Peyton Fisher - STV: 22

Marc sits down with Peyton Fisher to talk about yoga, wellness, and the inspiration behind an upcoming retreat at Shadetree Inn. Their conversation highlights healing, connection, and the unique warmth and charm of St. Francisville as a place to rest, reflect, and recharge.

Learn more about Peyton & his upcoming retreats! [Website]

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hello everyone and welcome to Steveville. We have a very special guest today, and this is our in our world video of a podcast. It's not just audio. And this is Mr. Peyton Fisher and he is a yoga master. And he'll be coming to our town um to do a a program at the Shade Creek, which is a beautiful historic inn in San Francisco. So welcome, Peyton.

SPEAKER_03 0:27

Thank you very much. Sure, sure.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

And the date when you come.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

Yeah, yeah. I'll I'll tell you kind of the um the idea and the conception and why we came to the ville and why we should chose the shade tree and kind of how it all comes together. Um so when um Patricia and I were thinking about planning locations, we we really like places that that are architecturally significant, um that are what we call museum quality, and have uh a bit of a historical reference to them, you know, as a historical place. And we felt like that with all the amenities that were in St. Francisville, such as the access to Michelin star kind of food, and and just the laid-back ambiance of the town, uh, it just felt like the most appropriate place. And when we visited the Shade Tree, it really felt like a very magic place that wasn't just a nice architecturally significant building, but was a place where wellness and healing could occur. And that was kind of our goal for the retreat here, is to provide a retreat that's full of activities such as uh uh, as you may know, uh a tour uh with yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Thank you.

SPEAKER_03 1:47

And um, we also wanted them to see the town for for what the town was really for, you know. And before when I uh visited France St. Francisville, I just visited restaurants. I didn't get to know the people. But when I got to know the people and the places, this just felt like the place we should be. It felt like the crossroads of everything we were looking for.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Well, I'll just tell you from from my experience, I grew up in New Orleans. And then I went to a party in New York and stayed 30 years. So I was in New York for 30 years. And then I came here because Ellen Kennan, uh who is the my producer and my and my paint lady, uh, she's a fabulous colorist, she uh lived here, and it was so nice to come and visit her. And I was able to come here with Architecture Digest to do a feature on her, and I just uh fell in love with St. Francis. Years before I moved here, I it's funny, I always knew I would live here at some point, and um and it happened. It's a really magical place, it is.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Um you know, I've been doing yoga, and you know, I I'm I I appreciate the nod, but I've been practicing for a very long time and I'm still practicing. Um, but in in that practice, it is taking me to Tokyo, Japan, to Paris, France, to probably any place you want to pick. And and what became so profound to me that the place I was really looking for was in my backyard.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

Isn't that true? Yeah, that's like Dorothy.

SPEAKER_03 3:22

Yeah. If you ever go looking beyond your backyard. Yeah. I mean, it was really amazing that I had traveled the world over and came home. And it's like the book The Alchemist. I had found the place I was looking for. You know, so uh this this just felt right.

SPEAKER_02 3:38

And um And he has a tremendous online presence that's growing and growing.

SPEAKER_03 3:43

Yeah, so um, you know, I have been teaching for a while in these things, but but I had an idea. Um, my my neighbor and I walk our dogs every day, and and he's really good at computers. I'm really good at just sharing yoga and talking in stories and things like that. And so I told him, I said, you know, my goal is to uh have yoga in the sky, to have a digital university in the sky so that people could access and be a part of and learn because I knew that no matter how good of a yoga teacher I may be, you know, because classes sell out for me, you know, a week in advance, or there's a waiting list, or this, that, and other that I was confined to four walls and square feet. And I wanted I didn't want to do that, you know. I wanted to be unconfined. And I think um um, you know, last week uh we had a thousand subscribers on YouTube, and this week, uh so seven days later, uh we have 2,700 and over 151,000 viewers. That's remarkable, it really is.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

But you told me something, and I think it was so interesting. I I thought of it and I wanted to mention it. You said that when you were being filmed, you weren't gonna show what uh other people show, you were gonna show it you. How did you express that?

