Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 129. Briohny Smyth, Yoga Teacher

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129. Briohny Smyth, Yoga Teacher · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hurdles in life. There they're the things that really force
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: you to grow. And if you can get through something
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  Speaker 1: challenging by being aware, by being present, making the best
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  Speaker 1: choices you can possibly make, even if you fail, you
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  Speaker 1: will learn.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Hurdler's Emily and Bodi here bringing you Episode one
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  Speaker 2: twenty nine of Hurdle, a wellness focused podcast where I
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  Speaker 2: sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about everything from
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  Speaker 2: their big wins to how they've gotten through some of
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  Speaker 2: life's toughest moments. On the show, you can expect vulnerability, motivation,
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  Speaker 2: and candid discussions with everyone from top athletes to aspiring
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  Speaker 2: entrepreneurs on what it really takes to follow your passions.
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  Speaker 2: My mission is simple to inspire you to be your
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  Speaker 2: best self, move with intention, and have some fun along
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  Speaker 2: the way. Y'all, I have some big news. I've been
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  Speaker 2: having a lot of fun along the way because Hurdle
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  Speaker 2: is officially at two million downloads. Wow, I'm not gonna lie.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: I definitely was crying before I recorded this intro for
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  Speaker 2: this week's episode. I am my mind is blown. I'm
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  Speaker 2: so full of gratitude and so appreciative of the journey
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  Speaker 2: and all of you. Without all of you, this would
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  Speaker 2: not be possible. So from the bottom of my heart,
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  Speaker 2: thank you so much for being a hurdler, for being
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  Speaker 2: a part of this community, for coming back week after
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  Speaker 2: week and giving me some of your time. Really, I
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  Speaker 2: can't even articulate how much it means to me. On
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  Speaker 2: that note, today's episode, Brioni smythe yoga teacher extraordinary Alo
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  Speaker 2: moves instructor and Wow. Let me tell you, this woman
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  Speaker 2: has a story. She moved to Thailand at a young
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  Speaker 2: age and actually became a pop star, making ten albums
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  Speaker 2: over ten years. All of the NonStop recording and touring.
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  Speaker 2: It took a huge toll on her well being and
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  Speaker 2: she shares openly about her experience using drugs and partying
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  Speaker 2: and with battling and eating disorder. She says that it
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  Speaker 2: was a really dark time for her and at fifteen,
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  Speaker 2: she was approached to host a travel show which took
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  Speaker 2: her to India and that is where she first did yoga.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, the rest is history. She says that it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't until the birth of her daughter at twenty one
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  Speaker 2: that she was able to really embrace a much healthier,
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  Speaker 2: holistic lifestyle. And what I love about Bri is that
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  Speaker 2: she's not only open, but she's also honest and understanding
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  Speaker 2: that the journey is what got her to where she
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  Speaker 2: is today. And man, I think we can all relate
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: to that about having these hurdle moments that at the
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  Speaker 2: time feel so monstrous and difficult and trying, but coming
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  Speaker 2: out on the other side of that for her and
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  Speaker 2: finding this life now living in Los Angeles, she is
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  Speaker 2: truly on the path that she is supposed to be on.
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  Speaker 2: As I mentioned, we do chat about some sensitive topics
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  Speaker 2: in today's episode, So if you two are struggling with
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  Speaker 2: any of the stuff that we're talking about, I want
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  Speaker 2: you to know that A you are not alone and
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  Speaker 2: be there is help out there for you. I'm going
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: to put some helpful links in the show notes. Before
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  Speaker 2: we get into the swing of things today, I do
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  Speaker 2: want to take a moment to say thank you to
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  Speaker 2: my sponsor Beam. If you've never heard of Beam, you
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  Speaker 2: Hurdle podcast and I am over. Also at Emily a Body.
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  Speaker 2: If you have a Hurdle moment of your own to
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  Speaker 2: The link to subscribe is in the show notes. And
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  Speaker 2: last but not least, I would love for you to
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  Speaker 2: this time around a support the Children's Defense Fund, which
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  Speaker 2: notes as well, so please consider joining us this time around,
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  Speaker 2: showing up for a good cause and doing some good again.
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: Thank you, all of you. You make me feel whole
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: and that's pretty great. With that, let's get to hurdling today.
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  Speaker 2: I am sitting down with Brioni smythe As. She is
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  Speaker 2: a yoga instructor. She's also a leading fitness instructor at
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  Speaker 2: Alo Moves. How are you doing today?
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  Speaker 1: I'm great? How are you, Emily?
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  Speaker 2: I'm so good? I've been looking forward to this. You
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  Speaker 2: are currently living where I'm living in Los Angeles. I
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  Speaker 2: used to travel quite a lot, but you know now
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  Speaker 2: I'm a bit more grounded. I'm still traveling because I
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  Speaker 2: have a long distance relationship, which is quite fulfilling.
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  Speaker 1: But I'm in LA. Long story short.
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  Speaker 2: That must be pretty tough right now, considering everything that's
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  Speaker 2: going on.
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  Speaker 1: You know it, it was for the first four months
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  Speaker 1: of the you know, new life we're in. But we've
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  Speaker 1: figured out a way to manage seeing each other. And
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: distance makes the heart grow fonder, So you know, four
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: months of not seeing each other could go either way.
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  Speaker 1: We overcame that hurdle and we're closer.
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  Speaker 2: I love that mindset that you have on that. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: so you're in LA right now. You haven't always been there.
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  Speaker 2: Talk to me about growing up because I know that
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  Speaker 2: you are originally from the LA area.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yeah, I mean, I think in my heart I am.
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  Speaker 1: I actually was born in Sydney, Australia. My dad's a
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  Speaker 1: Nausie and left there when I was three. That's why
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  Speaker 1: I sound American. I moved here. I still have the
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  Speaker 1: AUSSI passport and not even an American passport.
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  Speaker 2: Wow.
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  Speaker 1: But yeah, I left here then when I was eleven,
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  Speaker 1: and I moved to Asia, to Thailand specifically, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: that was my home for about ten years. I became
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  Speaker 1: a pop star there and traveled all of Southeast Asia, Japan.
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  Speaker 1: Then I was in London for UNI and came back
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  Speaker 1: to the US late to like two thousand and seven
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  Speaker 1: or so, and I've been here since.
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  Speaker 2: What a casual I was a pop star there. Drop
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  Speaker 2: just like a fun fact about me is that I
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  Speaker 2: was a pop star over in Asia.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's fun to drop that one. I still play
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  Speaker 1: with ways to bring it up if needed.
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  Speaker 2: You know, did you have a vested interest in music
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  Speaker 2: and singing when you were younger and it just kind
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  Speaker 2: of happened or give me some backstory here? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: My, You know, my mother always pushed me that direction,
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  Speaker 1: since I lived in Los Angeles when I was younger.
