Rewards and Challenges of Managing a Brick and Mortar Yoga Studio

#52. Leslie Simionescu is a yoga teacher and member of the leadership team at Yen Yoga Studio located in Traverse City, MI. Yen Yoga was created in 2010 and Leslie joined shortly after, becoming a 200 hour Yoga Teacher through a teacher training program hosted there by Jennifer Lintvedt. She has since become a 500 hour advanced teacher through Janet Stone Yoga at Esalen Institute in Big Sur California. Leslie is trained in Bhakti yoga which is the yoga of devotion, mantra, chanting and sound. She brings meditation through crystal bowls and vibration. Leslie has taught to the community for many years, facilitated and created Yoga Teacher Training, Stand up Paddle Board Yoga Training, Continued Education and yoga Retreats. She teaches to connect and inspire others to have self acceptance, moving through their bodies feeling every emotion energetically, spiritually, and mentally. In this episode, we discuss the following:

• Leslie’s background prior to joining Yen yoga
• What inspired her to enter the yoga business
• The origin story of Yen Yoga
• How it evolved through Covid
• How the leadership team approaches creating a class schedule that has something for everyone
• More about the yoga teacher training program they offer
• Challenges and rewards of helping to run a yoga studio and more

Yen Yoga Website: https://www.yenyogafitness.com/

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Transcript

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I know that studies show that, when you're part of a community, no matter what community it is, you live longer, you're healthier, and that's what Sangha in yoga is community, means community. because our world that we live in, most people define it by if you're busy, you're successful. And to me, the opposite is yoga. success is balance to me. And that's what yoga teaches us. lately our motto is the weirder the better, and I mean that in a fun way. We're trying different things right now. like who knew a floating sound bath in the pool in the winter would be waitlisted every week. Leslie Simon Eskew is a yoga teacher and member of the leadership team at Yen Yoga Studio, located in Traverse City, Michigan. Yen Yoga was created in 2010, and Leslie joined shortly after, becoming a 200 hour yoga teacher through a teacher training program hosted there by Jennifer Lynn Vett. She has since become a 500 hour advanced teacher through Janet Stone Yoga at Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California. Yen Yoga was Leslie is trained in bhakti yoga, which is the yoga of devotion, mantra, chanting, and sound. She brings meditation through crystal bowls and vibration. Leslie has taught to the community for many years, facilitated and created yoga teacher training, stand up paddleboard, yoga training, continued education, and yoga retreats. She teaches to connect and inspire others to have self acceptance, moving through their bodies, feeling every emotion energetically, spiritually, and mentally. In this episode, we discuss Leslie's background prior to joining Yen Yoga, what inspired her to enter the yoga business, the origin story of Yen Yoga, how it evolved through COVID, how the leadership team approaches creating a class schedule that has something for everyone, a bit more about the yoga teacher training program they offer, and more. Challenges and rewards of helping you run a yoga studio and more. I started this tradition where I have each guest leave a question for the next guys. and so the last guest was actually my brother and his question was, if you had to leave your house in a rush, what is one thing you would take with you? Oh gosh, I'd probably, first of all, make sure my family. And my dogs, and then I don't know, grab our credentials, important papers. That'd probably be it. the most important thing would just be to. leave safely. And then, yeah, I guess you're just asking if I left, had to leave in a hurry though, I was taking it more, if there was an emergency. Yeah, no, I think it is vague, but I think like the underlying implication is you can't return. What do you take with you? That kind of thing. Yeah. The most important thing would be my family and my pets. yeah, that would be the. That would be it. Maybe my phone so we could call for help. That's a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. How many dogs do you have? I have three. Okay. Yeah. One's really old. Her name is Sally. And I call my middle child Oscar and Lucy. And they're small dogs. We used to have big dogs. We went on this new kick with small dogs. They're like, and so yeah, we have a big dog right now. he's 90 pounds. He's a black, golden doodle. but he's gentle. He's a gentle giant. So that's good. We always had retrievers like golden retrievers. And I don't know, my husband got going on this little dog kick and we travel a lot. So it's nice to have the smaller dogs. Oh yeah, that's super nice. Yeah, definitely easier for sure. okay. thanks for answering the question from the guest. now to just get into the interview, what if you could give a little bit of context for listeners and myself is your background prior to working with for young yoga? Sure. management and human resources, hiring, training. I've always been in people service. and that's why I think, this is a good fit for me at yin yoga and fitness being part of the leadership team. And also of course, serving all the students being a yoga teacher. I did come with. What our other leadership team, what their backgrounds are. I don't know if you wanted to know that. we have, one that has, is a writer. She currently is a writer. one had been in fashion and marketing. And I think all of us at one point have been in. Some type of service, food service, people service of some kind. Yeah. Okay. That's good. So lots of different skills coming together, which is a really good combination. Oh, I'll pause because our skills are what really make yin yoga. And that'll probably fall into another category. Okay. Yeah. what, so what inspired you like specifically? To enter like working with yoga and like wanting to work with young yoga. It really came from my personal journey with yoga. when I was young, I, was, I found out I had scoliosis, which is curvature of the spine and almost had to have surgery. And I wanted to find different ways to help, with that. And