SPEAKER_03 5:03

Well, um, you know, my my idea or the way I was taught and and and I would like to acknowledge uh Maureen Bosker, my teacher, and particularly Shri Kitabi Joyce, the uh the teacher. Um but the way I was taught is that you know teachers teach. And so after 30 years of teaching, the way I know to teach you to do the postures, to to teach you to to to touch you and to grab a hold to you and feel you and see how things are going. And so when Mock 10 Media Kevin came to me uh and told him what I wanted to do, he said, he kind of scratched his head. And he said, Well Peyton, I I've reviewed uh YouTube and and the internet and and all these things, and he said, Everybody else is is doing the postures and showing how to do them perfectly. I said, That's not what I want to do. I want to show everyone else how they can do the postures according to themselves. And I also want to share the 10 evaluations.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

That's really unique, and I think that's probably why you have such a following.

SPEAKER_03 6:11

I I he refers to me as one of one. Yeah. Uh and I'll I'll take that. Um you know, it's uh it's a good thing in this instance.

SPEAKER_02 6:23

So when did you fur at what age did you first get introduced to yoga?

SPEAKER_03 6:29

Um originally when I was a little boy, and and actually she just passed away. Um it's on PBS. Uh, me and my sisters used to um practice with her. We didn't know what we were doing, but we just practiced. Um but as I got older, uh, when I was about 18 or 19, I I had this friend that uh I kind of had a crush on, and uh, she had gone off to college or I had gone off to college or university, you know, to learn about the things I learned about. And she decided to take a different route. She decided she wanted to be a yoga teacher. And for a little Southern Baptist kid from a cotton farm, for somebody to go be a yoga teacher, you know, that seemed like, wow, what are you doing? Uh so she came back, I was still in college, and she opened a studio down the street from me in the garden district, Monroe. And uh she invited me to class, and I went to it, and I didn't know anything she was saying. I didn't know how to do any postures, I didn't know anything. But the most amazing thing happened is that in that moment of silence in Shivasana, like the whole world stopped. And just for a moment, it was like that's what I want to share. That feeling.

SPEAKER_02 7:47

That's amazing. And then you opened your first studio we had.

SPEAKER_03 7:52

Uh in 2013. So at the time, and this is kind of a a leap of faith. At the time, I worked for the Louisiana Department of Health. And I was the director for um obesity and um diabetes for the state of Louisiana. So I had a job that worked very much in policy and and very much uh trying to create spaces that people live, work, and play um that were uh healthy so that people can make the right choice. And what I found in my pastime is is that all of those recommendations that the CDC was making and that I was making legislatively or whatever it may be, that I was living that one-on-one with my students. And I thought, and I used to refer to it, I said, you know, this is public health on the streets. And and that interested me a whole lot more than the um than the role I was playing. And so I took a leap of faith and I opened um uh in partnership opened a uh a yoga business uh that did very well, uh, had a huge following. And uh we were very blessed that um This was in Monroe. This was in Baton Road, which was actually on Highland Road. Uh the name of the the the uh first yoga business I opened was yoga bliss. And uh, you know, our idea on calling it yoga bliss was that yoga calls is bliss. Yes, great. And so it was just it was it was our idea to to do it that way. And then I took a while from teaching because I really wanted to focus on myself and focus on my training and focus on like the things I needed to be to be the best teacher I could be. And just somehow in that process, one day I just decided to turn on the camera, and whatever I was doing, the world responded to, and I thought, well, I'm not gonna change what I'm doing, I'm just gonna keep doing it. And you know, it just kind of keeps evolving.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

That's wonderful. And uh you said you and Trish, you're probably you're I'm sorry, Trish's Yeah, yeah, Patricia. Patricia's head back to say hello to everybody, Trish. So you all decided to do these retreats.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

And and where have you done them already?

