#111] Josie Schweitzer: Katonah Yoga, The Space, + "Working In"

Josie [@josieschwitzer] is the owner of The Space in Columbus -- a *must check out* yoga studio. Josie shares her yoga journey that ultimately led her to Katonah Yoga, ++ so many incredible insights that Katonah Yoga offers. Check out if Katonah Yoga is in your city -- https://www.katonahyoga.com/directory.

Notes:
-- The Space, @thespacecolumbus
-- Josie's YTT!
-- Katonah Yoga, @katonahyogacenter
-- Katonah Yoga Teachers: Nevine MichaanMatt Phippen, Mira Lowenstein, Dages Juvelier Keates
-- Book Recs: Women Who Run With The Wolves, War of Art
-- Greece Retreat

Transcript

spk_0:   0:05
Hey, guys. Welcome to the charming broadcast day. I have Josie, who is very well known for all things yoga. And she is the founder of the yoga studio. The space in Columbus. Thank you so much

spk_1:   0:20
for being here. Thank you for having me.

spk_0:   0:24
I always start off the podcast with asking When you were 18 years old, What did you imagine your life

spk_1:   0:32
to look like right now? Honestly, nothing like this. That's a really good question. When I was 18 I was actually in hair school. Wow. Yeah, In high school, I did like, uh, I don't know the word that you call it, but you can go to another high school. It's like a career center, kind of. But it was for photography. So my focus was all, like, I'm an artist. I'm gonna do photography. I was gonna go to C. C. A D. Columbus College of Art Design, but then I was like, Oh, that's a lot of money. What I'm gonna do, How am I gonna do that so randomly? I was like, Well, just try hair school a couple weeks after I graduated high school, see if I liked it, and if I didn't. I could still go to college, whatever. But I loved it. So it was It was crazy. Like I had no idea. It was, like, two weeks before I signed up. So I had no idea what my life is gonna look like. What I did here for 10 years.

spk_0:   1:27
10 years? And what about photography? Did you still do that or not? Really? So

spk_1:   1:33
I did. Honestly, I I would take photos here and there, like, for pleasure, but it kind of, you know, my camera got dusty pretty soon after that. Unfortunately, and it's actually something I've still been saying that I'm gonna, like, take that on again so we'll see what happens. But I ended up doing hair like I would do here for photo shoots, and I got hired by, like, different businesses in town, and I've done here for, like, New York Fashion Week. So kind of It was always like, I loved the artistic side of hair, So it was always like I identify. It is like an artist, so I still d'oh Oh, for sure. I think we all are. You know, we all in our own right artists, but I mean, I definitely think about that when I like, teach, you know, everything that we do. It's like we're just painting on a canvas.

spk_0:   2:25
It's so funny because you to me, look like an artist. Like when I think of one artist. Looks like I'm like, That is exactly you. So how did yoga fall into your life? Yeah, honestly, um, I had tried

spk_1:   2:44
it in high school, and back then there wasn't a lot of yoga studios here in Columbus. To be honest, all of them were very much like on the spiritual realm of it, which at the time didn't like I wasn't ready for it yet, But I did try a few classes, like with a friend in high school, and we would go We, like, loved it secretly, I think. But then we're also like, OK, I don't know if we can, you know, we just, like, weren't ready for that world so fast forward. I was doing hair in a lot of my clients, you know, you talk and you become, like, close with people when they tell you what they're doing. So one of them actually started working at, like, the pop up of Lulu Lemon. Okay, Back when interest, It just came to court because they always do like a test in the cities that they open up in. So they just did a test one in the short.