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  Speaker 1: Even you know, from the age of five or six,
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  Speaker 1: I love to perform. I loved music. I played the
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  Speaker 1: ukulele a bit and loved to sing. I think I was,
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  Speaker 1: you know, quite comfortable on a stage in front of
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  Speaker 1: a camera. So she actually put me in beauty pageants
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  Speaker 1: of all things. I was Miss Junior California of nineteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety two. But you know, I quickly realized I really
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  Speaker 1: didn't like competition. And it was interesting because I never
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  Speaker 1: really said no to my mom. And when we moved
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  Speaker 1: to Thailand, the half Asian half so the Eurasian look
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  Speaker 1: was really quite new and she had some contacts and
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  Speaker 1: with modeling agencies. So I did a bunch of commercials
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  Speaker 1: and then it just flowed into two music. I went
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  Speaker 1: to a casting for a movie. Actually I was eleven
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  Speaker 1: in Thailand, and they asked me what I like to do,
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  Speaker 1: and it turned out that this company was not just
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  Speaker 1: a production company but also a music label, and I
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  Speaker 1: said I like to sing. They asked me to sing
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  Speaker 1: a song, and six months later I had my first album.
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  Speaker 2: Wow. Okay, So talk to me about what it was
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  Speaker 2: like putting out an album at such a young age.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure there was a ton of promotion
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  Speaker 2: that went hand in hand with that.
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  Speaker 1: It was an incredible experience, lots of promotion, for sure.
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  Speaker 1: You know. It's it's interesting because I've looked back on
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  Speaker 1: it quite a lot as an adult. Now. There's a
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  Speaker 1: quality in my personality that that helps me get things done,
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  Speaker 1: you know, in crunch time. You know, even in pivoting
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  Speaker 1: my business during COVID, you know, I can just kind
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  Speaker 1: of say to myself, all right, this is what needs
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  Speaker 1: to get done. Whatever happens, I'm doing it. But it
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  Speaker 1: cost me, you know, it cost me energetically to just
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  Speaker 1: go headfirst into things. And I realize now that it
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  Speaker 1: first appeared, you know, my ability to do that, it
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  Speaker 1: first appeared during this experience of releasing this first album.
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't speak Tie yet, and you know, of course
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  Speaker 1: I was recording in Thai, so I would spend and
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  Speaker 1: we did this for a month, five days a week.
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  Speaker 1: I would go to school, and then in the evenings,
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  Speaker 1: I would spend from four pm till about two am
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  Speaker 1: at the recording studio and the people there, my producers,
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  Speaker 1: would try to tell me the Tie words and I
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  Speaker 1: would write it down in English karaoke style, and I
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  Speaker 1: would record it not knowing what I was saying. It
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  Speaker 1: was so incredibly trying to, you know, be that age
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  Speaker 1: and have the pressure of not knowing what you're doing
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  Speaker 1: but pretending that you've got this, and then you know,
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  Speaker 1: managing school and friends. Because I was gone so much
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  Speaker 1: as a kid from school, I was bullied a lot.
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  Speaker 1: So there were a lot of hurdles, you know, doing this,
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  Speaker 1: even the first album, but beyond that. But I just
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  Speaker 1: kind of went through it without realizing, you know, that
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  Speaker 1: there were hurdles I was overcoming. So yeah, it was
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  Speaker 1: a lot. It was a lot of pressure, a lot
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  Speaker 1: of responsibility also, a lot of pressure probably to be
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  Speaker 1: a public person at that young of an age.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, did you let the criticisms, which I'm sure
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  Speaker 2: were inevitable get to you.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely they got to me. But you know, at the time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, you just I did just develop this oh
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't matter, I don't care, doesn't matter what other
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  Speaker 1: people say, attitude, and sure, you know that's that's somewhat
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  Speaker 1: ideal to an extent. But the problem is, or the
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  Speaker 1: problem was, that it did hurt. It did matter what
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  Speaker 1: people thought, and you know, especially in Asia, people are
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  Speaker 1: highly critical and you know, kids are highly jealous as well.
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  Speaker 1: So I went through, you know, a lot of bullying.
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  Speaker 1: Like I said, at school, I you know, went through
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  Speaker 1: a lot of bad press. And it was at the time,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I just pushed it aside, but it definitely
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  Speaker 1: did affect me, and it continues to in a sense,
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  Speaker 1: you know, not shape who I am, but it really
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  Speaker 1: makes me evaluate how I feel when someone says something
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  Speaker 1: that does sting, and it forces me now to push
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  Speaker 1: myself to process, you know, what that actually feels, rather
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  Speaker 1: than just saying, oh, you know it doesn't matter, because
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  Speaker 1: it's it does.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, it was.
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  Speaker 1: It was a tough, tough time, but filled with you know,
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  Speaker 1: incredible one of a kind experiences as well.
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  Speaker 2: It's interesting to me that you were going to school
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  Speaker 2: as normal while also releasing records.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, interesting to me as well. You know, I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to because I, you know, saw so many of my
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  Speaker 1: you know, fellow pop stars and singers and actresses not
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  Speaker 1: doing it and really missing out, and so I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to and I did, but I missed a lot, and
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  Speaker 1: I had a tutor as well. I mean, my high
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: school years were just ridiculous. Like I had to beg
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: my record label to make sure that the day of
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  Speaker 1: my prom was me in Bangkok where I was going
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  Speaker 1: to school, and I didn't even end up going because
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: I was so tired. But yeah, I wanted to go
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: to school. I ended up, you know, through my high
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: school years having some pretty cool friends, which I'm really
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: thankful for. I even went to UNI through all of this,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and actually was able to take a full
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  Speaker 1: year off and dedicate that to just having a university experience.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm thankful for the balance that I forced into
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  Speaker 1: my life. And my parents as well. They were really
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: you know, they really instilled the importance of education in me.
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  Speaker 2: I know that you recorded I believe ten albums over
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  Speaker 2: ten years. Is that right? Yes, what an amazing accomplishment.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thank you. I'm super proud of my young self,
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  Speaker 1: although I can't say I was very present going through
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: all of it, which is why, you know, as an adult,
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  Speaker 1: I've really really forced myself or pushed myself to be
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: as present as possible through the ups and downs.
