Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 170. Aditi Shah, Peloton Instructor

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170. Aditi Shah, Peloton Instructor · Hurdle with Emily Abbate

0:00
Speaker 1: You're in charge of you and that's not so so simple.
0:02
Speaker 1: That sounds like oversimplified, but like it's your job to
0:06
Speaker 1: be in control of yourself and to make choices for
0:08
Speaker 1: your own life. And that means like sometimes you're going
0:12
Speaker 1: to have to do things that aren't comfortable or be
0:14
Speaker 1: willing to fail. And when you're in like that place
0:17
Speaker 1: of being a little bit paralyzed, like knowing that but
0:20
Speaker 1: this is your one life.
0:35
Speaker 2: Hey everyone, Emily a body here.
0:37
Speaker 3: You are listening to episode one and seventy of Hurdle,
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Speaker 3: a wellness focused podcast where I sit down with inspiring
0:44
Speaker 3: individuals to talk about big ones, tough moments, and everything
0:48
Speaker 3: in between.
0:49
Speaker 2: On the show, you.
0:50
Speaker 3: Can expect vulnerability, motivation, and candid discussions with everyone from
0:55
Speaker 3: top athletes and CEOs to aspiring entrepreneurs on what it
0:59
Speaker 3: really takes to all your passions. My mission is simple
1:03
Speaker 3: to inspire you to be your best self, move with intention,
1:07
Speaker 3: and have some fun along the way. Today I am
1:11
Speaker 3: chatting with Peloton instructor a dt Shaw. I really really
1:17
Speaker 3: loved this conversation. It was when I looked forward to
1:19
Speaker 3: for a long time and we had a lot of
1:22
Speaker 3: laughs during it.
1:24
Speaker 2: In today's episode.
1:25
Speaker 3: She talks about how yoga and meditation were a part
1:27
Speaker 3: of her life from a young age and how it
1:29
Speaker 3: wasn't until after college in New Jersey when she moved
1:32
Speaker 3: back to India to be with her family and started
1:35
Speaker 3: to really adopt a regular practice for herself. A DT
1:38
Speaker 3: eventually moved back to New York to do a lot
1:40
Speaker 3: of odd jobs, from modeling and acting to so many
1:44
Speaker 3: others which we get into while pursuing her yoga teacher training.
1:48
Speaker 3: She talks about working at her first yoga studio and
1:50
Speaker 3: a lot of the lessons that brought her to where
1:53
Speaker 3: she is today teaching on a world stage with Peloton.
1:57
Speaker 3: She gives a ton of advice to anyone else who
2:00
Speaker 3: may want to move to a big city, as well
2:03
Speaker 3: as for those who are interested in adopting their own
2:06
Speaker 3: meditation and yoga practice.
2:08
Speaker 2: She talks about the.
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Speaker 3: DM that changed everything for her and how she's fared
2:12
Speaker 3: during the pandemic, giving us an update on how her
2:15
Speaker 3: parents and family are doing over in India. She also
2:19
Speaker 3: shares some of her favorite meditations from the Pelison app
2:22
Speaker 3: to date so that you can go ahead and check
2:25
Speaker 3: them out again. Loved this conversation so grateful for a
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Speaker 3: DD and her openness, and something else I really valued
2:31
Speaker 3: from this conversation was a DT shedding light on the
2:34
Speaker 3: yoga practice as a whole that is just so much
2:37
Speaker 3: bigger than solely the physical, and that each and every
2:41
Speaker 3: one of us can choose to approach it in a
2:43
Speaker 3: different way. Before we get into the swing of things today,
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Speaker 2: Make sure you're following along with Hurdle.
3:58
Speaker 3: Over on social media. It's over at Hurdle podcast. I
4:01
Speaker 3: am over at Emily Body with that, let's get to hurdling.
4:16
Speaker 2: Today.
4:16
Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with a dt Shaw. She is a
4:19
Speaker 3: peloton instructor. I have the good fortune of actually looking
4:23
Speaker 3: at her while we have this conversation. And I'm gonna
4:25
Speaker 3: need to know your skincare routine like asap.
4:29
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. That's that's really kind.
4:32
Speaker 2: But what's the secret.
4:34
Speaker 1: It's not that exciting. You can jump in with skincare.
4:37
Speaker 1: I'm fine with that. Drink a lot of water, get sleep.
4:41
Speaker 1: I'm really a big I really believe in like inside
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Speaker 1: out beauty, like I think for me and most people.
4:47
Speaker 1: What you eat is going to affect your skin. But
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Speaker 1: a couple other things that I do, they're they're not
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Speaker 1: nothing groundbreaking. Always take your makeup off at the end
4:56
Speaker 1: of the day, Like, always take your makeup off. If
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Speaker 1: you're sweating death, take your makeup off. I don't do
5:02
Speaker 1: makeup wipes. I actually like wash my face and so yeah,
5:07
Speaker 1: so at the end of the day, I like take
5:09
Speaker 1: all my makeup off and moistureize, and then in the morning,
5:12
Speaker 1: I actually don't wash my face again because I like
5:15
Speaker 1: wash my face and woke up, so I just rinse
5:18
Speaker 1: with water and I moisturize again. Yeah. I've actually just
5:23
Speaker 1: started experimenting with vitamin C. But other than that, you know,
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Speaker 1: I really think it's so much of my skin is
5:30
Speaker 1: about is about yeah, taking care of it, like by
5:35
Speaker 1: by taking care of myself, you know, Like I've never
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Speaker 1: had better skin than when I've had a great night's sleep.
5:39
Speaker 3: Totally, And I mean, I'm sure that your practice also
5:45
Speaker 3: helps your skin, because I know that stress can be
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Speaker 3: such a game changer when it comes to what's going
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Speaker 3: on on our foreheads and our cheeks and our noses
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Speaker 3: and everything. So on top of what you're putting into
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Speaker 3: your body, which is very mindful.
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Speaker 2: You're also just a mindful person, which makes you glow.
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Speaker 1: Yes, I mean, I definitely think that stress is a
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Speaker 1: huge part of it and taking time to but you know,
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Speaker 1: for like any any practice, any even for so many people,
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Speaker 1: I think movement is an opportunity to be mindful and
6:12
Speaker 1: to like get out of the you know, the mental
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Speaker 1: stress of every day. Like I feel like, especially living
6:18
Speaker 1: in the city, everything is always go, go, go, and
6:20
Speaker 1: like even if you're like going for a run like
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Speaker 1: that can feel amazing, that can feel like your moment
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Speaker 1: of self care. And so I think doing those things
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Speaker 1: for yourself is a big part of for sure, I
6:30
Speaker 1: guess skincare, self.
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Speaker 3: Care, skincare self care, as Tune Day would say, sole care,
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Speaker 3: all of it, all of it's super super important. So
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Speaker 3: today obviously a yogi, a meditation leader, a guru of
6:45
Speaker 3: sorts for so many in the Peloton community and beyond.
6:48
Speaker 3: Growing up in New Jersey, I know that yoga was
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Speaker 3: a part of your upbringing, maybe not as much as
6:54
Speaker 3: it is these days. So talk to me a little
6:56
Speaker 3: bit about that. Talk to me about what it was
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Speaker 3: like for you growing up in New Jersey.
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Speaker 1: So I grew up in like suburbia, which was so nice, honestly,
7:06
Speaker 1: and my parents, I'm a first generation at Indian American.
7:10
Speaker 1: My parents grew up in India, and so they would
7:14
Speaker 1: sometimes have yoga instructors or like other people come to
7:20
Speaker 1: our house and like, like I actually they tried to
7:22
Speaker 1: get me to learn path that too, which is like
7:24
Speaker 1: an Indian classical dance, which it did not work out.
7:26
Speaker 1: But we had like people come over to our house
7:28
Speaker 1: once in a while, and I would say, like in
7:30
Speaker 1: India until recently, that is one of the ways that
7:32
Speaker 1: a lot of people practice is like you would do
7:34
Speaker 1: it in a more personal setting necessarily than a studio.
7:37
Speaker 1: I think studios are sort of a newer thing. So
7:39
Speaker 1: we'd have someone, yeah, come over and do yoga, and
7:43
Speaker 1: I didn't really know what that was. I should say
7:46
Speaker 1: practice yoga because you don't really do it, but you know,
7:49
Speaker 1: I didn't really know what that was. And the kind
7:51
Speaker 1: of yoga that we were practicing is different than what
7:55
Speaker 1: you know I teach right now or in a lot
7:57
Speaker 1: of us have experienced. So it was really slow. There's
7:59
Speaker 1: a lot of breathing, and I was a kid that
8:03
Speaker 1: was not I couldn't. I couldn't do it. Like I
8:05
Speaker 1: was just like outside all the time, barefoot, climbing trees,
8:08
Speaker 1: I played soccer, I was running. I was just like not, okay,
8:10
Speaker 1: I didn't know how to slow down. So even though
8:14
Speaker 1: I was exposed to yoga and meditation honestly growing up.
8:16
Speaker 1: So one of the things that my dad always tried
8:19
Speaker 1: to get me to do when I was a kid
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Speaker 1: was like to slow down and relax, Like I really
8:23
Speaker 1: wasn't good at that, and so he did try to
8:27
Speaker 1: teach him how to meditate. And I'd learned from these
8:29
Speaker 1: sad vs who are kind of like spiritual leaders, a
8:33
Speaker 1: little bit about meditation. But I really struggled with it,
8:36
Speaker 1: you know, I was I was just couldn't find a
8:39
Speaker 1: way to get my mind to slow down. And the
8:41
Speaker 1: kind of meditation that they were teaching in particular didn't
8:45
Speaker 1: work for me, especially like as a young teen, it
8:48
Speaker 1: just wasn't happening, and so I kind of didn't didn't
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Speaker 1: pursue it until I got older. I played sports growing up.
