one of the highest frequencies? This means that when you are in a play state, you become more magnetic and attract more of what you are calling in for yourself. Oftentimes, we play the “cause and effect” game where we wait until we have x before we can feel y. For example, you may think that you need to lose weight, hit that promotion, or find a partner before you can be happy, worthy, or free. What I invite you to do instead is to start “causing effect” and allow yourself to feel these things now, today. One of my favorite manifestation hacks is to add in playful practices like dance parties, game nights, comedy shows, jumprope, play at a playground, chase your dog, paint your nails a funky color, etc. Not only will you get a lil mood boost, but you will likely start to notice more ways in which life is happening FOR you versus TO you. It’s one of my favorite life hacks.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
A lil slogan I say and teach on repeat is to “play in your power”. So, I’d launch a “Play in Your Power” movement that reminds people to celebrate the little wins they make each day as they honor their needs and support their mind, body, and soul. I want people to understand that health, wellness, and living a vibrant life doesn’t have to feel hard and it’s the small moments that add up!
Maybe you were feeling anxious so you popped into my Hype Hub subscription to do the “breathwork for anxiety”. Way to play in your power! Or perhaps you noticed how frustrated your packed schedule was making you so started saying “no” to things that weren’t a full body yes. That’s amazing. Or maybe you were feeling really called to make yourself more of a priority so you blocked off an hour of “me time” in your actual calendar. I’m so proud of you. The more we recognize our own power to shift our mood, honor our boundaries, express our needs, and carve out time to rest, the more permission we give to everyone else in our lives to do the same. We show them what’s possible. Imagine how contagiously magical this movement would be? Oh, I’d love to also lead a “play in your power” hour where people across the nation (and world) get to simultaneously be led in live movement, breathwork, dance parties, and connection.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1 . Take messy action (before you feel ready). I’ve had multiple experiences in my life where I postponed taking action until I felt I was 100% ready. I felt I needed more experience, more certifications, more training before I could actualize my vision and goals for my business and life. And I believed this even with 5 years of experience and a handful of degrees and certifications under my belt. This thinking stunted my growth and acted as a major block for me on several occasions. And once I finally took action, I wished I had started sooner. The truth is, there’s no way to fully be ready or have every step nailed down before you begin. Each step you take allows the next steps to unfold and reveal themselves. Even if you perfectly plan everything out, you’ll likely come to find that a pivot or redirection is needed so instead of waiting until you feel fully ready, lean into your urges and desires with messy action. Messy action removes the pressure to be perfect and truly provides clarity as you move forward.
2 . Treat your failures as feedback. I don’t resonate with the word failure. I think of these “failed” moments in life as beautiful opportunities to receive feedback. Any time you make a mistake, lose sight of a goal, miss a deadline, you receive insights and information to serve you better in the future. You get to see how you may have wished to show up, how you might have ignored your intuition, or how you received more details on how to do things better next time. Treating your failures as feedback can propel you forward rather than pull you down into a self-destructive state. Treating your failures as feedback is a powerful mindset shift that gets to feel more empowering rather than defeating.
3 . Imposter syndrome is a good thing. Experiencing imposter syndrome or seasons where you feel fraudulent in the pursuit of your goals is actually a sign you are expanding outside your comfort zone and into your “bigness”. Moments like this make sense and they are a great sign. You don’t often get imposter syndrome from doing things that feel super familiar or comfortable to you. So, when imposter fears hit, remind yourself that this is proof you are stretching your capacity and it gets to be an opportunity to grow. Lean in and claim the version of you that you’re becoming.
4 . Trust your inner knowing. Everyone is intuitive. Everyone has an inner knowing that discerns what feels like a “yes” for you vs a “no”. This inner knowing is separate from the outside pressure or any societal norms placed upon us and it is something that does not need to be validated or explained. The challenge for most of us is to slow down enough to notice this part of us. And sometimes the greater challenge is to actually trust it and take action based on what this inner knowing part of you is saying. When you do, you will witness life unfolding for you in a beautiful way. It may be hard at first but you will soon recognize that living any other way doesn’t feel right.
