As we gather around the metaphorical table with Jessica, the life force of Grind Society, we're reminded of the special brew that coffee and community blend into. Amidst the familiar espresso hum of Grind Coffee Shop in Jersey City, Jessica recounts her evolution from a fitness fanatic to the matriarch of a movement that's far more than a morning cuppa. She's here to spill the beans on how Grind Society is redefining community wellness, her brainchild project Soul Therapy, and the dreamy details of an upcoming wellness retreat in Spain that promises to be an unmissable rejuvenation rendezvous.
Our conversation takes us on a sprint through the origin story of Grind Society's run club and the 5K training program, a seasonal highlight that’s running circles around traditional fitness programs. Jessica shares the sweat equity involved in nurturing a community that values every step and celebrates each other's small victories. We unpack the vitality of accountability and how it transforms fitness from a solitary slog to a shared triumph. Jessica's journey from a post-vacation spark in Costa Rica to a flourishing fitness commune in Jersey City is nothing short of a marathon of passion and perseverance.
As our chat winds down, the awe of baby yoga and the serenity of a Maldives yoga retreat leave us longing for our mats. Jessica paints a vivid picture of the upcoming Spanish getaway, tempting us with the enchanting potential of wellness retreats to recalibrate our souls. We close with musings on planning these life-altering experiences, sharing anecdotes that highlight the shared human connection found in yoga's embrace, whether on a sunny beach or amidst Europe's charm. Stay tuned for this episode, where we go beyond the mat and into the heart of what makes our pulses race and our spirits soar.
Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow
follow us on social @ltkpod!
As we gather around the metaphorical table with Jessica, the life force of Grind Society, we're reminded of the special brew that coffee and community blend into. Amidst the familiar espresso hum of Grind Coffee Shop in Jersey City, Jessica recounts her evolution from a fitness fanatic to the matriarch of a movement that's far more than a morning cuppa. She's here to spill the beans on how Grind Society is redefining community wellness, her brainchild project Soul Therapy, and the dreamy details of an upcoming wellness retreat in Spain that promises to be an unmissable rejuvenation rendezvous.
Our conversation takes us on a sprint through the origin story of Grind Society's run club and the 5K training program, a seasonal highlight that’s running circles around traditional fitness programs. Jessica shares the sweat equity involved in nurturing a community that values every step and celebrates each other's small victories. We unpack the vitality of accountability and how it transforms fitness from a solitary slog to a shared triumph. Jessica's journey from a post-vacation spark in Costa Rica to a flourishing fitness commune in Jersey City is nothing short of a marathon of passion and perseverance.
As our chat winds down, the awe of baby yoga and the serenity of a Maldives yoga retreat leave us longing for our mats. Jessica paints a vivid picture of the upcoming Spanish getaway, tempting us with the enchanting potential of wellness retreats to recalibrate our souls. We close with musings on planning these life-altering experiences, sharing anecdotes that highlight the shared human connection found in yoga's embrace, whether on a sunny beach or amidst Europe's charm. Stay tuned for this episode, where we go beyond the mat and into the heart of what makes our pulses race and our spirits soar.
Your hosts: @lynnhazan_ and @tonydoesknow
follow us on social @ltkpod!
Hey, welcome to the Lynn and Tony Know podcast. I'm your host, Lynn.
Speaker 2:And I'm Tony. We are both wellness coaches and married with kids.
Speaker 1:Join us as we talk about all things health, wellness, relationships, life hacks, parenting and everything in between, unfiltered. Thanks for listening and let's get into it. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Welcome back.
Speaker 1:I feel like it's been a while now since we recorded. I'm a little rusty, has it? Yeah, I think it's been a while now, since we recorded. I'm a little rusty, has it yeah?
Speaker 2:I think it's been a week.
Speaker 1:Man this week has been a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:This week has been a month.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think that's what it is.
Speaker 1:What I love about this podcast is that we have the opportunity to chat with people that I really like. Now, in this case, I didn't really know this person, like I just followed the socials and so if you live in Jersey City, you for sure know this place Grind Coffee Shop. They've been around for a couple of years Awesome coffee. They're in the Bergen-Lafayette area. Like I was there when they first opened. Like it's a great spot. I've had meetings.
Speaker 1:Now I don't leave the house. Like if I left the house I would probably hang out there, uh. And then they have a grocery store and they're just like really cool people. And I know I know the owners uh, they're actually they used to have kids in Mia's school, so like I know them like personally and they're just great people. And yeah, the staff, everyone's so cool. You walk in there and everyone's like cool as fuck, like stylish and like I feel like old and I'm like walking in there asking for my latte and I'm like are they going to judge me for my you know, oat milk, whatever thing? And, um, yeah, I just cool people. And they also started, uh, the grind society, which is an extension of grind coffee shop, where it's a fitness oriented, but it brings bringing people together to, you know, for like healthy lifestyle, which we love Right.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 1:I just love their approach and they always show love and I'm like who's this person behind the grind, like on social media, like just being super supportive and and just doing all this cool stuff for the community? And they did like baby yoga and like they do like events and they're just cool as fuck, you know. And so I met Jess. So she's our guest on the show, which I'm really excited to get to know. So meet Jessica. She's a true force of inspiration in Jersey City. She's a resident in Jersey City and a personal trainer for seven years.
