Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 173. Tara Stiles, Founder of Stråla Yoga

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173. Tara Stiles, Founder of Stråla Yoga · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I've learned anything at all from yoga, It's that every
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: breath is another chance to feel better.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: So that's really it.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: It's so simple, just slowing down a little bit, everything
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: is going to get done.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: You're doing all of the things. You know.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: The stress doesn't add to the productivity in that way
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: or the feeling anything useful. So you know, once we
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: can just train ourselves to slow down a little bit,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: then things get better.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Hey everyone, Emily Abadi here. You are listening to episode
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: one seventy three of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast, words
• 0:50
  Speaker 3: it down with inspiring individuals to talk about big ones,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: tough moments, and everything in between. On the show, what
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: you can expect vulnerable motivation, and candidate discussions with everyone
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: from top athletes and CEOs to aspiring entrepreneurs on what
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: it really takes to follow your passions.
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: My mission is simple to inspire you to be.
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: Your best self, move with intention, and have some fun
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: along the way. For episode one seventy three of the show,
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I am chatting with Tara Styles.
• 1:25
  Speaker 4: She is the founder of Stralla Yoga.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: She is obviously a yoga teacher, a best selling author,
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: and so much more. Such a fun one in which
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: we get into everything from how dance was actually the
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: gateway for Tara into yoga, opening up a world of
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  Speaker 3: freedom and joy that she didn't really know was possible.
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: We also talk about her first few classes at Crunch
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  Speaker 3: and the frenzy that came hand in hand with opening
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: her own space, as well as the roland that was
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: getting featured in the New York Times and how that
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: changed everything for her. I can totally sympathizing Mine was
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: not a five page spread. Tara and I also rap
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: about teaching during COVID, what it's been like for her
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: shifting to digital, and how she keeps her head on
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: straight with hundreds of thousands of people following her practice online.
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: Really loved this conversation head of last getting to know
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: Tara a little bit better, and I can guarantee you
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: a few laughs along this listen. Make sure you're following
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: along with Hurdle over on social media. It's at Hurdle Podcast.
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: I am over at Emily a Body, and I want
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: to give some love to the Hurdle community. You all
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: have been making my week listening to my newest collaboration
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: with Spotify. Last week I dropped a forty five minute
• 2:45
  Speaker 3: audio guided run of sorts part of their new music
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: and talk Unlocked series. My episode specifically is called Conquer.
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: I would love for you to give it a listen.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: It was a lot of fun, degree a lot of
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: fun to put playlist together.
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: I get so.
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: Many dms often asking me about my go to running
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: a playlist, and this is a nice little snippet inside
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: my head with a lot of great motivation to go
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: hand in hand to push you toward your best on
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: your next run. I'm going to link to that project
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: in the show notes, but honestly, I mean collaborating with
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: Spotify as a podcaster is probably one of the best
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: opportunities that you can get. So thank you, thank you,
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: thank you to everyone who has checked it out. If
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: you're going to listen to it, I hope you do,
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: make sure you're tagging me over on Instagram. I'm over
• 3:34
  Speaker 3: at Emily a Body, and don't forget to tag Spotify
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: over at Spotify.
• 3:39
  Speaker 4: With that, let's get to hurdling today.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: I am sitting down with Tara Styles. She is a
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: best selling author. She's the founder of Stralla Yoga, a
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: well known practitioner in the space. How are you doing today,
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: doing pretty good, doing pretty good?
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: How about you.
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  Speaker 4: I'm so good. I'm so excited to be here with you.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: I have to admit that I have had a little
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: bit of a stressful morning and I feel like right now,
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: like I really need your energy, just like a little
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: reset here is like really what I could use at
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, yeah, reset is the whole thing. You know.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: If I've learned anything at all from yoga, it's that
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: every breath is another chance to feel better.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: So, you know, that's really it. It's so simple. Just
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: slowing down a little bit, everything is gonna get done.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: You're doing all of the things. You know.
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: The stress doesn't add to the productivity in that way
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: or the feeling anything useful. So you know, once we
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: can just you know, train ourselves to slow down a
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: little bit, then things get better, which is good.
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: I love that every breath is a new cha to
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  Speaker 3: start fresh. Okay, we're starting fresh. We're present, We're here
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  Speaker 3: to talk to each other. I'm so excited to chat
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  Speaker 3: with you. I actually used to work at Roodale when
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: we published your book.
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  Speaker 1: Oh sweet, amazing, Yeah, thanks so much for that.
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  Speaker 2: That's that.
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  Speaker 1: That was really you know, a sort of beginning of
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  Speaker 1: a big chapter for me. So I remember being over
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: there and you know, kind of peaking in offices, wondering
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  Speaker 1: what I could get going, and saying, you know, I'd
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  Speaker 1: love to do a yoga book, and so many people
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  Speaker 1: saying yoga's so boring. Nobody wants a yoga book, and
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  Speaker 1: you know, I'm thinking, yeah, but it doesn't need to
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  Speaker 1: be boring.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, this was a long time ago.
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  Speaker 1: I think it was two thousand and eight, but you know,
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  Speaker 1: here we are, and yoga is so cool.
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  Speaker 4: Now, it's so cool.
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  Speaker 3: Oh my god, time flies when you're having fun, right,
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  Speaker 3: What at two thousand and eight, geez, well, I mean
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  Speaker 3: you have been doing yoga for much longer than just
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  Speaker 3: the past.
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  Speaker 4: It does some quick math fifteen years.
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  Speaker 3: So talk to me a little bit about how you
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  Speaker 3: got started in the practice, because I know, as far
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  Speaker 3: as your career, you did not jump into the job
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  Speaker 3: world and say to yourself, you know what I'm going
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  Speaker 3: to do.
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  Speaker 4: I'm going to become a yogi.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was not a job, you know, at least
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  Speaker 1: you know, even twenty years ago. I don't think it
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  Speaker 1: was a job. So I grew up doing all kinds
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  Speaker 1: of things. But dance was what I thought would be
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  Speaker 1: my career, and I went to a dance conservatory and
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  Speaker 1: you know, I was doing my thing, and my ballet
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  Speaker 1: teacher brought in yoga to our programmer.
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  Speaker 2: This was the late nineties, so obviously yoga.
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  Speaker 1: Is older than the late nineties, but as far as
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  Speaker 1: being popular in America, you know, it wasn't really a
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  Speaker 1: thing that many people were doing, let alone teaching. So
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  Speaker 1: I remember coming into this class and seeing this person
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  Speaker 1: sitting in the front of the room literally happy for
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  Speaker 1: no reason at all, and I thought, this is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I want to have this feeling.
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  Speaker 2: For my life.
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  Speaker 1: And I thought it would be, you know, just a
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  Speaker 1: tool that I used for myself, because again there was
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  Speaker 1: no example of doing this for a career day, you know.
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  Speaker 1: And I just loved it. And my ballet teacher saw
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  Speaker 1: that I was really focused in the classes and really
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  Speaker 1: kind of wanting to know more, and he brought me
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  Speaker 1: a book autobiography but Yogi his favorite book on yoga
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  Speaker 1: at that point, and became a mentor of mine in yoga,
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  Speaker 1: and I kind of didn't even know what that meant.
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  Speaker 1: You know, what do you mean You're going to teach
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  Speaker 1: me about yoga and show me the way about yoga.
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  Speaker 1: So you know, more and more things started to happen
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  Speaker 1: for me and point me in that direction.
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  Speaker 2: And I think for so.