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  Speaker 2: You say you weren't really present. So by not being present,
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  Speaker 2: how did that start to affect you in showing up
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: to quote unquote do your job or inversely, show up
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  Speaker 2: when it came to being there for school or whatever
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  Speaker 2: else you had going on.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: I think it's really challenging for a young person to
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: be present. You know, the definition of what present means
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  Speaker 1: to me? Now, I look at my kids and they're
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: present in ways. But what I mean by be present
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  Speaker 1: is that I don't think I realized the gravity of
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the opportunities. And you know, of course not of course,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: not everyone has to go through what I went through.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: But you know, I was bleemic and rexic. I started
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: abusing drugs. I was partying a ton, and you know,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: around sixteen seventeen eighteen, I did kind of mess up
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: a bit here and there, you know, not show up
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  Speaker 1: for some gigs, and you know, started to get a
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: reputation that fans loved, but you know, it wasn't great
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: for my work, so you know, I cleaned up my
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: act a bit. But it's it's interesting. You know, I've
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: always been very professional, and I was quite professional as
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: a child. But after you know, I had my daughter
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: at twenty one, and that's when I quote unquote retired
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  Speaker 1: from that industry at full time. And I look back
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: and I just think, wow, I did so much and
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: I had such great opportunities. But I can't say that
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: I really, you know, either maximized my opportunities in that
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: industry or even was incredibly present throughout the whole thing.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: The later years I produced my own albums, you know,
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: from about seventeen to twenty one, I you know, was present,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: super super present, and clean, you know, through all of
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: my concerts, and that was my favorite part of it.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: You know, I loved recording, and I can't say that
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: I loved marketing and pr because press conferences are boring
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: and long and whatever but necessary. But touring and performing
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: and meeting fans, that is where I you know, I've
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: done a few comeback concerts and they've really like, they've
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: really hit home for me because I was present finally.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: You know, of course I was there and I showed
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: up and I did my best, but I was a kid.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Going back at thirty five and performing for ten thousand
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: of my fans was you know, the one of the
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: biggest deals of my current life. You know, it was cool?
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah, wow, how insane? A few follow up questions. First
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: of all, I do have a lot of people that
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: reach out to me that listen to the show who
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: are dealing with their own instances of disordered eating. I'm
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: curious to know if there was anything in particular from
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: that experience or during that time that helped you get
• 18:14
  Speaker 2: through that hurdle in particular.
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: Yes, thanks for bringing that up. It's definitely one of
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: my earliest hurdles, and you know, it stemmed from being
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: in an industry where you're constantly picking at yourself, where
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: other people are picking at just the silliest things, you know,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: especially living in Asia at the time and even now.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: Not to hate on Asians, I love my culture, but
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: living in that society, people will greet you with oh
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: you look that, Oh you look skinny? You know, you're
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: never it's never, Hey, you look great. And I learned
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: a very unhealthy way of looking at myself young. And
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest things that has helped to me
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: is to realize that none of this. The triggers, right,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: they don't go away. Maybe over a long period of
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: time and self work and growth they will, but I'll
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: be honest with you, I still have triggers arise. It's
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: how I've began to deal with those triggers that has
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: really changed. And you know I used to I went
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: into OA, which is a twelve step program, really young.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I was sixteen years old, and twelve step helped me
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: develop a great foundation. But you know, I couldn't just
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: as a person the person that I am, commit to
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: continuing to go to meetings. So I ended up turning
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: to yoga and meditation, and what I realized throughout all
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: of this is that it's daily work, it's constant work.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: It's about checking in with yourself even when you feel good.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: You know that self care not just for people with
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: eating disorders, ordtions for every human being. It's so important
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: to practice self care, even if it's tiny on a
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: daily basis, because that pattern or that positive habit is
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: what really helps you have a very strong foundation. Because
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: even if you meditate all day long, right or you
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: can't do that, not in this day and age. But
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: you know, even if you practice self care every day,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: it doesn't mean you're not going to have a wobble.
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: You know. The negative patterns, the negative feelings and triggers,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: they arise sometimes out of the blue, sometimes every day,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: and it's about having a level of awareness to say, hey,
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: I know that feeling. It's all right to have that feeling,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: but it's not going to take over my day. It's
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: not going to make me react the way that I did,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: you know, when I was seventeen and start getting unhealthy,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: not eating or so on and so forth.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: So what were the small parts of self care that
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: you started to implement into your routine aside from the
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: yoga practice.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: Great question you know, when I first started yoga at fifteen,
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: it was like a lifeline. And I think a lot
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: of people who find yoga, meditation, any sort of self
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: care practice in this wellness realm, they might relate to
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: what I'm saying. It's like you have a wobble, you
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: have a negative trigger, and you run to your practice
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: because it's a lifeline. It stops you from reacting the
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: way that was previously hurting you. Right, And it was
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: like that for me for many years. I would say
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: probably the first ten years. And now I realize and
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: you know, after ten years, I realized it was more
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: like a band aid. You know, you keep running to
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: something instead of the other thing, whether it be cigarettes, alcohol, drugs,
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: bolimia and urexia. It becomes a band aid. And then
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you get strong enough in your foundation where now you
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: can rip off the band aid, begin to really do
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the internal work that you need to do so that
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: your practice is not just a survival line but a
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: support system. So for me, other than the practice, it
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: was using a bit of that of mantras, you know,
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: reminding myself to do my gratitude lists. Those helped me
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: tremendously when I was a teenager waking up in the
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: morning writing down three things I'm grateful for, I say
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: a teenager. I still do that. I have like five
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: journals full of gratitude lists. I've become a lot more
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: detailed about them now, you know, because twenty years of
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: writing gratitude list. Now I write things that I'm grateful
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: for within myself over the last twenty four hours. If
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: it's you know, relationships I want to reflect on all
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: or I'm having, you know, a tiff with a kid
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: or a parent or a spouse, I'll write about what
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: I'm grateful for within them. Gratitude lists have helped me
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: tremendously journaling. Journaling is an incredible tool for self growth
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: as well. But aside from yoga, the US and a
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: practice movement really helped. I love working out meditation super
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: super hard. I could never meditate when I was young.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: It literally annoyed me. It made me think more. But
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: over the last ten years it's really helped me.
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: Aten What was the fix for your meditation practice? I'm
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: sure there's not just one.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's not just one, definitely. But you know what's
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: interesting is that my fix for I mean, I guess
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: fix is an okay. Term for my meditation practice was
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: the same as you know, my tools for realizing that
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to be able to fix the thoughts
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: that come into my mind, like you know, the negative
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: triggers that I just talked about, is for the meditation practice,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: it was realizing that my expectations were my worst enemy.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: That I was expecting a meditation to just be totally quiet,
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: no thoughts, and it was almost like an achievement, like
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: if I had no thoughts, then I meditated. When I
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: realized that it was just a practice and that it's
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: okay to have a meditation full of thoughts, that it's
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: okay to meditate for two to five minutes, it's okay
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: to not meditate every day, to just have it be
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: a tool in your life that is there, that the
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: action itself, the intention itself was enough took all the
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: pressure away and actually made it an inviting practice.
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: I love that perspective on that. I think that that
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: can be really overwhelming, just this idea that people don't
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: stick with meditation because they feel as though they're doing
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: it wrong. And when you stop worrying about how you're
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: doing it or if you're doing it right, versus wrong,
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: so to speak, and that there is no wrong way
• 24:54
  Speaker 2: to try a meditation practice that is a huge unlock
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: within itself exactly.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And I have actually helped my boyfriend with that as well.