Speaker 1:Jessica is the mastermind behind Grind Society, an extension of the beloved Grind Coffee Shop, aiming to rejuvenate community bonds post-COVID. But her journey doesn't stop there. Captivated by the transformative power, her first Costa Rican yoga retreat, she birthed Soul Therapy, a sanctuary where spirituality and wellness dance in harmony. And Jessica's taking soul therapy global, with her next upcoming retreat in Mallorca, Spain. Wow, Set for May 2024. Join us as we unravel the threads of Jessica's incredible journey, weaving a narrative of community wellness and the soulful tapestry she continues to craft. What a beautiful bio. Wow, Wow.
Speaker 3:Jess welcome to the show. Thank you so much, thank you, thank you, thank you. Well, I do want to say first, the grind is like not one person.
Speaker 1:It's multiple people.
Speaker 3:Yes, and we really do a do a intentional job of reaching out to people that support us, and it's it's just, it's not one person, it's the connect. There's like a connector that, or I could even say it's like a force.
Speaker 1:It's not even like one thing that we can like put our finger on, there's just an energy and it feels like a creative energy A hundred percent and, like I was mentioning in the intro, like every time you get in there there's just like cool people Like you're just seeing, like like like the baristas like look cool and everyone's like really friendly and it's just like a cool environment. And I know you guys work with a lot of creatives that kind of work part time and and you guys do like fun. Really you're really crushing on social media and, as like a social media manager, like like I love what you guys do because everyone's really involved and you really create community and you're welcoming and just supportive of people in the community. So I'm excited to hear your story. So okay, so you're the one part of the Grind Society. Okay, so what is Grind Society?
Speaker 3:Grind Society is a wellness community. I keep it broad. I keep it very broad because it's still like an infant. I can't say the infant's going to be um a CEO yet.
Speaker 1:Right, how did you guys get from like coffee shop and like grocery store to like fitness? It's a little bit you know exactly.
Speaker 3:So I was a personal trainer for a really long time. I worked at base for a while.
Speaker 1:Oh, I used to teach him up at base.
Speaker 3:Yes, we like, we like, just missed each other, that's crazy Like just yes.
Speaker 3:So I was at base as a personal trainer for a while and then I managed a boxing gym in Hoboken and Everlast. So I was there for a while. So I had always been in fitness, always been kind of like figuring myself out in that space. And so then I lived in Bergen, lafayette. I lived near the grind. I had the same feeling you had such a cool place, like I just want to be involved in whatever's going on. So I just wasn't. I didn't know in what capacity I was going to be a part of it. So in 2021, I hosted my first yoga retreat.
Speaker 3:So I went to, I brought like 10 people to Costa Rica and we had seven days and it was so beautiful and it was like my first entrepreneurial step into doing something that I'm my own boss. So it was my first entrance into it. I stayed in Costa Rica for like two months and then when I came back, I was walking down community and Mike had said, like I have a outdoor space, you should come do yoga there. I was like absolutely Like let's figure it out. And then I did yoga fair, playing around. My own personal brand is soul therapy, so I called it like soul therapy x grind and it just didn't sit right. It just like wasn't the right thing. And I came back from Costa Rica like feeling like I want to follow my intuition and I'm like, okay, what, what is right, it doesn't have to be my name, like I am who I am and I create a thing. So the season ended cause it's cold and it's an outdoor space.
Speaker 3:So once we finished there, I like thought about it for a while. I was like what could this be? And I had just came back and I wasn't working out as much and I wasn't running and I wasn't staying active like I used to do because I was a personal trainer. I kind of like shifted my perception of what my body means to me. So then I said one day I was like what about growing society? And he was like, okay, like, as an entrepreneur, you have to make the decisions yourself. Like no one's gonna. If I say, how about grind society? There's no one around me that's gonna say, okay, let's do this, let's do that, let's do this. Like I have to start it from the isn't it annoying so?
Speaker 3:it's annoying, but once you like lean into it, it's kind of beautiful. You feel the power wait 10 years I know you know that though yeah, no, it's beautiful.
Speaker 3:It's so true, though ideas are cheap, execution is expensive exactly exactly when I thought about like what I would call myself. I was like a creative and an executioner. That's a thousand percent what it is Like. That's a thousand percent. I'm going to do what I said. I'm going to do so.
Speaker 3:With that being said, there's a moment in my life where I'm like I'm not really working out, let me. There's a moment in my life I'm like I'm not really working out, let me, and I don't really like I want to reinvent, I want to like create a thing, and the creative energy is spiraling around me. It's just. It's just the creative energy. I can almost call it like intention, or that's the best way I can explain it. So I said grind society. He said cool, what does that mean? I said let's do a run club and let's see how that goes.
Speaker 3:So we started doing a run club in April. So there was a few months there of like figuring out what was going on. So we did, april started the run club, and I noticed that they would talk to each other but it wasn't building actual connections, like they weren't actually talking to each other. But it wasn't building actual connections, like they weren't actually talking to each other. So then I said, okay, what can we do? So we did a 12, a 12 week 5k training program Cause I knew that if we, if we gave them time to meet each other and a start and end date, it'll be fine, like they'll build, something will happen, they'll get to know each other and it'll keep them feeling connected. So that 12, 12 people signed up for that, just 12. I was like that's amazing it's really good what I mean.
Speaker 3:It's a small wins. It's really good what I mean, it's a small wins. And I feel that often, when I'm thinking about the goal of something and I'm saying what we're doing, I feel like you say 12 and it's like but it's only 12. But from zero, 12 is a lot 12 people.
Speaker 2:To get to commit to going out to dinner is difficult, let alone training for a 5K.