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  Speaker 1: Many people, one thing just continues to lead to another
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  Speaker 1: once you fall in love with something, I couldn't help
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  Speaker 1: but to share it with my friends.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: My first thought was this is amazing, and my second
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  Speaker 1: thought was, wait a minute, why don't all my friends
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  Speaker 1: do this? So I needed to get you know, everybody involved,
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  Speaker 1: because you have to share the good things.
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  Speaker 4: How old were you when you were at Dance.
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  Speaker 2: Conservatory seventeen eighteen?
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  Speaker 3: So wow, okay, so growing up you must have been
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  Speaker 3: a pretty active young woman.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I was always I think most little
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  Speaker 1: kids are jumping around doing stuff. I don't think I
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  Speaker 1: was that different from most kids, but yeah, I was
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  Speaker 1: doing these kinds of things. And you know, I think
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  Speaker 1: through the physical practice of yoga that really made sense
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  Speaker 1: for me to connect to that deeper sense of you know,
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  Speaker 1: who am I, what's going on? How does the world work?
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  Speaker 1: Or how can I use my energy for good? Sort
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  Speaker 1: of all of those massive feelings that we all have,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, at least for me, really have a
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  Speaker 1: hard time putting into action. You know, what do I
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  Speaker 1: do with this big feeling of energy and excitement and enthusiasm,
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  Speaker 1: and how do I sort of direct myself? And I
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  Speaker 1: think through the practice of yoga, that became a lot
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  Speaker 1: more clear. Okay, I can organize myself and do something
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  Speaker 1: and calm down and you know, just just go for it.
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  Speaker 3: It seems as though you had dreams of being a
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  Speaker 3: prima ballerina.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, not so much prima ballerina. I thought that growing up.
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  Speaker 1: But then as soon as I got to conservatory, my teacher,
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  Speaker 1: Ry Foster, who brought the yoga in, said, you're an
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  Speaker 1: incredible dancer, but don't get your hopes of about ballet.
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  Speaker 1: You don't have the turnout. And I'm thinking, what, I
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  Speaker 1: can just fake it, you know, the turnout, and he
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  Speaker 1: said no, like Our other teacher for contemporary was Eileen Cropley,
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  Speaker 1: and she's still alive and she was one of the
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  Speaker 1: original dancers with Paul Taylor. So I thought, Okay, there's
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  Speaker 1: this whole world of contemporary dance, and that felt more
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: comfortable for me anyway, just with my mood and my
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  Speaker 1: feeling and the way I love to express dance. So
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  Speaker 1: I was really kind of headed in that direction and
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  Speaker 1: continued to and it just kind of kept getting swept
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  Speaker 1: back into you know, whether I was dancing or talking
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  Speaker 1: to somebody, I was just asking everybody if they practiced yoga,
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  Speaker 1: and if they didn't, why didn't they?
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  Speaker 2: So it just literally started to.
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  Speaker 1: You know, consume more of my time and you know,
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  Speaker 1: eventually kind of take over. For sure.
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  Speaker 3: Something else you said in that whole explanation you mentioned
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  Speaker 3: that the yoga teacher just seemed so happy for no
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  Speaker 3: reason at all. And I actually think that for many
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  Speaker 3: of us, that's a feeling that we hoped for or
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: a way that we kind of wish that we could be,
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: because I don't think that's a very intuitive way for
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  Speaker 3: many to just exist in. And so for you, as
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: you started to practice yoga, did you find that you
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: were feeling that way more frequently?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely? I mean, this kind of happy for no reason.
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  Speaker 1: I think the fear at least I have, and you
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: sharing this with so many people I feel as shared
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: is well, if you're just happy for no reason, then
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: you're going to be a deadbeat or you're not going
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: to be a productive member of society. You know, what
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: about your hopes and your dreams, and I found for me,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I started to get happy for no reason, and my
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: desires and my hopes and my dreams got easier to
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: point myself in those directions instead of being panicked or
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: worried or afraid really my own judgment of myself or
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: what I thought others might perceive of me doing things,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: you know, all of those kind of stresses that kind
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: of get in our way essentially, So you know, it
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: made me happy for no reason, but it also pointed
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: me in a good direction continuously. And I noticed every
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: time I set down to practice, whether it's then or now,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: I get redirected toward Okay, don't go that way, go
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: this way, or don't be panicked about that. Put your
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: energy here, and while you're doing that, you can be
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: happy at the same time. You know, whether you get
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: there or not, it's still you know, you deserve that happiness.
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: It's so interesting just this idea that you said about
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: being a happy person and coming off is like what
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: seems is like a little bit floofy. It's like, oh, well,
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: you must not have like any legitimate goals or hopes
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: for yourself if you're just so focused on being happy.
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: But you know, why can't you do both?
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  Speaker 3: And it seems as though you started to kind of
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: carve that path for yourself. So explain to me then,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: or explain to the hurdlars then what happened in your
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: journey because you're still in dance conservatory and you're doing
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: this yoga and it seems to feel like a good fit.
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: So where do you go from there?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm kind of just again organizing it for myself, like, Okay,
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  Speaker 1: I have this thing that I can.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Continue to explore in my life for myself.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: So you know, I'm the the you know nerd that
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: reads the whole book cover to cover, looks at the back, says, oh,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: there's a place I can go for this. And I
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: go to that place in San Diego on holiday, on
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the Christmas holiday, and you know, walk around and it's
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: this kind of modern day ashrom and all these people
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: are kind of walking around and they're all you know,
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: I was young then, I.
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: Guess, like late teens, but people seemed.
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: Quite a bit older and in a different phase of life,
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: like not even thirties and forties, but in the you know,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: fifties and sixties and kind of this winding down phase
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: in life, and I'm thinking, you know, where, where is everybody?
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: You know, what's going on? So I just to kind
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: of look around. And even back then, yoga was on
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: flyers and it was seemed like it was on some
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: back room somewhere and you'd find some strange person with
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: some incense that had some secret to the universe.
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm like, where is everybody?
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: This is awesome? So I guess it was just, you know,
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: really a moment in time before yoga started to be
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: presented in a more easier way to practice really, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: whether it's in gyms or in you know, studios with
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: more instructors that weren't just some older person in the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: back of the room somewhere. So I just started going
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: to all these places, and I kind of started to
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: get the clue that, Okay, maybe people not just like me,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: but people that I know, aren't practicing because one it's
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: hard to find, but two it's kind of you know,
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: hard to understand. And the way that I'm experiencing it
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: for myself, I don't hear being taught back to me
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: in that way. It's being taught back to me in
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a very you know, I don't want to say convolution,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: but very kind of distant way. And this first teacher
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I had, it was just so simple and normal, and
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I just thought everybody was going to be.