8:55
Speaker 1: I played soccer. I was obsessive about soccer. I ran track,
8:58
Speaker 1: and I really loved that. I did like a million
9:01
Speaker 1: things like everyone does. Growing up and I didn't really
9:04
Speaker 1: know that. I had like no clue that yoga was
9:06
Speaker 1: going to be a part of my life until I
9:07
Speaker 1: got to college and I sort of just started like
9:12
Speaker 1: thinking about it a little bit. Like I was like, well,
9:15
Speaker 1: I'm not doing these other things anymore. So I went
9:17
Speaker 1: to Rutgers. I didn't play soccer and I didn't run
9:20
Speaker 1: track for Rutgers, and I was like, maybe this is
9:24
Speaker 1: something that could be interesting, and I started just sort
9:27
Speaker 1: of looking into it. I went to some studios. I
9:29
Speaker 1: did what I think a lot of people probably did
9:31
Speaker 1: the time, Like I went down the internet like black
9:34
Speaker 1: hole of like searching for yoga, random like yoga things
9:38
Speaker 1: that were on the internet. I found like Rodney DVD's,
9:41
Speaker 1: I found David Swenson, who is a really famous Ashtangi.
9:46
Speaker 1: So I was exposed to shanga yoga. And then after college,
9:49
Speaker 1: I ended up moving to India and that's where I
9:52
Speaker 1: really took like a deep dive into my yoga practice.
9:55
Speaker 2: And your parents were in India.
9:57
Speaker 1: Yeah, so my parents move moved here from these like
10:01
Speaker 1: little villages in India, which is they have like such
10:04
Speaker 1: an incredible story. But they retired while I was finishing
10:09
Speaker 1: high school, and moved back to India where they live
10:13
Speaker 1: now in Bangalore. And so after college, yeah, that's why.
10:17
Speaker 1: That was part of why I went to India. But
10:18
Speaker 1: they live there now.
10:20
Speaker 3: And you majored in math and college, so were you
10:24
Speaker 3: just like, look at me in my research so you
10:27
Speaker 3: knew graduating that you were like, I don't really know
10:30
Speaker 3: if I want to do anything with this truly.
10:32
Speaker 1: Like I went to college starting wanting to major in
10:36
Speaker 1: genetics and microbiology, and then I encountered a chemistry class
10:40
Speaker 1: and was like, no, I can't do this, Like I'm out,
10:43
Speaker 1: I'm not interested in chemistry. I do not want to
10:45
Speaker 1: take organic chemistry. I will switch my major to avoid
10:48
Speaker 1: this class. And I really I will say, like I
10:52
Speaker 1: do really enjoy math. Like I enjoyed math. I think
10:54
Speaker 1: it's really interesting, Like once you get beyond you know, calculus,
10:58
Speaker 1: it's like it's very it can be very abstract. It's
11:01
Speaker 1: like a lot about like stretching your brain, you know,
11:04
Speaker 1: in different ways. And so I really enjoyed math. But
11:07
Speaker 1: I think at the time I didn't learn about who
11:10
Speaker 1: I was, you know. I was like, Okay, my parents,
11:14
Speaker 1: my dad, you know, works in finance, like my mom
11:17
Speaker 1: my mom's a computer programmer, like a software programmer, Like, okay,
11:20
Speaker 1: I will follow what my dad did, you know. And
11:23
Speaker 1: I got an internship at an investment bank and was
11:26
Speaker 1: like this is the thing I'm doing now. And I
11:27
Speaker 1: studied math, and I didn't take into account that like
11:32
Speaker 1: I was that kid who was barefoot and climbing trees
11:34
Speaker 1: and like did not want to be in an office
11:36
Speaker 1: like being an investment banker. So I sort of had
11:40
Speaker 1: like a little you know, very early not midlife, but
11:42
Speaker 1: really early life crisis after school when I was like
11:45
Speaker 1: what am I doing? Like what do I do with
11:46
Speaker 1: this degree? I don't have any like practical skills. I
11:51
Speaker 1: studied math, which is also like really abstract, like what
11:54
Speaker 1: am I going to do? And I don't want to
11:57
Speaker 1: work at an investment bank and I don't want a
11:59
Speaker 1: program like software. And that's when I ended up moving
12:04
Speaker 1: to India because I didn't have a home anymore in
12:06
Speaker 1: the US. My parents sold our house. I was like,
12:10
Speaker 1: let me take a break and go home. And for sure,
12:13
Speaker 1: you know, that's where these practices sort of helped me
12:16
Speaker 1: a lot. I didn't have anything to do. I learned
12:19
Speaker 1: how to cook. I had learned growing up but I
12:21
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time like learning how to cook
12:23
Speaker 1: and practicing all of the time, because that's what I
12:26
Speaker 1: had that felt good in this moment of like really
12:29
Speaker 1: sort of you know anxiety, Like it's definitely tough to
12:33
Speaker 1: be in a position where you're like, I'm not sure
12:35
Speaker 1: what to do, And I think it took me a
12:37
Speaker 1: long time to learn that you can reinvent yourself as
12:39
Speaker 1: many times as you want, and that you're not your job.
12:41
Speaker 1: And you know, just because you studied math doesn't mean
12:44
Speaker 1: you can't completely do something different and just continue to
12:48
Speaker 1: evolve like your entire life. That's totally possible. But I think,
12:51
Speaker 1: you know, it takes a while to understand that. It takes.
12:54
Speaker 1: It takes a little bit of courage and a little
12:56
Speaker 1: bit of experimenting and exploring and being willing to fail.
13:00
Speaker 1: So it took that time in India for me to
13:03
Speaker 1: be willing to try something new.
13:05
Speaker 3: Before going to India, did you think to yourself, well,
13:08
Speaker 3: I could like get an apartment and figure things out
13:11
Speaker 3: here or were you like, no, I should I should
13:13
Speaker 3: just go there?
13:14
Speaker 1: No I did. I did. I was like, maybe I'll
13:18
Speaker 1: want to work in like nonprofit world, Like maybe that's
13:20
Speaker 1: something I'd be interested in. So I started looking into
13:23
Speaker 1: different opportunities, and I didn't get my own apartment, but
13:26
Speaker 1: I had a cousin who lived in Somerset, which was
13:29
Speaker 1: like not too far away from where I was already Ruckers,
13:32
Speaker 1: so I stayed with him for a little while and
13:34
Speaker 1: I sort of started thinking about it, but there was
13:35
Speaker 1: just nothing that clicked right, nothing that was exciting enough
13:38
Speaker 1: to me, nothing that I was like, oh, this is
13:41
Speaker 1: the solution. And what I was really looking for was
13:43
Speaker 1: a solution because up until I think you graduate college,
13:48
Speaker 1: it doesn't feel like real life, like in a way like, yeah,
13:51
Speaker 1: college is definitely a little bit like a you know,
13:53
Speaker 1: baby steps into real life because you don't have like
13:56
Speaker 1: a schedule that someone's handing to you. But at the
13:58
Speaker 1: same time, you feel so protect like you're like in class,
14:01
Speaker 1: someone's teaching you, someone's guiding you, holding space for you.
14:04
Speaker 1: And I think after that, I was like, wait, okay,
14:07
Speaker 1: I'm here, I'm this is real life like and whatever
14:10
Speaker 1: I do, Like in my mind at the time, it
14:12
Speaker 1: was like whatever I do, like this is going to
14:13
Speaker 1: be my entire life, you know, so I better figure
14:16
Speaker 1: it out. And then I had once I called like
14:19
Speaker 1: decision fatigue, like I just couldn't I couldn't decide. I
14:21
Speaker 1: was just like, there's so many things I'm not sure
14:24
Speaker 1: I didn't study this, and I think there was also
14:26
Speaker 1: a lot of imposter syndrome is a wrong word, but
14:29
Speaker 1: like feeling that I didn't have enough to offer because
14:31
Speaker 1: I studied math. I studied math in Spanish, and then
14:34
Speaker 1: I didn't want to do anything related to those those
14:37
Speaker 1: two topics. So I had this feeling of like, you know,
14:40
Speaker 1: who am I to just try starting this new thing. Now.
14:43
Speaker 1: Obviously I have learned that, to be honest, most people
14:46
Speaker 1: are are faking it until they make it, and like
14:48
Speaker 1: so much of it is about like figuring it out
14:51
Speaker 1: as you go. But at the time I was just
14:54
Speaker 1: like paralyzed.
14:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I totally really And reflecting back on your
15:00
Speaker 3: experience and why you chose to go into math, you
15:02
Speaker 3: idolized your parents. I mean they were someone they were
15:05
Speaker 3: two individuals that you looked up to, so it was
15:07
Speaker 3: natural for you to follow that kind of path. But
15:11
Speaker 3: it does sometimes take these experiences and this reflection and
15:15
Speaker 3: to go through that moment to get to a point
15:17
Speaker 3: where you're like, you know what, maybe this wasn't for me.
15:20
Speaker 2: And now, although it may have not been.
15:23
Speaker 3: The conventional path to get to where you are, all
15:25
Speaker 3: the things that you did, including that major in mathematics
15:30
Speaker 3: and Spanish, that contributed to where you are today. And
15:35
Speaker 3: sometimes I think when you're in that and you were
15:38
Speaker 3: saying like imposter syndrome, but when you're in this place
15:40
Speaker 3: where you're like, shoot, like what did I do?
15:42
Speaker 2: Who am I?
15:42
Speaker 1: Like?
15:43
Speaker 3: We get caught up in that, right, We get caught
15:45
Speaker 3: up in this feeling of like, wow, did I miss up?
15:47
Speaker 2: What am I supposed to do? But like being caught
15:48
Speaker 2: up in that doesn't serve you.
15:50
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I totally agree with that, and I think what's
15:53
Speaker 1: so important is to like think about it's true that
15:56
Speaker 1: like whatever you're going through, your reality is your reality,
15:58
Speaker 1: like you're not imagining it. And it's especially as a
16:01
Speaker 1: meditation teacher, I think it's so important to not like
16:03
Speaker 1: reject or push down any part of what we're feeling
16:06
Speaker 1: and to like welcome in that diversity of experience. But
16:10
Speaker 1: I also think that, like especially when it comes to careers,
16:13
Speaker 1: because for most most people, you know, your career is
16:17
Speaker 1: a huge part of your life. I think it can
16:19
Speaker 1: be helpful to recognize that your work is not always
16:23
Speaker 1: about your work. You know, it can be a vehicle
16:26
Speaker 1: for growth, and it doesn't have to be your identity.