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: You know, he's so funny because he's super wise and
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: he's super you know, he's the guy that people always
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: come to for advice, and he's basically been, you know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: telling people to meditate for the past twenty years. Oh
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you should, but he's never done it exactly. The reason
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: for the reason that I hated it before is that
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: it's like, you're a perfectionist, and why can't you do
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: this thing that you know is so good? Why is
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: it not working for you? And with that thought process,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: now he meditates every day, guided meditation, but still, I mean,
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: that's wonderful.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: I do have one other follow up question, back to
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: our conversation on self care and implementing some of those
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: practices to get through your disordered eating habits. During that
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: time in your life, were there people that expressed their
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: care or concern for you and in doing that, did
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: that make you want to hide more or open up
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: and try to work through what was going on for you?
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Thank you? That's a really great question. You know what's
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: interesting is then now that you say that, I actually
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: had another piece of my personality that I've worked through
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: quite a lot over the last decade. It started back
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: then I was so good at pretending. I was so
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: good at flipping the switch, is what I used to
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: call it. Like, you know, I developed that as I
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: would walk onto stage be so nervous backstage, and you know,
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I was young, and so I just thought, well, I'm
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: expected to just perform, so I would just flip a switch.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: No matter how I was feeling on stage, I would
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: be fine. In front of people, I would be fine.
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: So even my parents didn't know that I was so
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: unhealthy until I ended up in the hospital when I
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: was fifteen, and so you know, nobody really checked in.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: It was like Briye's fine. Brian goes to school, Briye,
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: you know, performs and she tours and she says she's fine.
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: So she's fine. And I think I actually even was
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: so good at pretending that I believed I was fine.
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: Luckily for me, you know, I like to think sometimes
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: that there was something, whether it was the universe protecting me,
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: or it's angels or whatever you want to believe life's
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: path guided me to yoga. I was probably at my
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: at my worst, and I went to India and Nepal.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: I was a host for a travel channel and we
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: did a whole thing on India and Nepal, and one
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: of the bits, it was like a two week trip,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: was ashtanga yoga, and you know, I really didn't I
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: remember just thinking, Okay, here's another thing I need to do,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and we can get through this day. It's fine, and
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: I walk in It's a two hour my sore practice
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: and I just it was just the most incredible experience
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: of my life. And that was the almost like the
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: pinnacle of my next negative you know, the way I
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: was treating my body in a negative way. I remember
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: in Chavas and I was just I had this epiphany,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: like I need to be doing better things for myself,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: you know, I have my whole life ahead of me,
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Like I can't keep living my life like this. And
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: just two weeks before, I'd been in the hospital because
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: I was fatigue. So I actually stayed in India and
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: extra week with a guardian, you know, like my manager
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: who was there, and we did my sore every other day,
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: and it was just a saving grace.
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: I don't.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: I can't say that. I actually, you know, stop treating
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: my body negatively on the eating disorder side until I
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: had my daughter. But it got better.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: You talked about dealing with this so heavily, starting at
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: a younger age, you know, fourteen, fifteen, and then you
• 28:47
  Speaker 2: had your daughter at twenty one. So to be feeling
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: some way like that for so many years, especially in
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: your teen years, you know, that's that's some heavy tought off,
• 29:01
  Speaker 2: super heavy.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: But what's interesting about me is that I was so
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: busy that it was like, Eh, When I look back,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I just think, Wow, I just skated by. I just
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: got through those years, and I had a ton of fun.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: I look back and I'm like, I had a darn
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: good time. And you know I worked a lot. Like
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I said, I started getting really professional, eased off of
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: the drugs and the partying a bit at seventeen. So
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: I think yoga had a lot to do with that.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: That's why I always tell people, Look, you could find
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: yoga for any frickin' reason. You know, it could be.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: I think yoga gives me a great butt. Anything right,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: and yoga will start to seep its way into the
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: different facets of your life because you feel so good
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: when you practice often, and when you start feeling good physically,
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: you start making better choices for your body and your mind.
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: Definitely, and I think that's true for really any wellness
• 29:59
  Speaker 2: routine in our practice that just makes us feel better.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: I mean, when we all start to get older and
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: we age. I don't know about you, but like I
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: prioritize now the things that I know that make me
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: feel good, and if there are going to be things
• 30:12
  Speaker 2: that prevent me from doing the things that I want
• 30:14
  Speaker 2: to do to feel good, then I might not do
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: those things as often. For instance, if I know that
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I want to wake up and go for a long
• 30:22
  Speaker 2: run on Saturday morning, then I'm probably not going to
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: go out like I did when I was twenty one
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: and visiting New York City and be at bars until
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: two in the morning. I haven't done that in years, So,
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: you know, we just you change things when you start
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: to realize and prioritize what's really important.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: In your life. Absolutely. Yeah.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: So you mentioned obviously having your daughter at twenty one.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Talk to me about entering that phase of your life.
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: It was scary for sure, but at the same time
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: when I was pregnant. I you know, it was the
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: first time with especially with the eating disorder, that I
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: realized and had such a strong reason to stop treating
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: my body in an unhealthy way. I was still taking
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: diet pills, I was, you know, addicted to laxatives, eating
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: very little food. But when I got pregnant, I was
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: like ninety five pounds or something ridiculous. And I just
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: remember having an epiphany when when I found out I
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: was pregnant, I just thought, well, it's not just about
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: me anymore. And sorry, I alays get emotional when I
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: say that out loud, because it was such a big
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: experience in my life to realize that, you know, maybe
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: it was a calling. I loved singing, and I loved,
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: you know, being a role model somewhat of a role
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: model for my fans, but you know, realizing that I
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: was going to become a mother, it was like it
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: was just like wow, you know, finally something a job
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: that I know I would want to do, and then
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be really really good at And during
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: that pregnancy, I just stopped all of that shitty behavior.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: I hope I can swear. Sorry, Okay, I stopped all
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: of that shitty behavior with my body, and you know,
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: it takes It's so interesting because it takes time to regulate,
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: you know, after you've been treating your body horribly for
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: so many years. And the pregnancy was just like the
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: perfect excuse to be like, wow, now I'm going to
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: eat healthy and I'm going to stop with this and that,
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: and it was it was a beautiful time in my life.
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: It was trying, for sure, because I left Thailand and
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: you know it was I wasn't married, and it was
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: what two thousand and four or two thousand and three, one, No,
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: it was two thousand and four, and you know, Thailand
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: was in this shifting time, but it wasn't quite there
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: to where having a baby out of wedlock was acceptable, funny, right,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: So my mother and I just made a choice to
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: like disappear, you know, just to app here for a
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: while and see what happens. And I was so ready
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: for that. I just disappeared mid touring for an album
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: and there was tons of news media for years and years.
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I was gone, like just totally gone for five years.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: For years and years, there was tons of news speculation
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: on where I was, whether I had a kid or
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: whatever it may be, what I was super happy to
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: do that I was ready, and you know, I moved
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: to Texas to Houston where my husband or you know,
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the father of my baby and then my husband was
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: living at the time, and we just you know, hunkered
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: down and tried it out, like our families were really supportive,
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: and it was it was just a totally different life
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: all of a sudden, and I really enjoyed that, but
• 33:51
  Speaker 1: it was hard.
