When our guest transformed their passion for dance into the foundation of The Line Method, a fitness and wellness revolution was born. This episode takes you behind the scenes of a transformative journey, where chronic injuries and a movement disorder forged a new philosophy on wellness. Hear about the birth of a unique sanctuary where health is tailored to the rhythm of our bodies, where listening becomes the first step to healing, and where intuitive clients find their stride in a balanced routine.
Strap in as we journey from the fluidity of dance to the strength of powerlifting, challenging the stereotypes that shroud fitness realms. Our guest's candid tales of overcoming physical obstacles and identity crises illuminate the inclusive spirit of exercise, proving it's a journey available to everyone. This conversation is an eye-opener to the importance of a supportive community and the emotional empowerment that comes from lifting not just weights, but each other.
Let's round off with a trip through learning, collaboration, and the significance of a continual growth mindset. Our guest opens up about the joys of crafting furniture, their love affair with DC, and the spontaneity that travel injects into life. It's about embracing uncertainty, taking that first leap, and the beauty of unexpected destinations—be it in wellness, travel, or life's many adventures. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to start somewhere, anywhere, and to revel in the journey that unfolds.
When our guest transformed their passion for dance into the foundation of The Line Method, a fitness and wellness revolution was born. This episode takes you behind the scenes of a transformative journey, where chronic injuries and a movement disorder forged a new philosophy on wellness. Hear about the birth of a unique sanctuary where health is tailored to the rhythm of our bodies, where listening becomes the first step to healing, and where intuitive clients find their stride in a balanced routine.
Strap in as we journey from the fluidity of dance to the strength of powerlifting, challenging the stereotypes that shroud fitness realms. Our guest's candid tales of overcoming physical obstacles and identity crises illuminate the inclusive spirit of exercise, proving it's a journey available to everyone. This conversation is an eye-opener to the importance of a supportive community and the emotional empowerment that comes from lifting not just weights, but each other.
Let's round off with a trip through learning, collaboration, and the significance of a continual growth mindset. Our guest opens up about the joys of crafting furniture, their love affair with DC, and the spontaneity that travel injects into life. It's about embracing uncertainty, taking that first leap, and the beauty of unexpected destinations—be it in wellness, travel, or life's many adventures. This episode is a heartfelt invitation to start somewhere, anywhere, and to revel in the journey that unfolds.
Speaker 1:
Let's say we're kind of in Western Loudoun, oh nice. So, or, I am, so it's been like just fog. Yeah, no, I know I'm driving like 15 miles an hour.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, it's been kind of a kind of gleamy, so it's like a good horror movie. The backcrop, oh yeah, absolutely Like oh God.
Speaker 1:
So tell me a little bit about like, what's in, like what are your passions? What do you do?
Speaker 2:
Yeah. So I mean I've always, always, always been a mover, like to some degree. I grew up a dancer, I started from a really young age and just I have kind of never stopped moving since and that was really the beginning. I mean like way before I knew the line method was ever gonna be a thing. That was really where my kind of just love of movement started. I started dancing probably when I was like five or six years old in those cute little, just like you know kid creative movement classes, and then, you know, moved into ballet and all sorts of different forms of dance all the way into my early 20s. So I really never stopped and I think that kind of also coupled where my love of like fitness and my love of the arts came from. I was just always kind of surrounded by people in those communities, and so it's really where it all began for me.
Speaker 1:
So tell me about your business then yeah, that's that connection.
Speaker 2:
The line method has been a very cool journey. It basically was. It started out just me in 2019 and I was operating out of a teeny tiny little home studio that was probably about the size of this little floor area in front of us, but it started with a much bigger focus on Pilates specifically. If you're familiar at all with that, it's like yoga, but scarier, and we or excuse me, I started kind of more specifically in that realm. But as I got deeper into kind of the health and the fitness world and started kind of exiting the dance world specifically, I just started experimenting with a lot more creative movement and just like diving deeper into different styles of fitness. And all of a sudden, the line method kind of emerged as this just blend of all different styles of movement and all different styles of wellness, cause that's ultimately what I really like to call the line method.