I still have it, of course, but, I have stayed very healthy and have had no problems. it also, I started out doing yoga, like on DVDs and, it just gave me this feeling of confidence. And I felt it was the only thing I played sports. I played tennis. I played softball. I always enjoyed being active, but once I started taking yoga, I felt very comfortable with my body. I felt more confident in my thinking, more clear, and I just found it to be very, healing, but also it helped me to feel very strong when I had times of doubt. and I wanted to share that. with others. and that's how I eventually became a teacher. I actually started taking the hot series. where you just sweat and you do 26 poses and it really created this discipline in me and, but in a good way. So I wanted to, in the beginning, just teach that, when I became a yoga teacher, and then I found all of these other beautiful ways to share yoga. like sound baths and meditation and not realizing it was all part of what I was already doing in just doing the poses, that comes with the poses as well. The healing, the meditation, the breath work, all of that. It's all part of it. The eight limbs of yoga. So yeah, but really being inspired by my own journey and inspired by some really wonderful teachers out there as well. Yeah, that's lovely to hear. Yeah. I, resonated with a lot of what you said too. I started going to yoga regularly only like a year ago, but it's had a lot of different positive effects on my life and it has really helped with like mental health a lot as well. surprisingly, Yeah. I think that's, you start with the physical. You want to feel good physically and then you realize the mental part is happening without even too much effort because it's coming from you committing to be in that pose and committing to be on your mat. And then you start to see that life off your mat as well. Yeah. it's like a very healing form of exercise. in a way, like in the past, I like ran a lot and I still do. Which has its own like positive benefits, but yoga, like really helped me slow down, which was really valuable for me, in particular. So I liked that a lot about yoga. okay. So lovely to hear that, all of that and your experience with yoga. so I was wondering if you could share a little bit about the origin story of YAN Yoga in Traverse City. Absolutely. So I came to YAN Yoga, I think about maybe three months after it opened. we had our original studio was on front street. Then people still remember that space and. just have beautiful memories from that space. And it started out with a couple of brothers, who wanted to create a community and, they really just, and this is, it really is a great description of what Yen has become to so many of us, they felt we needed a community and they called it a third place. So you have your home, you have your work, and then you have this other place of home. And that's what we wanted to do or that what's what their, dreams and inspirations were to have this community, this third place, where people would come and feel comfortable. we focused a lot on yoga, but also a lot on fitness. We had cycling. At one point we had 120 classes, a week, we added a row, had over 75 yoga teachers at one point. So a lot of them were subs, some of them were fitness, some of them were, we even had dance classes. and so we really built this beautiful community of just like mind individuals. And I know that studies show that, when you're part of a community, no matter what community it is, you live longer, you're healthier, and that's what Sangha in yoga is community, means community. And so we've created, this. They really, the brothers that started this don't want acknowledgement. They just wanted us to have a community and help us get started. And we have a director who works with them. and I read back through some of the descriptions of what yin yoga is, and, people always ask who owns it. And, our director, Sarah said, We work for the community and, we are, just this place for people to gather and any profit that we make goes back into the studio, pays our teachers, pays our client specialists, our customer service, front desk people. and then if there's any left, we put it back into the studio. and this is. It has been, and I don't know all these details, but we were non nonprofit and now we're something that's called not for profit. hopefully that helps. Where we started. And then once, the COVID started, we had to close the studio. we tried to keep it open. and we realized that it was just going to be really difficult with the amount of classes we could have and, just what was expected at that time. So we held classes all over, barns, outside. gosh, we really got creative. We had it added at the cathedral barns. We had at the botanical gardens, at the Delamar, we helped some classes. And, then we came to this point where we had to make a decision and the Delamar, offered us a space there. And if you had asked me three years ago, if I would have been So happy in this new space. I wasn't sure because I love the old space and I didn't know how our community would like the new space and we've just built it into this beautiful place again. It's a little smaller, a little, I actually think it feels, It feels different, but it feels like the old yen as well. there's just different, it's a little different vibe, and I can't explain it. You have to experience it. And if you've never went to the old yen, then you wouldn't know what to expect. so that's, does that answer what you're looking for? Okay. Yeah. And I do remember the old studio. I think I went there probably first when I was in like high school. And yeah, that was like such a lovely space. So I can imagine transitioning, was probably tough to leave that space, but like now I've been to the new space often and yeah, I've just adjusted to it cause it's the same vibe. It's very lovely. Yeah, we hear students who live all over the world, travel a lot, and they find us and they come back and they're like, there's just no place. Like y they, yeah. They said, we've, I've found other studios I like, but there's just something special . And when we did reopen, and I always come back to this, whenever I lose my way, it's. it's really anything that you do, as long as you do it with intention and meaning behind it, it will flourish. It will, go in the direction that it really should. And that was