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Uh so previously, you know, what I used to do, which you know, I I had to give a lot of thought about my quote unquote business model, you know, and kind of how I wanted to spend my time and whatnot. So I used to go to Isla Majara, so New Mexico, or I'd fly to Michigan, or I'd fly to South Beach, Miami. You get the idea. I would go places and do things, but I thought I want to do it differently. I want to find a special place that people want to come to and have me. So Patricia and I, we we started with the idea, as I mentioned earlier, that we were really interested in in doing our retreats at UNESCO World Heritage Sites because at Poverty Point, what's so cool about that is they didn't just build buildings that that created the environment that led to health and healing. They changed the architecture of the land.

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Yeah, they moved earth.

SPEAKER_03 11:05

They moved earth to to create the space.

SPEAKER_02 11:08

And that is older than the pyramids.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Yes, yes, yeah. And so Patricia and our idea was is that especially after I kind of went on and on about it, she was like, Well, I love that place, and and uh there's a reason, uh, you know, I don't know how long the podcast is that I really feel like no tell us, tell us. So, you know, I came to uh St. Francisville with friends in uh about four or five years ago, and uh I came to to a friend's house for for a St. Francisville uh Christmas parade. And um I was there, and I'm me and Mr. Robert, Miss Miss Mary Kay, we were sitting and just having a wonderful time, and and the community, it was it was so nice. And we were at the end of this little peninsula at one of our friends' houses, and it was just um the loveliest group of people I'd ever met. And um uh I believe it's her daughter, made this beautiful chart charcuterie board, and it's the most welcoming group of people I'd really been around. I thought when I was there, I thought I want to be a part of this. I I didn't know how at the time. I thought, you know, I live in Spanish town, I'm not really a part of part of this. But anyhow, um this guy came walking down the hill, and his name is Kenwood, and the whole um community, all of the people, they embraced him and loved him and just treated him like in a way I thought this is the place. When I re when I went back and I I was kind of there, I thought, you know, the health and the wellness and and all that spirit and goodness that that Kenwood brought there. I want to honor it and bring it back there. So that's kind of my goals for the treehouse. He was a shape tree.

SPEAKER_02 13:01

He was a legend in this town. Well, it's still a legend in this town. Yeah. Did you ski on the Mississippi River without skiing?

SPEAKER_03 13:09

When I first spared him, I loved him. He was just great.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

He really was.

SPEAKER_03 13:16

And just to be in that space, like, and yeah, I I just remember him, I always call it ascending from the hill. Uh, you know, he just had such love and joy and warmth in his heart. I thought when we went back, I thought I still feel all of that. And so it just felt like the right place to have what we call, Patricia and I call a wellness retreat. Um, because, you know, from a public health perspective, I think of wellness as physical health because I work in uh primary care. So I work in physical health every day, but we look at it mostly in three pillars. Uh they do, but I use three different ones. Um physical health, behavioral health, and I use spiritual health. I think those three are really kind of what make us whole. And the Office of Public Health and others look at it as uh public health, uh behavioral health, and dental health. So I just swap one thing, you know, so to speak, uh, so that yoga becomes my palate to love people, you know. I'm not a painter or a very good writer, um, but but I'm really good at loving people uh with yoga and you know, making them feel better about what they can do instead of uh focusing on the things that maybe they could improve on but aren't yet ready to.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

We have a dear friend here who lives across the street from Shade Tree, and that's Owen Kent, and she isn't you know Owen?

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Well, that's where the party was. Oh, I think. The parade party. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:48

I so who brought you there?

SPEAKER_03 14:50

So uh my dear friends, uh Kay Davis and Robert. Uh they're my neighbors. Oh, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

I love Kay.

