The Johnjay Van Es Podcast

What Happens When You Challenge Your Body and Mind Daily?

• JohnJay Van Es • Season 1 • Episode 17

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The Foundry: Hot Yoga, Sweat, and Community

A tiny hot studio, a stubborn dream, and a community forged in 105 degree. This is how Nicole built The Foundry, a yoga network where people come to sweat, heal, and start over. We dive into first classes that feel impossible, the discipline of the 26 and 2, and the calm that comes when you stay in the room.

Nicole shares what keeps students coming back, shorter classes for busy schedules, Pilates for strength and form, and HIIT to complement flexibility. We also talk the science of heat, studio expansion, retreats, and the teachers and alumni who make every class feel alive.

If you’ve ever needed a reset, a tougher practice, or a place to belong, this episode shows a path back to your mat. 

Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review with the pose that lifts your mood.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show. Okay, hello, Nicole.

SPEAKER_03:

Hey John Jay.

SPEAKER_01:

Um I asked you to be a guest of my podcast, and I'm really grateful because I just seen how much you've grown, right? And I just got, I don't know what the word is. I got like a little emotional. I can't remember what it was a post of yours on Instagram not that long ago, and I was like, you guys are opening up another location. I was like, wow. I was like, I just think about where I started in the yoga world, which was with you, and then where you guys were and where you are now. So like, where are you? The uh it's the foundry, but where where are you? How did it start and work? Tell me a little bit about everything.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay. You know, I I started doing yoga when I was just a teenager. I was, I think I was actually maybe 12 when I started. And so I'd just been doing yoga my whole life. And I got my degree in computer information systems and realized like I never am gonna be happy behind a computer. So I went to yoga school, came back, and uh I knew I really wanted to teach. I just wanted to teach people yoga and help people transform their lives. And that was really my the only reason I wanted to own a studio is because I never thought I'd make enough money just teaching yoga, and it was the only thing I wanted to do. So uh shortly after I got back from teacher training, the studio I was teaching at came for sale, the Bikamigo Paradise Valley. And I just jumped in.

SPEAKER_01:

And when did you buy that studio?

SPEAKER_03:

It was 2006.

SPEAKER_01:

2006, okay. Did you remodel it or anything or no?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we did like a small remodel when I first came in, but it was such a small and if you I don't know if you remember it, like a little jingle space very much so. And uh it was it was tiny and we were growing so fast, so we wanted uh more space. And we that's when we moved across the street in 2010.

SPEAKER_01:

2006, you opened that studio. Now here you are 2025. How many studios do you have?

SPEAKER_03:

We're gonna be opening our sixth corporate location in Scottsdale.

SPEAKER_01:

Sixth corporate location? What does that mean?

SPEAKER_03:

We have Todd and I own uh five studios in the valley and one in Flagstaff. So the Scottsdale will be our sixth, our fifth one here.

SPEAKER_01:

Six studios.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

All over Arizona now.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes, and then we have three uh franchises. So one in California, Arrowhead, and Gilbert.

SPEAKER_01:

Wait, so it's nine. So you have nine studies. So nine studios.

SPEAKER_03:

I we personally own six and then yeah, three more.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, and so are they called um the foundry?

SPEAKER_03:

They're all called the foundry.

SPEAKER_01:

And so these people in California, like, did you know them? And they're like, I because I don't know how that business works. Is that how you do the franchise?

SPEAKER_03:

And yeah, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you have to follow your rules and everything?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, basically, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so you opened up in 2006. What like what does yoga mean to you? Because I want to tell you, I want you you with you know this or you don't know this, but it changed my life. Your studio changed my life, right? So I mean, walk me through because it wasn't it just you, and then you Todd, your brother, came in later, or was he always part of it?

SPEAKER_03:

Todd was an an investor early on, and then when in 2010, he was like in between looking for what he was gonna do next. And he's like, Let me just work front desk for a little bit. And he totally fell in love with our community and w end up going to teacher training and became became a very involved partner at that point.

SPEAKER_01:

He became a great teacher.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Right? I mean, I remember I feel like I don't know if he was doing yoga with you at the same time when you were a little kid, but I remember when he came back, when he came and he started, and then I remember him going away to teacher training, and then I the last time I took a class from him, I was blown away, right? So, where is teacher training now? Now you do your own teacher training?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we do our uh teacher trainings in-house. Todd actually was in our first one.

SPEAKER_01:

He was? Yeah, but he was already a teacher, no, or he became he became a teacher through the foundry. Oh, really? So did you literally just created it all? Like it's not like like before, you know, we bring up Bickram's name because before you know Bickram had a big name in yoga, still does, but you know, he got some he got canceled, right? So you guys moved away from him, but you still keep the 26 and 2, right? The poses, yeah. Um, which is my I've I've done a lot of other yoga, but the 26 and two by far to me is the best. It's my favorite, it's the hardest, I think. It's brutal. Um, in fact, I remember back in the day when I would go on the radio and talk about your classes, and you would say, Stop saying how hard it is. Do you remember that?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't remember all the details, but I'm sure I said something like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because I I got consumed. So, my story, real quick, is like um I was pretty obese. I was like really obese. Like I weigh about 250 pounds right now, I was about 360 pounds, and my dad died of a heart attack, and I didn't know what to do. And somebody said, Go do uh yoga class. So I remember I remember that day I walked into your Paradise Valley studio. I know exactly who was in there, I know exactly what she was with Beth, and she had the little Dinian with the little yogi bendy, I think she called it. And I took a class, and I remember getting up and walking out of the class probably within 10 minutes. And I don't remember who's teaching though, but I remember don't go, don't leave, don't leave. If you leave, it's don't just stay in the room. And I remember lying on the curling up on the floor in the shower, laying there on the floor in the fetal position next to the drain with random pubes in the drain, and I didn't care. I uh I was it was I thought I was gonna die. So I went on a diet, lost a bunch of weight, came back, kept I I just stayed in the class, and I never ever ever ever left the class early again after that day. Never. Um But I mean it literally changed my life. I don't think I've ever felt better than I did when I was doing Bicam Yoga. The thing about yoga though is this is the hard part. Remember, I used to always say, the hardest part is getting here, right? And that still is to me the hardest part because I so don't want to go. I don't want to go, but it's so good for you, right?