something we talked about when we were reopening because we were like, are people going to like it? Like the old studio, I hope that they do. And we were a little nervous about how everyone was going to react. And we just kept putting. This great intention behind it. and there were a few things that we were, our director said, what can we not live without? Because, we had to trim down a little because we didn't know how it was going to go. And, there were like a few things like the cold towels, we had those, um, you know, and just certain things that we were like, we really want to keep this if we can. And Because we wanted people to hold on to some of those memories that were so beautiful. The other studio and everyone loves the cold towels after a hot, steamy class, right? Yeah, that really makes me think of, This like concept of it's just like the extra touch. Like it just makes, it just gives the vibe that , you're going to extra mile. It's like a nice thing. and it's very personalized and yeah, I don't know those things. People notice that we really want. And feel that our studio is a place of healing. And, you have to use that word carefully, but, it's really, to me, it's healing for the mind, the soul, not meaning illness. but just this place of feeling good and feeling at home in your body, mind, whatever it is you're working through. So that's really what we hope that you feel when you come in. Definitely. so did you start from the beginning working full time or where did you start part time and then like gradually start? and this is something really good for those inspired to maybe be a yoga teacher. And it was really good advice given to me by a teacher when I was starting to think about doing teacher training. you really have to think about building. into the industry. And if you have another job, you can do another job. yoga used to be not a business. It was, you plop down, you did yoga anywhere, anytime. and ironically, when I traveled to India, I never saw one yoga studio. Okay. So we brought yoga here and we've made it into a business. And so you have to be very careful because it takes a long time as a yoga teacher, for most of us to build up to what can be a living or be a career. I still do things on the side a little, for financial reasons, but if you have a passion for it and you are willing to put in the work, you, You will love it. You will love what you do and how you do it. and I, I'm kind of getting off track. Can you give me the original question? Oh, that's really here. I, I was just inquiring like how big of a commitment it was when you started versus now, which is probably better Yeah. So I worked full time. For about, I want to say five or six years and taught eight classes a week, which looking back at the time, that's what I had to do. Looking back, it was a very busy time. But I knew that I had the passion to stay with it so that I could eventually just do more of what I loved. And I think a lot of us find that when we have a deep passion for something that we do have to put in extra work. And my husband said to me, I've never seen you work so hard at something. And no one was telling me to work hard but myself. So when you have that passion, it almost doesn't feel like work. It just feels like part of your life and that's where you want to go. And so it takes a while, maybe for others, it might not depending on their financial obligations. But I did get the advice to not quit your job right away and be, and just think that you're going to make a living as a yoga teacher. And I share that with my yoga teacher training, those that are going through. because a lot of us do, that's, we want to just, that's all I want to do, and it can happen. but it's, Like anything that is important to you. It takes a lot of hard work. Yeah Did that answer your question? Brings another question in mind which is like as a yoga teacher How What was like the end goal look like for them? are they just, are they running their own studio or are they? I think everybody has different passions, different goals. for me, it was just to be a yoga teacher and share. And, I never really had in the back of my mind, cause I'm part of the leadership team at yen yoga. But when the old studio closed, we revamped the way the management was. So we went through, changing what the leadership team looked like. And, I thought, gosh, I'm doing a lot of this on my own already. For myself. and there's so much that I could help with. that wasn't part of my journey originally, that to be part of the leadership team for the studio, but it's worked out great. some people just want to teach maybe one class a week in the beginning. A lot of teachers that go through the teacher training come in thinking they don't want to teach. They're just doing it for their own personal journey and then they decide they want to. And the opposite can happen. I'm not sure if I want to teach. I think I want to continue to study for a while. And that's what I explain, when we talk and interview teachers who are interested in the training program. That you might come in with a different reason to be in this program than what you thought. And then when you leave, you, it may be something completely different. a lot of the teachers bring it into their work life. the study of yoga and helping them stay calm in their work life, helping them stay balanced in work life versus freedom parts of our lives or free time. So everyone has, different reasons. I think to own a studio from the teachers I've talked to, it's really hard to balance owning the studio and being a yoga teacher. very hard because You have the financial obligation on your shoulders and then you're serving people and it's hard to balance that. you have to have a really good team of people. I think if you're going to try to run a studio and be a yoga teacher, and my work is, I would say that leadership hours are the most important. not too much, not too many hours. Maybe some weeks, 10 hours, some weeks, seven hours. That's not my whole reason for being at yin yoga. It's part of it. And, each one of us that's on the leadership team have different hours. And, like a couple of our leadership team members have small children. So it works out good for them to do the work at home. And they do more of our marketing and our mind body and those types of things. Where the other two leaders, myself and Becky were