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: Like this person.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: So I really just think it was a moment in
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: time before it kind of caught on that people realize
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: it's inside of you, it's inside of everybody. Therefore, everybody
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: can experience it, and we can have teachers that are
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: very different from each other that everybody can find their
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: own teacher that makes sense for them. So, you know,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I just felt like, oh, I just want to I
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: want my friends to know this, and really that that's
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: still how I feel all the time. You know, more
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: people do yoga, of course now than then, but there's
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: still so many more people that don't, so I think
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: I'm really just helping those people that still don't in
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: that way.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: It's so interesting to hear you talk about how different
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: practitioners may resonate with different individuals. I was in a
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: yoga class this morning, and it became apparent to me
• 14:58
  Speaker 3: as many of us haven't, you know, been in our
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: regular routines when it comes to fitness. I used to
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: take yoga classes in studio all of the time I
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: have because of the pandemic, certainly taking a step back,
• 15:10
  Speaker 3: but being back in that room and hearing her explain
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: like how to do certain poses, you realize in that moment,
• 15:17
  Speaker 3: like how important and critical like clear instruction and direction
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: is to that experience, because it can make or break
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: that moment. So for you it's like adding in, Okay,
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: I need to be able to explain and clarify, like
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: what it is that I want the other people in
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: the room to do. But then also on a personality
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: or like a real human level, it's a deeper connection,
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: which is how you bring that instruction into the room,
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: how you show up in that room, your energy in
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: that room. So many of the things which I'm sure
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: learning early on probably felt a little bit overwhelming.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, for me, yoga was overwhelming in this amazing way
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: where I felt like I was in my own spaceship.
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: I can go anywhere from here, so you know, it
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: was kind of that huge bucket of feelings and figuring out,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: oh my gosh, there's a practice for this, there's a
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: container for this. I'm in here somewhere as well, not
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: just these things to learn, but I'm part of those
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: ingredients and you know again learning that and then realizing,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of people get into a yoga
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: class or really any powerful experience, and it's really easy
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: to forget yourself and that experience to try to learn
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: about yoga and do it correctly, but forget that you're
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the one doing it correctly.
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: You're the one in there. It's about you and how
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: you feel.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: So I just started to really catch on to those
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: two aspects of I'm learning this yoga, but I'm.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Also the one learning it.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: And I think, you know, so many people that I
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: was meeting were we're learning the yoga thing, and they
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: were getting good at yoga, but they.
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: Were getting further away from themselves.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: So then I thought, oh wow, there's there's so much
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: there to explore, and not that I need to explain
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: anything to anybody, but just to share that this is
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: about you, This is about you feeling better.
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: You can go and learn this thing, but.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: Don't forget about yourself and the process, and so much
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: more will make sense to you.
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: In this part of your journey.
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: Aside from getting more into yoga, what's going on in
• 17:16
  Speaker 3: your personal life?
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, I moved to New York.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: I'm kind of doing you know what I would call
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: then to my friends, you know, pounding the pavement, you know,
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: walking around, just super excited to be in New York City.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: That was always my dream as a kid, dancing and
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: things here and there. I think my first gig was
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: being in this Matthew Barney movie and the Guggenheim and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: dancing in that along with a bunch of roquettes and
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: other professional dancers.
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: And I was doing some TV commercials.
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: I kind of fell into doing that because I was
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: very kind of physical. I didn't have a lot of
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: inhibitions about my moving around, and you know, kind of
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: got into that world a little bit.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: So I was, you know, very busy going around doing
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: lots of different things.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: But you know, the funny thing at that point, still
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: everybody that I would talk to I would ask about yoga.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: I'm saying, oh, how are you doing yoga? Yoga's amazing.
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: And whether it was a camera guy or you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: a craft service person you know that had back pain
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: or headache or whatever, I'm kind of you know, learning
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: yoga and sharing yoga with them and they feel better,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, oh, this is so fun to share
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: this thing that's not just a physical stretch or a workout.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Everybody knows, you know, if you're a runner, you should
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: also stretch when it kind of just gets lost.
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: There there's a beginning and an end. But I felt really.
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: This big expansion with sharing these simple yoga practices with
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: just regular people that I would meet, and then there'd
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: be this really easy way to connect and you know,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: I'd start making friends, or people would tell me about
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: their lost life story or whatever it was, and then
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: we'd go away and it would be fine. But I
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: just thought, this is such a great way to connect
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: with people while I was doing all of these other
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: random things to explore my passion and pay rent and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: you know, do all the things that a young person
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: does in New York or any person does in New York.
• 19:05
  Speaker 3: Really, I would imagine that at this time in the
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: pounding the pavement phase, you certainly went through your fair
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: share of hurdle moments when you were like, what am
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: I doing? How am I going to pay my rent?
• 19:17
  Speaker 3: How am I gonna keep going right now? Because you're
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: literally fueled by it seems as though just your passions.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I didn't have a nine to five
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: or a structure, and you know, I was my own boss,
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I guess, which was really amazing.
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: But also my schedule was a little bit nuts. You know.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: I would do an.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Overnight you know, Whitney Houston dance video with like Bobby Brown,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: and then in the morning I'd have a lady footlocker
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: ad and then I'd go to some dance practice and
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: then go to a yoga class or whatever it was.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: And it was sort of you know, I think also
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: just being a young, excited person, I didn't feel like
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I needed to slow down in any way because I
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: was going and chain and being excited about things, and
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: you know, I always had a place to go. In
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: this way, I always had a place I felt like
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: it belonged, even if it was just for the day.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: It's some you know, video shoot or photo shoot, or
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Working out an idea with somebody. You know, New York is.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: So special like that you can literally meet somebody in
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: a coffee shop and come up with a project together.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: You know, so especially back then before everybody was on
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: their phones. Now you can just text somebody on your
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: phone and create a project together. It's even easier, So,
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I think that was probably a challenge kind
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: of looking back. But you know, finding a balance of
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: slowing yourself down and not running yourself ragged is you know,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: that's a forever challenge I think for most people. For sure.
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: You can't just drop like I was in a Whitney
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Houston video and expect me not to ask you about
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: it or ask you about what other videos that you've
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: been in.
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, yeah, you know I did all kinds
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: of crazy stuff like that.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: The Whitney Houston video it was her and Bobby Brown.
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: My goodness, it was fine.
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: It was this video called Fine, and I think another
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: one I had, like literally the next weekend was a
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: Ricky Martin video something. But I did a lot of
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: TV commercials, a lot of music videos, a lot of.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: You know things like that.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: I guess, you know, I was super grateful to, you know,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: be able to have these gigs kind of pop up
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: here and there. You know, nothing was steady, nothing was
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I didn't expect anything, to have a five
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: year plan in that world.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: But it was really fun.
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: To meet people, to stay busy, you know, to be
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: around people doing similar things and having good energy and
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: again kind of always having this thing I could share
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: with people, which was yoga, whether you were sitting there
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: waiting for Whitney Houston to show up, you know, she
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: was always like twelve hours late, so doing yoga with
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: the other dancers in the video or the the cam
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: folks or whoever it was. You know, I kind of
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: always found a little job for myself even within all
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of these gigs. So I was definitely having.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: Good time back then.
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: You're talking about being in videos, You're talking about different
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: modeling opportunities. Even today you're on camera constantly. Can you
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: talk us through a little bit about your journey with
• 22:19
  Speaker 3: perhaps how you view your body as we all know
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: a lot of these mediums being in front of other people,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: the room for a lot of potential criticism. I'm sure
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: that there have been times where that conversation, that dialogue
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: internally has been something that you've had to work on.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I guess it's always been a part of my life.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: You know, I've been a performer since I think a
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: lot of little kids, you know, we jump off the
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: couch and we say, look at me with that that's
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: still my my somehow it's in there, you know. And
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I love this idea from a little age of just
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: being on stage and in front of people to connect
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: with people, And it didn't really make sense to me
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: until much later what was really missing from me with dance,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: And I always kind of felt like I wanted to
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: dance with the people together. So I love this idea
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: of performing, but it's not really a show.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: It's a connection thing. So I remember even explaining.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: That to my dance teacher and him saying, well, yeah, Dahtera,
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: that's why you're great for yoga, because you get to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: do this with people together.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: So I know, for you know, for myself, you know.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: It's strange to be on camera constantly and to be
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: performing constantly and doing all of these things.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: But I think the one big thing that's saved me.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Or continues to remind me to not obsess or worry
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: or panic or whatever it is, is this is a
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: connection thing for me, and it's a together project for me.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: And you know, I know when I let myself get
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: into that frame of mind, I feel better, and I
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: know that the yoga class goes better, or the project
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: goes better. You know, my inhibitions go away, and I
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: feel like that little kid again, you know, dancing on
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: stage at the local nursing home.