16:29
Speaker 1: Like you are a person that's not your career, You're
16:32
Speaker 1: not your job, and so if you make your personal
16:36
Speaker 1: growth first, then everything grows and you can sort of
16:39
Speaker 1: move around these rules of like the you know, career
16:43
Speaker 1: path that maybe I thought I needed to have growing
16:46
Speaker 1: up or how things should be. I also think, you know,
16:51
Speaker 1: just knowing that it's a lot of responsibility, but like
16:55
Speaker 1: you're in charge of you and that's not so so simple.
16:57
Speaker 1: That sounds like oversimplified, but like it's your job to
17:01
Speaker 1: be in control of yourself and to make choices for
17:03
Speaker 1: your own life. And that means like sometimes you're gonna
17:07
Speaker 1: have to do things that aren't comfortable or be willing
17:09
Speaker 1: to fail. And when you're in like that place of
17:12
Speaker 1: being a little bit paralyzed, like knowing that but this
17:15
Speaker 1: is your one life, you know, you're gonna have to
17:17
Speaker 1: take a risk or like move to India and figure
17:19
Speaker 1: it out.
17:19
Speaker 3: And that's fine, You're gonna have to move to Indian
17:22
Speaker 3: figure it out. And I mean even us just having
17:24
Speaker 3: this conversation and putting this your experience into the world
17:27
Speaker 3: and listening to others who have had similar struggles. It's
17:30
Speaker 3: a reminder that you're not the only person that's like, shoot,
17:33
Speaker 3: what the hell am I doing right now?
17:35
Speaker 1: Absolutely, I think every one of us has felt that,
17:38
Speaker 1: and I think that it's something and I you know
17:40
Speaker 1: what I love about hurdle podcasts and like this idea.
17:42
Speaker 1: It's like, it's not something that's gonna happen once. It's
17:44
Speaker 1: gonna happen again and again. You're not gonna figure it out.
17:45
Speaker 1: And then you're like, well, I'm figured it. I figured
17:47
Speaker 1: it out for life, Like that's not how it works.
17:49
Speaker 1: Like it's just gonna keep happening, So we might as
17:51
Speaker 1: well get a little bit more comfortable with it.
17:54
Speaker 3: Get comfortable with the fact that the hurdles are just
17:56
Speaker 3: gonna keep on coming and you're gonna trip over most
17:59
Speaker 3: of them. Maybe every so often you'll have the one that, like,
18:02
Speaker 3: you totally clear and it just feels so good.
18:05
Speaker 1: I think those are things that should be celebrated, you know,
18:07
Speaker 1: Like we might think of it as failure, but like
18:09
Speaker 1: if you never made a mistake, if you never tripped
18:12
Speaker 1: over a hurdle. It means you never tried. And if
18:14
Speaker 1: you never tried, you never took a chance like on yourself.
18:16
Speaker 1: You never believed in yourself. You didn't have that faith.
18:18
Speaker 1: And so I feel like it's like totally fine to
18:21
Speaker 1: trip over the hurdle, and it just matters that you
18:23
Speaker 1: like keep going so that you can clear the hurdle
18:25
Speaker 1: when you're when it's like the right moment and you're ready.
18:28
Speaker 3: You moved to India, talk to me, and I'm assuming
18:31
Speaker 3: before this point you had been there before.
18:34
Speaker 1: Yes, So I grew up visiting India really often. It
18:37
Speaker 1: you know, I love India. I would consider moving back
18:40
Speaker 1: to India, like it's it feels really like a home
18:45
Speaker 1: to me. So I had grown up visiting often, but
18:49
Speaker 1: I'd never lived there. My parents moved to Bangalore, which
18:52
Speaker 1: is not actually where my family is from, but they
18:54
Speaker 1: moved there for a whole bunch of other reasons, which
18:57
Speaker 1: is great, but not where I wanted to live there.
19:00
Speaker 1: And I grew up actually, aside from sports, also performing,
19:04
Speaker 1: I grew up playing the violin, singing, and acting. And
19:08
Speaker 1: so I actually like tried to convince my parents to
19:12
Speaker 1: let me go to drama school and they were like, no,
19:14
Speaker 1: you have to go to college, Like no. But after
19:18
Speaker 1: I graduated and I was an Indian trying to figure out,
19:20
Speaker 1: my mom was like, you know, like you could just
19:21
Speaker 1: do whatever you want, like you know, like you should.
19:24
Speaker 1: Now is the time to pursue whatever you want to
19:26
Speaker 1: And so I sort of revisited that and I moved
19:32
Speaker 1: to Bombay by myself, which was crazy and really challenging
19:38
Speaker 1: and really really fun. And I started a career in
19:43
Speaker 1: entertainment and for many years my like number one job,
19:46
Speaker 1: full time job, was being a model and acting, until
19:51
Speaker 1: I moved back to New York.
19:52
Speaker 2: Did you feel fulfilled by doing that?
19:55
Speaker 1: I loved it. I really loved it. But I think
19:58
Speaker 1: it was like one of those things where I was like,
19:59
Speaker 1: this is what I just knew from Like when I
20:02
Speaker 1: was really young, I knew I wanted to perform, and
20:04
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't. I wasn't able to identify until
20:06
Speaker 1: I was an adult why I wanted to Why I
20:08
Speaker 1: like being on camera, Why I wanted to perform. Now
20:10
Speaker 1: I can look back and say, I think I'm a storyteller.
20:13
Speaker 1: I like connecting with people. Performance is an opportunity to
20:17
Speaker 1: share humanity. It's not like you know, but as a
20:20
Speaker 1: model in particular, I felt like there was something more
20:24
Speaker 1: that I wanted. I wanted to tell more stories and
20:28
Speaker 1: connect more and it wasn't as three dimensional as I
20:31
Speaker 1: would like for it to be. And I was living
20:33
Speaker 1: in India, but I was thinking, like what if I
20:35
Speaker 1: don't want to live in India forever, you know, like
20:38
Speaker 1: my dreams growing up took place in the US. Like
20:41
Speaker 1: I didn't think even though I love India, like I
20:44
Speaker 1: didn't think of myself as a person that was going
20:47
Speaker 1: to be performing in Bollywood or I just didn't see
20:50
Speaker 1: that for myself. So I was like, maybe I shouldn't stay.
20:54
Speaker 1: I'm not sure. And I had this plan. I had
20:57
Speaker 1: a two year plan to like make a bunch of money,
21:00
Speaker 1: and in the meantime, I was going to get my
21:04
Speaker 1: yoga certification because I always thought that I would retire
21:07
Speaker 1: and open a yoga studio OR'd open yogo studio on
21:09
Speaker 1: the side. So I was like, I'm going to get
21:10
Speaker 1: my yoga certification. I'm going to go I've gotten a
21:13
Speaker 1: stella adler, So I was like, I'm going to do that,
21:15
Speaker 1: and then I'm going to keep working so I have
21:17
Speaker 1: enough money to like then quit and do something else.
21:19
Speaker 2: Wait for those that don't know what Stella Adler, it is.
21:23
Speaker 1: An acting school in the US. And actually so many
21:27
Speaker 1: of my colleagues have also been to Stella Adler, which
21:29
Speaker 1: is so funny. So I came to New York one
21:33
Speaker 1: summer with like literally nothing, like I had like half
21:36
Speaker 1: a suitcase of clothes to go to Stella Adler. I
21:39
Speaker 1: decided to just do my teacher training at the same time,
21:42
Speaker 1: like the same around the same time. Right afterwards, and
21:46
Speaker 1: during teacher training, something just hit me and I was like,
21:50
Speaker 1: oh my god, Like I could go back to India
21:54
Speaker 1: and go back to modeling and get stuck there and
21:58
Speaker 1: never leave. Like I haven't been happy for like a
22:01
Speaker 1: year and I'm still doing this and I'm going to
22:04
Speaker 1: go back and do it for two more years. I
22:06
Speaker 1: was like why and so right there and then I
22:10
Speaker 1: just decided not to go back, which was thank God
22:13
Speaker 1: for my parents who like helped me. You know, I
22:16
Speaker 1: had moved, I put everything in boxes, but they had
22:18
Speaker 1: to like sell my car and like get my stuff.
22:22
Speaker 1: I moved to New York and I decided that I
22:26
Speaker 1: was still like acting, I have an agency, et cetera.
22:28
Speaker 1: But like I was like, I think I am going
22:30
Speaker 1: to maybe get more curious about yoga because I had
22:34
Speaker 1: such an important sort of epiphany during this training, and
22:41
Speaker 1: I want to get closer to myself and I want
22:44
Speaker 1: to feel inside out strong, and that's how I was
22:46
Speaker 1: feeling from this. And I had already like obviously known
22:52
Speaker 1: that yoga is so important. It's like an important practice
22:54
Speaker 1: in my life. It was something i'd been doing, I
22:55
Speaker 1: just didn't know I wanted to teach it right. I
22:57
Speaker 1: was like, maybe I'll start a studio or something. But
23:00
Speaker 1: I was like, I think I need to get more
23:02
Speaker 1: curious about this. So I went to like a bunch
23:05
Speaker 1: of studios. I found one that I liked. I applied
23:09
Speaker 1: for a job there. That job got filled. I went
23:11
Speaker 1: to the front desk. I was like, how can I
23:13
Speaker 1: work here? And they were like, well, maybe you could
23:16
Speaker 1: do like the mentorship program. That's like a place where
23:18
Speaker 1: a lot of people start. So I was like, okay,
23:21
Speaker 1: I found a teacher I liked. I did the mentorship program,
23:23
Speaker 1: and I just I remember like having lunch with the
23:26
Speaker 1: owner and he offered me like a small managerial position
23:31
Speaker 1: and he was like, no, what do you want to do?
23:32
Speaker 1: And I was like, oh, well, I want to open
23:33
Speaker 1: my own studio, like I'm not here like dat. And
23:37
Speaker 1: then like obviously, as I got to got like more
23:39
Speaker 1: involved in yoga world and living in New York City,
23:43
Speaker 1: which I hadn't done before, I realized that I would
23:46
Speaker 1: never want to open a yoga studio in New York
23:48
Speaker 1: for sure, and in mentorship, you have to teach, like
23:52
Speaker 1: that was one of the things you had to do
23:53
Speaker 1: with teach. And I started realizing like I did like it,
23:56
Speaker 1: like I had already been doing it on my own
23:58
Speaker 1: but just with my friends, and I did enjoy it.