Speaker 2:
Now, it's not just a fitness studio, it is really a wellness space, and I love that because it just encompasses so much more. Cause wellness is gonna look different for everyone. It's gonna look different for me than it will for you, for anyone that is walking into the studio that I'm gonna work with, and sometimes that might mean traditionally picking up something really heavy and putting it down again. Sometimes that's gonna mean slowing down and focusing on your breath work and trying to reduce your stress levels. Other times that's gonna mean moving really quickly and getting your heart rate up. But it really just kind of depends. It depends on the person's journey and their story and where they've been and where they are right now when we start working with them. So now the line method is not just me anymore, it's myself and two phenomenal team members and we just get to work with really just incredible clients Like honestly just the coolest people and we get to be trusted with their stories and their health and their wellness and it's really it's turned into an incredible space.
Speaker 2:
You have so much like passion and excitement and like good energy like raining off of you right now I mean I really I'm honestly, when I started this whole thing four years ago, I didn't know exactly where I was gonna end up. I mean, it was just me and I had all these ideas in my head. You know, I could see all of this movement and all of this growth and I, if you had asked me four years ago like, hey, are you gonna have a staff and now operate a studio? I'd have been like, oh God, no, but that's where we are and that's where we're going, and I'm just so grateful to get to be a part of this and create it with such a cool team. So you started off with a little like 100 square feet.
Speaker 2:
What are you guys at now? So we, just like six months ago now, moved into a beautiful new townhouse studio in Congratulations, adam Sorgan, thank you. It's so pretty. And so we're operating out of a three floor studio space now. Wow, yeah, which is all ours, and I got to decorate accordingly and it just was so much better than I could have ever hoped it would be so.
Speaker 1:
That's amazing. Now, what type of clients do you attract? Like who, yeah, who sees this, and they're like that's for me.
Speaker 2:
That is a great question. I think inherently it is very like intuitive people. It's people who you know are either like they're, you know, body aware enough to know a couple of things, usually that they need help in their fitness process or their wellness process and that there's absolutely no shame in that. I feel like DC, especially, is a very fast paced town. It's very go, go, go, and we like to give people a space where, kind of like I was saying, they can do, they can focus on multiple parts of their wellness and their fitness, and it doesn't always need to be go, go, go high impact. You can also slow things down and really just focus on what feels good to you and what is really benefiting your health. And I think inherently that it takes a lot of intuition and it takes a lot of self-awareness. I mean, that's not an easy thing to have. So I think inherently we do kind of attract that particular type of person and then also, just like, more specifically, we work with a couple of different niches.
Speaker 2:
Part of my story is that I ended up leaving the dance world in my early 20s, like, and I had thought my whole life that I was going to go pro, but I left because of chronic injuries and it wasn't until I was in my mid 20s that I ended up getting diagnosed with a kind of a functional movement disorder.
Speaker 2:
It's a genetic disorder called hypermobility spectrum disorder and it turns out it's this very like weird niche, just kind of movement disorder, where your joints move in really big ranges of motion but it can cause a lot of pain and come with a whole host of kind of other just like functional issues. So I honestly started just kind of naturally gearing towards working with this specific niche from my own personal experience and also recognizing that when you have this particular disorder it does require a little bit of creativity to be able to put together movement sequences and exercises and knowing that again, like someone might be walking in with years worth of chronic pain history or movement issues because of this movement disorder and we get to kind of figure out how to help them move forward from there. So that's one space we also do love to work with prenatal, postpartum moms.
Speaker 1:
That sounds very new and dear to you, do you?
Speaker 2:
love that. I do not personally have kids, but we love we have had a lot of line method. Babies pop through the studio.
Speaker 1:
Hopefully not in the studio.
Speaker 2:
No well only when they come in swaddled. Because we do get to meet them but no, they're not working out with us yet.
Speaker 1:
I met like no deliveries.
Speaker 2:
Oh my God don't even play, don't even joke. I have too many pregnant clients right now to make that joke. But no, yeah, so we do. Yeah, we work with you. Know it's like so, oh, I feel like it's dangerous to say we work with anyone, but that's the cool thing about where the line method is. Something a little bit special is that we really work hard to make sure we're meeting people where they are and it's not like you have to walk in with tons of previous experience or tons of, you know, foundational whatever strength or flexibility, and I think for a lot of people it really takes away the intimidation factor.
Speaker 1:
What are three misconceptions about this type of movement, whether you call it exercise or that's a great question.
Speaker 2:
Oh, three misconceptions that all we do is stretch, I think because the way the brand has kind of developed, it's got a very soft vibe, it's got a very feminine, maybe a feminine vibe, and I think a lot of people think that that softness inherently means all we're doing is like stretching and breathing, and so I think that that's probably one pretty big misconception, because we've gotten really good at helping people figure out like, all right, this is when we push, when we challenge, when we go hard and work hard and then other days you don't need to be doing that every single day of your life or training.
