Good Neighbor Podcast: Rochester
Bringing Together Local Businesses and Neighbors of Rochester
Good Neighbor Podcast: Rochester
EP#123: Live Love Yoga with Sabrina Johnson
Discover the incredible journey of Sabrina Johnson from Live Love Yoga in Rochester as she reveals the transformative power yoga had on her life. Struggling with fibromyalgia and the trials of early menopause, Sabrina found in yoga not just a practice, but a lifeline that enabled her to reclaim her vitality and well-being. Join us as Sabrina shares her story of resilience and empowerment, shedding light on how yoga's true essence lies in the mind and breath, rather than mere flexibility or religious association. Her insights dispel common myths and invite everyone, regardless of experience, to explore the holistic benefits of yoga.
We’re thrilled to have Sabrina on the Good Neighbor Podcast, where she opens up about her life and passions, including the joys of camping, hiking, and crafting with her family. Her gratitude for being part of our community is palpable as she invites listeners to engage and connect. Sabrina's enthusiasm is infectious as she encourages you to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, embodying the communal spirit we cherish. Whether you're a yogi or new to the mat, Sabrina's journey promises to inspire and motivate, leaving you with a renewed appreciation for this incredible practice.
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Lisa Swiftney.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone and welcome to Episode 123 of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Today we have with us Sabrina Johnson, and she is with Live Love Yoga. How are you doing today, sabrina? I'm doing well. How are you, lisa? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for being a guest today. You're welcome.
Speaker 3:Thank you for having me. I'm really excited, great.
Speaker 2:Well, let's start by telling our listeners about your business.
Speaker 3:Live Love Yoga is a one studio, one room studio, excuse me, in Rochester. It is very relaxing. When you walk in, I just want you to leave your troubles at the door, get on your mat and just breathe. And when you leave, you leave with a smile on your face, you leave relaxed and that's all that's it. That's Live Love and that's all that's it. That's live love yoga in a nutshell.
Speaker 2:That is amazing. Tell our listeners about your journey. How or why did you get started with your business so?
Speaker 3:I have fibromyalgia and I've been in menopause since 2017, which was in my 30s, and I've been told to try yoga for over a decade and I kept buying yoga mats. But I'm a young mother of four. My husband was on the road working. It was a lot, so I never had me time. Well then, in 2020, right before the world ended, I went to the hospital for my fibro and I was sitting in that bed and I just started crying. I was like no, this is not my future. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm not going to be on the couch crying, I'm not going to be in pain. I want to be a mom and enjoy my life, and I want my kids to be like God, not my mom, like I want them to be like that's my mom, you know, not the one on the couch crying.
Speaker 3:So I started yoga and I fell in love because I didn't have to do anything the first day. It was just like a meet and greet. I was like this is great, cause I couldn't. I couldn't exercise, like everything hurt and nothing ever worked for me. So the second day, I did it and I was like oh my God, I didn't even sweat. This time, this is even better. And every day, I just kept getting up and I just kept doing more and I just kept doing it and my body was feeling better and I just was like, oh my God, my mental, everything changed. And then the world fell apart two weeks later and yoga saved me and I was teaching my kids and I was doing all the things yoga and staying healthy and it just changed my life and it helped me cope with all of those things that were going on out of my country.
Speaker 3:So I fell in love and then I was like, right before I turned 40 in 2022, I looked at my husband and I said I need to be a yoga teacher, I have to take training, I need more. This isn't enough for me. I'm so in love with this practice that gave me my motherhood back. It gave me my life back and, for the first time in my life, I feel good all the time and I'm not down in the dumps because my body isn't ready to do all the things, not down in the dumps because my body isn't ready to do all the things. So, um, at the end of 2020, life got really difficult because my father had coveted, he was in the hospital and all the things and I went to my mat. That's when I started doing yoga two times a day and anytime I have a hard day, I go to my mat and I just breathe and I remember that it will work out Not how I want or when I want, but I can get through it and it's okay.
Speaker 2:What an inspirational story. Wow, that's great.
Speaker 3:It was a long road, but yoga definitely helped me maintain my mental stability and remember to be happy. You know I'm grateful, but thank you.
Speaker 2:That is amazing, and I'm sure that's what you share with everyone who comes to your studio as well. Yes, probably a shorter version, but yeah, so can you tell us about any myths or misconceptions that you hear about in your industry?