Speaker 3:That's wonderful, yes, so it turned out to be a success. They still, to this day, show up, and it's two years later and we're coming into our third season of the 5k training program. So it's been a beautiful journey. So that's how it started. That's like what grind society started to be Um, and now it's. Now it's become a 40 person run club. We have a third 5k training program coming up and we have visions for 50 plus, because we've doubled, like last year we had 26. So we're just thinking about, like, the growth of that and what it actually means to be disciplined. Right, I call it wellness because like, yeah, it's fitness, but truly, truly, at the core of it, we're finding discipline and we're finding true wellness within ourselves.
Speaker 1:And I love this concept because a lot of people struggle with you know, especially when they're beginners. They struggle getting to the gym or they struggle going to the class because there's like no accountability factor. What you offer is like, okay, you're in a part of a group, you have to be accountable, you don't want to let your team down. You know what I mean. Like it kind of becomes like you're creating this, like sense of responsibility to yourself and to the people that you run with. You know what I mean and I think that's a beautiful thing and that's something that's definitely missing in, like the fitness world. So that's why, when I see all the stuff that you guys do, I'm like, even though I don't part, I just don't have like I work out in here in this room, like you don't, on the other side of the screen there's literally all the weights on the floor. That's as much as I could do.
Speaker 1:But I look at what you guys do and I'm like, wow, that's really beautiful. Like if I was, you know, single and just you know, like doing my thing, I would a hundred percent join something like that to meet people and like connect with people and and also keep myself accountable. So what I see that is, it's really cool. Talk to me about, like the other, so you could do the run club. What other uh events do you?
Speaker 3:do so. We have the run club that meets Wednesday nights at the track, thursday morning 6am for sunrise run 5k and then we do Sundays long run. Right now we're training for the Jersey city half marathon, so the run club does that. Then we also have the five key training program, which happens in may and then it'll be till may, june. July happens in May and then it'll be till May, june, july. It'll be like three months there and then, since it's, we have the in Barry Lane Park. There's a little outpost that the grind has and it's an outdoor studio. It's like outdoor. I call it a studio because you know I'm like creating that, but it's an outdoor studio and it's seasonal. I can't, we can't like do it's seasonal. I can't, we can't like do it's cold out. You know what I mean. And I love, I love a start and stop. I love a start and stop.
Speaker 3:I love when something starts and an end, so our outdoor classes will start in the summer and that's kind of what we have. I don't think we have anything else Like. We do social events here and there just to like play. But I don't think we have anything else play Like. We do social events here and there just to like play. But I don't like to encourage drinking, I don't like tell them that they can't like. But I don't like to create the events that, like you come here and we drink and then we do this.
Speaker 3:I like to create special events of like accomplishment. We're like we're going to go to 902. We're going to go to Corgi's or you know, we're going to do certain things to just let loose. But the most the reason why I do that mostly and I think just to clarify cause, not to shame anybody that likes to do that it's just when you get to know somebody sober just like hey, this is me. And they show up in that way constantly. It makes it easier, when you see them and they're letting loose and having a drink, to not let them feel like they have to reevaluate if they said the right thing or the wrong thing. You're like I know you're a good person because I've seen you and I've ran with you and I've got to know you on a level where you're vulnerable already. So it's fine if we experience a night where we're drinking because, like, I know you and I think you're a great person, naturally, yeah, I mean you're preaching to the choir.
Speaker 2:Tony's been sober for eight years. Also, like I don't like necessarily.
Speaker 1:You know the certain gyms like planet fitness or whatever, like they like put like pizza out and like bagels and it's like, but that defeats the purpose. Like not that there's anything wrong with eating pizza and bagels, but you're like work out but like undo all this hard work by eating pizza. Like I don't. Like, I don't believe it. I personally don't believe in diets and restriction at all. Like I eat pizza, everything, but at the same time I'm going to the gym and like I want to, like I'd be, I'd be happy if, like they gave like little yogurt bowls or like I don't know, like what's a cute, like healthy treat.
Speaker 2:Smoothie, like a protein smoothie?
Speaker 1:I don't know like little mini protein smoothies, like give me that, like that's cute, you know why? Pizza Like, why are?
Speaker 2:we doing that. You just reminded me I still have a Planet Fitness membership.
Speaker 1:I thought you canceled that.
Speaker 2:You can't Listen. At Planet Fitness, not only do they give you pizza and bagels every week, they force you to either come in person to cancel your membership or you have to mail them a letter. That's crazy. They make it so hard to cancel the membership, but it's so cheap that if you forget about it, it's like oh, there's $11. When am I going to get out to Ridgewood Queens to cancel my membership when I don't even live there anymore? It's wild.
Speaker 1:I'm sure Grind Society doesn't do that though.
Speaker 3:No, we don't do that, Although we tried to initiate a member fee where you can get exclusive merch. You can get a discount at all the locations.
Speaker 2:So we do have that Memberships are fine, but it's free to attend Theirs is predatory, it's free to attend.
Speaker 3:It's predatory. It is predatory, you know. I think LA Fitness is like that too.
Speaker 2:I mean they might not have started the model, but I'm sure it's something that's a trend.
Speaker 1:What kind of advice for somebody listening and I asked this to any fitness professional that comes on the show Like a lot of the questions I have from people is like I don't know how to start. I don't know where to start and it's like really overwhelming. Like every time I started the gym I don't know what I'm doing. What kind of advice could you give people who want to work out, just don't know how to go about it?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would first say why? What's your intention, what's your reason for saying that? Like, what are you actually rooted in? Like, when you say that, are you just saying I want to change my physical body, or are you saying that you're saying I want to be able to run with my kids, I want to be able to spend time with my family and feel, feel, okay, I want to walk up two flights of stairs and be okay, like where are we at with it? So I would say figure out your why.