Speaker 2:
It's all about finding that balance. And so I think that's one misconception. I think another one, and it's inherently because we use a lot of Pilates based equipment that, like, all we're doing is Pilates, and, as much as I love using a lot of the Pilates principles of like focus and control and concentration, that's a very specific set of exercises and a very specific way of teaching that we've really kind of morphed from, I think, in a really cool and creative and positive way. Our third oh goodness, I don't know, was there a third misconception? What would be a third misconception?
Speaker 1:
Even just something that you wish more people knew.
Speaker 2:
Oh, I like that, that, anyone can do it, you know, anyone, anyone can do it. And I think, once again, that kind of intimidation factor is where that comes into play, because I think people just get intimidated by fitness and by the gym. And, yeah, I think that's one thing I really wish more people knew, because we do every once in a while get people who will reach out and will be like, yeah, you know, I've never been to a gym before in my life, so I'm sort of nervous, and I'm always just like there's no reason to be nervous, Like we are going to take care of you, and it's that. I think I wish just the whole world felt that way, because there's no reason to be afraid.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, I can definitely see that why people are afraid if they've gone to like the big box gyms or the grunting gyms, where there's just a whole bunch of like big muscle guys like grunting all the time.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, and there's totally a time and a place and you know, and a demographic for that too. But I totally get why, and you're talking to a girl who power lifted for many years and I was totally part of that.
Speaker 1:
That's actually really awesome. I was totally part of that, but it is a lot of grunting.
Speaker 2:
But it was so much grunting and you're just like, oh God, but no, it's. And when you're looking at that from the outside, it's just like oh my God. And so I completely get why it's intimidating. But we've worked really hard to create a community that just isn't. You know, anyone can roll through.
Speaker 1:
But hang on a second. So you went from like dancer to power lifting.
Speaker 2:
Oh yes, so, yeah, there's yeah, it's many facets to the story. So the piece that I kind of didn't mention before, really the catalyst to me making the jump from dance into more traditional kind of health and fitness industry again kind of, was that movement disorder that I ended up getting diagnosed with. So by the time I was 21, I was in so much pain I could like barely I mean, I like literally couldn't walk. It was a really difficult time in that dance was really what my identity was and who I thought I was going to be. And so ultimately, by the time I was 21, I had had really, really bad sciatica, and sciatica is where it starts in your hips and it's basically just like really bad pain all the way down through your legs.
Speaker 2:
I had an asterisk, oh, but worse. Yes, yeah, it's gnarly, and and yeah, and it's something that it just kind of was very inexplicable because I had had imaging done, I'd gone to physical therapy and nothing was helping and the images, you know, were like, well, there's nothing wrong, and so I was getting a lot of you're young, you're healthy, you just need to get stronger, you're fine. And so that is when I went more into kind of the fitness industry. For I mean two reasons. First, because everyone kept telling me oh like you just need to get stronger and that'll help all this whole situation. And also the recognition that I really couldn't dance anymore. I mean, I just I couldn't get through the rehearsals, I couldn't get through the classes, but I'm not very good at sitting.
Speaker 1:
Still, she decided to go like power, like hundreds of pounds, exactly which?
Speaker 2:
was definitely the smartest decision I ever made in my life. No, it actually made things way worse before they got better. I definitely lived at two very big extremes for a while, so things definitely got way worse before they got better. But I would not change that experience for anything because, even though it took me finally realizing like, oh hey, just getting stronger isn't the answer, that was a huge catalyst for me finally deciding. You know what? I'm going to have to figure out some of this on my own and I'm going to have to take some initiative and learn more about the body and learn more about movement and how your physiology, how your hormones, how your stress, how all of these different factors can affect how you are feeling. And this was all before I even got diagnosed with my kind of movement disorder. But it's like I said I would never change that experience of, because what I learned from powerlifting and bodybuilding and just traditional weight training was how to do the movements and the mechanics and the functionality.
Speaker 2:
And then I was in this space maybe you know a year later where I was like okay, well, now I am super, super strong and lifting a whole lot of weight and I don't feel any better and everyone kept telling me you just need to get stronger and then you're going to be fine.