SPEAKER_03:

It's so good, yeah. And I I'm with you. You know, we used to say that like the hardest part is getting here. But I was like in my 20s, I didn't have kids, like my job was teaching yoga. But now that I'm like running all these businesses, I've got three kids now. It's like, yeah, getting to you have three kids? I have three kids, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Well, I remember you had a dog.

SPEAKER_03:

I had a dog, yes. I have two dogs and three kids. Wow, all boys.

SPEAKER_00:

You do? So do I. Yeah. Do they do yoga?

SPEAKER_03:

They're six and four and eight months.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow. They do look. Congratulations. Thanks. Holy smokes. Have I not seen you that long?

SPEAKER_03:

It's been a minute.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. What about the culture and the family of yoga and or of of of your studio, your people?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I I mean, I think that through it all, like the thing that we had going for us is community. We uh had a great community. You were a huge part of that in the early years. I feel like you uh so many people are like, oh, how'd you hear about us? Like, oh, on the John Jane Rich show. And uh I always felt like you supported our community and looked out for our community and just like ways than I look back at it now. Like, I can't believe you've like came and judged competitions and spent like a whole day.

SPEAKER_01:

I became obsessed with with uh with your yoga. Yeah, yeah, it was wonderful.

SPEAKER_03:

So it's just one of those things right now I think people are I mean, e I used to say this like back in the 2006, like people are becoming more and more isolated, and it's even more so now. So having a place where you can go and come together, sweat together, work hard together, kind of die together in our 26 and two class, um it just makes for like really good community.

SPEAKER_01:

It it it does make for good community, but it was also like this the the whatever hard times I was going through because after after discovering you guys, and I had, you know, my mom got brain cancer, and uh I remember being in those yoga classes sometimes and just having a breakdown by myself. You know, no one knew. I don't think they knew, but I'd be in certain poses, and it's just like I remember like the what what pose is it, Camel? Yeah, where it was just like I felt like the Indiana Jones beam hitting me or either taking the negativity out or bringing the positivity in. Like there's some magic that happens in the yoga studios, right? Especially in yours, I think.

SPEAKER_03:

I think so. I like I still really believe in that our that series, the 26th and 2. There's something very magical about it. And yeah, when your heart is open, you're you know, it's just like it's just a great place to have releases. Like one of our managers, similar situation, she was grieving and nobody knew. Like she was like the place she could come and just cry and nobody knew. Like you can't, that's the great thing about hot, right? You can't tell the difference between sweat and tears.

SPEAKER_01:

I also remember like so many people. Uh my brain is stuck on the Paradise Valley location, the first one and the second one, right? Like I I have stories in my head that are both those locations, right? Um, and I remember the the groups of people and how you kind of become friends with people in there, and then I remember competing with people, but they didn't know that I was competing with them. In fact, I remember so yoga would start at noon, and I would get there at 11, 11.05 to get my spot. And I would because I remember, remember James in the wheelchair?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh Jeff, yes.

SPEAKER_01:

Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff, Jeff in a wheelchair, Jeff, yeah. Jeff would always get there and take my space before me, and I get so pissed. And he would have no idea that I was pissed. But I'm like, come on, man, you get here before you're in a wheelchair. You can go anywhere in the studio. You gotta take the spot that I want. But and then him and I ended up having a good friendship for a while. And then did he open up his own studio or him and Allison?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, him and Allison opened up in the East Valley.

SPEAKER_01:

Do they still have it?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh they they they uh um closed during COVID.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, they did? Yeah. Oh, that's too bad.

SPEAKER_03:

But she's still teaching and doing her thing, and yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And then I remember Clay.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And Doug. Um, and I remember just so many different people. I have all their faces. And what's funny about yoga too was whenever you saw somebody from the studio out and about, and it was weird because they had clothes on and you don't recognize them.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's definitely one of those things that's it's really weird. Am I right? Yeah, it's a little weird.

SPEAKER_01:

God, where did I know you from?

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, that's oh my god, you have clothes on.

SPEAKER_01:

Right?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_01:

So tell me a little bit about uh like expanding and start and how how was it were you scared? What was the first opportunity that came your way?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, the first opportunity that came our way was the Old Town Scottsdale location, which was the original Oh, Andreas. Andreas, yeah. That was the original hot yoga. That's where I started, that's where I practiced as a teenager. So I was really excited about it. Uh it seemed like fun to go home. But it actually, like that studio after we took it over, um, really struggled. And it was the thing that really helped us open our eyes to newer possibilities and like adding different modalities and like was there stress? Yeah, yeah. That studio was losing money for quite some time. We we, you know, our hard-headedness kind of, we probably stayed in a little longer than we should have.

SPEAKER_01:

You still have it, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we still do. So then moved to Arcadia.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, so that studio is now Arcadia Studio. Oh, was that the big change? Moving like you could it was it wasn't the corner.

SPEAKER_03:

We stayed in that spot for a really long time. It was timing of it was a little bit funny. The when we moved into that space, they were it was like the year we had the Super Bowl. Uh, and the that fries was supposed to turn into like one of the fancy fries. And then yeah, something happened where it just didn't go through. So they only remodeled part of the the complex, and yeah, it was just a it was it was good to be there because that's where I grew up, but it like the center was always just a little bit off. They've done, I think that's gonna be like a Whole Foods now or something.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, it is, but there's no Yoga Studio there.

SPEAKER_03:

There someone just moved in.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, they did? Yeah. So you moved to the Arcadia location, which is a great location.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we ended up in 2000 uh in just a couple years ago. So we were we were in our old that old space for about 10 years.