Speaker 3:Because it's what I learned as a personal trainer and it was like a struggle really, because he would see my body and they'd be like, yeah, her, I want her to train me. And it's like, ok, valid, my body is my marketing and I understood that that point. But the reason why my body is like this is because, first of all, I'm in the gym from 6 am until 7 pm and I'm lifting weights for my clients every hour. Like, I'm lifting weights at all times. Like if you want to look like me, maybe be a personal trainer.
Speaker 3:But the most important thing is like understand that your body isn't the only thing that has to change. When you decide to do that, you have to change your mind. Then your body will change. So you can come to the gym, hire a personal trainer and not change your mind and your body will stay the same. Change your mind and say I am strong, I am flexible, I am healthy, and use the strength of your mind to say I got this and this person's teaching me versus this person's going to put me in this place to do this thing and change my body. Like, take the responsibility onto yourself and I think that y'all do that with the cold plunging. You know it takes you saying let's go outside and you can say no instantly, but if this says no, more than like if your mind says no, you're not going in, tony might say, come on, let's do it.
Speaker 1:He says no all the time before I go in that thing and he's like no, you're not going in. Tony might say come on, let's do it.
Speaker 3:My brain says no all the time before I go in that thing and he's like, no, you got it Always, come on, let's do it.
Speaker 1:He always puts like some mornings are definitely harder than others, but he honors me. He's like is it your brain or is it your body? Because if it's my body, then obviously, like I have to listen to my body. If I'm feeling sick or if I have my period, like you know, we're women like like dumping myself in a cold plunge when I'm, like, you know, my body is going through some crazy shit, like not not the best idea, but a lot of times it's like I'm more of a mental thing and he knows the difference well, you know the difference, first of all.
Speaker 1:But you know, but you could tell when it's like a mental thing or more of like. No, my body is like not feeling well for sure. Can you tell? I'm curious?
Speaker 2:It's an energy thing. Like I can tell when it's like I don't want to versus I shouldn't, like there's a difference in your energy between those two answers and what you're talking about too. Find just as important is, like, once you have your first why, then you blow it up as big as possible, like to a dramatic degree. Like, okay, I want to be physically fit. Why? Well, you know, I don't want to run out of breath when I do X, y, z. Why? Well, because I don't want to die when I'm 80, I want to live to 100. Like you, really, you make it so dramatic and so massive that the consequences to not following through on your commitment literally become insane. Like, if you can build that, why so huge? That failure is not an option. Then you're forced to win. So it's really going to that next, third, fourth level of the why and finding out how big you can make it.
Speaker 2:And the second part always seems to be the like, fundamental skill of building a habit, like simply building a habit. Like have you read James Clear's book Atomic Habits? Yes, so he talks about in the book when you're building that routine, even if you start with literally going to the gym for five minutes and walking around. All of a sudden, now you're a person that goes to the gym every day. You haven't touched a weight, but you are a person that goes to the gym. You're reframing what it is to be, who you are in that moment, and I think that's such an awesome, simple way to look at it. That really resonates is you just build on that and the next time you go for 10 minutes, maybe you work out on one machine and then by the end of a month you're there for 30 minutes and now you literally are a person that works out every day.
Speaker 3:Yes, and so number one is find your why. Number two is build a routine. And then number three is be a student. Like, care about what you're doing. Like, why do you think you should do a squat? What's your thought process behind that Like? Are you just doing a squat because you were told to do a squat? Or are you doing it because you can feel your quads and you can feel your glutes? What are your feet doing? How are you holding the weight? Like, what's your upper body doing? But if you just go like, so you have to also have a desire to learn your body. You have to want to learn it.
Speaker 3:And I could, if I could, segue into how I kind of transitioned out of fitness now more than I did yoga. So I found yoga and I found that same thing you're talking about. Like, once you find your why and in yoga they encourage you to set an intention. At least my teacher encouraged me to set an intention and when you set your intention, well, first of all, if you don't know what intention is and you've never actually dove into what that means, you kind of stand there like intention. What are you talking about? I came here to work out Right, like if you walk into yoga class I came here to get flexible or stretch. But once you take a moment to think like, oh, intention is the energy that I put into what I'm doing, so intention is the energy that I put into what I'm doing.
Speaker 3:So the moment my teacher said, okay, set intention. And then he said maybe it's unconditional love, I remember being like what's unconditional love? Unconditional love, like what are you talking? Like how do you do I? Do I look for that in somebody else? Do I give it? Like what is that? And then from there it's like a curiosity that has to happen. Like, okay, the beginning of practice. I'm told to set an intention. So I then say, okay, unconditional love. And then now I have to learn and educate myself on what does that mean? And so the self study comes in does that mean?
Speaker 2:and so the self-study comes in. Yeah, uh, the. The curiosity part is is huge. Whether you're doing yoga, whether you're doing working out or or breath work or literally anything, I think the cute like having a curiosity about it will pay off, because it allows you to receive new information all the time and work with it like it's the. It's a matter of, like, people get bored doing the same workout all the time, but they stick with it because the certainty of it is I know what I'm doing with this thing. If you stay curious and you and you're open to doing different ways of working out, then you're much more likely to stay engaged and keep it consistent, because now you're not stuck and locked in this thing where it's like well, I know how to do these three exercises, that's all I want to do. So curiosity for me is a massive piece of that puzzle as well.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I totally agree. And, Lynn, I know, you know, I saw your transformation photos, you know I worked my ass.