SPEAKER_03 14:58

You know, I I I shared some stained glass visions that I had in my house. And uh, you know, Kay's a designer, and you know, she's just amazing. She's probably my best friend. And um, when she looked at it, she she was just like, okay, let's have lunch next week. And honestly, you know, I was telling her what I was looking for. I she was like, well, what'd you think it? Because we had looked at a few places. She was like, What'd you think of this place, that place, that place, you know, because we're I do recording. Uh, so I do a lot of recordings, and and those are uploaded into my website, but I also do a lot of recordings for YouTube. So I kind of do two different things if you're a paid customer, not paid customer. It depends on how much of Paton you want, you know. So, anyhow, we were looking at spaces, and when I told her, I said, Look, I want something that's architecturally significant that has lots of like reflective glass, stained glass, like I have in my house. And I want something that's really kind of historically significant. She says, I got the place we're having lunch at the St. Francisville Inn next week. Be ready. I said, Okay. And so, you know, here we are. So I really feel like personally, uh, for me, um, I couldn't have planned this out. I think it's been divine intervention. I think it's just supposed to happen. And um, you know, I'm really, really happy uh where it's at right now. Like, and without Patricia, I teach yoga well.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Patricia, she's she's I guess I can attest to as a proud Peyton Fisher grad. You've mentioned, Peyton, that um that this is a I think a yoga retreat for teachers if they're yoga alliance registered, that they can get their continuing education hours, but um it's a wellness retreat really, uh not just for teachers, so practitioners, teacher, anyone, anybody who lives in the area, they could there are some day options to come in, and but um so it's a yoga wellness retreat, and the name is where color meets light.

SPEAKER_03 17:09

And you know, the whole idea about that, thanks for bringing me to it, Patricia's A, we have uh really three different levels of participation. So we need local people that want to stay the night. That's fine. We have day passes for you. You know, they're obviously very, very different price. Um, but we we set everything so that people could participate at their own level of choice. Uh, so people from Baton Rouge can drive in, people from St. Francisville can just come visit us. If you're, you know, just a person walking down the street that wants to learn more about yoga, you know, we'd we'd love to have you at the retreat, you know, if you're on your wellness journey.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

And with your presence online, you probably have people flying here.

SPEAKER_03 17:51

Likely. You know, I've had my friends from Michigan be like, send me the dates, you know, we're coming in, we want to fly Maureen, which is my teacher in. And, you know, there's there's been a lot of excitement about it.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Trust me, as a as a world traveler, I have found the Baton Rouge Airport the best deal. It's not a hassle. You just walk through it. It's a comfortable stroll. I'll tell you a story. One day I was running late. I literally parked illegally, ran in and checked my bags, ran back out, parked legally, and then ran in and got on the jet. I mean, it's a crazy thing. You you there's no lines and none of that way.

SPEAKER_03 18:27

Yeah, the Vatinurch airport is easy.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

And any layover, which you probably will have in Atlanta or someplace, and it's like you know, an hour. Yeah, the drive from New Orleans, first of all, the New Orleans airport, although it's one awards, it is a big airport, so it's kind of a hassle. And renting a car can be a hassle. It can. Um and the drive from New Orleans is, you know, if there's traffic, it's a good two-hour drive. And if there is an accident over the lake, you drive over the lake in Bonnie Carrie Spielway, which it's quite a distance, you could really be messed up with that. So I think flying into Baton Rouge and out of Baton Rouge is just the best way to go. That's just a note.

SPEAKER_03 19:12

I always do what I can for sure. And to Patricia's point, I wanted to uh kind of point this out too, you know, because uh I am an ERYT uh registered yoga teacher and a yoga alliance continuing education provider, and I have a registered yoga school. For any teachers that become, I I can issue five hours of continuing education for their um 30-hour requirement every 30 year every three years. But you know, if that doesn't interest you, it doesn't matter. Just come and join us, you know. We've been planning the uh we've picked a scent for the retreat. So uh we'll have a special scent that we'll be rolling out. That's nice.

SPEAKER_02 19:53

Do you do that? You do scent too?

SPEAKER_03 19:55

I like to.

SPEAKER_02 19:56

How do you do that?

SPEAKER_03 19:57

Uh so Patricia and I have what I refer to as a proprietary formula that that we make up, and and it's you know, it's just made up of essential oils and things that I love. So we just mix it up and we put it in a little bottle so that when people leave, you know, scent is a very powerful smell. So you can just spray a little of that own and you can kind of take yourself back um to the um to the retreat and kind of kind of feel that feeling again. And to also just point out, Patricia mentioned the uh name of the um the um the retreat, we say it again, where color meets light.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Where color meets light. I like that.