SPEAKER_01:

So what was it? You had that place for 10 years? 2013 is holy smoke, gosh, I my my brain is flipping out. How much time? I met this lady today. She's she's been listening to me since she was three, and she's 27 now. And I was like, what? What I mean, man, this time thing is really hitting me. This wow. Um, so when you're in the studio in in in Indian school and you're struggling, is it because you're doing just the 26 and two? Like what's the what did you first expand into? What was the first thing that you tried and worked?

SPEAKER_03:

The first thing we did was 60-minute classes for in the yoga. So that was the first thing. And then uh Pilates was this was like the next main thing that we did. Okay. And we tried to be really intentional about the things that we brought in because I was such a big believer in the 26 and two and all the benefits that come from that that sequence. And Pilates was just a nice complement to it. It strengthened like all the corrections I've been trying to get people to do for years. They did a couple of Pilates classes and their form fixed right up. So yeah, it was really incredible.

SPEAKER_01:

Did you still teach?

SPEAKER_03:

I do still teach, yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Because um, I remember you had the hardest classes.

SPEAKER_03:

You think so?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh my god. I remember when I'd go to class and you were gonna be the teacher, I'd be like, because you pushed. You you're a different person than you are right now when you're teaching class. Still, yeah, probably still. It's like Beyonce and Sasha Fierce. When you get up there, right? You know it.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01:

You get there, you're yelling at the top of your lungs. You're, I mean, not yelling, but speaking loudly, and then you're pushing people. I'll never forget, I was gonna pose, you kept pushing me and pushing me, pushing me. And then I did it, and I was like, oh my god. And what's funny too is when I go home to non-yoga people and say, You're not gonna believe what I just did today. You know what's also when you were you know when you talk about how like I talked about you guys all the time on my show, right? Because I share my life on the radio, and there was a period there where my life was your yoga studio. Like I remember, do you guys still do the 60-day challenge? Or the 90-day, what was the 60-day challenge?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we used to do 60 day. Yeah, we we do different iterations of it.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, that was the main one, which the 60-day challenge. And it was you had to do yoga every day for 60 days. And if you missed a day, you could take two classes, right? And I remember there was a couple times where I had to take three classes, and I would just be at your place all day. You remember that? All day.

SPEAKER_03:

I think you and I were both doing the six-day challenge, and I think we both needed to finish with like three triples. So we worked together a lot at the end of that.

SPEAKER_01:

And there's this amazing feeling you get after the second after the second class, which is just there's just nothing like it. I just loved everything about yoga and how it made me feel, but it's getting to the class that is so hard, right? Because it's so tough. It's a tough class, but when it's over, there's nothing like it, I think, right?

SPEAKER_03:

I think so. I I think so. I'm a little biased, you know. I but I think it's one of the things that makes it special, though, is that it's hard and challenging and you overcome in the class.

SPEAKER_01:

Is there a pose at your favorite pose?

SPEAKER_03:

I like standing bow, it's still my favorite. It's the one where you're gonna hold the footback, yeah. It's just pretty. Yeah, it is, and it's also extremely good for your circulatory system. There's just not another pose like it where you're cutting off circulation to one side of the body and then like flushing it. I used to think the yoga was magic, but it's like getting circulation to different parts of your body just makes your body function better.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that what what else what are some benefits to yoga?

SPEAKER_03:

To the to the hot yogas.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, hot yoga specifically, being in the heat is a huge benefit uh because it increases your circulation. And then also there's like heat-shocked proteins, uh, you know, from all your sauna and the use and all the things.

SPEAKER_01:

So there's like I try to do everything I can now to stay alive.

SPEAKER_03:

There's these huge benefits to working out in the heat. Um, you actually release more uh what's it called? The stress, the feel-good, not only feel good hormones, but feel good receptors, which is why like after class you feel so like blissed out and everything is better, water and air and all other things.

SPEAKER_01:

It's funny because I think about all the things I learned, little things that are outside of the yoga. Like I remember the first time I ever had coconut water was out of your class. I became obsessed with coconut water. In fact, I eat the first coconut water I ever had was in your studio, and it was a brand called Zico. Do you remember Zico?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh my gosh, I totally remember Zico.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so I remember one time I'm drinking a Zico and I'm coming out of the studio, and there's the Fox News team. And they're like, they come, can we talk to you for a minute, sir? And I'm like, sure, what's up? And they were like, uh, the trend now is coconut water, and I saw you drinking the coconut water, so I'm like, yeah, I drank this coconut water, it's great. And it was on the news, right? 20 years later, I I become friends with this guy, and I hope I haven't him on the podcast yet, but he's the guy that started Zico.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_01:

Jesse Itzler. Do you know who that guy is?

SPEAKER_03:

I don't, I'm not, I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you know um you ever heard of Spanx?

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_01:

His wife started Spanx.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, no way.

SPEAKER_01:

And he started Zico, and he started a private jet company, and he's now on tour speaking uh motivational stuff all the time. And I I was at his house uh about four or five months ago, and I was trying to tell him that I felt like I was one of the first people to drink Zico, but there was a lot of people at his house, so I don't think he remembers that. And then I kind of felt stupid after I said it, but I actually believed that. But anyway, anyway, so coconut water, and then I'm at your Arcadia studio, and I'm working, I'm done doing a class, and this guy comes up to me and he hands me this little pamphlet of something. I was like, God, I was dying. I was laying on the floor outside, and he goes, Here, drink this. Like, what is this? And it was element or element tea.

SPEAKER_03:

Element.

SPEAKER_01:

And I was like, What this this is uh and now I drink one every day. Every day I start my day off with element tea or element, but I call it element tea.