24:02
Speaker 1: And so I was like, maybe I'll I'll just do
24:05
Speaker 1: this and we'll see how it goes. And I think
24:08
Speaker 1: one really incredible thing about yoga is like or you know,
24:10
Speaker 1: most movement practices, it's such a lifelong practice, like you
24:13
Speaker 1: keep learning. It's not like, oh, I did my two
24:16
Speaker 1: hundred hour, I'm good, like no, it's like ongoing. And
24:19
Speaker 1: so I just threw myself into it, to be really honest,
24:21
Speaker 1: and I think that's probably the only way I was
24:24
Speaker 1: in New York living on my savings with nothing, So
24:27
Speaker 1: so I threw myself into it and it worked out.
24:31
Speaker 3: I think a lot of people hear your story of
24:34
Speaker 3: moving to New York with like a half a suitcase
24:36
Speaker 3: of clothes and living on their savings, and like, I
24:38
Speaker 3: think about doing this all the time. Do you have
24:39
Speaker 3: any practical advice for someone who wants to come here and.
24:43
Speaker 2: Either chase a dream or just be here?
24:46
Speaker 3: I mean, as you know, as a New Yorker, Like
24:47
Speaker 3: the aura here is just it's special.
24:50
Speaker 1: It's incredible, and I love it. I love that it is.
24:54
Speaker 1: I think it's a place where we're all really willing
24:58
Speaker 1: to save ourselves, you know, like like nobody's gonna come
25:01
Speaker 1: save you. You have to like do that for yourself. And
25:02
Speaker 1: I think this is that is like the energy of
25:04
Speaker 1: New York. If you ask me, I think there's a
25:08
Speaker 1: few practical tips, which is, you know, when you sign
25:12
Speaker 1: up for a goal or dream, what you're really signing
25:15
Speaker 1: up for is the inconvenience that it's going to cost
25:17
Speaker 1: you to get there. You're not just signing up for
25:19
Speaker 1: like the light at the end of the tunnel, like
25:21
Speaker 1: you have to go through the whole tunnel. And that's great,
25:24
Speaker 1: and you should make sure that that's something you're gonna
25:26
Speaker 1: enjoy or at least not totally hate like there's gonna
25:28
Speaker 1: be ups and downs, of course, but like you're gonna
25:31
Speaker 1: have to do that. So there's that is like just
25:34
Speaker 1: like really acknowledging the truth of that. And then when
25:37
Speaker 1: you move to a place like New York where there's
25:39
Speaker 1: so many people, it's a huge network, it seems really competitive.
25:42
Speaker 1: You're like, where is my place here? I would really
25:44
Speaker 1: advocate for like meeting people. You know, especially in like
25:49
Speaker 1: yoga and other movement practices, you're going to meet so
25:51
Speaker 1: many people, meet people and don't meet them in a
25:54
Speaker 1: way that's networking, don't meet them in a way that's
25:56
Speaker 1: competition that makes you feel like, oh, well, this person's
25:59
Speaker 1: doing this, Like I want to do that, but like
26:02
Speaker 1: you want to think about it in a way or
26:03
Speaker 1: I want to think about it in a way that
26:05
Speaker 1: feels like how can I be of service to this person?
26:09
Speaker 1: There's space for all of us. How can I help
26:11
Speaker 1: this person grow? And how can we communally create a
26:15
Speaker 1: space that feels like we can all achieve our wildest
26:19
Speaker 1: dreams as opposed to a place that feels like really
26:22
Speaker 1: coming from a scarcity mindset, right, Like if you get there,
26:24
Speaker 1: that means I can't Like that's not the way I
26:26
Speaker 1: think I thought about it, And I don't know if
26:29
Speaker 1: that I don't know if that, like ultimately is the
26:32
Speaker 1: reason that I feel like I made it work. But
26:34
Speaker 1: I would say I think it's a good place to
26:36
Speaker 1: start for anybody that's having that sort of you know,
26:39
Speaker 1: thinking about making a big life change.
26:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, and just having that openness, right like,
26:45
Speaker 3: just because you think things might be a certain way
26:48
Speaker 3: doesn't mean that's how they are. And I think oftentimes we,
26:51
Speaker 3: especially if someone is interested in making a similar move
26:55
Speaker 3: that you did or also that I have done, it's
26:57
Speaker 3: we have a lot of thoughts about how it could be,
27:00
Speaker 3: and it could be scary, and it could be overwhelming,
27:02
Speaker 3: and like how am I going to make this work?
27:03
Speaker 3: But be open to what's actually happening in your life
27:06
Speaker 3: instead of just the stories that you're telling about telling
27:08
Speaker 3: yourself about what's going on.
27:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's such a big part of it too. I think,
27:13
Speaker 1: you know, it's like I think about how meditation and
27:15
Speaker 1: mindfulness and yoga like are a part of these transitions.
27:20
Speaker 1: And when I think about, like, okay, let's say, like
27:24
Speaker 1: you you want to do something that makes you feel
27:26
Speaker 1: more free, which I think is a really I think
27:28
Speaker 1: it's actually happening right now. There's like I read a
27:30
Speaker 1: headline about how so many people are quitting their jobs
27:32
Speaker 1: right because we all want to be able to do
27:34
Speaker 1: something that makes us feel like our whole selves and
27:37
Speaker 1: not like we're just like slave store work and that's amazing.
27:40
Speaker 1: But also like freedom includes like when you think about
27:45
Speaker 1: the way that you're interacting with yourself, like not being
27:47
Speaker 1: dragged around by every little thought you have or every
27:50
Speaker 1: little emotion you have, And I don't, by any means
27:52
Speaker 1: mean that you shouldn't pay attention to them. Again, like,
27:55
Speaker 1: I think it's so important to be open to that
27:57
Speaker 1: diversity of feeling, but to also be able to look
28:00
Speaker 1: at it and then decide whether it's real or not real,
28:03
Speaker 1: decide whether you need to pay attention to it or
28:05
Speaker 1: not pay attention to it. Decide whether it's like recurring
28:11
Speaker 1: or a one time feeling, whether like you just said,
28:13
Speaker 1: it's a story that you're telling yourself, or if it's reality.
28:17
Speaker 1: So I think that a really big part of like
28:20
Speaker 1: making these transitions is knowing that like, yeah, it's gonna
28:22
Speaker 1: be inconvenien's gonna be uncomfortable, and then being open to
28:25
Speaker 1: dealing with that, not just in the way that it
28:28
Speaker 1: manifests like physically in your life, like okay, I need
28:30
Speaker 1: to pay my rent, but also like in the way
28:32
Speaker 1: it manifests mentally, you know.
28:34
Speaker 2: Yeah.
28:34
Speaker 3: And also something that you said before that I chuckle
28:37
Speaker 3: that a little bit was you very quickly were like,
28:39
Speaker 3: I do not want to open a yoga studio in
28:41
Speaker 3: New York.
28:43
Speaker 1: No.
28:44
Speaker 2: What helped you come to that realization?
28:46
Speaker 1: I think I realized so I would say the reason
28:49
Speaker 1: that I at first thought I don't want to teach
28:51
Speaker 1: you guys, because I was like, I want to keep
28:53
Speaker 1: this practice to myself. I love this practice, I need
28:55
Speaker 1: this I don't want it to become work. I was
28:59
Speaker 1: a little scared of that, you know, and I never
29:01
Speaker 1: considered it to be honest, like I wasn't a job.
29:03
Speaker 1: I was considering. I was a math major. So it
29:05
Speaker 1: was like for me, I was like, why would I
29:06
Speaker 1: take this practice that I love and then make it work?
29:09
Speaker 1: And I think when it comes to a studio, it's
29:10
Speaker 1: actually like a it's more like that. It's like once
29:14
Speaker 1: you have a studio, it's a business and your obligation
29:18
Speaker 1: then might be like, I don't know, I'm not a
29:23
Speaker 1: studio owner, and I think people who open studios you know,
29:26
Speaker 1: are incredible. But for me, I want to be able
29:29
Speaker 1: to focus one hundred percent on teaching and practicing, and
29:35
Speaker 1: that's what I want to focus on. I don't want
29:37
Speaker 1: to focus on having to create a business around that.
29:40
Speaker 1: And I can't imagine that the decisions I would have
29:42
Speaker 1: to make in order to make a business fruitful. I
29:46
Speaker 1: want to be able to treat yoga as as special
29:50
Speaker 1: and a practice that doesn't like, of course it is
29:53
Speaker 1: my work, but that doesn't I'm not making decisions about
29:57
Speaker 1: what I'm teaching because it's a studio that I own,
30:00
Speaker 1: Like I feel like that, really it's a really tough
30:02
Speaker 1: it's a tough tough job.
30:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. For sure. No, I totally hear you.
30:07
Speaker 2: And the word gift comes to mind.
30:09
Speaker 3: It's like you have the opportunity to like embrace this
30:11
Speaker 3: as the gift that it is and share that gift
30:14
Speaker 3: now with other people.
30:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I mean I want to just like add
30:18
Speaker 1: like I thank god we have yoga studios, like I
30:22
Speaker 1: love yoga studios. And I don't mean it like that.
30:24
Speaker 1: I just think for me personally, it would have been
30:27
Speaker 1: a hard thing to do I think it's a really
30:29
Speaker 1: tough line to walk.
30:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure.
30:31
Speaker 3: So you go through the mentorship program and then what
30:35
Speaker 3: happens for you in your journey after that.
30:37
Speaker 1: I was hired right out of the mentorship program at
30:41
Speaker 1: the studio I was at, and I had, like, you know,
30:44
Speaker 1: gotten some privates. But at the same time, I was
30:48
Speaker 1: really adamant about not teaching like twenty classes a week,
30:53
Speaker 1: which is I think what happens to a lot of
30:54
Speaker 1: new teachers. You know, you need to make ends meet.
30:57
Speaker 1: Classes don't pay that much, and I wanted to make
31:01
Speaker 1: sure I had space for my own practice, like no
31:04
Speaker 1: matter what. So I had a series of other jobs,
31:09
Speaker 1: like part time jobs. I was modeling at first, and
31:12
Speaker 1: I really wanted to, like I wanted to stop modeling.