more in the studio more and, working on things in the studio. So we found a really good balance with our team. But to take all of that on and be a yoga teacher and just be the sole owner, that would be quite a lot. And that's what I hear feedback from studio owners. Yeah, and I bet in addition, it's probably lovely that you have the team that you do with all your diverse skill sets, because I think probably doing it all alone would be quite challenging. At the old studio, we had three different managers at one point. and I now look back and I'm like, wow, because of how much more there was to the studio, how much busier it was. That was a lot, but they were pretty much all full time too. it's full time 24 seven. If you're going to own the studio, it is being part of the leadership team by choice. Like I want to keep on top of everything. No one's telling me that I have to be on my phone all the time or have to check messages all the time. You just find that balance and find what's important to you. And that's how it's worked out with our team. some of us can be like that and others can't. So we really found a good balance. and that's so important. Yeah. Yeah. Cause you don't want a stressful yoga studio. You want a calm environment. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Cause that's like what you're promoting in a way. So you want to lead by example. Yeah. Yeah. okay. that's great. Segway into this next question about, I was wondering if you could share a little bit about. How like your lifetime experiences have shaped how you approach your work, what you do now for yin yoga. Yeah. Well, it's a constant check in with yourself because when you're teaching yoga, You want to live it as much as you can and, we all make mistakes. We're all imperfect. but to me working at the studio and being a yoga teacher, it's that constant checking back in, maybe how could I have handled that different or gosh, I handled that well, I honored, the way we should honor, our life people. Kindness, compassion, but it's that constant check in on yourself because you are teaching these qualities of peace and calm and my life outside of the studio. I have things like everyone else has, but when I walk in that door, I'm going to drop that at the door if I'm teaching or if I'm, there to be in leadership. I take classes, If I'm not taking classes, I can feel the imbalance. I take time at home. You have to find that balance. And that has been a long time progress, or process because, you have to really kick it for a while to get where you want to go. And I'm starting to feel the benefits of all my hard work. And I think any yoga teacher could share that, eventually you'll start to feel the yoga in your life and you'll start to feel the slowing down and picking projects, offerings that are important to you. And you're not just taking anything that comes your way, because you want to just teach when you first become a teacher and you'll go here and go there. And that's part of the process. But once you find out where you want to put all your energy when you're in this, and the work part of it, it feels really good. Yeah. And I think not just a yoga teacher can find that in any career or passion, you got to put in the hard work and then you start to see still working hard, but I'm working smarter, I guess it would be. And really my ultimate goal is. To eventually, and I'm, I say this, I'm always going to be somewhat busy because that's life, but I want to continue to fill this less busy. And just focusing on what's important, focusing on what's important. And that's sharing the teachings and creating a change, a positive change out there in the world. But you also have to work on it in your life, your own personal life, or it's not authentic and none of us are perfect. So we have to keep going back. And that's why we call it a practice. It's a continued practice of. Yoga. Yeah. Yeah. it's never a destination. Never a check off. which my teacher says a lot, you're not, you didn't complete the eight limbs of yoga learning, you're just beginning, you're just beginning. And I think as, as far as life experiences, it's really helped me to slow down. It's really helped me to be, I have a long way to go, but be more mindful of everything around me. And also looking at If there is something that is hurtful or something that, is frustrating, why is it, is it a habit? Is it a pattern? And that's what yoga teaches us, you know, to really observe and notice before we react sometimes. And that is always a work in progress because I'm a fixer. I want to fix, and you have to just let it go. Chill a minute sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's good. It's good to practice chilling for sure. We all can use lessons in it, I think, in this, because our world that we live in, most people define it by if you're busy, you're successful. And to me, the opposite is yoga. that's success is balance to me. And that's what yoga teaches us. Are there times where we're going to be way busier because it's time for that, in Traverse City? Yes, absolutely. But then you take those opportunities when you can slow down, And don't feel guilty. Don't feel guilty that you're not maybe doing anything. Yeah. Sitting in the woods meditating. Yeah. I'm so glad you said that about Oh, the wide, like a general definition and today's world of success is busyness. And I'm also glad we're talking about this on this podcast because. I struggle with that a lot, with entrepreneurship, there's this never ending pressure to do more and make something work, and it doesn't, it's, it doesn't equate to, I don't know, productive work all the time, or sometimes work that feels aligned. If you're just trying to fill the time with things to do, anyone can do that. It's very easy to do that. so it's important to talk about. I think our world tells us that we have to fill space up all the time. Especially with Instagram, all the social media. if you get on and look, you're like, Wow, they're doing that. I should be doing that. And then you're like, wait a minute. I'm busy enough. I don't need more. And, and really putting all of your energy into what is important to you, what's important to you. And that's a big wake up sometimes because of the way our, our culture is, it's do more, almost get more, get more, right. So yoga is a good, Good balance for that. Yeah, definitely. okay. I