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: You know, for the people, just.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: Happy to be there and happy to share my knowledge
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: and skills and whatever, but just more importantly happy to
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: make a good connection because we're all on camera all
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: the time. Now it's you know, there's got to be
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: another big crisis coming with superficiality, and you know, all
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: of the things that we put on ourselves, and it's
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: it's it's all happening right now, so it's got to
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: be coming out later, all of our problems with us.
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh.
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: And I would imagine that there had been times where
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: in all of this casting processes, like someone always has
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: an opinion about something about you, and that although maybe
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: it gets to be something that you get a little
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: bit more used to with time, I would assume that
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: it was never easy to be told like, uhh.
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think kind of maybe back then, you know,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I think now I'm curious to see if it's more
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: inclusive now, if people are less dismissive, you know, because
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: it definitely was something that.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: Oh, no, get out of here, you know kind of
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: a thing.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: But the one thing where I really found my place
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: was allowing myself to dress like my mood and to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: be like myself, and I almost became, I guess, for
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: a period of time, a little cartoon version of myself,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and I think that was maybe self protection, but it
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: also saved me from trying to be like other people
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: that were maybe up for the same gigs that I
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: was up for. And I remember even at one point
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I had an agent that said, you need to make
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: your hair straighter, and where tank tops and jeans it
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: was seven jeans were cool at the moment, like yeah,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: and like heels, like Chanelle heels, and I'm thinking that's
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: I mean, i could play that part in a commercial,
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: but that's not my personality. Like I'm the kid and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: like my little brother's t shirts that are cut off,
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Like my hair's a little messy.
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I'm a little bit punk, but I'm not really a skater.
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: But I knew kind of what I was at that moment,
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: and if the job wanted that, I could get that.
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: If the job didn't want that, it wasn't for me anyway,
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: So I kind of got saved for a little while
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: at least while that was my personality, remembering, do your
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: personality dress like you actually are, be like you actually are?
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: And if that's not the thing for today, then that's.
• 26:23
  Speaker 3: Fine for anyone who's struggling with adopting that attitude or
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: that mindset. Again, this way that we've been being on
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: camera constantly, of course, the influx of social media constantly
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: being on there being able to so easily, and I
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: would say, to the detriment of many, like compare yourself
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: to other people. So for the people that are struggling
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: to just like truly accept their true selves, what advice
• 26:49
  Speaker 3: do you have for them?
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I think it's really important, you know, And again I
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: think I got lucky because I got to discover myself
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: before we saw everybody constantly. So I think it's really
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: important to take time to discover yourself, discover who.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: The heck you are.
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: You know, it sounds superficial, but what do you like
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: to wear, how do you like to do your hair?
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: What kind of fashion is interesting to you? Not just
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: popular right now? What kind of books do you like
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: to read? You know, it sounds so silly and simple,
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: but you know, it's so easy to just conform to,
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: at least right now, the person that you look up
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: to that has the most followers. And it sounds so
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: superficial to say that out loud, but if you kind
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: of look at your category and you look at the
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: person that you think is doing so great. You know,
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: it's so easy to just try to copy exactly what
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: they're doing with the best intentions, but you lose yourself
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: along the way, and yourself is obviously we all hear this,
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: but that's your your big power, you know. And every
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: kind of amazing successful person that we all love, you know,
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: at least you know the good ones that are really inspiring.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: They say that somewhere along the line in some interview
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: or some magazine. They say, when I started being myself,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: that's when everything started working. And it's not just be
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: yourself when you become a superstar. It's you know, be
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: yourself and get good at the thing you're doing and
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: share the thing in your own way. But the be
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: yourself is it's a huge ingredient, and it's impossible to
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: find if you're just looking at everybody else all day
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: long and wondering, should I do that, Should I be
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: like that person, Should I buy that shirt?
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: Whatever it is?
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe you love the shirt, but maybe you
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: don't really and you want to find yourself a new shirt.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah No, I mean I totally get it. Even yesterday
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: I met another podcast host. We're in completely different verticals.
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: She's very successful at what she does, and I'm sitting
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: there after her and I were chatting and I'm asking
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: myself like, am I doing enough? Should I be making
• 28:51
  Speaker 3: all these X y Z? Should I be doing whatever?
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 28:54
  Speaker 4: Like just so much? Should I? Should? I? Should I?
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: And then it was like stop, take a moment and
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: like on what you are doing, reflect on what makes
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: sense for you and your brand, and then proceed in
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: a way that feels true to that right instead of
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: just being like, well, this person does this, so I
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: should do this, Like that isn't serving me and getting
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: wrapped up It's kind of how we started this episode, right,
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: like getting wrapped up in the things that I can't
• 29:18
  Speaker 3: do anything about in that moment.
• 29:20
  Speaker 4: That's also not going to serve me.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: So doing that like deep dive in that gut check
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: is so it's so ridiculously critical.
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: And so fun too.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I mean, we all it seems so silly, get to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: know yourself and maybe it even seems a little bit selfish,
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: but it's it's absolutely necessary.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: I mean we're sharing ourselves literally.
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: Whatever you do, whether if you teach kindergarten, or you're
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: putting yourself as your own brand, you're still sharing yourself.
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: So it's essential to you know, to take that time
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to get to know yourself, to enjoy yourself. And you
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: know you're here for however you want to organize it
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: for a reason. You know you're not you playing the
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: part of somebody else in this life. That's, oh my gosh,
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: so stressful.
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to give some love
• 30:11
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  Speaker 3: Trust me, you will not regret it. What happens after
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: the pounding the pavement phase, Oh my gosh.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, yoga was starting to get a little
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: bit more. Maybe I was just finding more things. And
• 33:26
  Speaker 1: actually I did this ad for crunch Gym. It was
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: a yoga ad, but it was like a nail polish
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: was pedicure tammy or whatever.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: It was a silly thing, you know.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: They were doing all of these kind of like I
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: think they were still stuck in the nineties. It was
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: like this pop art kind of an angle, you know.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: And I just said, on the shoot for that, oh,
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: can I along with the payment get a gym membership?
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I'd love to go and see if there's
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: any yoga class in your chip.
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: So I went and somehow I got so lucky.
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: There was about five amazing yoga teachers there and they
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: were so nice, and they were just like this person
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: that I had studied with before. And they were all
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: teaching different styles, you know. This one guy's name was
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: John c. And he was so nice to me, and he.
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: Always just said, you know, keep going, keep doing your thing.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: He just gave me this personal encouragement that a yoga
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: teacher never did before. You know, usually the yoga teacher
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: sits in the front of the room and then they
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: leave and you never had you never going to go
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: talk to that person. That person is like whoa you
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: know up there. So I was kind of open into
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: this whole new world of going to the gym and
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: taking these classes from these awesome people. And little by
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: little they started to invite me to their studios and
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: I said, what do you mean studio.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: You know there's studios. So John C.
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: And Michael Lee and Amy and Pohlady was there and
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Amy said, I'm doing a yoga teacher training and I said, what.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: The heck is that?