spk_0:   3:36
I wear okay before. Okay,

spk_1:   3:44
so anyways, they would. They were, like, encouraging their employees to bring people to try out classes around the city. That's how they were, like, really doing their ambassadorship program. Whatever. So my friend took me to a couple of classes and I went to this one. It was like a power yoga class, and I was like, Okay, this is what I needed to bring me into this world. But it was like a physical thing for me. It was very much like I fell in body. I felt in my body, and I loved that cause I'm somebody that needs to feel my feet on the ground like I run. I've always been a runner. It just made sense to me. But then after a while, I was just realizing like, Oh, there's more to it and I wanted to know more. So that's why I booked a flight to Costa Rica, and I did my 1st 200 our teacher training. And it was there that I knew. This is what I needed my life. Thio be like I needed to teach this practice in whatever way that I was going. Thio. Wow. How many weeks was that? Actually, the 1st 1 that I went on. It was just a week. So it was 100 hours. Okay. In a week. Yeah, I know how that's still a ton. Yeah. So we did 100 hours in a week, and then it was about eight or nine months later, I went to Mexico to complete that 200. Our program ended another 100 hours in a week. So after that, it was like three months after I got back from Mexico, I opened up. Think that's insane. Yoga, which was my first year with you. I'm saying think like people listening

spk_0:   5:17
to what I'm talking about. Oh, my gosh. How did you even find the Costa Rica and Mexico program? Because that's actually a question that I wanted to ask you in terms of going to different teacher training's going different workshops. Obviously you can Google, but yes,

spk_1:   5:35
So it was in 2011 like the end of 2010. Going into 2011 there wasn't a place here in town that spoke to me that I wanted to do a training at. So I literally Googled. I was like, Where can I do? You have a teacher training? And they did a really good job paying for advertisement because this place, amazing yoga that's based out of Pittsburgh was Actually it's more like a power yoga studio as well, which is what I was practicing at the times. It was perfect, you know, they were like Costa Rica. I'm like, Okay, I'm sold. So I just on a whim. It was like two weeks later. This is kind of how a role, if you notice these patterns, once I decide I need to do something, I'm like, What can I do right now to get it done? It's a blessing and a curse, because it's very much like, Okay, I want what's making happen. But also like what I've been working on lately is like my patients doing the laundry. Even when you're doing laundry, you're creating more laundry like there's always work to be done, Um, and like it's not a race. It's a marathon or even longer. So, yeah, I just found it on Google and it sounds corny and whatever, but my life changed.

spk_0:   6:44
Oh yeah, because you opened the studio that soon after. That's crazy. How did that house?

spk_1:   6:50
So I mean when I was there and it was really like, You have to be ready, right? Teach And the students will appear, be ready, and the teacher will appear kind of thing. It's like I had I had done that training a year before. It would have been a totally different experience. It was because I was so ready force whatever it was and like I did a lot of like self work when I was there. Like I realized how much of the past I was still living in, and it really just made me open my eyes to it. And I was like, Okay, I'm ready to change. And also I just like I knew the power of this practice went so far beyond the physical, and I also knew that you kind of have to be sneaky, right? Like you have to like I made like when I first started teaching was a very physical practice. You can ask people when they were taking my class is, like, nine years ago. It's a long time I teach completely different. But that's how it has to be, right? You have to evolve. Um, so anyways, it was just It was like I was ready. Thio be open to something new. And I wanted to share that, Like that feeling I had, like, Okay, you can actually do this work on yourself. Minutes like this. Practice is powerful. I did everything I could, Like I came back and I just remember telling my mom like I need to do this. She lived in Michigan at the time, so we would talk on the phone and, um for she's always been a supporter of me and, like, do what you want to do. But she's also like, Okay, how is it gonna work? And so when I started teaching in my classes, I had, like, really well attended classes, and I just started doing the math. I was like, Okay, this many people are coming in there this much and did it all like Okay, then if I have this many classes a week like I just kind of figured it all out on my own. Um and I also knew it was gonna be like a challenge, But it was also one of those things I just like I couldn't walk away from. I couldn't not try it. I was willing to like risk. Whatever I needed to dio to try. It also was very young at the time. There was that, like, what are these? A teacher's gonna think that I've been teaching for all these years of these other studios. Like who is this chick to come in and open up her own studio? Like, of course, those thoughts ran through my head. But also like the voice saying like you have to do it was louder. So it for whatever reason, I like, just listen, do it. So yeah, and then I I was like, Well, I need to figure out how much is a studio like, How much is rent? What does this look like? So I would go on runs and see signs that said for rent and I would call places and just get an idea like what part of town? How much it waas I looked at like a lot of places I looked online like I just, you know, figure things out. And then I remember I was running one day and I saw a sign for the old think And I was like, That's gonna be my studio. I called having I show it to me within, like, an hour. And I called my mom and I was like, Mom, I think I'm gonna do that. She's like, Okay, just, you know, do it. So I was doing hair at the time, still toe like pay for the rent. Essentially. So that first year of opening the space, the old space, not this thank you. It was a whirlwind. I don't Honestly, it was kind of I don't remember a lot of it. It was like I didn't have time to think that much. I was doing hair I was teaching. I was opening for glasses and eventually brought on another teacher, another teacher, and then took a day off at the salon. So it just kind of became this, like, organic transition until about six months. And I stopped doing here all together, and I was like this. I just have to, like, put everything in it or else I'm gonna always feel like I'm one in, like, one foot in one foot out. Well,