31:14
Speaker 1: So I was eventually able to leave my modeling agency,
31:19
Speaker 1: and I had a series of jobs in startups and
31:25
Speaker 1: marketing and just like all kinds of other stuff. I
31:27
Speaker 1: took on like managerial positions at the studio, and I
31:31
Speaker 1: did other things so that I would be able to
31:33
Speaker 1: have my own practice, And I taught maybe five six
31:36
Speaker 1: classes a week, so not a lot. I was also
31:40
Speaker 1: really committed, and I still am really committed to learning.
31:42
Speaker 1: I think it's actually one of the gifts of yoga
31:45
Speaker 1: is like there's endless amounts of learning. Right now, I'm
31:49
Speaker 1: like really really interested in philosophy. But when I would
31:55
Speaker 1: say out of the mentorship program, I did a whole
31:57
Speaker 1: series of other trainings. I did a lot of trainings,
32:00
Speaker 1: and I practice a lot. You're teaching from your practice
32:04
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Like you can't teach.
32:06
Speaker 1: It's hard to teach things that you haven't experienced. So
32:08
Speaker 1: you haven't you don't have like an in your body,
32:12
Speaker 1: in your heart experience to teach from. So everything that
32:15
Speaker 1: you know I share comes from something I've explored, and
32:19
Speaker 1: so I spent a lot of time doing that, teaching
32:21
Speaker 1: and practicing some other job.
32:23
Speaker 3: You know, do you do you want to give us
32:24
Speaker 3: insight into the oddest job that you had oddest job.
32:28
Speaker 2: I'm waiting for you to tell me. I don't know.
32:30
Speaker 3: I like can't of course, like when you want to
32:32
Speaker 3: pull one out of the back pocket, you like don't
32:34
Speaker 3: have something to throw into the mix. But I want
32:35
Speaker 3: you to tell me that you, like, worked at a subway,
32:37
Speaker 3: sandwich shop or something.
32:38
Speaker 1: God, I didn't do that, But I do have a
32:41
Speaker 1: really odd acting gig that I had, which was really
32:44
Speaker 1: and everybody is like public for everyone to see, so
32:46
Speaker 1: you're welcome for this. I was on the show Elementary
32:49
Speaker 1: for like a one day co star rode like two lines.
32:53
Speaker 1: But in this show, it's like, you know, it's like
32:56
Speaker 1: a Sherlock Home show, so it's like a mystery. It's
32:59
Speaker 1: like you know, they're solving a mystery a case or something.
33:02
Speaker 1: And the show I was painted. It was me and
33:07
Speaker 1: one other girl. Okay, so I was painted head to
33:09
Speaker 1: toe to match the wall, so like you could almost
33:11
Speaker 1: not see us, Like when if you just walked on
33:14
Speaker 1: the set, was like you just matched the wall and
33:16
Speaker 1: then you could like pop out and be a person. Well,
33:19
Speaker 1: it was a very interesting experience that was definitely an
33:22
Speaker 1: I think it counts in the category of odd jobs.
33:24
Speaker 3: So this is exactly what I'm going to be googling
33:26
Speaker 3: when we get off of this, when we get off
33:30
Speaker 3: of this recording.
33:31
Speaker 1: But yeah, you'll definitely find it. It's definitely a it was.
33:34
Speaker 1: It was really fun though. It was fun and funny
33:36
Speaker 1: and like.
33:37
Speaker 2: An experience amazing.
33:39
Speaker 3: So you have all of these quote unquote side jobs
33:43
Speaker 3: and you're practicing and you're making time for your practice.
33:45
Speaker 3: Give me if you can a timeline as to maybe
33:49
Speaker 3: where we are at this point in your story, like.
33:53
Speaker 1: Two thousand and like, you know, fourteen thirteen. Fourteen was
33:57
Speaker 1: like when I was like, you know, really really committed
34:01
Speaker 1: to my career in the midst of like okay, practicing
34:04
Speaker 1: all the time, Like there was a teacher whose class
34:06
Speaker 1: I would go to for like three hours every Wednesday.
34:08
Speaker 1: You know. It was like very I was very committed
34:10
Speaker 1: to it, and it was a lot of the same
34:12
Speaker 1: for the first couple of years. There's not a lot
34:14
Speaker 1: of like it was just a lot of the same.
34:15
Speaker 1: It was a lot of like teaching and practicing, which
34:18
Speaker 1: might sound boring, but it is what it is. I
34:22
Speaker 1: did do, like I did have some other things that
34:25
Speaker 1: I got interested in. You know, I was interested in
34:28
Speaker 1: bringing It's so funny. I was interested in bringing yoga
34:30
Speaker 1: to corporate world, like to people who maybe don't come
34:33
Speaker 1: to yoga studios. So a friend and I started working
34:36
Speaker 1: on that. We had a little business, and I did
34:39
Speaker 1: that for a little while. That actually led to some
34:41
Speaker 1: really meeting some really cool people and actually I taught
34:46
Speaker 1: yoga at Times Square. That was a really big, like
34:49
Speaker 1: moment for me. Every year they have the Solstice at
34:53
Speaker 1: Times Square, which is like a huge yoga event with
34:55
Speaker 1: like thousands of people, and I got to teach a
34:57
Speaker 1: class live for that, and so I think like every
35:00
Speaker 1: little thing I've done has really led to what the
35:02
Speaker 1: next steps. And then I got really into meditation and
35:08
Speaker 1: had some really cool meditation teachers and I was like,
35:09
Speaker 1: I kind of want to do more meditation, but my
35:11
Speaker 1: yoga studio there weren't a lot of meditation opportunities. So
35:14
Speaker 1: I started doing this meditation pop up with a friend
35:17
Speaker 1: of mine. We called it Mindful Morning, and we would
35:19
Speaker 1: have like a meditation and a conversation and brunch and
35:23
Speaker 1: I got to meet more cool people doing that. So
35:26
Speaker 1: it was really like I stuck with that basic part
35:29
Speaker 1: of like teaching and practicing, and then I explored. I experimented,
35:35
Speaker 1: and you know, corporate yoga ended up not working out
35:38
Speaker 1: and that's okay. Like I feel like Mindful Morning, like
35:41
Speaker 1: I was doing that, and then my friend ended up
35:42
Speaker 1: moving to Paris what I was doing it with, So
35:44
Speaker 1: like I feel like a lot of things like it's
35:46
Speaker 1: it's fine to like explore them, and they have a
35:49
Speaker 1: time in your timeline, they have like a moment and
35:51
Speaker 1: they don't have to be forever. I think sometimes it
35:53
Speaker 1: can be hard for us let things go, but I
35:56
Speaker 1: feel like it's like what you said, You know, every
35:59
Speaker 1: step really contributed to where I am today.
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38:11
Speaker 3: I love as you explain all the different things that
38:14
Speaker 3: you kind of dabbled in, as you really got immersed
38:18
Speaker 3: in the yoga community here in New York.
38:21
Speaker 2: You certainly to an extent, became an entrepreneur.
38:24
Speaker 3: Right even though you knew very well that you didn't
38:27
Speaker 3: want to open a yoga studio, that didn't mean that
38:29
Speaker 3: you didn't have interests. And how can I expand this
38:31
Speaker 3: practice and try new things and bring it to others,
38:34
Speaker 3: even going back to the idea you were saying earlier
38:37
Speaker 3: about how passionate you were about having the ability to
38:41
Speaker 3: help others through this practice.
38:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think yoga in general, it is
38:46
Speaker 1: a service. It is like a service oriented industry. Like
38:48
Speaker 1: nobody is becoming a yoga teacher for any other reason,
38:51
Speaker 1: I imagine, And I love that, and I think that's
38:54
Speaker 1: so important. I would say, like, if I had to
38:57
Speaker 1: say one thing about myself, maybe is a little bit
39:01
Speaker 1: different than others. And I think about this in my
39:03
Speaker 1: partner sometimes because he has to put up with this
39:06
Speaker 1: is I think that I'm a person that's always constantly
39:08
Speaker 1: going to evolve, Like I'm not going to ever be
39:11
Speaker 1: like this is it. I'm here, I've arrived, Like I
39:13
Speaker 1: feel like I'm always going to be like, but what
39:14
Speaker 1: about this? Let me try this, Like I'm curious about this,
39:17
Speaker 1: Like let's explore this. And I feel like that is
39:20
Speaker 1: something I've had to get comfortable with myself. And like
39:23
Speaker 1: I said, like you know with a partner, it's also
39:25
Speaker 1: like making sure they're comfortable with that. But I feel
39:28
Speaker 1: like it served me well, Like I did get to
39:30
Speaker 1: explore and meet new people and learn new things. Being
39:34
Speaker 1: an entrepreneur is a whole skill set obviously that I
39:37
Speaker 1: learned a lot from. Just like I just jumped in
39:41
Speaker 1: without really knowing what I was doing, and that was good.
39:43
Speaker 1: It was great. I learned a lot. But yeah, all
39:46
Speaker 1: of those little pieces really helped me to find different
39:51
Speaker 1: parts of myself.
39:51
Speaker 2: So then when does Peloton come into the equation?
39:55
Speaker 1: So I am running teacher training at a studio and
39:59
Speaker 1: doing these other things mind full morning and teaching and
40:01
Speaker 1: practicing and having another job, and I get it. I
40:05
Speaker 1: get a DM from Dennis Morton and.
40:08
Speaker 4: He he was like, hey, like, would you be interested,
40:12
Speaker 4: Like Pelton's thinking about, you know, starting a yoga like
40:18
Speaker 4: starting yoga.