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: And she made a flyer and she said, here's the
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: flyer and she said, well, I do this for a job.
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: And I'm thinking this is incredible, you know. And she
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: I had a little scooter and a BlackBerry and she
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: was taking her scooter around town teaching private classes to
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: you know, bankers and you know, TV hosts or whatever.
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: And she said, you should come to my yoga teacher
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: training program. So I'm thinking, okay, sure, fine, let's do it.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: So I did that. And even in.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: That, you know, everybody in that program was still twenty
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: thirty years older than me, in a completely different phase
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: of life.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: And I'm there and I'm thinking, well, this is.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Cool, but I don't I don't have time at least
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: in my current vision of things, to you know, commit
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: to teaching a yoga class every single night. For the
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: rest of my life at eight pm on Monday night
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: or whatever. That just seemed horrifying. You know, I can't
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: do that. But I love learning this and I loved her.
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: I love how she presented herself. So I thought, Okay, well,
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: here's one example of a person in the world doing this.
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: And I just kind of left that in the back
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: of my mind and kept proceeding, you know, in my
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: other life. But it kind of started to get in
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: there a little bit of while people are doing this
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: for a job in their own way and having fun
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: and enjoying themselves.
• 36:08
  Speaker 3: I love the reference to like first name, last initial,
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: like that is the most like fitness, like planning, Oh
• 36:15
  Speaker 3: are you going to John C's class on Tuesday, because
• 36:18
  Speaker 3: it's never John, because there could be two John's, so
• 36:21
  Speaker 3: John see.
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: And I also love the reference to Amy having a scooter.
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: It's like back then that was the thing that was
• 36:27
  Speaker 3: the sign that she had made it with her scooter. Today,
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: I feel like you see people on the scooters like
• 36:33
  Speaker 3: bopping around all the time here, which is hilarious because
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: when you go to the other cities and they have
• 36:37
  Speaker 3: like the bird scooters and the lifts scooters and that's
• 36:40
  Speaker 3: like more normal, but here, like people buy their own
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: scooter just to get around and have some sort of
• 36:46
  Speaker 3: a status symbol.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was a thing. And I remember asking her
• 36:50
  Speaker 2: what do you do with your day?
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: And she would say, well, I have at five am
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: a client, And I'm like, what's a client? She would
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: say something. You know, she'd go over to this person's
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: house and teach them yoga, and you know, she would
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: do a few of those, and then she had a
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: class at the gym, and then she had this group
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: of us doing this training. So we were kind of
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: bopping around a different space as she was renting and
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: she was kind of doing this and she was just
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: very open and telling me how she spent her time.
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: I just thought it.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Was interesting and I didn't know of anybody else doing that.
• 37:21
  Speaker 3: So the yoga teacher training program is obviously super intensive.
• 37:25
  Speaker 3: It's beyond just doing yoga, it's so much more. During
• 37:28
  Speaker 3: that time, do you reflect on any maybe the biggest
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: lessons you learned about yourself as you really got into
• 37:34
  Speaker 3: the thick of that.
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I feel like I was so much younger
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: than everybody else that it was hard for me to
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: compare in a way and to have the same moments
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: that the other people were having. So I remember just
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: kind of sitting around taking it all in, and you know,
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: the physicality part for me seemed obvious because of my
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: dance background, but the emotional component was seeing everybody else
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: go through their life story and how they came to yoga.
• 38:04
  Speaker 2: Just observing that was super fascinating.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: You know. I felt like I wanted to find a
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: few more people that were my age getting into this,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: but I couldn't find them yet because I just just
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: weren't around in this particular course.
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: But I just thought, Okay, there's a whole world of.
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: Emotional stuff and I haven't experienced those things yet, but
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: I want to have this yoga thing with me when
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: they come.
• 38:31
  Speaker 3: So interesting that you say that, because that's certainly like
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: a moment to be wise beyond your years. When I
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: look back now, I mean, I'm thirty three. When I
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: look back at my earliest years in New York, I
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: think I got here when I was twenty three and
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: not having that deep understanding, like I knew obviously that
• 38:47
  Speaker 3: there was so much more life to live, and.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: I had so many lessons to learn and all the things, but.
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: To be able to have that perspective and be like,
• 38:54
  Speaker 3: I'm going to learn so much in this time period,
• 38:57
  Speaker 3: and I want to be able to best prepare myself
• 39:00
  Speaker 3: and go into that phase with like this wealth of
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: opportunity and knowledge and like excitement.
• 39:06
  Speaker 4: It's just kind of cool.
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: You seem to be doing just fine.
• 39:12
  Speaker 4: But kinda cool.
• 39:12
  Speaker 3: Okay, you go through the teacher training, you have a certification,
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: and when do you decide are and I'm going to
• 39:20
  Speaker 3: actually really really run and do something with this.
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: Never just I'm still deciding. I think I just kind
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: of put it away and just kept, you know, talking.
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: It didn't really seem like a beginning, middle, and end either.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: It was just another thing, another yoga thing. And you know,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: Amy was so nice, and she's still so nice. She
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: invited me and a bunch of people over to this
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: place she was staying in Long Island for some retreat,
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: and you know, things just kind of kept going on
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: and on, and I thought, well, this is cool, but
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: I don't have time again to try to do this
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: for myself. Everybody else kind of was starting to teach
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: and do it more for real, you know, as a career,
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: it was still more of a life thing. But you know,
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: I think something happened, you know, just as I was
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: talking to more people in my age group.
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: Really they weren't they weren't going to the studios. At
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: that point.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: It seemed to just be the older you know, thirties
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: and forties crew that would go like after some problems
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: happened in life, and this was sort of the solution.
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: And I'm thinking, well, we have problems too.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: We need to get in there, you know. So I
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: just started to lead, and I did it in a
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: silly way, I think because I was I wasn't taking
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: myself seriously at all. I didn't feel, you.
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: Know, qualified from an age perspective.
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: I think because everybody had all of this life experience
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: and they were leading these classes, and they were telling
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: stories before the classes start about their lives. And I'm thinking,
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: I don't have any stories to tell yet that I
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: want to share with doctors and lawyers and smart people,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: you know. But I know how to lead a yoga class,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: you know, for my dance background and also from this training,
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: and I know how to take people through that safely.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: And I wonder what would happen if I don't share
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: my own life story And I just do the class
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: and see what happened. So I made this ridiculous sign.
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: I went to like Mood Fabrics and sewed this sign
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that said free yoga, and I went to the park
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Central Park and I just stuck it in the ground
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: and I just started doing yoga and a few people
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: would come, and I just led a yoga class, and
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: people would hang out afterwards and say, oh my gosh,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: I feel better, I feel awesome, and they would start
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: to tell me their life story after and my life
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: story never came into it at all. And I think
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: that's what I was kind of looking for. I wasn't
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: looking to come in as this wise person with all
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: of these you know, poetry readings and lessons in every class.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: I needed to have this big theme around it. I
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: just wanted to share the practice in the simple way
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: and see what happened. So I guess that kind of
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: became a laboratory because more people started to come, fall
• 41:58
  Speaker 1: started to happen. We needed to find an indoor space.
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: The group wanted to keep going, and I said, okay, fine,
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: so started a tiny studio in my then at the
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: time boyfriend's apartment and more people started coming, and you know,
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: it just it just started taking up more of my time.