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that with me. I can also
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: imagine that. I mean, it must have felt like a
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: really big relief, firstly stepping away from being such a
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: public person. And secondly, I mean, I would assume in
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: making this transition and doing so with your mom at
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: the time, opening up to her maybe in a way
• 34:10
  Speaker 2: that you hadn't before.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: Oh yes, yes, definitely. My mom's always been really supportive,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: you know, just anything I wanted to do, Like in
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: my high school years, I changed high schools three times
• 34:23
  Speaker 1: because you know, first it was bullying, second it was
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: the school doesn't allow me to be absent, you know.
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: So she's always been there for me. And when I
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: told her, it wasn't even like we didn't even skip
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: a beat. She was like, Okay, well that's great, let's here,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: let's plan, you.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: Know, taking a break from today's episode to give some
• 34:50
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  Speaker 2: code necessary. So you move to Houston, and how do
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: you initially like living in the US? Again?
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, it was tough. It was so tough. I mean
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: going from you know, I was living in Bangkok, but
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: I had a little house on the beach in the
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: south of Thailand in Kosamoi, which is where I run
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: my teacher trainings, and so I had a pretty nice life.
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: And then I moved to like Texas, which is fine,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: but Houston it's just a big change. You know, it's
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: a concrete jungle there, and you know, I've always been working,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: so I thought, okay, well, I'll just work with my
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: husband's parents and they are the nicest people that are
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: really successful in the in the silver, sterling silver industry.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: So I went from you know, pop star to helping
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: them sell sterling silver on like QVC in HSN. It
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: was such a strange time in my life. And then
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: we started this. I was probably when I moved there
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: in let's say, I don't know, I was probably four
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: months pregnant when I moved there, And from that moment
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: to the day I gave birth, we opened a retail store,
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: and I gave birth, and a week later I was back,
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: you know, at the store, and it just was such
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: an incredible experience. You know, as a teenager, I always
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: wanted to work retail. I don't know, my daughter wants
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: to as well, and I'm just thinking, what is the
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: appeal there? I wanted to And we opened this store
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: called Charming Charlie. Horrible name, but you know it was
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: my my ex husband's name, Charlie and his parents opened
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: it and it was this cool concept of like wholesale
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: but with a retail experience. And he actually took that
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: store to this day to five hundred stores worldwide. So
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: proud Wow, Yeah, pretty crazy. But yeah, I've always been working,
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: so you know, I just kind of drowned out my
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: despair of being in a new city that I didn't
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: really like and had a baby and worked.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: So in this time period, when does yoga become something
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: that you do recreation generally two more something that you
• 39:02
  Speaker 2: want to invest a greater focus in?
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Good question, So that hurdle. You know, living in Texas,
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: being away from my family, I always had this feeling
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: it wouldn't last too long. And my ex and I
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: we fought like cats and dogs. We were also so young,
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: you know. He loved to go out and party and
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: here I am home with a baby. At twenty one,
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: twenty two, we both moved to New York when our
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: daughter was a year and a half to attend Columbia
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: for our master's business school. And you know, he managed
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: to get through it. I didn't. I only did a year.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: It was really tough and we were fighting all the time,
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: and we actually ended up breaking up during that time
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and I moved back to LA. So now it's two
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: thousand and seven, our daughters three. I moved back to LA.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: He finishes in New York, and you know, we spend
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: years in a custody battle, in a business legality suit battle.
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: It was probably, I like to say, I like to think,
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: you know, it's probably one of the most trying times
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: in my life because I was young. You know, I'd
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: never experienced legal battles. You know, they get really dirty,
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: really messy. Long story short, you know, it was about
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: it was money. It was you know, using our kid
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: as a pond to make sure that money wasn't paid out.
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: It was just a horrible experience. I mean, we got
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: subpoena after subpoena, jury trial, and I basically spent my
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: life savings trying to protect myself from you know, the unfairness.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: And I got my daughter. I gave up the business,
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: which I still am very proud of myself about because
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: I could care less about money, you know, like it's
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: happiness and your kids for me are top priority. And
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: moved back to la with nothing, and you know, first
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: I started to you know, try to do something in
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: the same world of fashion and ended up losing even
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: more money since two thousand and eight hit and all
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: the orders I had for my little dress business just
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: went down the drain, and it was like thing after
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: thing all. In the meantime, I'd been doing yoga, you know, consistently,
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: still practicing. When I was living in Texas, I was
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: actually practicing on DVDs a woman called Beth Shaw. I
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: forgot what type of yoga it was, but you know,
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: that was like my lifeline back in the day. And
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: when I moved back to LA I started practicing at
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Yoga Works and really getting my heart into it again.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: And after the big financial fail, I was like knee
• 41:48
  Speaker 1: deep in debt, I was like, okay, well, why not
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: just do my teacher training. I started practicing with two
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: really inspiring teachers. One Annie Carpenter, who you know is
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: the inspiration for the type of yoga that I teach now,
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: super alignment focused. And then Catherine Budig, who's who is
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: still my inspiration for the playful style that I teach,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: but also for being a bit more you know, of
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: a go getter yogi influencer in a sense. You know,
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: when I saw what she was doing, you know, I
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: liked a joke. She wasn't the classic, you know, older
• 42:22
  Speaker 1: yoga teacher in a unit art. She was cool and
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: hip and young and you know, teaching Snoop Dogg and
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: Bill Murray was in her class. Like I would go
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: to her class just to practice next to Bill Murray
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: and I would just be like, oh my god, Bill Murray. Yeah,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: she was super cool. So that had to have been
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: in two thousand and nine, and I did my teacher trainings.
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: I did a thirty day, two hundred hour and I
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: you know, I remember spending like four thousand dollars on
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: it on a credit card and just being like, well,
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: here we go, here's more debt. My parents are like, so,
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: how much do yoga teachers make? And I just thought,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: I don't care. You know, It's time for me to
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: do something that not only I'm passionate about, which I
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: have been passionate about everything I've done, but something that
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: I believed would be a really great role model for
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: my kids, you know, a really great plus to my life.
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: Like fashion wasn't going to be it, you know, singing,
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to have a great lifestyle singing, but
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: teaching yoga maybe right.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: There was there was room for growth there. So you
• 43:32
  Speaker 2: do the teacher training and then after that experience, are
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: you just completely sold? This is what I'm going to do.