have a little question about the, like the classes at yun yoga and just the yoga studio in general. So I'm curious, how you approach creating which kind of classes to teach while also catering to people that are at different levels. I may be in there like yoga journey or preferences. Yeah, it is a puzzle. It is a puzzle. And I have to say in the last two years, because I wasn't as involved in planning the schedule, I was just my schedule. And now I'm thinking of the whole team with the other three leaders, we, so seasonally we change our schedules because we base the scheduling on trends of what has worked, what has not. We have. All of our years history, but it's also been a little different because we're at a new space, a new time. Everything has changed since COVID. people don't have the habits and routines that they had for many years that changed their habits and routines. And so we really were starting all over again, but we do know Traverse City is busier in the winter at the studio and slower in the summer because northern Michiganders want to be outside. So it's our members. Pause or they'll maybe come less in the summer. And we also know we have a lot of people that go away in the winter and come back in the summer. So we have to look at all those things. we look at our class, with MindBody, our program. We look at our numbers, we look at the attendance. we look at maybe it's the style of class that we need to change and not the class time. Or it's the time of the class that isn't working when our attendance is lower. lately our motto is the weirder the better, and I mean that in a fun way. We're trying different things right now. like who knew a floating sound bath in the pool in the winter would be waitlisted every week. Yeah. We just, we start putting our brains together. We see what other places are doing. I've experienced things when I'm traveling that I bring back. not the exact thing. We don't copy, but parts of it, parts of it. although, when you do something like someone else, it's a compliment really. But we know that we can't do things the way other people do, or it's not authentic. It has to come from us. but there are other floating sound baths out there. There's a, you know, we don't own yoga. We don't own it. Nobody does. So anything we do, is there for everyone, but we look at trends, we look at our attendance, We try new things and if they don't work, we don't take it personal. We just go, it isn't the right time or it wasn't the right class for that schedule. but we really do base it on the needs of our clients, the requests of our clients. But we also, if you have a class on the schedule that continually is filling up, then we know we need to add more. Like in the winter, the hot inspire is one of our most popular classes. been for 13 years. So we know we need to inspire every day a couple times a day. It's a, it's one of our most popular classes. we know in, when it starts becoming warm out, people want to move a little more and in the winter they don't want to move as much. They want to cocoon or sweat. those are the things we look at. And it's really, if you look at our energy in the winter and in the summer, that's a guide to what we put on the schedule. and we just look at what's working, add more. We look at what's not working and try to change it or we take it off the schedule. And, that's really a constant week to week thing that we're looking at. Yeah. But we give new classes, at least a month or two before we make a decision. as far as if it's working or it's not working, we do a lot of special classes like this year we'll have yoga on the vines, which is Becky created all of those. they're amazing that we get people from everywhere. we do. Stand up paddleboard this year. We don't have a regular class, but we'll do privates. If you're interested in that, I have yoga on this discovery boat this year. which it's not moving, but we have a beautiful view. We have yoga on the beach. So in the summer we do do a lot of things outside because we know that's what people will want to do. They won't want to be in the studio all the time. We also don't have as many classes, sometimes in the evening, because it's a little slower. in the summer, you don't want to leave the beach to come to yoga, but some people will. So we keep enough that, there's something for everyone is what we try to do. Something for everyone. The levels, you said something about how do you schedule classes? We have different, you know, the descriptions will say, this is good for beginners. this is, we want you to have some yoga experience. So you'll have to make sure the descriptions. Fit the class.. But beginners will come to classes that say they're not beginners, but we're at that point in our teaching where, we know we're gonna have a beginner, someone who maybe just got outta surgery all levels and we are pretty good at giving modifications. That's real important. options versus modifications, I would say giving them options. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's super interesting to hear. And I'm, it's like a smart approach to re evaluate often, keep an eye on things.. just trying and experimenting. that's how you like learn, you know, what's going well. Well, and if you think about like, uh, if you keep doing something over and over again and it's not working, you got to figure out why. And that's why I call it a puzzle. cause it is always taking pieces away and putting pieces back in, at certain times. and we've got pretty good at, uh, Our meetings used to be really long, planning the schedules, we really are, we know what we're doing now. A lot better. but for years, like I said, I just got involved in this, this will be the second year now. I did schedules for over 144 people in my career at one point though. So, yeah. It's a whole different thing. Kind of schedule. So I know you've talked a bit about the teacher Training program which sounds like it's really Special and valuable for a lot of different reasons, I guess on that note, like, how do you find yoga teachers now to fill your classes? is it like, to fill the training? yes, but also the classes that Yen Yoga actually provides. So how do we find people to come to Yen Yoga? Is that what you're saying? To teach. Oh, how do we find our teachers? Okay. most of our teachers right now have been at Yen Yoga for, I would say, oh gosh, I know Katie