spk_0:   10:38
so many questions that I have for you, but I'm curious. What piece of advice you wish she would have received prior to starting that Maybe helped you with the new space that you're now. Yeah,

spk_1:   10:53
honestly, I like this question because I don't think I could have had any advice. Like I'm somebody that I have to like, Embody it. I have to do it, give you telling me, like, for example, I don't know why I always use these metaphors. Like in a relationship, right? Your friend. If you're in a shaky relationship and your friends are telling you all day long Like, leave this guy like you're not gonna do it until you're ready, right? You're not gonna do it until, like you beat it into the ground like it's just one of those things like I had to learn by doing. And that's just how I operate. So honestly, you know, you can say you fail along the way or you make mistakes, but like that's that was my path, like I had to learn, So I guess the one thing is, trust what you're doing, just trusts. Just do it. Just do it.

spk_0:   11:40
What are some things that you do differently now other than, of course, this style that you teach with it, which I definitely want to talk about, but maybe operations wise, like your clients, anything that is different.

spk_1:   11:53
Honestly, of course it's different because I've evolved, right? It's years later. I've just grown into the person that I am today, but I stress out less about shit. I don't get into those like shit storms I used to get into where was like, you know, you fall in and you're like, Oh, my God, like I would worry about stuff that was out of my control Where is now? I'm able to stop myself sooner. So of course there's like, you know, you stress about things, but like I don't stay in that for as long as I used to, like I'm not. I don't obsess about things that I don't need to be obsessed about, like I want to provide a place that my teachers love to teach there. And that's really you know, that's something I hope to dio and I feel like I am doing, and it's really cool because they all come in practice. They're all about it. So, like, you know, there's that. But then there's also the side of it of like I lied teacher trainings and I lead workshops and travel, and I teach. So it's good to have a solid like, I have a handful of, like, really, really good girlfriends that I can call, and they're like, we're like each other's Heitman, right? Like like you got this like, you're amazing. What? What can we do? You know, like, we're gonna make it work. We're gonna figure things out like you have a call in, like, have a little tantrum, but then get over it. You know, like we don't let each other and I don't let myself, like, stay in those places Totally. Can

spk_0:   13:23
you give an example of a time when you stressed out about something or worried about something from the past that maybe you wouldn't

spk_1:   13:33
do any more? Oh, maybe like review. You know, any time we're doing something different or whatever, you're going to get a lot of people that, like, are all about it, like kind of what I'm teaching now. I feel like it's one of those things that you're like all about their, not about it. There's not a lot of great area. Yeah, so if I get some kind of, you know, a review, that and honestly, I don't really get I don't like the only thing we are on class pass. So I see those reviews and, like, you know, it's like somebody said the one day it was like, This is I thought I was going into a venue. Is the class of this isn't vinyasa? Well, read the description. Yeah, do your research like I'm just, like, less worried about, like making people happy like it's like, Okay, this is what I'm offering And there's enough, like there's enough to go around. There are in the office studios. There are group fitness classes. There's everything right. Do your research. Come try it out. It's not like I'm trying to, like, make somebody be about