40:20
Speaker 1: And I remember at the time I had I had
40:23
Speaker 1: just done like a couple of months ago, a different
40:25
Speaker 1: audition for a different digital brand that ended up just
40:28
Speaker 1: like being a total mess, Like it was very disorganized,
40:32
Speaker 1: and I was a little bit like, I mean, Tony
40:36
Speaker 1: is my partner, Tony's mom has been obsessed with Pelton
40:39
Speaker 1: for years. I'm like, sounds really interesting, you know, but
40:43
Speaker 1: like I'm not sure. But what like they don't have yoga,
40:45
Speaker 1: you know. I was like, is this going to be
40:47
Speaker 1: a thing that they're trying? And then I give it
40:50
Speaker 1: my whole life and then it goes away. Like I
40:51
Speaker 1: was really unsure. And I remember walking down the street
40:57
Speaker 1: I walked to the audition because I lived like twenty
41:00
Speaker 1: minutes and I was like, maybe this it'll be nice,
41:02
Speaker 1: you know, I'll walk I remember what I wore. I
41:04
Speaker 1: remember walking to the audition thankfully, and I would say, like,
41:08
Speaker 1: I really think it's such a perfect like it was
41:11
Speaker 1: such a perfect requirement of my skill set, like being
41:14
Speaker 1: on camera and teaching was something like I was like, oh,
41:17
Speaker 1: I know how to do both of those things. Cool
41:19
Speaker 1: I taught to I don't remember. There are five or
41:22
Speaker 1: ten minute classes like little just the snippets of class,
41:25
Speaker 1: and that was it. That was the audition, and I
41:28
Speaker 1: was like, I mean, who knows. And I remember that
41:32
Speaker 1: entire summer. I was like really unsure of what was
41:38
Speaker 1: going to happen because there were also so many meetings
41:43
Speaker 1: and interviews. I was a little bit like when will
41:47
Speaker 1: I find out though, Like it's been a long time. Yeah,
41:54
Speaker 1: And I was in like a different like acting class,
41:56
Speaker 1: and I remember like talking to everyone. Everyone was like,
41:59
Speaker 1: are you going to do this in the fall, And
42:00
Speaker 1: I was like, I don't know. I'm not sure what's
42:05
Speaker 1: going to happen with my life at all in this moment,
42:08
Speaker 1: Like I'm kind of waiting, I have some more interviews
42:10
Speaker 1: next week. Like it was just this sort of like
42:12
Speaker 1: ongoing process, but you know, eventually, eventually I was given
42:16
Speaker 1: an offer, and it was really exciting because being at
42:19
Speaker 1: the beginning of something is so cool, Like it's so
42:23
Speaker 1: funny because they that year, I think I had gone
42:26
Speaker 1: to mind. Boddy Green has that like what's it called.
42:30
Speaker 1: I can't remember. They have that like three day weekend,
42:32
Speaker 1: and I had gone to that with a friend of
42:33
Speaker 1: mine and we were driving in and she was like,
42:38
Speaker 1: what are you hoping to get from this? Is there
42:41
Speaker 1: a transformation? Is there something that you are looking for
42:44
Speaker 1: in the next year? And I was like, you know,
42:46
Speaker 1: I'm here to be here, but if I had to
42:48
Speaker 1: say something that I want, it's like I think I
42:50
Speaker 1: want a bigger platform, Like I'm ready for a bigger
42:54
Speaker 1: platform and to reach noon different more people, especially with
42:58
Speaker 1: more like meditation, other offerings, and then it just so
43:02
Speaker 1: happened that like I got this DM from Pelton, so
43:05
Speaker 1: that was really really like perfect. It was amazing. And
43:08
Speaker 1: to be at the beginning of something is an opportunity
43:11
Speaker 1: to really shape it, obviously, and to work with this
43:14
Speaker 1: incredible team was a gift.
43:16
Speaker 2: Two things to double click on.
43:17
Speaker 3: The first thing is I've had the opportunity to talk
43:20
Speaker 3: to so many of you, whether it be for Hurdle
43:23
Speaker 3: or for the writing that I do at this point,
43:25
Speaker 3: and it cracks me up because I think the only
43:28
Speaker 3: person that was like one hundred percent all in zero
43:32
Speaker 3: hesitation right from the very get go was Robin. I remember,
43:36
Speaker 3: like Jess had like a hesitation, Like everyone has been
43:39
Speaker 3: like is this the thing for me?
43:41
Speaker 2: Like is this going to be the right move?
43:43
Speaker 3: Because it comes with like so much again, huge platform,
43:48
Speaker 3: huge responsibility, so much unknown, so much to be scared about.
43:52
Speaker 3: And now all of you who have made who may
43:55
Speaker 3: have had that hesitation up front, look back on this
43:58
Speaker 3: amazing experience and you're like, Wow, what a gift.
44:03
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And I think it's like I would say, specifically
44:05
Speaker 1: for me, and I find this in other parts of
44:07
Speaker 1: my life too, like it's helpful to be able to
44:10
Speaker 1: look at something and say this is what it is,
44:12
Speaker 1: like you want to do X, Like, well, that's what
44:13
Speaker 1: it looks like. And with Pelton, I was like, I
44:15
Speaker 1: have no idea what this looks like. Yoga does not
44:18
Speaker 1: exist and like I just don't know, like is this
44:22
Speaker 1: going to be? And thankful, you know, we did have
44:25
Speaker 1: such an opportunity to be a part of creating the program,
44:28
Speaker 1: but that I think that was a big for me personally.
44:31
Speaker 1: That was a big sort of like a big question mark.
44:33
Speaker 1: And now when I think about it, like it's it.
44:36
Speaker 1: I've evolved so much because of this job, and I
44:38
Speaker 1: really like welcome that. I love it. But I think
44:41
Speaker 1: now when I think about it, I'm like, question mark
44:43
Speaker 1: is amazing because that means you can make it what
44:44
Speaker 1: you want to make it. You don't have to like follow,
44:46
Speaker 1: you know, something that's already existing. It's awesome to have
44:49
Speaker 1: a big question mark. But at the time, I was like,
44:51
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what that means.
44:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, the other thing, you said, I'm ready for a
44:55
Speaker 3: bigger platform, and then you followed that up by saying
44:57
Speaker 3: I want to be able to help more people, And
45:00
Speaker 3: I think that is what's really special about you and
45:03
Speaker 3: special about the right people who find in having you
45:06
Speaker 3: to have the bigger platform, Because it's not necessarily like
45:09
Speaker 3: I want the bigger platform.
45:11
Speaker 2: It's the latter.
45:12
Speaker 3: It's I want to be able to help more people,
45:14
Speaker 3: and how can I help more people? It's okay, well
45:17
Speaker 3: maybe if I have a bigger platform. So to have
45:20
Speaker 3: your focus and your intention rooting in so much goodness
45:24
Speaker 3: in helping others, it's not like, for necessarily like you're
45:29
Speaker 3: not determining your self worth by your platform. You're not
45:32
Speaker 3: trying to like abuse a bigger platform. It's like, well,
45:35
Speaker 3: this is the thing that's going to empower me to
45:37
Speaker 3: like do more good in this world. So that's why
45:39
Speaker 3: I want it.
45:40
Speaker 1: I also think, you know, when I think about all
45:42
Speaker 1: of the instructors who are I mean, I'm constantly inspired
45:46
Speaker 1: by my teammates. They're incredible. But this is such a
45:51
Speaker 1: service job, right, Like we're all here in a different
45:54
Speaker 1: ways empowering, lifting up, helping others. And when I see
45:59
Speaker 1: my colleagues doing this, like when they're like listening to
46:02
Speaker 1: what they have to say, like putting themselves out there,
46:05
Speaker 1: it just feels like this act not just of service
46:08
Speaker 1: but of generosity, Like how generous is it to be vulnerable?
46:11
Speaker 1: How generous is it to say, like, this is my
46:15
Speaker 1: experience of being human, and I'm going to share that
46:17
Speaker 1: with you, even though it might feel scary or might
46:19
Speaker 1: like I think people don't always see the other side
46:21
Speaker 1: of it, but it might not feel that easy. But
46:25
Speaker 1: I in you know, I want to uplift you, and
46:27
Speaker 1: I know that by doing this, I'm going to be
46:30
Speaker 1: able to do that. And so I feel like I'm
46:32
Speaker 1: just so always, like constantly and amazed by bya this team.
46:36
Speaker 3: I think the word generous is actually like hitting the
46:39
Speaker 3: nail on the head because what's not often talked about.
46:41
Speaker 3: I mean, yes, that it's a job, but this specific,
46:45
Speaker 3: very unique job comes with a very specific, unique set
46:50
Speaker 3: of things that need to be taken into consideration to execute.
46:54
Speaker 3: Not only are you on a schedule like many people
46:56
Speaker 3: with a regular job, but you're on a schedule that
46:58
Speaker 3: doesn't really.
46:59
Speaker 2: Flex a lot.
47:00
Speaker 3: So that means that other things in your life are
47:02
Speaker 3: going to have to be either perhaps put on hold
47:05
Speaker 3: or shifted or moved in a certain way to make
47:07
Speaker 3: sure that you can accommodate for the members of Peloton,
47:10
Speaker 3: but also on top of that, the exposure and the
47:14
Speaker 3: being in service on purpose to these individuals, having hundreds
47:19
Speaker 3: of thousands of humans that are like, they have questions
47:22
Speaker 3: and they want help, and I have like twenty five
47:25
Speaker 3: thousand people that want my help, not all at the
47:27
Speaker 3: same time, but sometimes I'm like.
47:28
Speaker 2: Oh my god, what the hell am I doing here?
47:30
Speaker 3: And that is like a drop in the bucket compared
47:33
Speaker 3: to all of the amazing people that you're helping every
47:36
Speaker 3: day that might at one point or another just want
47:39
Speaker 3: to have their question answered or want an extra little
47:42
Speaker 3: bit of h from you. So to be in that
47:45
Speaker 3: kind of service is again that word generous, I think
47:49
Speaker 3: is it really sums it up well?
47:52
Speaker 1: I want to just say, also, I you know, this
47:54
Speaker 1: podcast I'm sure helps so many people, So I wouldn't
47:58
Speaker 1: I wouldn't you know, don't write yourself off incredible, But yeah,
48:03
Speaker 1: I I do feel like very much inspired by everyone
48:08
Speaker 1: that I get to work with.
48:09
Speaker 3: I love I love this, like this optimistic and beautiful
48:14
Speaker 3: view on the opportunity that comes hand in hand with
48:17
Speaker 3: what you do. So you've been at Peloton for a
48:20
Speaker 3: little bit of time, now, what would you say, over
48:23
Speaker 3: the last couple of years has been perhaps one of
48:26
Speaker 3: the biggest takeaways from your time with the company.