Speaker 1:I mean I've all. The thing thing is it's not new, you know. People are like, oh, how did you do it? I'm like, no, I've been active since I'm 17, like there's, like it's working hard, it's really being since. Since I'm seven I was a personal trainer, like in my early 20s as well, like I was into my. I remember my first time going to the gym I was 16. My sister's like I'm going to the gym, you want to come, and like you know, like she's like older sister's, like I'm going to the gym, you want to come. And like you know, like she's like older sister energy, like if she finally wants to hang out with me.
Speaker 3:I was like, yeah, like I'll go.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean. Like she was like, let's go to the gym. I was like, okay, I'll go to the gym, you know. And I and I'm just I was doing like body and I was hooked. I was like I was hooked and I like, literally a week later I joined the gym and I even remember, like you know, seeing people like lift weights and stuff and I'm 16. I've never like thought about lifting. My brother lifted weights at home, like I've seen him. But like I was like I'm going to go try to lift weights and I didn't know what the fuck I was doing. I remember standing at, you know, the bench press, like, um, I was sitting laying on the bench and I was about to like bench press and I didn't know how heavy it was.
Speaker 1:I hold the weight and it like falls on me and I was stuck, it was so embarrassing and like one like this meathead had to like save me. He's like are you okay? I'm like oh yeah, I'm okay, just too heavy for me.
Speaker 1:You know like it was and I just remember it was like that and that and that happening just gave me the motivation to learn about working out and to learn about lifting weights and and and that's how I like got into it and you know. So now I'm 40 years old. This is habits that are like ingrained. Even you know my whole family, my father. He's in his. How old is he? My father is 74 and he's in such good shape and he just walks every day. You know what I mean. My whole family is into fitness. Like it's just part of life.
Speaker 1:It's like so when people ask me, how do you do it? It's like it's part, part of life. It's like so when people ask me, how do you do it, it's like it's part of my life. Like I, it's like brushing my teeth. Brushing teeth, it's like you know drinking water.
Speaker 1:It's like if I don't work out a week, I go nuts. I don't feel good. I don't feel like I. Like I personally, I like feeling in shape. Like that's that's my like, how I feel. Like I like eating nutritiously but I also enjoy myself too.
Speaker 1:Like it's it's like finding that, that balance, you know, but it's part, it has to be part, of your life. It's not. It's not even like do I or don't, it's there's no, it's like it's like a not in this family. It's like a non-negotiable, negotiable. And there's some times where we, you know, drop off a little bit or don't have time or we're sick or whatever, and that's life. But you just jump back, it's a, you just jump back on the horse and you start over and you just start. You know I hadn't, no, and obviously I couldn't work out for the first six weeks, but I tried to like be active and I walked and I showed myself grace, but and I tried to do whatever I could, and as soon as the doctor said, okay, you can work out, I went right back. It was like, yeah, I'm sleep deprived, I'm exhausted, but like I need to do this for myself.
Speaker 3:You, know, yep, yep, I totally agree. And that's where that's where the I just feel like the gym culture is gym culture and that's what it is. But the thing that I feel like is looming like the wellness umbrella. The wellness word is that is, it's part of your lifestyle. It's not let me go to the gym, it's I do this thing and this is what it looks like it doesn't. I currently make it running because it's the easiest thing for me to do as a startup, like starting something.
Speaker 3:But if we didn't have a weekly meetup, chances are half those people wouldn't be running, and I would even say not even half, more than half. So it's just to get you moving, it's just to give you a reason to get up, and it's so simple and it's just building that. Come, stand at the coffee shop at 6am on a Thursday and get rid of seasonal depression, because we're going to run throughout the winter and you're going to wake up and you're going to see this, see that it's dark out, and be like laying in bed at first, like oh gosh, I don't want to get up. Get up, realize that it's not as bad as you think and you're actually going to have a good day. And then here comes spring. You're like, wow, I wasn't depressed at all. How did that happen? Cause you woke up one day every week and saw the sun and like, maybe saw the sunrise.
Speaker 3:It's a little dark but you don't really see it. But you know, it's just a habit.
Speaker 1:And it's also like it doesn't need to be like an hour every day. I like I tell people like do a, do a YouTube video for 15 minutes, you know, go for a walk outside. Like it doesn't need to be something like a serious, like you know sprinting and like crazy deadlifts. Like it's not, that's not for everybody. You know what I mean. Like that's cool, but it's not for everybody. Like start small, just move your body.
Speaker 3:Yeah, start somewhere. Yeah, start somewhere. So that's our advice. Um, maybe I'll name them again, if I can remember. Yeah, we said, um, we said intention find your why find your? Why? Then we said, um, find your routine. And then we said, uh, learn it, educate yourself within it, like care, it's a great tip.
Speaker 1:I like that, even though we went on a tangent and I told you my story about my 16 year old self yeah, you also brought up.
Speaker 2:Brought up the example of curiosity also kills the cat.
Speaker 1:Like you took your curiosity a little too far yeah, but my curiosity like yes, it embarrassed me, but it also motivated me to learn what right?
Speaker 2:no, I get that, but it also could have decapitated you it also could have went really bad.
Speaker 3:Don't do that.
Speaker 1:It was very embarrassing like like for a while I was like I don't know if I could show myself, but like I was determined to go back and see that guy and have him see me actually bench press you know okay I don't think I ever did, but like I was, like you know the thing, the.
Speaker 2:Thing about this what makes it even funnier is the fact that, like at 16, you probably looked 13, like 10.