spk_0:   14:37
they're going to decide. Absolutely. Yeah, and that's a really great point. Let's dive into Katonah yoga now that you imagine I'm like, Okay, we need to dive into this. I'm assuming that there are probably five people listening that know what this is, and they're probably people who have taken your class. I mean, maybe more ambitious, because we do have a lot of Columbus listeners. But what is cottony yoga and how did you discover it? That's like such a gonna be a long and that's such a question.

spk_1:   15:09
It's funny because, like now, I actually have classes on a schedule that are Katonah. But everything that I do now is Katonah inspired right the way that I live my life. It's like by way of the theory of Katonah yoga, and that sounds so woo because you're like, What are you even talking on? And that's why I don't have an elevator speech for Antonio. But in a way, it's like I kind of like that, because if you think about it like there's not really an elevator speech for anything, that's does

spk_0:   15:35
that make sense? Yeah, it's a lifestyle. There's so much depth to it.

spk_1:   15:38
Yeah, and I mean, I still am such a student in this world of Antonio, and that's why I love it, because it's fascinating to me. And every time I go practice with any of my teachers or people that teach this theory in this methodology. Like I I'm, like, mind blown every time. Um, so what is Antonio? It's a framework toe, which you can apply your voice too. The teachings of cottony yoga. Which Levin McCIane And she's like, I would say my teacher, right? She created this style of yoga 40 plus years ago. She's this amazing woman, and I actually didn't have my first class with her. I had it. I didn't practice with an avian or meet Vivian until a few years after I was already practicing Cajon Yoga. Oh, she came here to the States and she just started. She was in college. I believe it was here that she did this, but she was studying all different kinds of, like philosophies and teachings of yoga. And then she discovered Dow was in Chinese theory and she was practicing with teachers that taught different lineages which were hot. Which hot yoga is just physical practice of yoga. And I m gar, which is the use of a lot of props which we utilize in Katonah Yoga props by way of like, a block would be a boundary, right? You put it under your thigh so that you don't go to deeps. You're not over stretching. You use it as a scaffolding for your body. Sandbags air like adding another element. It's like muscle, right? Um, straps you could think of. It is like a ligament, right? So it kind of becomes this, like extension of the body, and there's many different ways that we use them, and it's not always for the same purpose, but we really utilize the props because their boundaries, but also like it applies to your life. It's like a lot of us that are really open, like flexibility wise, like it relates to like you're really open with, like you say, Yes, too much. You let people walk all over you like when people are really tight in their body and this is not like this is just like a metaphor, right? I'm not saying like I know everything, and I'm just like, offers intuitive. But you know, we have a tendency to say no more and to be more closed off. And so we're kind of like what we're doing is trying to meet in the middle like it's not come and be a CZ. You are come in, Let's, you know, organize ourselves. Let's get out of our bad habits. Let's get over something. Let's get over ourselves. And I think that can be taken as harsh to some people you know who weren't ready to hear that. It's like you got to get over yourself, like if you don't, then you're just gonna stay in the past, right? So, you know, our back is our past. Our front is our future. It's what's in front of us. It's the potential. The middle is what we're always mediating. So in Katonah, yoga were always really playing these threes, right? There's an up, There's a down, there's a middle, there's a past. There's a future. There's a present in the middle is where we're always like aiming for right the center. There's left, right center, you know? So we do a lot of how Where are we in time? Where are we in space? Can we be in the middle of our circumstances? However, it's showing up right? You re in the middle of a shitty divorce is Do we want a divorce? Are we happily married? Are we on tender and looking for You know it's like, where are you? Can you just be? Can you Can you get honest with where you're at? And I'm just trying That's like one analogy. Otherwise, it's kind of like it's really easy to live in the past. It's really easy to play victim. It's really, you know, and it's I'm not saying it because it's hard, like I have to do this work every day like it's easy to get stuck there. It's easy to get stuck in the like I was saying before, like Oh, somebody left this bad review It's gonna ruin my date like don't let that stuff ruin my day like you can. If you do, you're gonna waste time and then this goes back to like all we have is time right? All we have is like Wake up, we have to breathe. But also like, How are you organizing your time? And even when I catch myself saying like, Oh, I don't have time for that and people say I don't have time to do this like you d'oh! Like, how many hours is you spend on Instagram? You know what I mean, right? Like it's not. You don't have enough time it's You're not choosing to spend your time in that way. That's simple. And of course, if you just had a newborn like, you don't have time for certain things. But where you at in your season of your life, right? And if that's the case, if you're raising a child like your practice is gonna look different, the way that you show up in the world is gonna look different. You have to make more sacrifices. But you can also have this sense of Oh, can I just find my feet on the ground when I'm brushing my teeth and mediate where I'm standing so that I'm in the middle of my foot? So I'm just in the middle of myself and I'm in the moment, and that's literally a practice, right? So you could do these practices like throughout the day. Anything that you're doing, it doesn't have to look like an hour coming to class an hour at home on your mat. It can be anything right. It's like all these little chances that we have to, like, mediate and refine and, like, get over something and or else we just stay stuck in her habits. I don't go to yoga to become more flexible. I go thio, you know, create space in joints in my mind for joy, Like I am practicing to have a more joyful existence here on Earth. In a part