SPEAKER_03:

I know I started calling it element tea after you said that on the radio. I was like, now it's in my head.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so we get back to the radio. So I'm doing my show, and I was consumed with your class with yoga, and I was doing the six-day challenge, and my show is about my life, and all I did was talk about yoga for what, like two years straight. I think so. And I remember I would get called into we'd have these meetings, we still have them, these focus blogs, and they talk about what hits the needle with the audience, what doesn't hit the needle with the audience. And I remember yoga was way hitting the needle, but then management was like, Hey, you might want to pull back. All you do is talk about yoga. I'm like, Well, that's all I'm doing right now. You go yoga, take my kids to baseball, yoga, take my kids to soccer, yoga, take my kids to basketball. And uh anyway, one of the things I did notice is when I was doing yoga, I was just doing bicker yoga, I was just doing the yoga. Um, and I lost a lot of weight, I got really skinny. Um, and then I started to learn more about health. And I think, and I'm not a pro, but I think there's gotta be a combination of yoga and some weights. There's gotta be some sort of what's the word I'm looking for uh when you're pushing weight, resistance training. Maybe that's why is that what Pilates is?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh Pilates has some weights. We have a hit class high-intensity interval training where we do um weight, uh weighted active, you know, weighted exercises. And yeah, that was one of the reasons why we expanded to provide more things is to be a little bit more well-rounded.

SPEAKER_01:

Well, I I did a Pilates class um in your studio in Paradise Valley, I think it was. And I remember this friend of mine who I've had on this podcast before. She said, Come to a Pilates class today. I'm like, I've never done Pilates. She was like, I go, that looks stupid. And I went. I took the Pilates class. I think it was Matt Pilates, right? Right? And it was hot. And in the class, I was like, this is so dumb. And the next day I couldn't move. I was in so much pain. It was one hell of a workout.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it definitely gets your core going and it's super sore. But it does help, like it helps with posture. So it just proves all the things.

SPEAKER_01:

What's the most popular class in your program?

SPEAKER_03:

Right now, Pilates. Pilates is definitely having its moment.

SPEAKER_01:

Really?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Is it the map? Because you guys don't have the machines.

SPEAKER_03:

We don't have the machines, we just do map Pilates. Yeah. But it's across across the you know, across class paths, even in like Europe, Pilates is just really shining right now.

SPEAKER_01:

Aaron Ross Powell Really? So yoga needs to come back and have its thing.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, yoga's I mean, yoga is still popular and it's still growing. I mean, back in the day, like yoga, people used to think you were like, I don't know, had joined a cult and like were meditating out in the field. Uh and so yoga is definitely still uh gaining in popularity, but it's it's not as popular as it was a few years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you offer the 26 and 2 classes at the same time in every studio?

SPEAKER_03:

Not at the same time. We tr we do try to mix it up a little bit, but some of the studios have had like the same time for a really long time. So it's hard to move them for a break. Well, tell me when they are and I'll add them back on the schedule. You want it at the Arcadia studio, we'll get you.

SPEAKER_01:

I would love a one o'clock class. One o'clock. I could do a one o'clock 26 and 2 at least once a week. At least I think I could I could make that my routine. And I could, and and if we do it, if you do open up a one o'clock class, and I'll start going and then I'll start talking about it to get more people to go.

SPEAKER_03:

That's fine. I mean, I'll we can do a one o'clock for you, John Jay. You wanted that Arcadia or Paradise Valley.

SPEAKER_01:

So tough struggles now, being like a a mom and pop yoga owner. Like, so what's what's tough? Like when you go, you open up Arcadia, then what's after Arcadia?

SPEAKER_03:

So our so our it was Old Town Scott. So then um I was actually at a place where it's like I either I'm going back down to one uh because something has to change, and then we got a call from it was Riverview at the time.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, um oh my god, I know her. She used to I met her at your Jackie. Jackie. Yeah, yeah, Jackie. I took a class there one time too. Yeah. So what happened? She wanted out of that?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I think I mean, like, that's the funny thing, I guess, about our growth. It's really, it wasn't about like going out and looking for anything. Like people were like, we're done. You yours seemed crazy enough to open another studio. Would you like ours? And that's kind of how each of them came to us. So Tempi Mesa reached out.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, took they used to take that lesson there too.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. And so, and then we did Tempi Mesa, and then we just had the three for a while. And then I moved up to Flagstaff. I got married, moved up to Flag, and we opened a studio in Flagstaff, and then Avondale reached out, so we ended up doing it. Yeah, so and that like looking back, I was like looking back over the last four years, like during COVID when like a lot of places were closing down, we actually ended up growing by a ton. Our our first uh franchise in California uh started, and then we had the uh Flagstaff in Avondale, and then Old Town moved to Arcadia that same year.

SPEAKER_01:

So it was how do you get so when you take over Riverview, what are you doing differently to make that successful that they weren't doing?

SPEAKER_03:

I think at the time we added extra things, right? Like that we were we weren't just Beaker Yoga anymore, and uh so adding the different variety of classes was part of it.

SPEAKER_01:

Um so you changed that up, and then then Riverview started to take off, was successful, and then you bought Tempe, or it none of that it just opportunity came, you took it. It wasn't about one location getting bigger.

SPEAKER_03:

I I'm not sure what happened with Riverview. Like it we took over Old Town and it didn't necessarily improve right away. And then we took over um the Riverview Studio, which is our Tempe Mesa studio, and it just like it I don't know. It we like we have a great team of people there. The people love the yoga, and the Beacon Yoga Studios had started to close at this point, and so like this time through, they were just really grateful that we were there, and uh the teachers uh just did a really great job. I mean, it's a huge uh team effort for all the places, and that we just had I feel like we've really been lucky to attract really good people.

SPEAKER_01:

That's good. You do have good people, the people that I know that are still there, like Nikki, she's still there?

SPEAKER_03:

Nikki's still there, Terry's still with us.

SPEAKER_01:

Is Heidi still there?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh Heidi, Heidi Substra, she's a nurse now. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Terry's still there? Does Terry still have her Christmas parties?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh they don't do the Christmas parties the same, yeah. Everyone, I think actually they did one last year, but I was up in Flagstaff with a very pregnant last year at Christmas time.