Speaker 1:You must have looked like a child on the bench press. Oh my god, a tiny.
Speaker 2:Screw it around with Kendi, who might have even looked like your mom at that point.
Speaker 1:And my sister is a cardio queen. She literally would only do cardio. And I was like aren't you bored, Don't you want to throw shit around? I don't know.
Speaker 3:Pick some things up.
Speaker 2:I had a question that came from from Lynn's introduction and I know it might not be part of your current scope, but, um, what is baby yoga?
Speaker 3:Oh, yes, so. So part of the summer classes that we have, we have JC bumping baby michelle. She's wonderful. She teaches baby yoga, so she does a mommy and me, or she calls it baby and me where you bring the baby and she doesn't say mommy, because it could be dad, caregiver, yep. So she does that and facilitates that in the summer. It's so cute and it's so cute sounds adorable yeah, I've been.
Speaker 1:I've been meaning to take Noah to like a baby yoga class, but like the thing is, like Noah is, she's like a boy, you know. She's just like can't sit still. I just don't see her like stretching and like staying, staying still. You know what I'm saying. Like she's going to just like she's going to like go annoy the other babies and like you know what I mean, just walk around, do her own thing. Like I take her to my gym.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And she just goes rogue Like all the kids are sitting like nicely in a circle and then my kid just goes in the middle and just stands and just stares at everybody judges everybody Right.
Speaker 2:Where did she get that from?
Speaker 1:Are you? Are you saying she gets that from me?
Speaker 2:I just asked the question, excuse me, sir, she's your child, but yeah, so it sounds really cute.
Speaker 3:Though it does sound cute. Yeah, it is cute, it is cute, you should when we do it.
Speaker 1:I'll just remind you, okay so tell us a little bit more about this retreat in in spain yes, um it, it's okay.
Speaker 3:So creating a retreat is something I'm like grabbing out of the air. I'm like let's have this, let's do this, and it's kind of scary and it's very nerve wracking but it's so rewarding. So the reason why I started doing it, I had one on my first yoga retreat with a Naira. I don't know if you know Anaira. She was a yoga teacher in, like, hoboken, jersey City area. Like 2019 time, like before COVID.
Speaker 3:We went to the Maldives and it was incredible. I mean, it changed my entire life. It was so beautiful Because when I went there, I didn't really know what I was getting into, cause I didn't practice yoga seriously. I like got into yoga because I was in fitness and it was like, did we do this because we want to stretch? And I didn't understand what was happening. But she would say talk about breathing. And so we went to the Maldives.
Speaker 3:There was one night when, well, the Maldives is like a 24 hours flight, like you're in, you're in travel for 24 hours, so just understanding, like getting to that point, where am I? I don't know where I am, what's going on, but we did yin yoga, full moon with a gong it completely. I was a changed person in that moment. I was out of my body. I don't know where I was. It was incredible and I remember saying to myself I have to facilitate something like this for people Like it's just something I have to do to say thank you to this. Whatever I just experienced, I don't really have words for it. I don't really know what was going on. We didn't take anything, like there was no mushroom, like ayahuasca.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there wasn't any of that, but it was so beautiful and I think that's what made it even more beautiful, because it was like we weren't on anything and it and it that thing and it did a thing so hosted my first retreat to Costa Rica just because I was like I need to heal myself, like I felt like I was just a little bit too hard on myself, my physical body, and too like into it, like I don't think I was able to. I just was in a space where I needed to heal, like, if I could just broadly say that, and in the oceans of costa rica have you ever been?
Speaker 1:I've been to costa rica, yeah, so you know?
Speaker 3:no, you haven't, tony, you gotta go it's so beautiful.
Speaker 1:We were talking about maybe the next November.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 3:Yes, I'll show you where, where and how to do it, If and just see if that works for you. It's so beautiful. So I was gone for like two months. They were there for a week. I arrived like a week earlier just to like ground myself, and then everybody came for a week and it was beautiful. They're like Jess, this was the best thing ever. I'm so happy.
Speaker 3:And it was the first time I felt connected to a higher power, Like I felt connected to something. And it's really where I got into intention and okay, I feel like I closed my eyes and just like fell backwards and was like is there anything there that's going to support me? Is there anything that's going to hold me? So then, fast forward. Um, that was a successful retreat.
Speaker 3:Then I was like, well, maybe I just do retreats all the time, Right Cause I'm kind of like floating. I don't have, I'm trying to become an entrepreneur and I'm looking for the thing that I'm going to create. So I was like I don't have, I'm trying to become an entrepreneur and I'm looking for the thing that I'm going to create. So I was like maybe I do a retreat business and I just do retreats constantly. And then I was like, ah, that feels so forced. So then I waited a while, did the grind society thing, and then I was like, okay, it's time. So then I hosted. I was like we're going to Mallorca. I love Spain. I had practiced Spanish for like 600 days on Duolingo Shout out to Duolingo. I kept my account up 600 days. I did a really long time.
Speaker 1:That's a long time. Did you actually learn from Duolingo?
Speaker 3:Yes, Like it actually works. So here's the thing. It's just like any other thing you have to be disciplined.
Speaker 1:How long, how many times like, how long per day?
Speaker 3:Two minutes, two minutes, that's it Damn and so. But here's also the thing as you get further along it gets harder, because you have to, because you have to start learning conjugation, like you have to start learning how to speak the language. So if you're not really like paying attention, like might take you six minutes to finish the exercise that day, but it definitely helps. And if you talk out loud to people throughout your day and like actually use it, it works. It works.