spk_0:   21:07
of that is feeling good in

spk_1:   21:08
your body. But I also think Antonio did to me, I'm not. It's not a workout, but you might come and feel like you've just worked out. And that's okay, too. Especially if you're new to it, like and I say this a lot. It takes a tremendous amount of effort to become effortless, right. You have to do something over and over to refine it, and then you own it right. It's his tool that you get to use. So you keep adding these tools like you can't build a house with one tool. You can build a house with a lot of tools. So it's like, Don't do one thing. Do everything in this practice like I do so many other movement practices. This is not my workout. This is my leg. Work in. This is like I'm doing. I'm showing up. I'm doing work. It's not a feel good practice, it's ah, you know, do the work. It could be a different answer every day, right? That's the beauty of Antonio. It's like it's such a fast pool of information. It's like this. See, that's like I'm only getting like one little drip of it every time and like there's just so much more. And that's why it's, like, fascinating to me. So going back to like, How did I discover it? I was living in New York temporarily for six months, doing another training with yoga works in New York City, and somebody had told me to try out This studio called Tony. Yoga was in Chelsea, which is not there anymore. And I went and I practiced with one of my friends. Now, Philip, ask you, when he was teaching, it was more like a mini Ossa style. But he incorporated the theory of Katonah so well that it caught my attention, and it was so different, and he incorporated breath, work and pronto yama that I had never done. So it was like it was how I felt after the practice to it was like, What the hell just happened to me? I need to know more. This guy's amazing this studio's amazing. So I went back and I took class with Abby Galvin, who's another one of my teachers who practiced hand in hand with me being for years and she now owns. It's called thus studio. It was Antonio in the city, but it's called the studio and it's on Valerie. I took a practice with her and it was actually a Katonah yoga class on a Sunday, and I just remember it was a room full of people. I was like We're all facing each other, which I loved, and also I wasn't used to that right, But I absolutely loved it, and that's how I teach right. It's like we all face each other, and some people, they don't want to do that and that's fine. You know what I mean? Like you don't like. I say that this practice is for anyone. It's not for everyone, you know. It's like you can come, but you don't also have to be about it. You don't have to come back like you have free will. So after I took her class and she really it was like a deep dive into Tony yoga and the theory and the things that she said and it I was so captivated. I knew my life had changed. I knew. Okay, I need to know more about this practice. And I kept I was doing this other training and it was a very intense training, and it took a lot of my time, and I was also teaching in the city and running the studio back in Columbus. Oh, my gosh. Um, but I was like, I have to keep going in this place so I would go there a couple times a week, Would take Phillips cost on Friday nights. I would take Abby's class when I could on Sundays. And from there, just like once I got back, people knew they were like, Whoa, you're teaching has shifted. And I realized it was like it really wasn't a lot was because of my 300. And I don't want to discredit