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: It was still a hobby. It was still you know,
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: a nighttime thing. We had one class a week, and
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: then it was can you can you do something on
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: Tuesday nights? Can you do something on Wednesday nights? And
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, fine, you know, so it just
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: started becoming more and more.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: You know, eventually we had to move out of the apartment.
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: You know, the other tenant started saying, you can't have
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: a yoga studio here. That's weird, and like, you're right,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: it's not cool. Sorry, everybody was nice, but you know,
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: they noticed the sign on the door, so like yoga
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: on the fifth floor. So actually we eventually moved into
• 42:48
  Speaker 1: the Crunch Gym space. It became an abandoned building and
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: I remember that space being amazing on Broadway and Houston,
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: and I just walked by and there was a sign
• 43:00
  Speaker 1: for lease, and I just said, can I least just
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: that yoga room. You know.
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: The rest of the.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: Building had like weeds coming up to the cracks. It
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: was completely abandoned. It's probably a Chase Bank right now.
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: But I just remember, like for six months we had
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: that room and everybody thinking, well, this used to be
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: the Crunch Gym yoga room.
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: And then we got a you know, a legit space.
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: So what a full circle moment though, like going back
• 43:20
  Speaker 3: to Crunch and getting that space for you.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: I'm still looking for John C. You know, I wish
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: they put the last names.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: I want to send them a thank you, but you know,
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: I'm googling John C.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: Yoga, crunch Gym, you know, oh yeah, but nothing.
• 43:33
  Speaker 3: I feel like there's got to be someone listening to
• 43:35
  Speaker 3: this podcast that has a connection to John C somewhere.
• 43:38
  Speaker 3: So if anyone knows that John C from about what
• 43:41
  Speaker 3: is this like fifteen twenty years ago?
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, this was like two thousand and two. I was
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: in a PT Cruiser commercial.
• 43:46
  Speaker 4: He was years ago.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: I was a commercial girl.
• 43:49
  Speaker 1: Like.
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: He was just so nice to me. He really encouraged
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: me as well.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: The references on this podcast the PT Cruiser. Do they
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: still make PT Cruisers?
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: They're still around.
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: I don't know if they make new ones.
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: The old ones are still around.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, they used to look so funny. Anyway, Okay, okay,
• 44:06
  Speaker 4: we're looking for John C.
• 44:08
  Speaker 3: If anyone knows where we can find them, thank you,
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: please please hit up Tara personally, so then you're teaching
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: yoga at this crunch space. Also, like how intimidating but
• 44:19
  Speaker 3: also beautiful. You taking on like a commercial lease in
• 44:22
  Speaker 3: New York City.
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: Well, that didn't happen until I was pretty sure that
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do this, because at that point, okay,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: you need to actually commit to doing this, and you
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: need to show that you can pay for it, which
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: is a whole.
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: Other thing and actually wanting to do it.
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: So you know, I definitely waited until things were happening
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: and like people were coming and I could save the
• 44:46
  Speaker 1: money and you know, pay the landlord and all of
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: these things. And also the landlord he didn't want us
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: at all, but he loved celebrities and it was the
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: easiest thing.
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: At that point.
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: I had met you know, Deepak Choper and Jane Fond
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: and I could name drop a little bit. And he
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: literally just show him pictures on my phone of me
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: with these people and he gave me the lease.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, was this thing.
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: I still had to pay for it, but he didn't
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: want a sinky yoga studio in his building.
• 45:11
  Speaker 3: So a stinky yoga studio, and I mean the good
• 45:14
  Speaker 3: thing about a yoga studio aside from like the electric bill,
• 45:17
  Speaker 3: is that relatively it has a low overhead cost.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's It was pretty simple. And another good friend
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: of ours, Adam Gordon, who's a kind of a beautiful
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: space creator builder guy, he did all the design and
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: back then it was pre Instagram, so you didn't need
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: to have like a neon sign and a plant wall.
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: It was just an open space with a beautiful changing
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: wall that you know, boys on one side, girls on
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: the other. You know, nice bathroom whoever wanted to use
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: the bathroom, and you know, good sound system.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: And that was it so simple.
• 45:49
  Speaker 3: In that process, though, I'm sure you had moments where
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: perhaps like imposter syndrome crept in, you were like, am
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: I really doing this?
• 45:57
  Speaker 4: Am I really opening the space? Am I really going
• 45:59
  Speaker 4: to take on this lead?
• 46:00
  Speaker 3: So how did you silence that little voice in your
• 46:03
  Speaker 3: head that sometimes would creep in?
• 46:04
  Speaker 4: I'm sure with a little bit of doubt.
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: You know a lot of people are like, what are
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: you doing? Like you can't open a yoga studio, and
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking I just did.
• 46:12
  Speaker 2: I'll see what happens.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: No, But I think I at that point I was
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: so excited that I just wanted to share the class again,
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: without the story, without the roomy poem, without a lot.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: Of the bells and whistles that I.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: Saw work for a lot of people. But people that
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: I was identifying with were kind of the people that
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: weren't doing yoga yet. So enough of them were coming
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: and being like, yes, this works for us. I love
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: not being pushed into poses. I love a non rigid approach.
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: I love, you know, being able to be myself in this.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: And there was enough of us kind of doing that
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: to sustain everything. But so many of my you know,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: actual yoga friends from back in the trainings and the
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: day would say, what do you what are you doing?
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: You know, are you what lineage are you teaching? And
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: you know who's your guru?
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: And you know, I don't know if this is appropriate,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: and I'm just like, bah, I'm just going to go
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: over here, you know. And eventually they all kind of
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: came around and said, oh, I get it. You're presenting
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: this in a different way. And you know, I knew
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: enough about authenticity to know that I had to be myself.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: If I wanted to teach in their way, it wouldn't
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: work for me. I couldn't tell my life story. I
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: didn't have enough of a life story. I couldn't pick
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: out a roomy poem that related to the season of
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: the year.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: It just I wasn't going to do that as good
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: as they were going to do that, and their people
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: were going to connect to that. So I knew what
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: I was doing was helping people that were coming. So
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: for me, that was enough to keep myself moving toward that,
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: even though it still makes me really nervous because I
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: know people are like, you need sunscrew it, you need this,
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: you need this.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: And and I just for what I'm doing, I.
• 47:52
  Speaker 3: Don't When did you feel as though you were truly established,
• 47:57
  Speaker 3: not just in that space, but as I would argue,
• 48:01
  Speaker 3: a thought leader in your industry.
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, so this, you know, act of God happened, which
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: was ridiculous, which was Lisette Alvarez, who was the bureau
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: chief for the a bureau chief of the New York Times,
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: came and this was you know, there was no profiles
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: being done, at least that I knew about. And I
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: was a subscriber, and she said, I have this column,
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: it's called Stretch. I review all the local yoga studios.
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: And I'm like, oh, don't say anything. Mean about me
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: because enough people already do, and like it's really hurting
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: my feelings and whatever.
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: I just kind of let it go.
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: And so she came and she kept coming back and
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: coming back, and I remember like giving her a copy
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: of my couple books at the time, and she says, no, no,
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: you can't give me anything.
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: I'm a journalist.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: She would pay for class the whole thing. She called
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: my mom, she called Deepak, she called Jane. She asked
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: to come over to my apartment. And I'm thinking, this
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: is going to be the worst case for me ever,
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: this is going to be the detriment of anything that
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: I want to do, and I'm going to have to
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: move back home with my parents in the basement. So
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: she kept coming and then she called me the night
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: before the article was coming out, and she said, just
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: to let you know, this isn't for the stretch column.