SPEAKER_03 20:37

Yeah, and so the whole idea behind that was that we thought to really to be to be really healing and and and to really, you know, um embrace wellness as a whole. And if we really look at the yamas and the yamas, I'll call them the evaluations, but you know, I think that we have to shed light on on even the parts of of ourselves and our experience and whatnot that's been hard. And I think in order for things to grow, light has to hit it. And so to me, that was the whole idea with wellness where color meets light. So, you know, light makes things grow. And so we all want to grow at the at the shade tree, and you know, that's kind of the whole goal.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

That is truly a magical spot in town. I mean, it's something else. Yeah. And that Kenwood did it all is such a nice memorial.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

It's I mean, it's it's it's special.

SPEAKER_02 21:27

Indeed. So are you going to be what are you going to be doing between now and the retreat? Like what are you up to?

SPEAKER_03 21:35

Sure. So um, you know, I have a full time job that, you know, I work in policy and in and in public health and whatnot. So that's that's uh 40 hours of my week. But in the meantime, uh we also have a 200 hour and a 300 hour teacher training program that's coming up in July because I really love teaching teachers because you know. There are teachers that can probably teach better asana. I don't disagree with that. There are teachers that can do a lot of things that I'm not the teacher for them. But what I like at my school, or what I refer to as the Institute of Learning, is I like empowering people and building people and sharing a message that, you know, being different just means that you're loved more. You know, it's not necessarily about um running from our differences, but embracing them so we can become whole. And so I like sharing that message with future teachers so that, you know, one day that message continues beyond me.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Well, would it be inappropriate for you to ask you about the retreat here, with how the price difference is? Because several yoga people check into my uh podcast. So sure.

SPEAKER_03 22:51

So we try to place our um our yoga retreats all uh kind of with mindfulness of our clientele and who's local and who's willing to travel and who's not willing to travel and and things like this. And so yeah, I actually compared to what I used to charge, which is very hot. Um I dropped everything way down. So long story short, uh for$199, you can come participate for the whole weekend. That's our traveler's plan. And really for the travelers, you get to come in and kind of experience the shade tree, experience me as the yoga teacher. Like, you know, I may be your guy, you know, I may not be, but but I'm gonna love you either way, you know. That's that's that's just my way. I'm gonna love you, you know, however you show up.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

It's your drive-in option.

SPEAKER_03 23:35

Yeah, that's her drive-in option.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

If I live in St. Francisville or Baton Rouge, I can drive in Friday night for the opening and then go home and then come back, and then it's all day Saturday and and then uh the morning on Sunday.

SPEAKER_03 23:50

And this is what Patricia's excellent about. So if I'll just kind of go through two, we have the cottages as well for those that want to stay. And depending on on which cottage you get, it usually starts, I think the deposits 250, and then it's about 680 for the remainder, right? So it's about 935.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Starting, so there are four suites at the at the shade tree. So, and you can look uh on the website, but like if you and your best friend want to come and get a suite, it's a king-size bed, there's a kitchenette, each suite is individual. You know, you've got the governor's suite, you've got um the loft, the sun porch, and then the gardener's cottage. And so for a thousand dollars for a whole weekend, you have a place, a fabulous place to stay. All your meals included, except for one on your own, where you get to kind of go discover uh after we've you know had a tour with with Mark and kind of seen the sites, you know, learn the town, then they get to go out and just have a nice meal one night. But so for a thousand dollars from Friday to Sunday, everything's taken care of. Um and yeah, so there are four for that's for a great deal.

SPEAKER_03 25:11

I I used to charge$1,800 a retreat, but but honestly, it you know, and that's just what I used to charge. But my kind of mission in life has kind of adjusted a little bit. Um, I I like making things where they're reachable, you know, so they're for a a lot of people that can participate because I think the message is much more important than say the yoga. You know, the even though the yoga is the message, I think that having more people participate is uh is kind of my goal. You know, it's I want people there, you know. I I love um meeting with people and hearing about new ideas and uh kind of their thoughts on health and wellness.