Speaker 3:Yes, yoga is not about being flexible. Yoga is not about a religious base. It's not against Christianity to do, because there is holy yoga where you people read like verses from the Bible or sort of things, like hymns and stuff like that, and they interlace it with their yoga. But being flexible is probably the number one myth. Everyone's like I can't do yoga, I'm not flexible. You're sitting in a chair. That's doing yoga. Lifting one leg, moving your neck, stretching your back that's yoga. Everything you do pretty much is yoga. But you have to interlace that breath with the movement. You know, and that's what people don't understand Yoga is really about the mind and the breath, not the body.
Speaker 2:Wow, yes, is that is good? Because I think people attribute that is it's in a workout session. Yeah, it is for your mind and your soul exactly the body's benefit.
Speaker 3:You just benefit from it, but yeah, great so when you're not working on your business?
Speaker 2:I heard you have four children. What do you like to do with more fun?
Speaker 3:We camp, we hike, we craft. I try to do all the things because growing up wasn't? I had an ideal, even as a child, of what a mother and father should do and all these things, and my parents didn't have the same ideal because they were old school. So I'm trying to do all the things I wanted to do as a kid. So, like we do everything, we're always active. Um, we just went to Yellowstone and Rushmore over the summer and that was an amazing experience, wow, yeah, so we love camping everywhere.
Speaker 2:That's great. Can you describe one hardship or life challenge that you rose above and can now say because of that challenge that you're better for it and are stronger?
Speaker 3:Yes, better for it and are stronger. Yes, I had a. There's so many things. I think the hardest part is when you're when you start a business, you figure out that you want assistance and help from maybe your mentors or your teachers, and when you actually seek that, you don't always get what you expect. So I think that's the hardest part for me is a lot of people don't walk the walk, they just talk the talk. So, being a business owner, I've always walked the same talk I have, because you only have your word right. So having to not take that personally and try to figure it out on my own and do all the things have been the hardest hardship since being a business owner.
Speaker 2:Wow, I can sympathize with that, so I do know.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, I apologize that you had to go through that, because I don't think that's how it's supposed to be.
Speaker 2:Right, so we're all here to help each other. Yes, exactly yes. What is one thing that you wish our listeners knew about your business?
Speaker 3:When you come into my studio, I'm not going to make you pay for your class right away. That's optional If you want to. Great, I'm not here to make all the money in the world. I want to help you feel better. So when you come here, you're family and I usually personalize every class towards every student because I feel like that you deserve. And also I am in school to become a yoga therapist with Corwell Health through my first year.
Speaker 3:I'm almost finished, so that's exciting and I've incorporated a lot of everything I have learned. Actually, I use it in my classes to help everybody, because yoga is supposed to be shared, and I think yoga therapy and yoga classes together, like if you intertwine them, it is the most amazing experience you'll ever have.
Speaker 2:So sounds amazing, it does.
Speaker 3:Well, you know why don't you come join me one day? We'll do a class and then you can tell your listeners how it went. So you can say I'm not kidding if this is how it is that would be great.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking that my head is spinning. I know a couple people I can bring along with me too. That would be perfect.
Speaker 3:Monday at 5pm is for yoga. I know a couple people I can bring along with me too. That would be perfect. Monday at 5 pm is for yoga. I'm just saying, oh good.
Speaker 2:Good, so our listeners are now intrigued, so how can they learn more and contact you? I?
Speaker 3:am on Facebook LiveLoveYoga. I'm on TikTok, youtube, whimmy, which is a new platform specifically geared towards exercise, but yoga mainly. They just opened one of the first instructors it's super exciting. And instagram, like I'm on everything except twitter live love yoga, rochester, michigan, and that's how you find me. Every link should be on every single social media website you can find me on. I try to be very transparent because I suck at technology personally. So, but facebook is probably the base for my website because it's the most used today in my opinion.
Speaker 2:Well, perfect, well. Thank you, and we'll also share those links below when we publish the podcast. I want to thank you, sabrina, for your time today, and thank you for telling our listeners a little more about your journey and how they can get in touch with you. Thank you, well.
Speaker 3:I appreciate you so much for letting me be here and having me. This was an exciting experience and I look forward to meeting all of you, Namaste.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast, rochester. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to GNPRochestercom. Featured on the show go to GNPRochestercom. That's GNPRochestercom. Or call 248-988-9640.