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: This is the cover of the Metro section. It's like
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: a five page thing on you. Yeah, And then she
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: read it to me out loud, and the first couple
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: paragraphs were like three bloggers that were mad that I
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: don't teach Sanskrit in my classes. But then the rest
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: of the thing was about how I was helping people
• 49:26
  Speaker 1: with yoga and feel better and doing it in this
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: different way, all of this stuff, and you know, I
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: hung up the phone with her and I was shaking.
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: And then Deepak called me and he said, you know,
• 49:37
  Speaker 2: tomorrow is going.
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: To be a big day for you. You know, and you
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: know I knew him. We were doing stuff together, and
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: he was always like such a good, you know, role model,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: like uncle figure for me.
• 49:48
  Speaker 2: He would always say, do this, go here, don't do that,
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: you know, very great to me and gracious to me.
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: So I knew something was happening.
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: So I was just full on terrified, and you know,
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: opened up my door the next morning the paper was there.
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: I'm on the cover of it that day in class,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: like all the and this was a different time. This
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: was twenty ten, so like TV cameras were outside, you know,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: stuff I don't think happens now when you have a
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: profile in something. But because of that time, all of
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: these other things just started to happen really fast, and
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: it was really nerve wrecking because I thought, Okay, I'm
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: not ready for this big press, this big opportunity. I'm
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: just I just feel like a kid still shuffling around
• 50:28
  Speaker 1: in my sweatpants, you know, doing my thing. But you know,
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: she called me and she said, you know, are you okay?
• 50:36
  Speaker 1: And I just thank you so much. You're an angel
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: to me in some way. But this is still just
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: completely you know, making me panic. But it opened up
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: a whole new world and led to so many things
• 50:49
  Speaker 1: happening quickly, and then you know, I needed to just
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: actually slow down so I could pick and choose and
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: navigate and not make mistakes, you know, because before if
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: I made a mistake, it didn't matter. Now I made
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: a mistake, and you know more people were watching.
• 51:04
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 51:04
  Speaker 3: Wow, And I believe is that when she called you
• 51:07
  Speaker 3: a yoga rebel.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that was the title of the article, which you know,
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: which became what everybody referred to me even now. And
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: you know so many people have used that for their
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: own businesses. I think there's like a company called yoga Rebel.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: You know, there's rebel, this rebel that you know. I
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: don't think rebels a new word. But I was really nervous.
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: I thought labeling me the yoga rebel people would think
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: I'm rolling in on a Harley, you know, got my
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: whips and chains and drinking whiskey or whatever. The way
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: that she presented it was like, she's just doing it
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: in a way that's you know, makes sense for her,
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: and that was rebellious, and I thought, okay, if that's okay,
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: then that's okay.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: So yeah, it did change everything for me.
• 51:50
  Speaker 3: I love that idea doing something in a way that
• 51:52
  Speaker 3: makes sense for you, and in doing that it could
• 51:55
  Speaker 3: be seen as rebellious, but like, how brave as well
• 51:59
  Speaker 3: right for you to stand by the way that felt
• 52:04
  Speaker 3: just truly authentic to who you are in a time
• 52:06
  Speaker 3: where you said the first you even reference the first
• 52:08
  Speaker 3: three paragraphs of that article, people criticizing you, criticisms coming
• 52:12
  Speaker 3: in left and right, but being able to stay firm
• 52:14
  Speaker 3: in your stance and firm and who you are, that's
• 52:16
  Speaker 3: really special.
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: I guess. I mean, I felt like I was so
• 52:20
  Speaker 1: benefited and still am and just constantly from yoga. And
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: you know, if somebody wants to do yoga in a
• 52:28
  Speaker 1: way that someone else is offering, they don't need me.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: Nobody needs me.
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: But I could connect with somebody that connects with it
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: in a way that I connect with it. And if
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: I can help that person connect to themselves, that's always
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: motivating me. And you know, I felt like that was
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: that is bigger than just me wanting to do yoga
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: and feel better. I know that I can kind of
• 52:50
  Speaker 1: see somebody and say, oh, I think I can help
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: you with this, and then I can go away. You
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: can kind of do it on your own, or keep
• 52:55
  Speaker 1: doing it with me, or it doesn't really matter.
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: But I think that's always kept me moving.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: It's like I have to do this because I know
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: I can do something maybe useful.
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: How have you managed to navigate those criticisms? Are the
• 53:14
  Speaker 3: or you know, the conflicting opinions. Life is so much
• 53:17
  Speaker 3: different now than when you had the space that was
• 53:19
  Speaker 3: the old crunch gym. Now you've got, you know, one
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: hundred and twenty five thousand plus people following you on
• 53:24
  Speaker 3: social media. That's not even considering your YouTube following, which
• 53:28
  Speaker 3: is massive. So how do you kind of silence the
• 53:31
  Speaker 3: haters so to speak in the day to day now?
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: Well, now I don't know about it, if it's happening now.
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: I mean, back then, it was sort of I was
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: doing this thing and everybody else was doing something else.
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: But I also kind of knew that what I was.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: Doing wasn't harming anybody, And I also felt I mean,
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: this is going to sound mean, but I saw the
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: harm other yoga was doing. It wasn't their leaders weren't
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: in jail yet, but I saw them doing the bad things,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: and I would say something and say, you shouldn't be
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: pushing that person into position. You shouldn't be, you know,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: dating that student who's nineteen and you're sixty five, you know.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: And I was told to be quiet, you know.
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: And all of this stuff is coming out now and
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: it still repeats. You know, it can have a new whatever.
• 54:14
  Speaker 1: But I felt very emboldened to say you can. You
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: can say whatever you want about me, and I'm not
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: going to turn around and say things about you. But
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: I already have said something about your system. But I'm
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: going to focus everything I know about the harm that
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: that causes on the good that I want to be
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: a part of and a change I want to be
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: a part of.
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: I don't want yoga to be rigid.
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: I want it to be easy, and I want it
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: to be something that everybody can feel connected to because
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: it is inside.
• 54:40
  Speaker 2: And for so.
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Long, leaders of yoga and all kinds of powerful systems
• 54:45
  Speaker 1: have held on to that power and abused people that
• 54:48
  Speaker 1: are vulnerable and I think that that's made me have
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: an armor against criticism because I know that it's not true.
• 54:56
  Speaker 2: I know that it's wrong, and you know, people can
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: say things.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: It doesn't have anything to it when you know what
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: you're doing is is you know, is doing no harm,
• 55:06
  Speaker 1: is causing some good.
• 55:08
  Speaker 4: How has that transition been for you?
• 55:10
  Speaker 3: I mean, of course we can reference the past, like
• 55:13
  Speaker 3: sixteen eighteen months of the pandemic, but beyond that, this
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: transition to teaching in a virtual capacity versus doing so
• 55:23
  Speaker 3: much in person like you had started out.
• 55:26
  Speaker 2: I started making videos on YouTube.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: When I found out what YouTube was, I said, okay,
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: I can do this with my laptop. And you know,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: back then, there wasn't very many people doing it, so
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: it was easy, and it also wasn't something that I understood.
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: When videos started getting a lot of views and a
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: lot of comments, I just thought it was my mom,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: you know, clicking on you.
• 55:46
  Speaker 2: I had no idea.
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: So when I opened the space and people would come
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: from different places around the world and they say, I
• 55:52
  Speaker 1: did a video with you on YouTube, I was just
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: starting to figure out the people in the computer were
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: also the people in real life. So I started to
• 56:01
  Speaker 1: have an easy understanding for myself that online is great,
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: in person is awesome, and if you can't reach someone
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: in person, you might be able to reach them online.