SPEAKER_02 25:55

Wait, did we mention the dates?

SPEAKER_03 25:57

It is June 12th, 13th, and 14th. And Patricia, do you want to give the details? I think we check in at 6 to 8 on Friday.

SPEAKER_00 26:05

Yeah, 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, and there's a kickoff dinner and kind of opening and setting of intentions that Friday. We'll have dinner at the shade tree um as a group. So that'll be the the eight folks staying there, and then um those driving in are welcome to come that night. And then uh we start very early the next morning for an optional, although it's to me it's kind of the best you wouldn't want to miss. The it's 6:30 in the morning, and that's uh uh meditation and yoga practice led by Peyton to kick off the day. And then it's just a full wonderful day of activities that's balanced between enjoying the spectacular, you know, St. Francisville, uh coming back and uh kind of wellness exercises that are tied into the yamas and the niyamas of yoga. Um some so you've got your asana, your yoga practice, um, and there's uh we'll wrap it around four full schedule uh because I I was playing with the website.

SPEAKER_03 27:16

Uh, you know, it takes a lot of detail work.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

I don't want to interrupt, but what is the website?

SPEAKER_03 27:21

It's www.paytonfisheryoga.com. P-E-Y-T-O-N is Peyton Fisher's L P I S H E R, and yoga, of course, Y-O-G-A.com. But when you go online, you'll see that there are uh there's really a plethora of options for people to choose from. And that's kind of what I was really going for, uh, so that everyone could have the experience.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

So you should really visit the site.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

All the information's on the site.

SPEAKER_03 27:52

And the agenda. It is so chocked full. I was looking at it the other day. I was like, okay, we got a tour, a hike, a yoga class, a dinner, and you know, dinner at you know, fabulous places. And, you know, Patricia and I are being very uh mindful of uh what uh dinners we'll have for the residents at the shade tree. Uh, you know, we're very in uh in tune with the nutrition as being part of, you know, the health, healing, and happiness, you know. So all of that would be incorporated uh for the residents. So everything you consume, everything you do right from from the point uh that I began to the point you end is really focused on health and wellness and healing and whatever that means for you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

And I say it's a thousand dollars. There, you know, I said there's four suites, they're they're each so individualized. So if you get the loft, which is amazing, that's closer to 900. And then they just kind of range from there. But um, with everything all included, it's just it's gonna be so spectacular.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

It's gonna be a magical experience, really.

SPEAKER_00 29:02

What perfect timing?

SPEAKER_02 29:03

How perfect. That is Owen Kemp.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

And there's the veil and I'm not gonna answer the phone, but Owen Kemp is how he saw St.

SPEAKER_02 29:13

Francisville at that parade, and she is our resident yoga master, one of the three.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

And let me just say a host that is just so gracious, so wonderful, and I I couldn't have have thanked her or anyone there more for the great time I had at the St. Francisville uh Christmas parade at our house, and and and of course meeting Kinwood. And it was an experience that that I'll carry for for a long time.

SPEAKER_02 29:40

Well, you know, I'll tell you, this is just my own two cents. I was moving to upstate New York. I've told the story before, but it changes the pull of this place. I just came here one day to say hello to Ellen. And I wound up not moving to uh upstate New York and not moving to New Orleans. I wound up moving here. Yeah, it's crazy when you think that. It really is. And uh I love this town.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

I do too.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

Oh, this deadly.

SPEAKER_03 30:15

I love it, and um I want to honor it and I and I wanna you know just kind of do it just.

SPEAKER_02 30:22

Well, folks, this was our first run with uh recording of this, so I hope you enjoy it. And uh I just really hope you take advantage of uh the wonderful retreat that will be happening here.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

Remember to visit w dot patenfisheryoga dot com.

SPEAKER_02 30:42

Thank you.