• 43:38
  Speaker 2: Let's run after it. One hundred percent.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: Well, that's been my pattern in my life. You know,
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, I'm doing this, so I do it
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent. It was not easy. I would say,
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: you know that. This is when I teach yoga teachers,
• 43:52
  Speaker 1: which is one of my biggest passions. Now. I always
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: am honest, like, look, I know it's really, you know,
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: attractive to quit your corporate job and become a yoga
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: teacher because you see Briany, you know, traveling the world
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: teaching yoga and whatever. But it's not easy when you're
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: new in any industry. And when I was new, I
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: was paying to teach. I'm not joking.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: It was.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: It was the year where all of these Brian Kest teachers.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: So Brian Kest was a big teacher here in La
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: He still is. He has a studio that's a donation
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: based studio, so teachers rent the space and then they
• 44:31
  Speaker 1: get one hundred percent of the cash donations after class,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: so people don't have to buy packages or whatever it
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: may be. They just walk in, take a class and
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: then they put cash in a little box. And so
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: that was a big deal at that time, and a
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: lot of studios were opening with that concept. The problem
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: is not all of those studios had enough people coming
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: to them. So you know, I packed my my weeks
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: with time slots, and I was paying for those time slots,
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: and I was bare breaking even, but I stuck with it,
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: and you know, I knew that it was possible to
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: succeed because there were teachers out there, you know, living
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: a decent life and teaching yoga. So I actually, you know,
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: started just teaching a bit more. It's exactly what I
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: would tell people now, like sub for teachers at every studio.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: You can practice as much as you can at studios,
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: so people know who you are. And then I met
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: my second husband, Dice, who I would say, you know,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I always tell him like, if it weren't for him
• 45:31
  Speaker 1: helping me get jobs, like I don't think I'd be
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: teaching yoga anymore.
• 45:37
  Speaker 2: Right, right, So you so you met him, and then
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: how does that kind of change things for you?
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: Well, I would say that, you know, at the time
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: and even now, that there were a lot more really
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: talented female teachers in the industry, and so for him
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: being a very talented male teacher and also you know,
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: looking good, he was able to get jobs. You know,
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: It's it was simple and so I would practice in
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: his classes. Like literally the first two years of my teachings,
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: I made no money, but I practiced two to three
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: times a day because I would just ride around with
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: my fiance or boyfriend, you know, with dice and go
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: to all of his classes. And so I got really strong,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: got some notoriety in the community here as a strong practitioner.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: And you know, anytime somebody would want a sub substitute
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: teacher in any of the studios I was practicing at,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: I would, you know, put my hand up. So that
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: helped me a lot. And then finally, you know, I
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: was I had my eye on Equinox. I always tell
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: people like, none of my opportunities in the early years
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: came to me. All of them I chased, And with Equinox,
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: I chased that. Just to get a class there took
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: me six months. And when I say I chased it,
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: I was like hounding Keith, who is the regional manager,
• 47:02
  Speaker 1: with emails like once a week, Hey, just reminding you
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: that I'd love to audition for you. You have to
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: audition at Equinox. And the funniest part of it is
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: that finally, you know, when I finally auditioned for them.
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: It was because a lot of the students in DICE's classes.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: You know, we're telling Keith like, hey, we really want
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: her to teach, and I finally auditioned for me. He says,
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, I thought you were DICE's ex girlfriend.
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: You already auditioned and we're like no, I'm thinking, oh
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: my god. If I hadn't been persistent, I wouldn't be
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: where I am today. That's for sure. Because Equinox was
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: a big step for me because through teaching at Equinox,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I got the opportunity to do this Equinox video called
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: The Contortionist, which propelled my career into a different platform.
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: Where was that video on the internet.
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: It was on YouTube. If you google it, you know
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: Equinox yoga video whatever, it comes up, and it was,
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: you know, one of it's for one of it's one
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: of the first kind of social media yoga videos out there.
• 48:07
  Speaker 1: I think it was back in like twenty eleven. And
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: the first week we got over a million views and
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: it was such a big deal. Equinox had created the
• 48:15
  Speaker 1: video with me because they were launching their blog called
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: cbe Blog, which is called something Else now. And we
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: furthermore furthermore, thank you. Yes, I should know more.
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, I remember this.
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: Yes, it was such a big deal. And they flew
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: me to New York and we just filmed all day.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: I was at the peak of my strength and flexibility,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: and I look at that sequence now and I'm like,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: I can't believe I did that sequence all day long.
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: It was like eight hours of shooting from different angles,
• 48:47
  Speaker 1: and it was it was such a big deal. And I,
• 48:50
  Speaker 1: you know, I remember thinking, Okay, Riy, you have spent
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: the last ten years saying you didn't take, you know,
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: as much advantage of your opportunity as a kid. You're
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: going to roll with this. You're going to take advantage
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: of this opportunity. And I did.
• 49:07
  Speaker 2: That's awesome. So was the video well received then.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: You know, yes, and no, there was a lot of
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: I like to think that any press is good press,
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: and I've learned that for many, many years of you know,
• 49:22
  Speaker 1: people saying bad things are good things about you when
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: I was a sinner, So I was I was quite
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: prepared for it. And you know, in the first day
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: it's shot up to or maybe the first two days,
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: to a million views. And I made the mistake of
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: reading comments on YouTube, and I saw like all sorts
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: of things, you know, like oh beautiful, amazing, of course,
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: but then the thing that stands out is that comment
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: like she looks like a stripper or oh, you know,
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: yoga's not about you know, what's the word about anyways,
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: when when women are not looked at in a pleasing
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: way or in like an empowering way. Can't think of
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: the word, but anyways, there was a lot of different things.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: It was good and there was bad. And I remember
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: I wrote a comment back to that she looks like
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: a stripper one and I said, well, thanks, you know,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: I think strippers are humans too, And immediately I get
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: a call from from Keith at Equinox and he just said, look,
• 50:20
  Speaker 1: I think you'd be happier if you just took a
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: higher ground and just ignored the negativity. We'll deal with that.
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: And I did, and you know, it turns out that,
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: you know, the negativity ended up coming full circle and
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: becoming positivity. Because of that negative feedback, there was a
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: lot of press around the video, and I had a
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: lot of opportunities to talk about, you know, what was
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: coming up for people because the negativity was about me
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: being in my underwear right and doing yoga, which now
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: when you look back, it's like it's like there's more
• 50:57
  Speaker 1: than just people doing yoga. They're underwear, people are naked
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: doing yoga and social media. So it's funny how far
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: we've come. But I'm thankful for that experience.
• 51:07
  Speaker 2: So from that experience, did you start to get reached
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: out to by other brands and individuals that wanted to
• 51:14
  Speaker 2: work with you?
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, I, you know, I the biggest part of it.
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Of course, you know, I didn't really have the know
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: how yet at the time to maximize the social media presence,
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: I did, you know, put myself on social media and Facebook,
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: and when Instagram came up, I at Instagram. But I
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: really focused more on building my credibility as a teacher
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: in the yoga world because one of the biggest opportunities
• 51:38
  Speaker 1: that came about was traveling and teaching. We would get
• 51:42
  Speaker 1: we my my husband and I, we were traveling and
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: teaching together. We would get so many invitations to teach
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: at studios and festivals around the world that we were
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: booked out for three four years, you know, just a
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: year after that Equinox video. Because my husband ex husband
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: was also on yoga Glow, which was is a platform
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: that you know, people all over the world can practice
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: with you on. So that was a big deal. And
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: we did that. We traveled every month twice a month,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: you know, once a month domestic, once a month international,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: for our entire relationship for like five straight years, six
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: straight years. Even when I had my son. When he
• 52:23
  Speaker 1: was two months old, we started traveling again. So it was,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: you know, the opportunities were incredible and endless, such a
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: great time.