SPEAKER_01:

So you as an owner, a co-owner, how many times do you go to all the different locations? But do you not have to anymore?

SPEAKER_03:

I recently came back in to try to like be in studios more. I tried, I'm my goal for next year, like once my kiddo is a little bit older, is to to hit all the studios at least a couple times a quarter.

SPEAKER_01:

I go sometimes. Remember Brianne Carpenter?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, of course.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, so she there it was during COVID. I bumped into it at Safeway and I was like, I need to do something. And so I started taking some classes at her house. And then I think I I think I rented out PV or Arcadia. No, no, no, Old Tadia, Indian School, yeah, old town, and took some classes there. And then I started doing some with her, and she moved down my street, so she started doing it there. But I'll never forget her taking a class from her, or not from her. I remember Paradise Valley, the old, the original one, taking classes there with her. And I remember there's certain people that are just really, really good. And I would sometimes sacrifice my position in the room where it would be hotter so that I could be behind a guy or a girl that was really good. And I would try to mimic them, and it was so hard, and she was one of them because I think she's like triple-jointed or something because it's not normal. Then you moved to the other location across the street, and I remember her being like nine months pregnant, and I remember we took a yoga class together. She left to go have a baby and came back the next day and had the baby in the carriage outside the window, outside the classroom while she took a yoga class.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, she was amazing. Yeah, she practiced, I think the day like at least a couple of her kids were born.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, crazy, right? Now, did you do that with your kids?

SPEAKER_03:

My uh first one was we hadn't opened flag stuff yet, so I didn't have a hot yoga studio near me. And then the with uh my second one, I practiced that morning and had him in the afternoon. And actually, my third one was late, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna go take class tomorrow. So I canceled my appointment and then I ended up going into labor that night, but I was planning on doing class the next day.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you have a house here?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh I don't. I have family here though. My mom my mom is here, and so I stay with her when I'm in town.

SPEAKER_01:

How do your parents feel about your success?

SPEAKER_03:

I they're super supportive. They my dad still does the yoga. He just had a knee surgery and he did like his own like 50-something day challenge, and they kicked him out of PT early because his knee was so good. And my mom is turned 80 and she still practices on the regular. So she was staying with me uh with when when I had my new kiddos for a little bit, and like her knee would start to hurt or her hip, and then she would go in and do the class. But yeah, I think they're um they're so supportive of Todd and I.

SPEAKER_01:

And that's they gotta be so happy, so proud. I remember taking a class. I think Todd was teaching, your dad was in the class. Um, you know, I just thought about something. So I've been doing all this biohacking and trying to do all this stuff to live life. And I go to Mexico and get stem cells, and I was just thinking about what you just said about your dad's knee. It's almost like I feel like yoga is the original stem cells, it fixes everything, doesn't it?

SPEAKER_03:

Fixes everything. Yeah, when our teachers just started, she's like, I don't know what your problem is, but this class is gonna fix it. So it feels that way sometimes.

SPEAKER_01:

Is it the 26 and 2 or the 2020?

SPEAKER_03:

26 and 2. I I mean the all of the modalities I think are super healing, beneficial, therapeutic. You know, we tried to be really intentional with what we brought in. But there is something magic about that 26 and 2 series. I mean, it was based on physical therapy and working all the systems in the body. And so you're working your respiratory system, your cardiovascular system, you know, your lymph system. And then, you know, one of the biggest benefits is your nervous system. Like we're so like fried all the time.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but you're I'm on it. You're selling me in it. I'm on it, I'm on it in again.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. I or just it's and so just having that your nervous system, when your body is in a calm and relaxed state, its ability to heal itself is incredible.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

I remember talking to, I don't know if you maybe, maybe he was after your time with there's a doctor that was practicing with us named Michael Peck. He was a burn surgeon and then ended up being head of the hospital. And I remember talking to him one day, he's like, Am I off with this like yoga thing? And he he told me, He's like, you know, what you and I do is not that different. He's like, I don't actually go in and heal the people with the burns. I put their body in an optimal state and their body heals itself. And he's like, That's not very different than what you do here. You put the body in a relaxed state, an optimal state, and it's it's healing processes can take place. And that's that's how I've always felt about the yoga. It's just like I would ask one of my favorite questions to ask people is like, uh, you know, what benefits have you seen as a result of coming? And people would tell me stuff, and I'd be like, I didn't know the yoga was good for that. Like what? Uh I somebody had some like uh skin problems happening, like this like autoimmune rash, and it had it had gone away with the practice. And I mean, originally, like the first class it kind of flared up and then it like ended up going away to the background forum. So many people have told us they've avoided surgery. And this is not to say surgery is not necessary, or like obviously there are things, but we've just seen people like um have huge success with knee issues, hip issues, back issues. Mainly Todd is a big proponent of this. He had uh injury in high school where he was wrestl, like he was a wrestler and he hurt his back, and so he tarnated discs and he's a golfer for you know his whole college career. And when he came in, like he He could barely walk, like his back was going out like every couple of days, and he still has like herniating. Like, if you see an x-ray of his spine, his discs are still there. But he's been able to he started golfing again after he started practicing all the time and he started moving and being able to lift up his kids. His kids were little at the time.

SPEAKER_01:

He never had surgery.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, he never had surgery. He may need to in the future, but he's like 20 years. Right. He's been able to keep that at bay.

SPEAKER_01:

What about Nadine? Is she still around?

SPEAKER_03:

Nadine is still around. She uh she's she's moving shortly. She's uh going to I think Mech Mexico to see her her kids or her there.

SPEAKER_01:

But she's she was like, I mean, she was older.

SPEAKER_03:

She's older, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

She became a teacher.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_01:

Like, can you we allowed to say how old she? Because I always remember she was like very old.