and I have been there since the beginning. and then Jen and Becky were not far behind. Those are the leaders. And then we, the rest of our teachers. Most of us have been there at least, I would say, the maybe least years would be the brand new teachers that just came out of the teacher training and they've been there a year now. The rest of us have been there either 10 to 13 years, which to me says a lot about the studio. and we've, we've found our teachers, a lot of them went through our program. The Yen Yoga program, but we are always open to teachers who bring something from other trainings and I would, I wanna say probably half are from Yen and half are from other places or other trainings. we do love to, obviously hire the teachers that have went through our program. we don't hire a whole lot because we have a steady. consistent staff. We will, I will pretty much talk to anybody that applies or has interest and then we always keep that relationship open if something would open. If we had more studio room, we'd have more teachers. If we had more options on our schedule, we would have more teachers. But we've really, people come to us a lot of times because we've been in the community for 13, 14 years now. So we have, we have a great reputation, as far as, working there. Yeah. I think it's the longest place I've ever been. For working. And a lot of the other teachers could probably say that too. we do have an application on our website and like I said, we pretty much, it goes to info at young yoga fitness. And then, it comes to me if it's for yoga teachers and it goes to either Becky or Katie. for fitness teachers. Cause I'm not really trained in fitness. It's, it is different what you're looking for. Yeah. Okay. And then how about the, the teacher training program in general? can you talk a little bit about like how that started or like how it's evolved? Cause I'm really curious to know. It sounds like it's super, super special, for those who get the chance to be involved. so it started when the studio opened and it was actually my teacher, Jenny, who, is amazing and created the first 200 hour program, which our programs are registered through Yoga Alliance. and we now have a program. We've had it for the last two years. Which is based on the eight limb path of yoga and, was created by the leadership team that's here now. And, the program's a little different than it was. it's a lot different because Jenny had her own beautiful way. and the way it's a little bit different is we have several teachers involved in it. and it gives. The students had an opportunity to learn from different teachers, Jenny had herself and another teacher, and then, she would have some guest teachers I would help sometimes with her program, she was in our community from the very beginning and really built our community, she's lovely, she lives in Grand Rapids now, but that is how it started, and from her, I'm sure from her, You'd have to talk to her a bit. I can say that, that training was, your 200 hour training is a foundation to start. It's a foundation. And what you take away from it and what you learn, it's going to be a little bit different for everyone. But it is really a journey to the self when you take a teacher training program. you learn more and more about yourself. And then you learn what you want to share with others if you want to become a teacher and that will change and evolve as you learn more and grow more. And just like I said earlier, it's never a check off. If you have been a teacher for 15 years, you are still going to learn from a teacher that's only been teaching a year. You are still going to learn over and over again from your peers. teacher or from your 500 hour teacher. If you move on, it's a continued learning journey. We're sharing over 3000 years of teachings. 200 is just a nugget of that. I think anyone that you talk to from a 200 hour training is going to tell you something different, what they take took away from it, but they'd all probably tell you that. It was a journey that took them in places. They probably didn't realize that it was going to take them to, cause it is just really getting to know yourself. it's inward, outward, outward, inward. Yeah. If that makes sense. Yeah. So yeah, like within the training itself, besides learning how to lead a class through Yeah, like a series of poses. Like what are some of the things, like the focuses? I know you mentioned the eight. so the eight limb path, is the foundation for yoga, for, for yoga that came from the yoga sutras of Patanjali. That's, that's the learning sets, the teachings that we share. And, I need a lot of time to share with you all of that. But, Asana is part of it. The postures are part of it, but it's meditation. It's concentration. It's breath work. if you look at the eight limb path of yoga, It's pretty much everything you're doing, as a yoga student, but you're breaking it down into just this beautiful way. It's really a compass that leads you, to a personal relationship with yourself. And then through that, you can decide what your purpose, your journey is. as far as being a yoga teacher. you do a lot of practice teaching. You do a lot of journaling. You do a lot of, anatomy training, mobility training. That's what I love about this program. We have Becky who's, oh, just amazing and anatomy mobility. Katie has a breath work pelvic area, pelvic work. Training background. And then I brought in another teacher who has kids yoga and another teacher who has dance experience. And so really talked about the movement and energy behind yoga. so we have just this. beautiful array of experience that you're learning from. And it's really helpful because there's so much that you're learning, but one of these teachers, something might resonate and you're like, Oh, I think I want to teach that kind of yoga. Or, maybe I need to study more about that type of yoga because there is more than just the hot 26 or the hot vinyasa. There's restorative, there's yoga nidra, there's. all these styles of yoga, Chinese medicine theory yoga. so yeah, that sounds like a really cool, well rounded program with lots of diversity, which of that. Do you know if one has to be able to teach or like be yoga certified to open a studio? I, Oh, then I don't think you'd have to be able to teach or be certified to open a studio, but I'm not a hundred percent sure. because it's