Speaker 2:
And I was really strong and I wasn't feeling better, and so I mean I wish I could say like and then there was a moment of light where I was like, oh, I need to go find everything myself, but it was just gradual and it was just me finally recognizing, like you know, there's got to be some sort of missing link here.
Speaker 2:
And I don't know if I will be able to find the answer, but I at the very least wanted to try. And do I have the answer? No, because there's not one, you know. But again, that just kind of goes back to the whole idea of everyone's going to have a different path and journey, and my path from a very young age was really tumultuous, with chronic pain and movement issues and really having to kind of re-identify myself at a very young age. But I think it made me significantly more empathetic to other people's circumstances, you know, and really just more kind of, more willing to hear and listen in a way that I don't know maybe could exist a little bit better in the fitness industry, You're gonna say you've got a lot of knowledge too in terms of all the research you've done.
Speaker 1:
knowing it's not just about getting stronger. Knowing it's not just stretching, it's not just lifting hundreds of pounds. It's like, yeah, so many different circumstances for different people.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, there are a couple of things that I definitely specialize in, the hypermobility disorders for one. But I am a really big believer in kind of am I an expert in everything? Probably not, but do I want to be aware at the very least, and do I want to be knowledgeable about a number of different things? Absolutely, and I encourage. That's really what I look for in my team as well and that's how I want to grow this space is.
Speaker 2:
You know, I recognize that there are people who are really, really talented and super knowledgeable in very specific areas of health and fitness. But I do think there is something to be said about, you know, being able to have kind of a breath of knowledge, especially at the human body, because you can't dissect it like that. You know, you can't dissect your health and your wellness. You have to be able to kind of see multiple elements and be able to kind of wind them together for people connected. Yeah, exactly, exactly, and this idea that, like you know, you can kind of pull apart different elements of health and wellness is I don't really know where that all started, but suddenly it's a very big thing.
Speaker 1:
I just recently learned because I was talking to and for some personal family connections. But how, like your gut is connected to like migraines.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, your gut is connected to like everything.
Speaker 1:
And you would never think the two would be connected Totally, but it's like, it's like it's so much can affect your gut health.
Speaker 2:
You know I mean pregnancy for one. Or you know your diet's a big one, your stress levels are another one, and and it's like vice versa as well. You know your, your diet and your health and pregnancy can all affect that. So it is. It's almost like chicken and the egg which one came first, exactly, exactly. So yeah, no, it is, it's really. It's a very interesting space to work in.
Speaker 1:
So you talked about team. Do you have the same team now that you hired at the beginning?
Speaker 2:
Mm. Hmm, yeah, so I was solo for pretty much the first three years, you know, through the pandemic and all of that was really fun times. But on the flip side of it, after you know, things kind of started opening up again. I started looking for an additional instructor and found Aaron, who's fantastic and still with me now, and yeah, she's been there a little over a year and she has. I mean, yeah, my team has just been incredible. They're so dedicated and willing to learn and we've since then hired on another instructor who also doubles as my operations manager, thank God. And yeah and and yeah no, and both of them have just been so.
Speaker 2:
For me, the biggest thing is the willingness to learn. You know I'm I never operate on the expectation that for myself or for my staff, that we all have all the answers all the time, because that's just never going to happen. But what I do want and need out of my team is, if they don't have an answer, they're willing to go and figure it out. They're willing to go and try and find an answer and be very honest about that, which I think there's absolutely no shame in. I think people these days have a lot of fear around like not having the answer and somehow that being a bad thing.
Speaker 1:
The answer is always right here, right.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that must be it. It must be like the cell phone, because, yeah, I am, I'm very, you know, kind of honest and open in that way, and but I also recognize I have a passion for learning more. So if there is something that comes up that myself or my team's like wow, like this came up in sessions, like what do we do about it? It's like all right, let's figure it out and it's kind of exciting and exhilarating. That's how I feel too.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, you know, and it bothers me when people don't have the same excitement, because I'm like, isn't this so exciting?
Speaker 2:
And they're like yeah my clients are always laughing because it will, like you know, run into these and we're just so collaborative in sessions, you know, and we make that really clear with our clients from the like day one is like this space is supposed to be collaborative. We're not drill surgeons. We don't walk into the clipboard and say like okay, here's the like 10 things we're going to do today. Now go do. It's like how are you feeling today? Like is there something specific you want to work on today? And if things come up that you know maybe we weren't expecting, or kind of like whoa, like what's, you know what's happening here with this move or this feeling or whatever, a little bit of therapeutic session, I know, I know that's like the biggest running joke across the whole fitness industry.