one of my teachers on your porter who was amazing. She taught me so much, and I still take, like, so much of her teachings and apply it like how I do what I d'oh. But it was really the theory of Antonio that just, like, blew my mind and and I had to keep learning more in it. I wasn't even like going after. I need to be a Antonio, a teacher. I was doing that. I didn't realize that was doing it. So I went on to become, you know, certified in Katonah Yoga. But it was only because it was just my curiosity, like I needed to know more. So I took trainings and I took workshops and I practiced like therapeutics. How to teach privates how to apply the theory. The Magic Square, which is a whole other thing that we could have a whole podcast on. Um, and so my teacher, Abby, she says, practice without theory, his flat theory without practices disembodied and that really, always, like. I repeat that to myself because it's like the way I was practicing before, which is, and I'm not trying to talk shit about this style of in Jassi yoga, right, because I think that it's valid, and I think that a lot of people do well. It's not my practice anymore. It's not what I do, and it's not what I teach, and it's not what I go to, but I you know, it's A. I think that there's places for everything, right, So but the way that I was practicing because now I feel like these theories can be applied to whatever you're doing right. You can then teach it within vinyasa yoga, which is so great, Like one of my teachers married Dana. She teaches the Vin Yasa style cottony yoga, which is so great, um, but she applies the theory in it. So for me, it was like so much about the physicality that I was like injuring myself in, like, beating my body to the ground, trying to get into these poses. And it was like, What am I doing? Like I didn't And I didn't realize that until I stopped doing it and I started practicing Katona and giving myself boundaries and giving myself props and allowing myself to, like, measure up literally that I was like, Oh, my wrist used to her and they don't. But I didn't know they were hurting because it's all I knew. You only know what you know. And I was like, literally in pain, but also like reaching for the wrong thing. I was like, I want to get that pose like now I could give a shit about getting a pose. It's about Can I be healthy and have, like, a good experience in my body? In my life, in my relationships, everything, like, has nothing to do. But here's the thing I still love to, like go upside down and invert. I think that's fun. And I think it's fun to teach people when I love the excitement that people see. But when it's like it's not what you do, it's how you do it in that so much of like the how and the why, right? It's like, How are you showing up? You know, like, How are you practicing hands? Tent? What are you saying to yourself in your mind? Are you? You know, it's like just be honest with yourself And I think that for a long time I was just like treating my body poorly without even realizing it, because it was, you know, hidden as this practice of yoga that's supposed to be so good for you.

spk_0:   27:49
I'm immediately going tol katonah you some tears in Chicago. Yeah, I think there are, You know, if there's a teacher in Chicago,

spk_1:   27:57
but there better be soon because people are working towards it, There's yeah, there will be. But

spk_0:   28:03
he was definitely the newest form of yoga. Correct? Well, I wouldn't say it's the newest resident around a long time. It's definitely I feel like it's it's