SPEAKER_03:

I can't remember exactly. I think she was in her 70s when she did teacher training. I can't remember. It's like talk about determination. And she did, she got like the English Bulldog determination award at her teacher training because she just stuck with it. And like, you know, we had to memorize some you know, hundred pages of of dialogue for the training that we did and nine weeks of doubles. And she did the whole thing just like, and I remember her just like running circles around some of my new teachers. She would like she would take class, teach a class, come back later if someone needed a sub, you know, and it was like she just she had a lot of grit.

SPEAKER_01:

And then there's the teacher that's in Arcadia a lot. I think she she was, and she was somebody that believe I can't remember her name, but she took she was like a certified person from Bikram.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, Centra.

SPEAKER_01:

Centra. Yeah Centra, yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

She's we all originally we all did our trainings with Bikram. Right. But she was in his original training.

SPEAKER_01:

That's what I mean. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_03:

She was in his app his the very first training he ever did. And she was the one that actually brought uh hot yoga to Arizona. She was one of the first five studios, I don't know exactly which one, but like one of the very first studios outside of uh California. So she was one of the first, she was a pioneer of hot yoga for sure.

SPEAKER_01:

And she was my teacher um when I was uh she brings a lot of wisdom to the class, a lot of experience, like I but she's also very hard.

SPEAKER_03:

She's tough, yeah. She's definitely tough.

SPEAKER_01:

She's tough. Have you been uh like to India since you've experienced gone through this yoga practice?

SPEAKER_03:

No, I haven't been to India.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that something that's on the bucket list?

SPEAKER_03:

I would like to go at some point. Yeah. My our Todd and I have a brother who lives in Thailand, so maybe the next time I go visit him, I'll make trip over.

SPEAKER_01:

What have you done? What are some of the benefits of you owning all these studios now hitting success? What would you say is something that you've kind of spoiled yourself with? You traveled anywhere.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, I do travel, and retreats is one of the things I love to do with our uh community. We go on retreats, we just were in uh Portugal and we're gonna be going to Costa Rica next year, and that's a lot of fun. You've done Costa Rica before, right? We've done Costa Rica before, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um it's it's funny because my wife and I, I think you posted it a year or two ago. I don't know now because I don't know time right now, but I remember her and I going, we should really go on this. But I wanted to. The reason one of the reasons we didn't is because it's been a while and I don't know the group yet. Like I know if it was 15 years ago, I probably would have known every single person going on that trip. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

You should come this year.

SPEAKER_01:

The Costa Rica? Yeah, to the So what it tell me about that. So you go to Costa Rica, is it a seven-day trip? What is it?

SPEAKER_03:

I I think it's a yeah, between six and seven days. And uh the Costa Rica trip, we like we stay in a house, we have a private chef, and then that we do yoga on the balcony. It's gorgeous. There's we do a couple excursions and we also do some personal development stuff as well. I love that.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you have the place already that you rent out?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, it's a we keep going back to the same place. It's a it's one of our smaller retreats that doesn't fit a lot of people, but we I don't know, it's nice.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I met this guy. Um I was doing when I was talking about the biohacking thing, so I was doing I was doing a bunch of weird stuff trying to figure out what worked for me. I met this great guy named Jay. And he has a place in Costa Rica, and it's two houses on the beach, and he has this huge palapa. And he says, That's for yoga. And he showed me pictures and it's this beautiful view of the ocean, and you do yoga on this palapa. And he invited me and said I could stay there anytime, but I was always afraid because I didn't know anybody or any. I needed somebody to that I knew really well to tell me when you go to Costa Rica, stay here, stay here, stay here, do this, right? But um, I should show it to you and see if that's some place you want to do because it's it's a it's a yoga palapa as big as a studio.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, that's awesome, right? Yeah, we're always looking for good places, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So what else? What's next? We have another studio in mind coming up.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, Scottsdale's our big one, and then we're, you know, moving into franchises is our next focus. When you say Scottsale, you're talking about which we we're going to North Scottsdale, 92nd Street and Shea. We're gonna open this fall.

SPEAKER_01:

Wait, there is a yoga studio there, isn't there?

SPEAKER_03:

There so it used so that was the studio I originally was teaching at the most. When I came home from training, there wasn't room for me, and I ended up teaching like 10 to 15 classes a week at uh the 92nd Street and Shea studio. And then it turned into a yoga six, and then they closed. And so um I was kind of done with studios, but something about the email, I was like, I wonder how much rent is, or maybe it was nostalgic because it was like my first place.

SPEAKER_01:

And wait, so you're gonna take that place over again or putting a new one in that area?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, we're gonna take that place over.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow, that's so wild. You've taken over like all of them. I feel like I've been every single studio you've taken over, except for Flagstaff. I think I've taken classes there.

SPEAKER_03:

Did you ever do Become Yoga in Flagstaff though? Because that was the original Become Studio there. No, I never did.

SPEAKER_01:

I did Tucson. I don't know if Tucson's there anymore. It was a boxing studio the last time I drove by, but I did some. There was a guy named Bob.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Remember that Bob guy?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, totally Bob, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I took a class from Bob there. I remember John. Didn't he open up his own studio too?

SPEAKER_03:

John Naki, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Does he still have his studio?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh he moved he moved um a few years ago.

SPEAKER_01:

But I I know Avondale was a husband and wife that owned that one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, John and Shelby.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because they won all the I remember because they won a lot of the competitions. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they were so good.

SPEAKER_01:

Are they out of the yoga world now?

SPEAKER_03:

They are, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Wow. And then of course Jackie. Uh, and then I remember it was also a husband and wife that had the tempee one too. Yes. They were really nice too.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, Alina and Ben.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Yeah, they're great. Man, you just taking over. You're like uh freaking, you're the Amazon, you're the Jeff Beijing.

SPEAKER_03:

I think it's it's it's more like crazy. Like I was the crazy, like willing to, I don't know. I so invested, like I'm so passionate about the 26 and two. I just didn't want any studios to close.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I think that's great. So 26 and 2, is that part of every franchise?

SPEAKER_03:

They have to do a 26 and they have to, yeah, they still have to have the original 90 minute at least a few times a week.