Speaker 2:
We're like part instructors, part personal trainers, part therapists. But no, it's um, it's really. It gets to be really cool and exciting. And I'll get into these spaces, just like you, with my clients. Or I'm like, oh my God, this is so interesting. And they're like only you would think not being able to pick up my big toe is interesting. And I'm like what is it? So I'm cool living in that space. It's. It makes life really interesting. So who are you outside of your studio? Oh, that's a great question. I am, I'm a lot of people. I'm a sister, I'm a daughter, I'm a wife. I I'm a creator. I love working with my hands. It was kind of a thing that I picked up during, I guess during the pandemic, but I I started like refurbishing furniture, which I like, totally do as a hobby now in our one bedroom apartment.
Speaker 1:
Was it too much? Hgv during.
Speaker 2:
Oh, absolutely, like literally. I found a new one recently on Netflix, I think it's called like Hacks for Homes or something. I'm like we have to do all this, but, but, alas, I take the sander outside and my husband's much more appreciative of that. And, yeah, no, I, I love, I love working on kind of like tactile things. I, I love enjoying DC. I'm a DC native. I grew up in Adams Morgan, actually, so I am, and I have lived there almost my entire life. I'd only left for undergrad and came right back because it was very cold, where I went to school, which is the school University of Illinois, chicago. Yes, that is very cold, and I came back very quickly. Um, but, yeah, no, I, I just I really enjoy being in DC. It's like one of it's one of my favorite places in the world. So your power color is red. Oh, yes, absolutely Sorry, I didn't mean to knock your mic.
Speaker 1:
Do you have any pets, sir? Do you have any pets?
Speaker 2:
No, actually. Yeah, it's funny, I always joke. I didn't really grow up with pets. I'm actually one of five. I have four brothers and sisters. So the running joke is we had a little brother.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that was a nice yeah it's funny.
Speaker 2:
I got married last year and the first I kid you, not the first question, like next day, people are asking so you're going to get a dog? Oh, why is getting married equate to like let's get a puppy and like so when are we having kids? Oh, my god, no, I know, People knew not to play with me with that one. I was like we've got time.
Speaker 1:
Oh yeah, no, no, so no pets, which means you can like travel whenever you want yeah. You can go and work all day if you need to. Yes, you can not feel guilty.
Speaker 2:
Yes, no, I know, and that's actually another one. My husband and I travel quite a bit, even if it's just like little weekend trips and stuff like that, and we've done some bigger ones. We're in Paris earlier this year, oh god.
Speaker 1:
That was so fun I was like what's some of your?
Speaker 2:
favorites, oh man Well.
Speaker 1:
so there's an annual one that we do every year, and I almost don't want to put it online because it's to this phenomenal beach town that you don't want to know, I want no one to know about, because it's just so Well, just the month that you go in, just let everybody know it's the worst month ever. It was the worst ever, yeah, so we do that.
Speaker 2:
That's a family trip we do like every year, like clockwork. Paris was amazing. That was the second time I'd been there, but over, you know, 12 years, so it was incredible. I mean to get. My husband and I are hoping to get to Norway at some point the next couple years. That'll be a bucket list one for us. So, yeah, that in South Africa. I'm hoping for my birthday, but we'll see.
Speaker 1:
That's awesome. World traveler, try it.
Speaker 2:
There's a lot to see.
Speaker 1:
There is. The world is big and beautiful, and so many cultures and so much diversity that yeah, no, there's always just so much to see, so yeah, still lots to do. That's amazing. So if you wrap it up, if you give one piece of advice to the entire world, what would it be?
Speaker 2:
Whoa, don't be afraid to get started. I think that would be my biggest piece of advice, whether it's health or wellness or anything related or related to something completely different in life. Just get started and figure it out as you go along, because you can plan and plan and have as much of a roadmap as you could possibly desire and you'll take that first step of the roadmap and something will happen and the roadmap will probably go out the window. So I think that is my. That was the advice that my mom gave me when I was sitting down on our front stoop talking about wanting to start the business and having no idea what to do, and she was basically like I think you just need to go do it, and that was the best advice. So from my mom to me, to you, that's the best advice I could give.
Speaker 1:
Thanks mom, thanks mom, that's awesome. Thank you so much for being on the show.