spk_1:   28:12
has its tipping point right now. I love in me and my friend Michaela. We're just talking about this. Right before I came here, we were getting coffee because she actually lives in L. A. She used to live in New York, and we both would practice Katonah together. So she loves the practice, too. And we're talking about how we actually love that. It's been this, like, organic way that it's come onto the scene, and it's because, like senior teachers would go take classes like teachers, love practicing it and then bringing that into the way that they're teaching and what they're teaching, right? So it's and then their students are like, you know, they trust them, so they're going to go try this thing out. So it's happened organically, which I think is beautiful. It's not then, like, let's be on Yoga journal and let's do this and let's, like, pay for marketing and all that like and that's you know, that's like You need to do that, too. But it's been so grassroots up until this past, like year. Now they're really going hard with like, Okay, we're ready, tow, like be seen, which is great. But up until then, it was kind of like this little like hidden gem in this mystery, and it had a lot of intrigue, and it still does. But now, like so many amazing teachers all over the world, have this in their tool box. And it's so cool to see in, like once you know who is inspired by Katonah Yoga, you can like we've that threat like you can see like Oh, I get it, I see what they're doing. Yeah, and it doesn't all look the same. And that's why I actually have so much respect for my teacher because she's not teaching us to be. It's not dogmatic. It's this and that. It's not this or that. There's many right ways to do something, and let me tell you, there are wrong ways as well, but there's not one right way, and it's just like a religion, like some people are Buddhist. Some people were Catholic like it is your it becomes your personal religion. So, like anyone is welcome. You can put whatever you want into it, right? But it's like open source, right? Like whenever I go take from another teacher. I'm inspired by what they're doing, and they might come and take mine and be inspired by what I'm doing, because we're encouraged to use our voice and to use our own metaphor. And a lot of times, like a lot of us teachers, we use the same metaphors that Levine uses, and so you'll hear those commonalities. But you do it enough to where it's like, then a second nature to where you can then play off that and riff off of it and come up with your own metaphor. And that's where, like the artistic side of me comes in. And like, I feel like I can actually, like, be myself and have my own personality and say what I need to say and, you know, create a class based on like how I've embodied the practice right, cause it's not one set way to do it. There's not like a rule book saying, This is the way it's like you need to do the work and do the practice enough that like then you can refine it and make it your own and you keep evolving. And that's the hope. It's like, Don't ever not evolve like you're always a student.

spk_0:   31:03
Totally. What would you say is the biggest difference between Katonah yoga and other forms of yoga that are popular? Um, and

spk_1:   31:14
again I think that there's room for everything, right? Here's the thing that most people be like. Oh, do you do that hot yoga? And so I just like to me, I kind of laugh in my head, but I get it like I get that, like, this is what people talk about hot yoga. But that could be anything that could be big room. It could be a hot power. Could be Baptiste. It could be my class some days when it's hot, like what do you mean? Hot yoga? But I you know, it's like they don't know either. So the theory side of it, right, but also the usage of like props and boundaries, and I don't personally love practicing and like a really hot room, because I feel like it can take me into places like Aiken Overstretch and then injure myself. And that's just me in my experiences, because I've done it right. I am somebody that's inherently flexible. This is why I was attracted to you. I was good at it. Like if you're good at something, you're gonna like it. If you're good at cooking, you're gonna love cooking. If you're good at playing basketball, you're gonna fucking love playing basketball. You don't mean like you do the things that you're drawn to because you're good at them, right? I was really good being flexible, but I didn't realize that I was actually too flexible, right? I was like injuring myself. I was back bending for my low back. I was saying Yes, too much, You know what I'm saying? Like all the usage of the word flexible right, That was like what I waas. So for me, it's it's a place where I can go and work on the things that I really need to work on instead of just go because I'm good at it and I can do this and I can open my leg and I can wrap my leg around my head. It's like I don't That's not what I'm going for anymore. Do you see what I'm saying? So it's I don't go for the feeling. It's like I go to get out of my feelings because feelings lie like feelings are not always true. We measure our bodies like sacred geometry, and I'm sitting right here. You guys can't see me, but my knee fits in my armpit when I'm like, you know, my feet are up on the chair and I can fit it because that is, by nature were designed to fit ourselves in this way. This is sacred geometry. I can have a hand fit an elbow in another hand, fit and elbow and bring my arms over my head and make a frame for my head. And that's like us opening up the windows to our lungs. But you're also setting up like a good framework for you to do that, so eventually you're working joint space, and I'm really particular about like two fists between the interactions of your feet will fit nice and snug. Take this measure and it doesn't mean that every time it's exactly exactly perfect, but it gives people a framework instead of just saying, Take your take your feet, hip distance apart. Some people can be as wide as the mat. Some people, their feet, are like an inch apart. So you're giving them a measure in a boundary so that it's like really them refining the way that they're holding themselves up. So then if there pigeon toed, they can, you know, get out of that. And they can stop having like back problems or if their feet go really wide and you know a lot of people have back injuries are just back problems in general. So it's like we do these poses and it's conscious repetition because it gives us insight. It gives our bodies insight, toe like refine the way that we're holding it together so we don't have to hold it together anymore. We can, like, be alive in our bodies like that. You know, the metaphor of, like just holding it together like That's not what I I want to do. And my hope is that, you know, I can teach people to, like, live more joyfully in their body.