48:29
Speaker 1: There have been so many. One like, never underestimate the
48:33
Speaker 1: impact that you're having, like and and I say, I
48:35
Speaker 1: really mean impact because you know, sometimes we have an intention,
48:39
Speaker 1: but the impact is about how something lands and that's
48:42
Speaker 1: really important. And I feel like sometimes we can we
48:45
Speaker 1: don't recognize how much what we're saying and doing matters
48:48
Speaker 1: to others. So that's number one. I think, like, I
48:50
Speaker 1: feel like not underestimating how much each like literally every
48:54
Speaker 1: single one of us matters in our world. And then
48:57
Speaker 1: the other thing is too that goes back to that
49:01
Speaker 1: question mark. You know, be willing to make opportunities out
49:04
Speaker 1: of things that maybe you didn't know were opportunities, or
49:07
Speaker 1: be willing to prove to yourself something you didn't even
49:11
Speaker 1: know that you wanted, or you know, like just just
49:14
Speaker 1: like that openness I think is so important and I
49:17
Speaker 1: feel so much at this with this job. It's been
49:21
Speaker 1: it's been so important to make that transition to see
49:24
Speaker 1: that when there's a blank slate, it doesn't mean Because
49:29
Speaker 1: I'm a person that really loves structure, right, I love like,
49:31
Speaker 1: I really like my calendar's plan for the rest of
49:34
Speaker 1: the week. Like I like structure. Even the practice that
49:38
Speaker 1: I do is very structured, Like that's just like how
49:41
Speaker 1: my brain works. So I think like having a blank
49:43
Speaker 1: slate could could feel like a little a little worrisome,
49:47
Speaker 1: But I think this job has allowed me to turn
49:49
Speaker 1: that into an opportunity to say, like I get to
49:51
Speaker 1: decide what this blank slate turns into, and that that's
49:55
Speaker 1: not a scary thing. Maybe it's scary, but actually instead
49:57
Speaker 1: of being scared, I'd rather be curious. I'd rather be excited.
50:00
Speaker 1: I'd rather see this as an opportunity. So I think
50:02
Speaker 1: those are two big takeaways.
50:04
Speaker 2: Huge growth mindset. Woman, you are. I love that for you.
50:10
Speaker 3: When someone goes to your Instagram page, they see a
50:13
Speaker 3: Peloton instructor with one hundred and six thousand followers and growing.
50:18
Speaker 3: When you look in the mirror, what is it that
50:20
Speaker 3: you see looking back at you.
50:22
Speaker 1: That's such an interesting question. I'll be honest and say
50:25
Speaker 1: that I think there are definitely time periods in my
50:31
Speaker 1: life where it was really hard to look in the mirror.
50:33
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of us, a lot of
50:35
Speaker 1: us feel this way, right Like we look in the
50:36
Speaker 1: mirror and all that we see our flaws and that's like,
50:39
Speaker 1: it's just like what life is for that's the wrong Okay,
50:43
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say that's not what life is, but that's
50:45
Speaker 1: like sometimes how we're conditioned in our world. I think
50:48
Speaker 1: a lot of people have gone through that at some
50:50
Speaker 1: point or another.
50:51
Speaker 3: I love that vulnerability though. I'm just telling you, like
50:53
Speaker 3: as an aside, because I do think that. And you
50:57
Speaker 3: know this, because you interact with so many humans, Like
50:59
Speaker 3: it's so easy for people to just assume, like they
51:02
Speaker 3: come to your Instagram page, like you are a beautiful human,
51:05
Speaker 3: They're like, oh, she must, she must just like have
51:09
Speaker 3: this shit together all the time.
51:11
Speaker 2: And it's like, yo, I'm a human, of course not no.
51:16
Speaker 1: Of course of course. And I think that's like that
51:19
Speaker 1: is what I love about teaching meditation. I love because
51:23
Speaker 1: meditation I have more of an opportunity to like talk
51:25
Speaker 1: and sometimes the topics are a little bit more specific,
51:28
Speaker 1: so I can like really get into something and what
51:30
Speaker 1: I really think is so important. And what I love
51:33
Speaker 1: about meditation practice is this opportunity to say, like, I
51:36
Speaker 1: know that you have these feelings and these thoughts and
51:39
Speaker 1: I have them too, and that is what being human is.
51:42
Speaker 1: And that's totally normal and you're allowed to forgive yourself
51:45
Speaker 1: for it and you're allowed to feel them and you're
51:47
Speaker 1: allowed to be totally crazy because we all are like
51:50
Speaker 1: And I really think like that's such a huge, huge
51:53
Speaker 1: part of like why I personally love teaching meditation. It's
51:57
Speaker 1: like and we sort of go through life. I think
52:00
Speaker 1: sometimes with this like like you know, you zip up
52:03
Speaker 1: this like space suit is like when my teachers calls
52:06
Speaker 1: it like a space suit, it's a protective layer, you know,
52:09
Speaker 1: and when do you get to unzip it and be like, oh,
52:11
Speaker 1: but I'm a human on the inside. And so I
52:12
Speaker 1: love meditation for that, and I think that's something I
52:15
Speaker 1: will go back to the mirror question and say, I've
52:17
Speaker 1: been practicing. I've been practicing being able to unzip the
52:20
Speaker 1: suit and be like I'm a human and like I
52:24
Speaker 1: embrace that. I can embrace that. Not I'm not I'm
52:27
Speaker 1: not perfect. I'm not going to feel perfect every day
52:30
Speaker 1: and that's beautiful and that's okay, and every day isn't
52:34
Speaker 1: going to be a good day. But I don't have
52:35
Speaker 1: to expect every day. I don't have to expect that
52:37
Speaker 1: from myself, you know, I don't have to expect perfection
52:40
Speaker 1: from myself, and that's I think I've I definitely feel
52:43
Speaker 1: like I've evolved a little bit. I think that going
52:46
Speaker 1: back to what I said before about, you know, not
52:47
Speaker 1: always wanting to look in the mirror. I spend a
52:49
Speaker 1: lot of time in the modeling industry. Like I think
52:51
Speaker 1: a lot of people, because we are conditioned in so
52:54
Speaker 1: many ways, have similar feelings. But I also have come
52:58
Speaker 1: to a place where I'm like, look at what my
53:00
Speaker 1: body can do for me. Like I have this generous heart,
53:04
Speaker 1: Like that's something I love about myself, and like I
53:06
Speaker 1: get to share this with others and not like really
53:10
Speaker 1: hyper analyze every little flaw that everybody has flaws.
53:14
Speaker 2: It's fine, it's fine, it's fine.
53:16
Speaker 3: Earlier, much earlier in our conversation, you spoke about a
53:20
Speaker 3: much younger you that when you started with meditation, you're like,
53:24
Speaker 3: how the hell am I supposed to do this?
53:25
Speaker 2: This is just crazy.
53:26
Speaker 3: I think a lot of individuals listening to this podcast
53:30
Speaker 3: who are not young, maybe they are also in their
53:32
Speaker 3: mid thirties, forties, fifties beyond.
53:34
Speaker 2: They feel that way now, So what do you say
53:37
Speaker 2: to them?
53:38
Speaker 3: For anyone who wants to start a regular meditation practice
53:41
Speaker 3: because as we know, it can have so many benefits
53:45
Speaker 3: in so many ways throughout our lives.
53:47
Speaker 1: I think, first of all, you have to find the
53:49
Speaker 1: right kind of practice for you. There's so many different
53:52
Speaker 1: lineages and paths of meditation, and I didn't. It took
53:56
Speaker 1: me a little bit of experimenting, and I would imagine
53:58
Speaker 1: it would take anybody's some experimenting. And so my advice
54:02
Speaker 1: would be to stay open, you know, work with different teachers,
54:05
Speaker 1: learn about the lineages, because you know, beyond just the
54:08
Speaker 1: meditation practice itself, most lineages come with like an ethics,
54:11
Speaker 1: like there's like a background to it that matters because
54:14
Speaker 1: it's going to inform the practice. So I love insight meditation.
54:20
Speaker 1: It's also called the pastaa. It's also commonly known as mindfulness,
54:24
Speaker 1: and I like it because it is a way in
54:28
Speaker 1: which we can engage with ourselves, with what we're feeling
54:31
Speaker 1: in our bodies, with what we're feeling like emotionally or
54:34
Speaker 1: what we're thinking. We can actually instead of trying to
54:37
Speaker 1: like clear your mind, which to me felt really impossible
54:41
Speaker 1: growing up, this is a way in which you can
54:45
Speaker 1: start by working with what's there, you know, and by
54:49
Speaker 1: starting to recognize that you don't have to believe your
54:53
Speaker 1: experiences or your thoughts, you don't have to let them
54:55
Speaker 1: control you, that you're an independent agent, and you start
54:58
Speaker 1: to be able to take responsibility for your relationship with
55:02
Speaker 1: yourself and take responsibility for your relationship with the world.
55:04
Speaker 1: And then that turns into Okay, life is not happening
55:08
Speaker 1: to me. I'm an active participant in my life, and
55:10
Speaker 1: we start to be able to make these changes for
55:13
Speaker 1: me through this mindfulness practice. But I guess that's my answer,
55:18
Speaker 1: is like, find a practice that works for you. My
55:19
Speaker 1: experience of finding mindfulness has led me down this path
55:22
Speaker 1: which I've really loved.
55:23
Speaker 3: And just like there can be so many different types
55:26
Speaker 3: of meditation, there's also so many types of yoga. And
55:29
Speaker 3: what's awesome is that everyone can, so to speak, take
55:34
Speaker 3: different things from their yoga.
55:37
Speaker 1: Practice absolutely so you know, for me, I teach asana,
55:41
Speaker 1: which is the physical practice of yoga. I also teach meditation.
55:44
Speaker 1: But yoga is so many different things, Like it's actually
55:47
Speaker 1: this huge philosophy and there are many different components that
55:51
Speaker 1: can you can bring into your lifestyle in so many
55:53
Speaker 1: different ways. I personally feel like so many people's entry
55:58
Speaker 1: way is the physical practice, and it can obviously it
56:01
Speaker 1: is a physical practice, like it feels good, it affects
56:03
Speaker 1: your body, but there's enough there's different elements to it
56:06
Speaker 1: that you have to bring into your practice. Like at
56:09
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's a practice, and you're
56:10
Speaker 1: not just moving your body like it is a philosophy
56:13
Speaker 1: that you're threading through it, which I do think comes
56:15
Speaker 1: through in these awesome know these physical classes. But you
56:18
Speaker 1: definitely don't have to even step onto your mat to
56:20
Speaker 1: practice yoga. You can practice yoga just by you know,
56:23
Speaker 1: the way that you're living your life. But for the
56:25
Speaker 1: most part, for me, I spend obviously a lot of
56:28
Speaker 1: time teaching and practicing both the physical practice and meditation practices.