SPEAKER_01:

Is it 90 minute? Because there's a modified one.

SPEAKER_03:

We do have a modified one. We have a shorter 75 minute and there's some hour classes, but they have to have um like a certain number of 90s.

SPEAKER_01:

What about when you started introducing music in the class? That was new.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, that was new.

SPEAKER_01:

Is that a teacher preference?

SPEAKER_03:

The teacher It's you know, it's one of those things, it's like where it was give the people what they want.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, but let me ask you this. Does the teacher pick their own music?

SPEAKER_03:

Teacher picks their own music.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, that's good.

SPEAKER_03:

I used to have guidelines, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, you do? Well, still, because I used to go to uh one of those classes as a group, you know, take you get on the bike and you lift weights, you get on the treadmill, and the teachers picked their own music, and then they kind of went corporate, and then you had to use that each teacher had to use what a playlist that was national, and it just changed the whole class. I stopped going.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, loses the vibe.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it loses the vibe because there's the the personality of the teacher reflects the music, it reflects the personality, and it makes you want to go to class. Even if you know like one song, I'm gonna go, oh, I know they're gonna play it. So there's some there's certain music that really gives an impact to exercise, you know. Now, I don't think I've done yoga with music that I know very well. But sometimes your yoga classes are the hits, they play its songs, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, they yeah, they do. And uh so our flow class flow class has music, and so does we have like a 26 and two that's a little shorter that has music as well.

SPEAKER_01:

Isn't there a 26 and two that's just one time? Like you don't do it twice. When you do the normal bicker poses, it's two poses, the same pose twice.

SPEAKER_03:

Every yeah, every pose twice. We have one uh called our express class. Yes, and we do most things uh some like half and half, like half or twice and summer once.

SPEAKER_01:

The thing about the 26 and two, the 90 minutes is that it was so time consuming. Because you gotta get there. Yeah, and you gotta take the 90 minute class, and then you gotta survive afterwards. I mean, when you get home, you're just done, right? You till you build up that tolerance.

SPEAKER_03:

Totally. It yeah, and it's I think I didn't appreciate how much time it took until I was I was a little bit older.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, how do you feel? You're like this massive successful businesswoman. You were just started off talking about how you wanted to be, you were just a teacher.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, that's still always the thing. Like I just want to teach, I just want to teach 26 and 2. So I can't, I don't feel like I can get rid of them because I want to keep teaching 26 and 2. I love all the classes we teach, though. I teach HIT and Pilates as well. And I think the the way that they all work together, like you were saying, like having a little bit of weightlifting and having some core strength. It's just it's it's enriched what we what we offer.

SPEAKER_01:

How'd you meet your husband? Do you yogini?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I met him at I'm you know, I met him at my yoga class.

SPEAKER_01:

At your yoga class?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

At which studio?

SPEAKER_03:

At Old Town.

SPEAKER_01:

So you just started coming every day, started flirting?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, and you know, he I didn't take his flirting personally, like he's that's his personality. And but we definitely had like a good rapport, and then over time he started becoming friends. He became friends with Todd outside the studio, and then uh I remember Todd being like, Why are you not dating this guy? And I'm like, Well, cause yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Is he a hundred percent like your partner as well, or does he have another business?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh he he was he's an accountant and he was working for Troom Golf, and that's how we ended up in Flagstaff. We he ended up uh taking a job at Pine Canyon, and then he recently um has just gone all in with the foundry and does our accounting and payroll and that's fantastic. And he does other stuff as well, but that's yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I heard that Pine Canyon is like the place.

SPEAKER_03:

It's a it's an amazing. Is that where you live? Uh we live near ish.

SPEAKER_01:

I I heard about I've never been there, but I hear about it all the time. Yeah, it's beautiful up there. Well, thanks, Nicole, for coming in and being a guest on my podcast. I know it was like sudden, you're like, no, I don't want to. And I was like, come on. I was just so excited when I saw your opening up another studio and and I was thinking about I think it's been almost 20 years. Coming up next year will probably be my 20th year or 19th year. So it's really cool that you came.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I mean, I felt like we manifested you. We just were talking about you the day before, and then you sent us that text. And I feel like that was also with the yoga, right? Like, I feel like you told me Yoga brain. Um, that you like you felt like you manifested your um Portland and Seattle by doing the yoga all the time. That was like the time that you were.

SPEAKER_01:

I I came up with this phrase. I mean, I think you guys said yoga brain in the studio, but that was usually whenever like if there was a mistake or you screwed up, oh, it's okay, yoga brain. And then on the radio, I remember these moments. It's almost like I had control of I had visions of the future, but I didn't know how to control it. And the more I went to yoga, the more visions I had or the manifestations I had. And and it sounds so crazy, but it's it's like Spider-Man when he's had the web and he didn't know how to he could shoot it, but he didn't know what to do with it. And I felt I the more yoga I did, I know this sounds crazy, but it was like I had this mental power that I could not explain to anybody else. So I just called it yoga brain. And every once in a while, when something like that still happens, it's like I call it yoga brain still. And I think, and I'll go, I'll go, oh, wow, oh, I was just thinking about him yesterday. He called, and then I'm like, have I done yoga? That's the first thing to popped to mind. Now I think I simulate a lot of yoga, like I do the sauna every day for 20 minutes, and the sauna it's it's like yoga, but I'm not moving, right? So I feel like I get a little piece of yoga brain in the sauna, but yes, I manifested Portland, Colorado Springs, our syndication deal. Getting through my mom's death was tough, tough. I'm telling you, I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for Bickram Yoga in your classes. I anytime I take her to chemo, I drop her off. She lived off of uh Shea and uh and Tatum, and I would just shoot up to the Thunderbird studios and take the class there and just get through it, and then come back down, take my mom to dinner, and then I'd spend the night and I'd get up, do my radio show, take her to chemo, go do yoga. Like it was tough. It was so tough. But anyway, thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you. Thank you for all of your support over the years.