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: And you know, these all can exist together happily.
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: So you know, I had the YouTube and that was cool,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: and I think when in person started getting really busy,
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: I just said, I I don't want to make YouTube
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: videos anymore. This is more fun.
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: And you know, when the in person started to get
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: more full.
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: With you know, traveling and things like this, I would
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: meet people and they would say, well, I'd love to
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: do a course with you online. So we figured out
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: how to do that, and it just kind of became something.
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: If I couldn't be with somebody, and it didn't seem
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: like this was good and this was bad. It kind
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: of always existed together. So you know, I've had in
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: some capacity and online and in person life kind of
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: for a long time. I guess since two thousand and
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: six or something.
• 56:53
  Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: But but yeah, now right now everything is online and
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: we have online classes every day through our app, and
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: we've had that for a while, so that's really nice.
• 57:04
  Speaker 1: But I think for me, the timing just seems so
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: amazing that the live element is new. I remember in
• 57:12
  Speaker 1: the studio in twenty ten thinking and talking to some
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: of the instructors there saying, wouldn't it be cool if
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: we could do have a camera and broadcast it around
• 57:21
  Speaker 1: the world, But it would you'd have to be like
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: ABC News to do that. Back then, it would have
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: to be like a live sports match. You know, you'd
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: need hundreds of thousands of dollars, when now all you
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: need is a camera. Any any camera will do. So,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: you know, now it's kind of amazing because we have
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: live class every day online, which I love because I
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: love It's not that I love the in person although
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: that's great too, But for me, it comes back to
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: that connection. So I can make a video put it
• 57:49
  Speaker 1: up and that's great too, and we have hundreds of
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: those from over the years. We continue to do those,
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: but the live connection is it is really new.
• 57:58
  Speaker 2: So that's something I'm great before right now.
• 58:01
  Speaker 4: And the live class is on the app.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, on the app every day? Yeah?
• 58:04
  Speaker 4: Got it? Okay?
• 58:05
  Speaker 3: And just for anyone that's interested in getting in on
• 58:08
  Speaker 3: the app, is it a monthly subscription annual subscription?
• 58:11
  Speaker 4: How does that work?
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah? You can do both.
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: So I think for me, I've always wanted to make
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: it as easy as possible for anyone. So you can
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: do a monthly subscription or an annual you can drop
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: into our workshop. So I kind of think about it
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: just like a regular in person studio. So however it
• 58:28
  Speaker 1: works for you can work.
• 58:30
  Speaker 4: I love that. I love that. Okay.
• 58:32
  Speaker 3: So I mean these days, as I mentioned before, a
• 58:35
  Speaker 3: hell of a lot of people following you on social
• 58:37
  Speaker 3: they see not only a yogi, but a businesswoman, mother wife.
• 58:43
  Speaker 3: For you, when you look in the mirror, what is
• 58:45
  Speaker 3: it that you see looking back at you?
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, somebody with really long hair that' sees a haircut.
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: Oh man, you know, I'm just I'm grateful. I'm just
• 58:59
  Speaker 1: so happy that I get to do all of this
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: literally every day. I mean, the things that I spend
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: my time doing are the things that I love. And
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: I don't take that for granted. I didn't think that
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: that would happen for me either. I thought that I
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: would dance for a little while, or maybe even do
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: yoga for a little while, and then at some point,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: you know, hopefully get a job. But I have, you know,
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: no job qualification or skills to do to offer, but
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: figure out something you know, I thought, you know, maybe
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: I was blogging, maybe I could work as a feature
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: writer or something like that. You know, it was kind
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: of always dipping my toe into to see if I could,
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: you know, have a backup plan like that.
• 59:34
  Speaker 2: But you know, for me, getting to do this is
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: really the reward.
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: Getting to spend my day doing exactly what I love
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: to do and have time to rest, have time to
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: hang out with my family, have time to practice with people.
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: You know, that's awesome, and I think I don't take
• 59:53
  Speaker 1: that for granted. I know that's not everybody's life, and
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: that's just pure luck in so many ways for me,
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: and just.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: I feel so happy for no reason really.
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: I mean, I have goals and all of that, as
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: people I want to work with and things I'd love
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: to do, and you know, all of these things, but
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 1: I've done so much of it already, and you know,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: it does really come back to that. Every single day
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 1: I get to spend my time doing the things that
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: I love to do and being with people that I love,
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: and that's really awesome.
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 4: What do you see as the next phase for you?
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I mean, I I'm so grateful for learning
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: about phases from Jamie Redford. Robert Redford's son used to
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: come to the studio. He's passed away last year, and
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: that's we went to Sundance and started doing a lot
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: of things in Utah with them, and his sister sat
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: down and explained to me that life is chapters. And
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking this is amazing because I remember telling her, Okay,
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: we're living in Utah now for a little bit and
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: then we'll go back to New York and we'll do this,
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: and she said, take it one step time, okay. So
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: I thought, Okay, this is amazing. So actually, right now
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: we're in Illinois. We got this house to be close
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: to family for a little bit, which seems really odd
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: for a lot of my friends in New York, like,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: what are you doing. You're in the middle of Illinois.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 2: So I think being here for a while, and you know,
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 2: when things are.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 1: Kind of opening up in a really big way for us,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: it needs to be fully back to no virus completely
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: for us to do what we do, because we go
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: to Berlin and France and all over America and we
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: bring people from like fifteen countries together, which is the
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: best case scenario for even getting a cold. Everybody would
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: always leave with a cold after the end of something,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: so you know that needs to go back to you know,
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: no virus for us to do that, but you know,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: traveling again when that's possible, and you know, being with
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: people here. I love the idea of you know, kind
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: of giving classes at the local community center, helping people
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: that have you know, disease and sickness, things like that.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 2: So kind of going back to just the simple list
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: of things.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 1: You know, I've had a lot of what can look
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: like glamorous things happen to me or that I've got
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: to be a part of. But I think it's a
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: simple phase, at least for right now. Kind of sharing
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: yoga with the guys that deliver the couch in between
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: the online classes.
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 4: I love that. I love that, Tara. I'm so grateful
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 4: for you.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 3: Right now, as we wind down the final question, you
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 3: have an opportunity to offer yourself one piece of advice.
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 3: I'm going to say, when you really were getting started
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 3: at with this yoga journey, finding out what teacher training is,
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 3: trying to figure out how to manage that pounding the
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 3: pavement chapter of your life, you have an opportunity, looking
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 3: back on it, to offer that young woman one piece
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 3: of advice, What do you tell her?
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, I would tell her to slow down
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: and trust yourself.
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 4: That's it.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 2: That's it.
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, too much information would make a whole butterfly effect.
• 1:02:58
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 4: Well, thank you so much for your time today. I
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 4: really appreciate it. How can the hurdlers follow along with you?
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 4: How can they keep up with you? Give me all
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 4: the details?
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: Oh gosh, I mean now, the internet makes that super easy.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: So I'm Terra Styles. You can find me at terrastyles
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 1: dot com.
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 2: Stralla yoga dot com is all of the yoga.
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: We have guides everywhere all around the world, teaching and
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: partner studios. You can practice with any of our friends
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: and guides. I have live class every day on the
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: Stralla Yoga app.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 2: Come find me anywhere amazing.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 3: I'm over at Emily a Body and at Hurdle Podcast
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 3: Another Hurdle Conquered.
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 4: Catch you guys next time.