Speaker 1:Remember when I tried to learn Italian before our honeymoon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I think you gave yourself like 30 days.
Speaker 1:I'm going to learn Italian in a month before our honeymoon. Yeah, but I think you gave yourself like 30 days. I'm gonna learn italian in a month before a honeymoon well, you know what you did.
Speaker 3:Good, though, but you know what's good about that. You need something before you go there you need to be nothing.
Speaker 1:It didn't do anything what did you use? Don't let go, I did, I did do a lingo like what was like. Did I learn any words?
Speaker 2:No, I mean, maybe you did, but you certainly didn't use any of them.
Speaker 1:I was like pizza, pasta, pizza, pasta.
Speaker 2:I didn't need to need to know any Italian, you just were doing it for fun, yeah.
Speaker 3:Right To say you can do it.
Speaker 3:I totally get it. Anyway, so long story, very long. I decided that, okay, we're going to go to Mallorca and this is what's going to look like. I love how creating a retreat makes me feel. I love that. I'm like, okay, we can do anything. Where do I start? Like it's so broad and it's so open. I'm like, okay, what is it? Is it going to be at this place? It's going to be at that place.
Speaker 3:It kind of allows me to stand in faith a little bit, where I can trust that I'm I'm being guided in the right way and and it will roll out the way it's supposed to. And not everything requires force and not everything requires, like me beating it down. It requires consistency and and persistence, but it doesn't require me like, okay, it has to be this, it has to be that. It actually requires me to like, sit back and like, think about how does that feel? So it lets me get curious about where I'm at and like what I want to create, and like in creation mode. So I love the way it makes me feel.
Speaker 3:And when people sign up, I'm like, oh my gosh, how Like, what? What is that Like? I can't even believe it. Like what is that? Like, what makes someone say yes to this feeling? What have I exuded? Is that, like, what makes someone say yes to this feeling? What have I exuded? I don't know if it's me, but when I, when I've asked for feedback from the first retreat, somebody said I had journaled my perfect day a year ago, before I even knew about this retreat, and it happened here. That's not me. You know what I mean. Like that's not a thing that I did, that's something beyond me. So it's so beautiful and special that I know when I facilitate a retreat, the right people hear about it. It's for them. I'm just the vessel, exactly how Anaira did for me on the retreat to the maldives. It was just it's for you, like, this is for you to experience. So that's where soul therapy, spain 2024 happened.
Speaker 2:That's how that happened sounds amazing sounds like you've done yoga in some really cool places. Yes, I'm not going to lie, we did yoga in a cool place recently. That's true. My brother is a yoga teacher in St Croix. Oh, yes, I've been Okay. His class, no, I'm just kidding.
Speaker 3:That's his class. I did see your video and I did check it out because you know, once you're in it, you're in it, and I did check it out and I saw you had your phone out during class.
Speaker 2:I knew the teacher.
Speaker 1:Was he cool with that. I mean, it's his brother. He didn't care.
Speaker 2:It's my younger brother. Okay, I can do whatever.
Speaker 1:I want. It was very cool. I was like take video.
Speaker 2:It was a proud older brother moment. To be honest, I wanted to put my brother on he. It was a proud older brother moment. To be honest, I wanted to put my brother on. He led an amazing class. Also, we're at the very front, so it's not like there wasn't anybody around us to disturb, because we're right in front of him. So I was very cognizant of that and I knew I was probably breaking some yoga rules at the same time, we're content creators.
Speaker 1:This is what we do we're? Content creators.
Speaker 3:You have to. I totally agree with you.
Speaker 1:We can enjoy the yoga and also take two-second videos at the same time. Yeah, and also like we walk in and I'm glad you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I walked in. It was nice to see and this was the busiest class he's ever had, tied for the most crowded class, which was amazing. But what it meant was he's like okay, so there's like I got two spots set up for you, but the only space left we have is under the heat lamps, and I was like oh, which I love.
Speaker 1:I love hot yoga.
Speaker 2:I was like we're already in a tropical island, like I don't need to be under the heat lamps, but yeah, it was a good class it was amazing. I love yoga, I love you.
Speaker 1:I wish I had more time for it. That's like one thing definitely missing in my life, like I used to be like a hot yoga, like bikram. I was like obsessed with bikram yoga before like all the sketchy stuff came out about about bikram, but, um, yeah, I love, I love yoga. I really do it's.
Speaker 3:It's a how was saint cory, can I ask sorry, beautiful? Yeah, it's beautiful. It's a beautiful place.
Speaker 2:It's got challenges. To be honest, getting to St Croix from here is hard. There's no direct flights, really. St Thomas there's plenty. St Thomas is more, I think, of the destination for most people going to the US Virgin Islands, but St Croix is a little bit tougher. Um, but it's raw, like, it's just kind of a raw place. It's not, there's not resorts, it's not like touristy, it is just the island where people live there and it's. It's cool in that way. It's beautiful, though. The beaches are insane. Uh, the milk is very expensive. Uh, we spent a half gallon on, or $11 for a half gallon on, or 11 for a half gallon of organic whole milk for noah. It was like, wow, insanely expensive. Um, but it was beautiful and it was a.
Speaker 3:It was a welcomed, uh welcome break from the cold yeah, from the cold and and lynn got some great content always talk about it, always I did. Are you serious? It's the it's. You know, when you like go somewhere and you're like I know what the picture is like before you go, you already know, I know I had like.