a business. So you'd be, you'd have to just, be follow all the business type rules. but most studios want to have certified through Yoga Alliance teachers teaching for them. And you cannot do a teacher training program. You can, but most teachers want to know that your program has been approved by Yoga Alliance. And of course, we have both of our 200 and 300 hour. And we also have As a yoga teacher, you continue education and we have programs that are registered through Yoga Alliance for continued education, which you have to keep that up as a yoga teacher. It's not much. It's 30, 30, 45 hours every three years and you have to teach so much to stay registered as a yoga teacher. But as far as an owner, that wouldn't be, I wouldn't be able to answer that question accurately. You'd have to find out through, business. State of Michigan, wherever you're opening it. Yeah, that was just a small thing. Yeah. Um, but okay. And, yeah, what would you say are some of the, like, I feel like you've touched on this a little bit already, but some of the like challenges versus rewards of working so closely in a yoga studio every day. I love it so much. So it's hard to say the challenges. You do have to be careful. You can get burnout. You can OD on yoga. You know, like you have to really balance out your practice and your teaching. And when you're teaching, you're, it's not the same. it's such a beautiful feeling when you're teaching. and it takes a lot of energy because you're holding the space for people. so you have to watch that you're not teaching too much and that you're not, that you're getting your own practice in too. That is a challenge. And especially when we're really busy at the studio because we let the clients go in before us. And so sometimes I can't go to a class because it's full. And so then I have somewhat of a home practice. I have the room I'm in is like a little studio I used to teach virtual from, but it's not the same. It's not the same at home. So you just really need to, that's, that I would say is a challenge, making sure you're taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others. And as a yoga teacher, you will sub, you will pick up extra classes sometimes and you have to just make sure you're watching and taking care of yourself when you're doing extra. And a lot of, a lot of the teachers, like I said, work other jobs there. There may be in like some of the teachers are massage therapists or they're, doing other healing type work. All the more reason you have to really watch and take care of yourself. Because you are giving your energy to others and you want your energy to fill and balance. So that's a challenge is keeping yourself, taken care of when you're taking care of others. Yeah. I feel like our team is such a solid team and we get along so wonderful. And you can feel that when you're in the studio. we're not, we want people that work there to, that are part of the team to want everyone to succeed. you can't make it about yourself. You gotta make sure you're. You know, and these are all yoga practices, you know, lighting others up and not dimming other people's lights, making sure you're lifting others up. you're constantly on when you're at the studio cause you're greeting people. You're, you're not just in the yoga room teaching your class, you're, you're conversing all the whole time you're there. So it's just keeping your energy level. At a good place so that you can feel good in your energy at the studio. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good reminder and insight because I don't know, like from the outside. Yen yoga and like yoga studios in general. It's like a very like calming vibe when you go in So it's almost like I would assume that People who work there. It's like the same feeling but in reality they are working and yes they are holding space which is different from going and just like receiving, like being in the cities. So it is different, Yeah, we, I think too, like you have to really, and I've said this a few times, like you really have to love serving, love people, because that's what we're doing, that's what we're doing. We're serving the community. And, we're trying to, just have this place of healing there. So we gotta make sure we're healed. We're happy. And what would you say is like one of your favorite things or like most rewarding parts of what you do? It's really seeing people grow as humans and realize that. They were already okay. They just needed this time to figure that out a lot of times. But also hearing that we helped them through something. Every student isn't going to share their experience, but every time someone does it's a reminder that's why we're there. So, you know, you helped me go through this. by coming to class and feeling safe in the space. You know, you got me through this. You got me through that. And you'll hear that. and it just, once it helps you to keep going and keep doing, because you will question yourself, you will ask yourself, am I doing the right thing? Did I say the right things? And every teacher won't be everybody's, you know, like cup of tea. Like you'll find your teacher. That at that time resonates with you and as teachers, you have to understand that and not take anything personal that, It's okay. She found and that's what we celebrate. She or he or whoever, found, Someone that they resonated with and gave them the strength or the joy that they needed. Yeah. Yeah. That's really fulfilling and rewarding. That's really lovely. It is. I mean, I said to my husband the other day, when I came home from a long weekend with the teacher trainings, a teacher trainees, I said, after this weekend, I feel like, If this didn't happen anymore, I did what I was supposed to do because I could just feel the work that we had all done together for these last five months. They're going to graduate in June and I can just feel that this is good there. There, I felt good where everyone is on their journey, even though there's so much more I could share and so much more we could all learn together, but. It's good. It's good. They're just beginning though. It's the end of the training, but they're just beginning. And I, you just can't wait to see what people do with this, Yeah. I was wondering what is one piece of advice you would give to someone aspiring to pursue a career in the wellness industry? I, you could say yoga, wellness. I