56:34
Speaker 1: Although I have been getting really into philosophy. I have
56:36
Speaker 1: a whole like Instagram series about it.
56:38
Speaker 2: I love to hear that.
56:40
Speaker 3: It's interesting to me hearing you talk about this now,
56:42
Speaker 3: because I'm sure you didn't always think of yoga in
56:45
Speaker 3: this way, like, especially when you first got into it.
56:48
Speaker 2: I'm sure.
56:50
Speaker 3: I mean, as many who first get into something like
56:52
Speaker 3: you don't know the whole history and backstory and all
56:55
Speaker 3: the things that go hand in hand with this practice.
56:57
Speaker 3: So when would you say you kind of have really
57:00
Speaker 3: started to understand the different facets of the practice.
57:05
Speaker 1: I think it was helpful to have like a cultural
57:09
Speaker 1: context here. So even though as a kid I didn't understand,
57:14
Speaker 1: you know, that yoga was a practice beyond the breathing
57:18
Speaker 1: and beyond the movement, I also knew that it wasn't exercise,
57:23
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. And I had my parents to
57:25
Speaker 1: sort of clue me into things about actually, what's so
57:28
Speaker 1: funny is my parents have learned they also teach yoga.
57:31
Speaker 2: Now did they really in India?
57:33
Speaker 1: And they like lead yoga classes for people their age.
57:37
Speaker 2: We need a peloton collab, we do.
57:39
Speaker 1: Yes, It's just interesting. I think that helped me. It
57:42
Speaker 1: helped me to know that, like to not immediately enter
57:44
Speaker 1: with the idea of this context of like I need
57:46
Speaker 1: to nail this pose or this is for my flexibility,
57:49
Speaker 1: even though like my entry was for the most part
57:52
Speaker 1: it was like movement and sort of this like exploration
57:56
Speaker 1: of what the philosophy or the mental emotional spiritual component was.
58:02
Speaker 1: It definitely started with me being like I like this practice.
58:05
Speaker 1: It makes me feel good to breathe and move in
58:07
Speaker 1: this way. And then from there, once I found teachers
58:11
Speaker 1: that helped a lot, right, Like I was sort of
58:13
Speaker 1: doing it on my own and exploring, and once I
58:15
Speaker 1: found teachers to work with, I think that gave me
58:18
Speaker 1: like so much more context. It was like, here are
58:20
Speaker 1: some books you can read. Here's the way to think
58:22
Speaker 1: about this, Like having guidance is so important.
58:25
Speaker 3: What excites you right now? And this can be in
58:28
Speaker 3: any arena of your life.
58:31
Speaker 1: I mean, this is like maybe like a basic answer,
58:33
Speaker 1: but I'm really excited that we're like not in quarantine.
58:36
Speaker 1: Things are opening up. I feel like I'm not like
58:41
Speaker 1: a super extroverted person, but it's just so nice to
58:45
Speaker 1: go out and see people out at restaurants and like
58:50
Speaker 1: just like being in the New York City that I love.
58:54
Speaker 1: It really is like filling my heart with joy.
58:57
Speaker 3: I love to hear that. I love to hear that,
58:58
Speaker 3: and I'm hoping that we get to keep bit that way.
59:02
Speaker 3: So often I get asked if I had like a
59:05
Speaker 3: favorite episode I've ever recorded of the show, And that
59:08
Speaker 3: is very hard to say because I'm three hundred and
59:11
Speaker 3: twenty something episodes in. You are a zillion meditations and
59:15
Speaker 3: yoga classes in. But when you reflect on your time
59:18
Speaker 3: so far at Peloton. If you had to think about
59:22
Speaker 3: one or two moments that were just like really special
59:26
Speaker 3: for you that happened to happen on camera. Do you
59:29
Speaker 3: have anything to tell us so that maybe someone who's
59:32
Speaker 3: new to you from listening to Hurdle would know to
59:35
Speaker 3: go check it out.
59:36
Speaker 1: It's really hard to pick just one.
59:38
Speaker 2: Yep.
59:39
Speaker 1: The meditations that I taught during Live from Home were
59:42
Speaker 1: incredibly special. So obviously it was like during the pandemic
59:46
Speaker 1: we started teaching some classes from home and they were
59:50
Speaker 1: just so special and such a reminder of how we
59:54
Speaker 1: are in this life together. So that would be one.
59:58
Speaker 1: I'm in love with all of my Artists Series classes,
1:00:02
Speaker 1: but I just had a Spice Girls one which was
1:00:05
Speaker 1: the most fun. But I really loved I taught in
1:00:08
Speaker 1: Alicia Keys class that just really I've never felt that
1:00:15
Speaker 1: like emotional in class in a good way, in a
1:00:18
Speaker 1: great way, but it was like, really it felt like
1:00:22
Speaker 1: very connected. And that's like probably one of my top
1:00:26
Speaker 1: favorite classes. And the last one and this is a
1:00:28
Speaker 1: sad one but also very special for anybody that needs
1:00:31
Speaker 1: like if you're feeling sad, this is a good one
1:00:34
Speaker 1: to take. My dog died and it was during the
1:00:37
Speaker 1: pandemic and he was with my parents and I, you know,
1:00:40
Speaker 1: it was just like it was not expected and it
1:00:43
Speaker 1: kind of hurt that, you know, I couldn't be there
1:00:45
Speaker 1: and I found out my dog died, and then I
1:00:47
Speaker 1: had to teach, and I was like, so not in
1:00:51
Speaker 1: the right mindset. I was like, Okay, I'm going to
1:00:54
Speaker 1: pull it together and teach, which was like not really
1:00:56
Speaker 1: going to happen. So then I was just really honest
1:00:58
Speaker 1: with everyone. I was like, look like I'm not feeling okay.
1:01:01
Speaker 1: This is the truth and what's happening. And then I
1:01:03
Speaker 1: talked about my dog for the whole class, and it
1:01:05
Speaker 1: felt so wonderful to share that with you know, our
1:01:09
Speaker 1: Halton family. But I think it's like a it's a
1:01:11
Speaker 1: nice one for because you're not no one is always
1:01:14
Speaker 1: happy and every class is not you know what I mean,
1:01:16
Speaker 1: Like you don't have to you might not be in
1:01:18
Speaker 1: the mood for like a cheerful class, and that's okay. Yeah,
1:01:22
Speaker 1: it was a really special class for me. It was
1:01:23
Speaker 1: super personal, and so I would I would put that
1:01:25
Speaker 1: up there with like, you know, if you need it,
1:01:28
Speaker 1: it's there for you.
1:01:28
Speaker 3: I will make sure to grabblings of all these and
1:01:30
Speaker 3: throw them in the show notes when this episode goes live.
1:01:33
Speaker 3: I meant to ask you this before when you had
1:01:35
Speaker 3: mentioned that your parents are still in India. Are they
1:01:37
Speaker 3: doing okay? As everyone in your family doing alright? With
1:01:40
Speaker 3: how COVID had kind of really gotten into that to
1:01:43
Speaker 3: that region not so long ago.
1:01:45
Speaker 1: Now, yeah, thank you for asking. It was really tough
1:01:48
Speaker 1: for me earlier this year. They're okay now they're my
1:01:52
Speaker 1: parents are vaccinated and they're just really isolated. So, I mean,
1:01:58
Speaker 1: my my most of my family lives in India, and
1:02:01
Speaker 1: like a lot of people have gotten COVID, I'm very
1:02:04
Speaker 1: lucky that I haven't lost anyone. For me of course,
1:02:07
Speaker 1: like my parents is the big one and they are safe.
1:02:11
Speaker 1: So I'm just counting my blessings.
1:02:12
Speaker 2: Great. I'm glad to hear it.
1:02:14
Speaker 3: Right now, my friend, as we wind down, you have
1:02:18
Speaker 3: an opportunity to offer the adit who has just moved
1:02:24
Speaker 3: to New York with a half a suitcase and a prayer,
1:02:27
Speaker 3: a piece of advice going through what is arguably a
1:02:31
Speaker 3: very legitimate hurdle moment. You have an opportunity to offer
1:02:34
Speaker 3: her one piece of advice. Looking back on it, now,
1:02:37
Speaker 3: what do you tell her.
1:02:39
Speaker 1: I would tell her to talk to herself the way
1:02:42
Speaker 1: that she would talk to a friend. Don't give up,
1:02:45
Speaker 1: don't beat yourself up, keep growing, keep practicing. Resilience comes
1:02:49
Speaker 1: to those who endure. Stick with it. All the things
1:02:52
Speaker 1: that you would say or I would have said to
1:02:54
Speaker 1: a friend, I think say those things would I would
1:02:58
Speaker 1: say those things to myself, and to be fair, to
1:03:00
Speaker 1: give myself credit like I did, stick with it. But
1:03:04
Speaker 1: that's that's the advice for big transitions like that.
1:03:08
Speaker 2: A DT.
1:03:09
Speaker 3: How do the hurdlers follow along with you? How do
1:03:11
Speaker 3: they keep up with you? Give me all of your details.
1:03:14
Speaker 1: I'm at DT twenty two on Instagram, so you can
1:03:18
Speaker 1: find me on there, and I do have a website.
1:03:21
Speaker 1: It's just a depyshow yoga dot com. But I'm definitely
1:03:24
Speaker 1: like I'm on Instagram a lot, so if you send
1:03:26
Speaker 1: me a message, I'll probably get back to you.
1:03:28
Speaker 2: Does the twenty two have any special meaning?
1:03:30
Speaker 1: It was my number, so I soccer number growing up,
1:03:33
Speaker 1: and then my track number. It was my it was
1:03:35
Speaker 1: my sports number, and then I was like, I guess
1:03:37
Speaker 1: this is the number.
1:03:37
Speaker 2: Now we'll stick with it.
1:03:41
Speaker 3: I'm over at Hurdle Podcast and over at Emily body,
1:03:44
Speaker 3: another hurdle conquered.
1:03:46
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.