• 52:33
  Speaker 2: That was actually going to be my next question, So
• 52:35
  Speaker 2: were you doing all of this traveling with your children.
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: Then, Well, for the first couple of years, no, I
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: would travel when my daughter was with her dad because
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: we shared custody, so it was, you know, it wasn't
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: as trying. And then I really wanted to have another
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: little one, so you know, I did, and I worked.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: I traveled until you're not supposed to, but quietly I
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: did till about a month before I gave birth, and
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: at two months we got his actually at six weeks
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: we got his passport. You should see his passport photo
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: is so funny. It's just like an angry little infant.
• 53:15
  Speaker 2: The small best little nugget.
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he was so small when he was two months old.
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: We went to Thailand for two months and taught our
• 53:22
  Speaker 1: first teacher training and traveled you know, probably four different
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: countries with five different countries back to back. We worked
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: back to back for so many years.
• 53:35
  Speaker 2: Wow. So during this high time for your career, you're finally,
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: you know, finding your footing, doing something that you love,
• 53:43
  Speaker 2: doing something that feeds your soul, gives back to your body.
• 53:47
  Speaker 2: At this point, are there downsides or is this just
• 53:51
  Speaker 2: you in your bliss?
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: I can't say it was bliss. I don't think there
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: was much bliss there. But I was really proud of myself.
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: I was really proud of us because you know, we're
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: at the age where it's time to hustle. I felt
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: proud that I was able to restart from zero in
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: a career and actually do something that I thought had
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: longevity in it. But I also felt like even though
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: it was cool to not have any other overhead or
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: investment other than my time, I also knew it wasn't
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: sustainable that just traveling and teaching, you know, it has
• 54:34
  Speaker 1: an expiration date. It's tiring, and it put a lot
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: of stress on our relationship. And so I finally, you know,
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: Dice had been on Yoga Glow for quite some time
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: and I'd been trying to do some online classes or
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: whatever with them, and it never really panned out. And
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: finally Cody App actually and I was our manager, our manager,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: I was managing Dice, and I and Cody app which
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: is now Alomo, reached out to us about Dice, and,
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: you know, being the go getter that I am, sometimes
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: I have no shame. I was like, well, Dice is
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: under an exclusive contract, but I'm not. And I'm so
• 55:11
  Speaker 1: thankful because Paul Javid, who was the founder of Cody
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: Appanow the CEO of Alo Moves, he took a chance
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: in me, and you know that was I was so
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: grateful for it because I felt like going online was
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: the next step, right, the evolution to working smarter not harder.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: You know, I was teaching in LA and I was like,
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: there's there's got to be you know, you're making like
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: twenty grand a year teaching full time. You're just like,
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: there's gotta be more. There's gotta be a better way
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: to keep sharing what I love. And then you know,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: privates come along. You're like, okay, now I'm not making
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: fifteen dollars an hour. I'm making one hundred bucks an hour,
• 55:48
  Speaker 1: but how many hours are there in a day or
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: in a week. I still can only make about fifty
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: k a year, which is not bad, but when you
• 55:55
  Speaker 1: have two kids, it's it's just not enough. And so
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: traveling and teaching, you're like, Okay, now you're making a
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: significant amount of money, but the overhead of traveling is
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: just insane, you know. And then I'm bringing a nanny
• 56:10
  Speaker 1: and then I'm bringing my kids, and it's just like
• 56:12
  Speaker 1: you're just dying here. And so we started teaching teacher
• 56:15
  Speaker 1: trainings well before we were ready, that's for sure, but
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: we had a really great partner who helped us make
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: sure we were ready, and you know, those became my
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: passion but also biggest income earner. And you know, even
• 56:31
  Speaker 1: then after year nine, which was last year, I was like,
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: you know, the amount of energy you put in to
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: a teacher training is incredible. Like I I've worked on
• 56:42
  Speaker 1: it so much more now. Like at the end of
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: a teacher training three years ago, I would be ruined
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: for like two months. I'd just be like I can't talk,
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: I can't think, you know, I'm just an emotional mess
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: and it forced me to really develop self care tech
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: tactics and techniques and tools so that I could grow
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: from these trainings rather than die. And I realized that
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: it's actually not that effective the way that we were
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: teaching trainings, you know, to just have like a thirty
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: day you come or twenty five day you come and
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: then you leave. I've found it to be so challenging
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: to get everyone on the same page on an education level.
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: So I decided, you know, online teacher trainings were the
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: way to go to at least make it mandatory that everybody,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: you know, be exposed to the curriculum online for you know,
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: a certain amount of time, you know, maybe one hundred
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: hours online, so that when they come to an in
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: person experience, we're all pretty much on the same page
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: when it comes to the theory and the technique. And
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: then COVID hit, you know, and you know, I just
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: I had, you know, eighty people signed up for my
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty summer teacher trainings, and you know, that's half
• 58:02
  Speaker 1: a million dollars gross, right, and you collect money for
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: accommodations and for tuition, and I just watched half a
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: million dollars gross just go poop back out of my account,
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: refunded everyone I had to cancel at the hotel. Who
• 58:20
  Speaker 1: right now, they're just struggling to stay alive. You know,
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: it's really sad what's going on. And then I my
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: team and I just said, hey, we came to the
• 58:29
  Speaker 1: conclusion one day. We're like, look, we have a month
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: and if we don't pivot, like I'm going to have
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: to let you guys go. And it was really it
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: was another hurdle. It was like, holy moly, like everything
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: that we've worked for might just have to go on pause.
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: And then what the hell am I going to do?
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: You know, what are they going to do? It's a
• 58:49
  Speaker 1: team of four people that I support, Like, I just
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: felt so bad, and my team just banded together. They
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: were like, bright, we believe in you. You've already we've
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: already started working on this online. I'm thing, let's just
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: finish it and put it out there. And I tell you,
• 59:04
  Speaker 1: we've never I've never worked so hard in my life
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: like that was in April, we not only sold, put
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: together a sales page, but created a frickin' program with
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: seven hundred videos in three months. It was, wow, the
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: most insane experience. But I realized that all of these years,
• 59:26
  Speaker 1: you know, since I was a child working all of
• 59:29
  Speaker 1: that are the years of putting together my team, Like
• 59:32
  Speaker 1: everything just came together, and there was another hurdle there,
• 59:37
  Speaker 1: like COVID could have gone. It could have gone either way,
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: and here we are another dream come true, one of
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: the biggest projects I've ever done, and it's everything just
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: came together. Just proud of everyone and everything.
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that this is certainly something that many
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: of us, myself for sure, can definitely die, definitely relate
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 2: to this idea of you can either have an experience
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 2: in front of you and a situation in front of
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: you and be angry and frustrated about it, or you
• 1:00:11
  Speaker 2: can have a experience or a situation in front of
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: you and decide, Okay, like this is how it is now,
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: and this is what I can do with it, and
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: that that idea, like this is what I'm going to
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: do with it. It's scary as hell because a lot
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 2: of the time, like these are things that we did
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: not prepare for, Like we did not prepare for a pandemic.