SPEAKER_01:

The Foundry A Z or just the Foundry.com?

SPEAKER_03:

The Foundry Yoga.com.

SPEAKER_01:

The Foundry Yoga, it was the Foundry A Z, right?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh Big Yoga A Z. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, and now it's the Foundry, the FoundryYoga.com. Where'd you come with the Foundry by the way? Where's it what's that?

SPEAKER_03:

Uh the Foundry, it's it's like the place where metal is transformed into, you know, different shapes and things. And I really like that it was the place where things got set on fire and and molded and melted. And then it wasn't like you were trying to become anything in particular. It was like, you know, you can become anything.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm so happy for you.

SPEAKER_03:

Thanks, John Jay.

SPEAKER_01:

Plus, I can't believe you have three kids just like that.

SPEAKER_03:

You'll have to give me all the tips on raising through boys.

SPEAKER_01:

Is Nikki still there? Nikki.

SPEAKER_03:

Nikki, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

She take she was a good teacher too. I really liked her class.

SPEAKER_03:

She's a great teacher, yeah. She still teaches uh regularly.

SPEAKER_01:

That says a lot too that you had these people that still worked for you 20 years later, or with you, however you want to phrase it, you know. Did you take any success classes or or uh or uh you know how to manage people or just motivational books and stuff?

SPEAKER_03:

I've been like I'm passionate about transformation and like alongside the yoga studio, I did like transformational work, like similar things, like Tony Robbins and like more um kind of underground thing, you know, like uh like not as popular but similar concepts and really yeah, and I just really passionate about leadership and and all of those types of things. So we've incorporated it over the years, like into the studios and into our teacher trainings.

SPEAKER_01:

Do you meditate?

SPEAKER_03:

I do, yeah. Not as regularly as I uh I once did, but yes, I do. So you're saying you do Modi Tony Robbins things with like a an up and coming Tony Robbins person, or like so I like most recently I worked with a woman named Alison Armstrong, who Tony Robbins has had on um like in his uh lineup before. She does a lot of relationship work about men and women um and partnership in general. So I, you know, I uh I actually lead workshops for for men of all of all things. And uh yeah, it's super fun.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, I think my one of my first guests on this podcast was a guru from India. Um, and him and I kind of became friends, and he he's invited me. Um I've helped him. Uh I didn't when I committed to this, I didn't know I was gonna be going to South Carolina, but I he invited me to do this thing. He goes, Would you host this seminar for me? And I said, sure. And it turns out it was in South Carolina and it was four days, and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. It was a huge commitment, but he's such a wonderful human being. And he lives in India and they have this massive I don't know what you want to call it, a temple or whatever, but they do yoga and they do meditation and mindfulness. And my wife got involved and she meditates with them every morning with a group at 6 a.m. They do this meditation, and she was just in LA for four days of a seminar they did there. I mean, if you're interested, I could connect and show you some of that stuff. I'd love that. Everybody I know, I know all these people that are doing it now, and it's like a whole different level. It's brought me some peace too. There's uh I don't do it as much as she does, but I do my own version of it. But anyway.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, and I feel like peace is contagious, you know, when she's doing it, it it affects the people around you. Just like when you do yoga, right? Like when you're it's like a better version of you for the people around you.

SPEAKER_01:

When you do yoga and you're doing the the 26 and two, I feel like nothing would ever bother me.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Outside of the classroom, right? There's a whole I'm man. I'm so glad I'm talking to you because I'm gonna get back into it.

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, I use that as an indicator. Like when I start getting frustrated in traffic, I'm like, okay, I better get myself into a 90-minute like soon.

SPEAKER_01:

What's the longest you've gone without yoga?

SPEAKER_03:

I mean, probably this last little stretch. My um I I I don't know, a couple of months is probably the longest with like no classes, but I'm doing the 90 the least I've done it, you know, just with this last guy didn't want to take a bottle, so it's hard. It the time commitment has been hard, and I can feel it. Like, I'm just a I my husband will often say, like, when was the last time you uh took a 90? And I was like, Yeah, I'll I'll get there.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh, how do you like being a mother of boys, a boy mom?

SPEAKER_03:

I love being a boy mom. They're they're great, they're so much fun. I mean, they're at a stage where it's like it's a lot and a lot of energy, but it's they're like so fun together. And they I just like when I was leaving, there was like they're in their Halloween costumes, Ninja Turtles like dancing on the couch, and it's just it's fun.

SPEAKER_01:

You know, it's funny you say that I was this morning looking back at my kids' Halloween pictures because now they're 19, 21, and 22, and I was looking at one dress as Batman, the other one dressed as Robin, the other one dresses um oh god, one of the oh Thomas the Train Engine, which uh and it's so that it goes by so fast. Just real quick, one last thing, I'll tell you, I I read this thing, I don't know where I saw, I don't know what I saw, but it was somebody talked about you know how they say that it was just in a blink of an eye. Blink of an eye. And they think about my kids, uh, they're so grown up now. And you think about those moments when they're little, like where you are right now. And essentially, I'm not translating the right way, but where you are right now, you're living in the blink. You know what I mean? You're living in the blink right now, and I and I feel well, I can say the same thing about myself right now at the ages my kids are at 19, 21, and 22. 20 years from now, I'm gonna go, man, I wish I spent more time with my kids or focusing on them when they're in college. Uh like so. I'm living in that blink right now. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, I mean so just savor every.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't want to sound like one of those guys that gives you the old advice, but my God, it goes by so fast. It's so sad. I could break down and start crying right now because I miss how little they were.

SPEAKER_03:

It does go by, it goes by so fast, and every stage is so you know, so different.

SPEAKER_01:

We're living in the blink, Nicole.

SPEAKER_03:

We're living in the blink. Every moment is the blink changing.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03:

Thank you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01:

Okay, so welcome to our podcast. This is a little bit different today because this podcast is a spin-off of our radio show.

Head Shot

Johnjay Van Es

Host