5 . No one is you. And this is truly a superpower of yours. In the early years of my business, I struggled with comparison and questioned “who am I to do this?”. I wish someone had helped me see and understand sooner that although I may not be the only person that does what I do, I’m the only that can deliver it and guide people in a way that is unique to me. I have had many people share with me that they have worked with other coaches, counselors, and teachers, yet what I offer is different. The energy, the care, the intention, the teachings. They could feel how I did things differently, because no one is me. Honoring and owning that no one is you is really important in stepping into your full power. So, please remember that whatever your desires may be, they are not coincidence. They are placed upon you for a reason. And the world needs you and your magic. Don’t discount the power of bringing more of your unique self to the table.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health, and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
All of these feel very near and dear to my heart but I believe mental health is at the top of the list. There are so many factors working against our mental health these days from poor gut health, to the highlight reels on social media, to feeling more disconnected than ever. Mental health issues are affecting individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and historically, there’s been such a stigma surrounding getting care. Changing attitudes and promoting open conversations about mental health can help reduce this stigma and encourage people to seek the support they need. It really is an integral part of overall well-being.
I deeply believe that proper mental health education and normalizing support is the foundation for physical health, emotional intelligence, self-image, healthy relationships, and overall quality of life. And ultimately, prioritizing mental health can lead to a more compassionate, equitable, and resilient world.
What is the best way for our readers to further follow your work online?
Follow me on Instagram at @boopbod and jump into our Hype Hype to access a variety of breathwork, yoga, meditations, and workouts to support everything from sleep, to energy, to anxiety and more. Check out the rest of my offers on my website at www.boopbod.com. I can’t wait to connect with you and support you!
Thank you for these fantastic insights! We wish you continued success and good health.
I hope your Thanksgiving was absolutely beautiful! I hope you were able to fully immerse yourself in the joyful company of your loved ones while cherishing special moments and creating lasting memories. And if you needed a little downtime for yourself, I hope you indulged in some much needed self care and relaxation.
So many of us gear up for the Black Friday Sales (and who doesn’t love being able to snag a lil’ something for themselves too). So go ahead, check out the array of boopbod offers that are on sale!
🎄 Yearly Hype Hub Membership: Experience an on-demand self-love journey with access to breathwork, yoga, workouts, meditations, and much more. Support yourself anytime, anywhere with our app & desktop access!
🧘♀️ Nervous System Toolkit: Take control of your mind and body with simple teachings and powerful resources that regulate your body and combat stress and anxiety. Discover the root causes and find your inner peace. (This is an extracted module from Vitality lab)
🔬 Vitality Lab: Dive deep into science, somatics, and spirituality to rejuvenate your entire being. Explore a hub of resources designed to heal and support you from the inside out. Plus, enjoy exclusive monthly calls with Emily (foreva)!
🔥 There She Is Masterclass: The ultimate guide for overgivers as you work to prioritize self-care and reclaim your personal power. Elevate your wellbeing and establish healthy boundaries in this 2 hour masterclass!
💚 1:1 Coaching Session: If you’re feeling stuck or craving personalized support, grab a single 1:1 session to receive the guidance you deserve. (spots are limited)
About the Interviewer: Wanda Malhotra is a wellness entrepreneur, lifestyle journalist, and the CEO of Crunchy Mama Box, a mission-driven platform promoting conscious living. CMB empowers individuals with educational resources and vetted products to help them make informed choices. Passionate about social causes like environmental preservation and animal welfare, Wanda writes about clean beauty, wellness, nutrition, social impact and sustainability, simplifying wellness with curated resources. Join Wanda and the Crunchy Mama Box community in embracing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle at CrunchyMamaBox.com.