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 2: You did not prepare to refund a half a million
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: dollars like that is scary and frustrating, but it's what
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: you do in these circumstances. It's what you do with
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 2: you know, these big hurdles as we love to call them,
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 2: that make you who you are and help you grow
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: as an individual.
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Absolutely, And I'm thankful for the hurdles. I mean,
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: you said it so well.
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 2: Like you.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: They're the things that you don't plan for. But you
• 1:00:56
  Speaker 1: can't really plan for everything anything. Hurdles in life are
• 1:01:00
  Speaker 1: you know the ones they're they're they're the things that
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: really force you to grow. And they either you can
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 1: either succumb to them and define your yourself as a
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: victim to the things that happen in your life. And
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 1: you know, there are certain circumstances where that happens.
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: But if you.
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: Can get through something challenging by being aware, by being present,
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: making the best choices you can possibly make, even if
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: you fail, you will learn. You know, I've learned so
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: much from failure. Like when I stopped singing, it was
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: because uh, piracy had hit and we went from selling
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: millions of albums to fifty thousand. And you know, you
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: just you just adapt and you can't not in every instance,
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: hopefully not feel sorry for yourself. You know, feeling sorry
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: for myself. I always tell my kids, Okay, it's a feeling,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 1: it's an emotion. It doesn't go anywhere. Now where do
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: you go with it?
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: Can you be accountable? Accountability was the biggest game changer
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: in my life with myself, with my relationship with myself,
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: but mostly with my relationship with others. You know, I
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: would blame my spouses for everything. And when I realized
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: that it takes two here and that all I can
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: really do is be accountable for my own actions and
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: for my own growth, that's when. That's when I grew.
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: When someone goes to your Instagram, they see a yoga
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: teacher with two hundred and ninety three thousand plus followers
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 2: and Alo moves trainer. When you look in the mirror,
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: what is it that you see looking back at you?
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 1: Oh? Good question? What do I see? I see a mom?
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: I see a woman, an entrepreneur who you know is trying.
• 1:02:47
  Speaker 1: Like I don't think I'm perfect whatsoever, but I do
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: know that I'm trying. I'm trying every day to be aware,
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: to be present, to choose, you know, the best route
• 1:03:02
  Speaker 1: for myself whenever I need to choose something, you know, happiness,
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 1: but mostly I see someone who's trying to live a
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: life of awareness and fulfillment.
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 2: What excites you right now?
• 1:03:16
  Speaker 1: Seeing my kids grow really excites me. It's fun to
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 1: see their milestones within myself. What excites me is a
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: solid night of sleep.
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 2: And then I mean I have to touch on this
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: obviously because we have mentioned Alo twofold here. First off,
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: if you had to pick one item of your Alo
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: wardrobe that I need to buy.
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: What is it? You know? I love Alo. They've given
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: me so many opportunities, and every woman loves clothing, So
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: I wear Alo all of the time. It's comfortable, it's great,
• 1:03:58
  Speaker 1: and they have been a consistent in one of my
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 1: only clothing sponsors for a long time, so I've never
• 1:04:05
  Speaker 1: shamed to a shame. To mention Alo and talk about
• 1:04:08
  Speaker 1: my favorite pieces, I would have to say, I mean,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 1: I'm wearing Alo right now, like Alow sweats and an A.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: I just feel like it.
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: Always looks so like crisp and comfy and like I
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: look at your page and I feel calm. So I'm like,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: I need to know what she has to have in
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: her closet, Like, what's the one thing that like when
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: they're dirty, And I'm saying there because I'm sure you
• 1:04:31
  Speaker 2: own it in like five colors. You're like, it's time
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 2: to do laundry. Yeah, Oh of course.
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 1: I live in Alo seven eighths airlift black leggings because
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: black leggings are just easy. But the seven eighths are
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 1: between a full length and a capri. And I'm little,
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: I'm petite. I'm five to two, so the seven eighths
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: on a tall one would be a bit longer than
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 1: a capri. They're landing right at my ankle, so it's
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: just like the perfect So we're along with.
• 1:04:59
  Speaker 2: I love a se many it's you and I share this.
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 2: Oh good. And then if someone has never used Alo Moves,
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 2: where would you suggest for them to start if they
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: want to take class with you?
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: Oh wow. Alo Moves has a lot of great teachers
• 1:05:17
  Speaker 1: on it. But if you've never done yoga, I do
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 1: have a Beginner's Power Vinyasa series that I think is
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: really great because people hate beginner They're like, I just
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 1: want to be fit, right, so I don't want to
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: do a beginner's class, like it's so boring and slow.
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: But the thing is like, if you want to be
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: fit and healthy by doing yoga, you need to learn
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: the correct ways to align yourself to create a pose
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: rather than create a shape. And so with the beginner
• 1:05:44
  Speaker 1: series for Power Vinyasa, I still make it challenging so
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: that you're getting a workout, but I'm also offering a
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: lot of explanations when it comes to the foundational postures.
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: Love that all right, final here home stretch. Right now,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: you have an opportunity to offer yourself one piece of
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 2: advice looking back on arguably a time where you may
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 2: not have been as fully aware of just how much
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 2: you were going through it, dealing with being in the
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 2: public eye, going through that disordered eating behavior, and feeling
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 2: a little bit alone despite being so surrounded. You have
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: an opportunity to give yourself one piece of advice going
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: through that hurdle moment right now, What would you tell yourself?
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 1: I would tell myself that feeling vulnerable is not wrong
• 1:06:38
  Speaker 1: and to you know, allow yourself to explore vulnerability a
• 1:06:45
  Speaker 1: bit more. I have in the last you know, in
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: my thirties. But you know, I thought I was fine.
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 1: I thought what I was offering to people as myself
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 1: was fine until I realized that I had a huge
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: wall up. So Yeah, that vulnerability is powerful. It's not
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: something to shy away from.
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for your time today. I really,
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 2: really really appreciate it.
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 1: Thank you. I cried, I laughed. It was fun.
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 2: Hopefully the listeners did too. Please take a moment and
• 1:07:16
  Speaker 2: leave a quick review by clicking the link with the
• 1:07:18
  Speaker 2: description to this episode. We all face multiple hurdles in life.
• 1:07:22
  Speaker 2: I want to hear about yours. Reach Out to me
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: at Emily at dot us, connect with the podcast Instagram, Twitter,
• 1:07:28
  Speaker 2: at Hurdle Podcast. Brian, how do they keep up with you?
• 1:07:31
  Speaker 2: Give me the details?
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: Yes, well, you can find me on Instagram. I'm Yoga
• 1:07:36
  Speaker 1: with BRIONI also on YouTube as well even Facebook, and
• 1:07:40
  Speaker 1: my website is aligned yoga dot com, where you can
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 1: find my online teacher trainings.
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 2: I am at Emilybody at Hurdle Podcast. Another hurdle conquered.
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.