know they're different. Yeah. Um, well, and I, I think, you know, just, What we carry at yen that some of the fitness classes, some of the different options that we have, they are, it's all wellness. It's all healing. Like some people heal from a really strong workout. That's how they heal. that's how they feel better. That's how they feel stronger, joyful. so I would say, experience it yourself. Number one, if. If you want to be a yoga teacher or you want to be a fitness teacher or an acupuncturist, massage therapist, are you doing it? Are you experiencing it yourself? Are you feeling it in your own body? And that doesn't mean I have to know how to teach every single pose or I have to be an expert at it. Because that's why we keep learning and growing to become better at it. But you have to experience it before, And this is just for me. I had a long time practice before I started teaching and I don't mean you have to teach for or practice for 50 years, but look into it. You know, you do mentorships, right? When you find it, when you go to college for four years, you do a mentorship and sometimes you find out that's not really what you want to do, but make sure you, You know, talk to people who are yoga teachers like you're doing, talk to people who've had the experience of being a massage therapist or whatever it is you're looking to do in the wellness industry and make sure you're taking care of yourself because, you know, it's hard to take care of others when you're depleted. Life is still going to happen though, and you have to remember, you have to balance that. It's your, when you walk in to take care of another person, you got to let your struggles go just for that hour or whatever it is. but I think just experiencing it, experiencing whatever it is you want to go into and talking to people in the field. Most people will be open to talking about it because they love what they do. just like I am today, Really feel good about our conversation because it's something I love and we're getting to know each other. Well, you're getting to know me. I'm going to interview you next. That might be fun. That would be fun. Rosemary for the, so they know what you're about. Yeah. I mean, it would, it would be helpful. I would do it. I would interview you. Okay, well, then we should talk about that. It would be helpful because, um, yeah, I don't know when I, when I interview someone, it is an opportunity for them to reflect on their life experiences and. Like be able to communicate why they're doing what they do now. And sometimes if you don't mix, like in my scenario, if I don't make space for that, I will like continue, without reflecting. And so I don't know, it provides a space for the reflection and talking about the journey and everything. What I got to say, just talking about. Yeah. And in talking about where we were and where we've came, I haven't thought about it. I'm just, you know, you're kind of on autopilot and this is what I do. And this is where we're we're doing this workshop next. We're doing that. And I'm like, wow, we really have done a lot and we're really creating so much, positivity in the world when you sit there and talk about all parts of it. So yeah, thank you for that. I feel. I feel energized from this conversation. That's amazing. That is cool for sure. Yeah. Um, okay. Well, my last question is, could you please provide a question for the next guest? So I want to ask the viewers or, for the next guest. Are they willing to give up something to get to where they want to go next? Because most of the time, when you're moving forward and you're growing, there's something you have to leave behind or give up. Kind of similar to your brother's question, what would you take with you? Well, what would you, what would you be willing to give up or are you willing? You don't even have to know what it is you're giving up, but just know what that when you're growing, it's a little uncomfortable and you have to give up some things most of the time, some things and not even necessarily material things. It could be a relationship. It could be, you know, where you live. because it does require that most of the time when you're growing. So what are they willing to give up things or places people to grow? Yeah, that's, yeah, it makes me think, this question, what do you want to let go of going forward? and sometimes I feel like that can even be like, a mindset shift, oh, I want to let go of the fear I have towards this. Yeah, that's just like what comes to mind for me. And it might not be a thing, a person, a place. It could just be an emotion that they're going to have to let go of, you know, like, um, like you said, fear or, uh, Safety. If you're really safe where you are right now, you might have to get out of that safety to grow and move forward and to become a yoga teacher, to become a yoga manager or studio owner. that's the, Yeah, anything. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's definitely applicable. Like, uh, with entrepreneurship, right? Like oftentimes there will be this risk of letting go of something stable, to go pursue something. I mean, it doesn't always have to look like that, or maybe let it go of your free time if you're going to work double time to like build something. yeah. Wow. And. It's never the perfect right time, and yoga teaches us that we have to surrender to certain things, and it doesn't mean you're giving up in yoga, it means that you are surrendering to what is happening in your life right then, right now, and you're gonna either devote your attention to it and energy, or you're, you would let it go, you would let it go. So what are you willing to surrender to could be, yeah, but I'll stick with the original question. Okay. Okay. All right. Okay. This is going to be fun. You're going to have to edit a lot, I think. No, it was great. It was great. Thank you so much. Oh, and I look forward to seeing you at the studio. I know you try to get there a couple times a week. That's great. I know you're quite a haul and I wish you the best, in just your journey. Cause you have one too. And, we have to remember that, that everyone does have a journey and everyone's in a different part of their journey. And so just being kind and, remembering sometimes that it's not personal, if there's something that a person says or does that could, you know, Feel personal. It's not always personal.