Speaker 1:I had like a vibe and like like I also wanted to tie in like my, my, like, my jewishness. You know, like my pride of like who I am and like you know, I'm sure you see like all this stuff going on and you know a rise in anti-Semitism, but I want it to be like. I want to like just be like I'm fucking proud of who I am and I'm going to show it off and I worked hard and I'm in this beautiful place and I'm going to tie all that shit in together and just be like in my power. You know, and um, I went outside like before Noah like woke up from and I've just like had fun and that was it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you found it. You knew you had a, you had a time window of when this was going to happen and you found it. It's really a creative, it's that creative energy. Like you, you go to a place, you visualize it and you're like, okay, it's going to happen at some point.
Speaker 1:And when it comes to me, I have to. Yeah, I have to. Yeah, it wasn't a force, it wasn't a forced moment. I was like okay, I'm tan, everyone's asleep, the sun's shining, tony's, you know like I don't, I didn't even want to bother tony to take my photos. I just I hadn't I set up my water bottle, I, as a tripod, and I just like moved it around and that's it, you know know it was perfect.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I really appreciate it. You're the best. Can we hang out? Let's be friends. I'm going to come to your. I'm going to come to a classic in the summer. I'm going to do. Keep me honest, just be like Lynn.
Speaker 3:You said you're coming to a class.
Speaker 1:Uh, how do people find you follow you, all that stuff?
Speaker 3:Plug away, yeah, plug away, okay. So if you're interested in the grind society, grind society, jccom, that's where we just you'll see everything there. I make sure that our link in bio has like everything that we're doing. If you're interested in um running the drew city half marathon or full marathon, it's still open you have a chance to do that I hate running though it's I'm not a runner. I mean maybe, yeah, you definitely should train for a half, though yeah, yeah, she would definitely.
Speaker 2:I mean, she came back from a three month I did 30 minutes 30 minutes the other day. It's not that, it's not that I.
Speaker 1:It's not that I hate it, it's just my body hates it yeah, I was gonna say you were walking like you had a hip replacement surgery like I'm I I don know. I think my age is getting to me. I couldn't walk.
Speaker 2:Seriously, she was walking around Like she fell down the stairs. I was like what's wrong? She's like I went running. I'm like that's it.
Speaker 1:That's right. Okay, so just I'm more of a power walker, like I like power, like that's me now 40 like.
Speaker 3:Once you hit 40 it's like you can power walk a half marathon.
Speaker 1:13 miles power walk. I did a, I did a 10k a few years ago and I did it after a full night of partying.
Speaker 2:I do not recommend that's like half a half marathon.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That was rough, that was really rough, but I did it.
Speaker 2:That's still impressive.
Speaker 1:Okay, sorry, keep going, keep plugging.
Speaker 3:Um, okay, so that's the, so you can join our uh grind society team and then, if you don't want to do that, the Jersey city marathon like closes down all the streets. It's april 14th, so come out and cheer. Okay, I love volunteers, like people can volunteer. We want to make it at least this is our mission we want to make it a party day. The race starts at 7 am, so it's pretty early, but you know how you said, the grind is cool. We're trying to the whole like it's going to. They're going to run past the shop on Pacific and we want it to be a party and we want it to be the coolest thing ever.
Speaker 2:Nice.
Speaker 3:So if anybody wants to come volunteer it's early but it's worth it Like if you ever cheered for the New York marathon, you're going to know, like you, you know that vibe, it's just so energetic.
Speaker 1:I love the sign, the signs that people have. The signs are great.
Speaker 2:There's some awesome signs, yeah what do you know about, like what time the marathon passes by the grind, or when it starts people start passing through there.
Speaker 3:Yes, the marathon route starts by staples down in newport and then mile three, four. They're gonna come down pacific oh so pretty quick.
Speaker 2:So it's pretty early.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, it's pretty early and and then we're gonna be, it's gonna, they're gonna run past the berry lane park. That's mile 10 okay and then mile nine.
Speaker 3:It should be like mile 19 for the full marathon. So we'll have two cheer sections and once mile three, four is done, we'll move up to the park. Um, so it's pretty early. It's pretty early like 7 30. They're gonna even earlier because they do have like some elite runners. So it'll be pretty fast in the beginning. But mile 10 is is a good. I said like eight o'clock come by mile 10. You can like cheer on like one of our um, one of the guys that does the track night. He said that like he should be around mile 10 by like eight, eight, 10 in the morning. So you know, you can like gauge it off of that anyway so that's our society.
Speaker 3:And then you can find me. I have just Joseph is my personal handle where I'm still navigating Like what is it? What does she talk about there? I kind of like throw everything there but working on refining it. And then I also have soultherapyus. That's where you can find more retreat info and more about soul therapy and like the wellbeing aspect of everything that I'm doing. That's kind of where I like create. That's like my creative space.
Speaker 1:Amazing, awesome. We'll tell everybody to follow you and thank you so much for hanging out with us today. And yeah, yeah, that was good. I mean, we are actually in the summer.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's true, we are going to Mallorca. We are, well, we're going on a cruise.
Speaker 1:Okay, amazing, a family cruise. We'll only be there for like a day, but we'll get a peek at it.
Speaker 2:We'll get a little look. And maybe we do a.
Speaker 3:Sorry, go ahead.
Speaker 1:Maybe we do a sorry, no go ahead, maybe we do a retreat when a wellness retreat?
Speaker 2:oh okay, we will talk, I'm down I'm always down. Yeah, I'm always down for stuff and like, especially in europe. I'm sure it's about what that would look like some cold plunging we'll do some cold plunging.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm kind of down fitness okay, activities, we'll talk about it there you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I like that cool thank you so much, jess thank you, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much. Thank you.