spk_0:   34:40
What about the yoga sutras? Does Katonah yoga incorporate that at all?

spk_1:   34:45
So it's funny, not well right now, they don't There's not like an actual 200 hour can Tonio training right? You have to already be a yoga teacher to then become a paternity so strange, Like everybody that's teaching. Cantona already has a 200 hour, and then this is kind of like it's like grassroots, like you take a workshop here and you get 30 hours and it adds up to 200. So there, you know I'm trained, but I don't like I have a certification from Antonio, but it's not a Yoga alliance certification just to clear that with everybody. So, no, we don't go into that because that stuff that, like we're already coming to with that knowledge so that I can apply that to the theory of Katonah as well, because we're not saying like, don't also know all these other things about the practice of yoga. But for me, like using the philosophy off more of the Chinese theory and Tao is, um, it makes it more relatable to people. It makes it more like it's not dogmatic, right? It's not like, you know, some people aren't Buddhists, you know, some people are. It's like where you coming from like, What do you relate to? It's just something that for me it was easy to relate to it because it's all like mediating what is in the middle, bringing you back to the center. The moment

spk_0:   36:08
and that's the main thing that I'm hearing from you is it's very much about finding your center. But then also the use of all the props of boundaries and then that sacred geometry. Is there something that I'm missing that people should know about when it comes to Katonah? Yoga?

spk_1:   36:26
Honestly, I say Go try a class right And there's all there's like so many. Resource is if you're in a city so you can look up to Tony yoga dot com. I think it's dot com, but they have a list of all the teachers in places you could go to within your city. But there's also like the studio on, and they have a link to that on their side as well. They have classes on their website now, so you can pay for, like, a month, the membership and try it because for me, it's really hard to fully put in towards cause I could go. I could talk to you for days. What could tell your guys in the theory and what we do? But I feel like it's just like you have to do it. Try it. Get embodied. Embody it.

spk_0:   37:06
What do you think about a

spk_1:   37:07
stronger yoga? So I actually practiced this jungle for a long time, and I think it's a good framework for people, too. And there's really good a stronger teachers. But it's one of these practices that is meant to be done six days a week in the morning. You know, you get up, it's called my sore and you get up and you show up between five and 6 a.m. And you do a practice that either lasts an hour or two or some people. It's like two and 1/2 depending on what level they get, too. So if like, and it's actually attracts a lot of people that have, like, um, you know, overcome addiction, which I think is really beautiful, like I have a lot of I know a lot of people that have gone through a A and it kind of gave them this like structure to really, like, do something that was getting them out of, like, a bad habit, right? And I think it's like such a beautiful And that's not just to say that, like, you have to be going through it to do it. Some people really like in need to be kicked in the butt, you know? And I was younger when I was doing it, and it was like what my body craved and wanted. But also, it can't just like anything else. It can be done in a way that you're gonna injure yourself. So it's for me. It's like, don't just do one thing, do a lot of things so that you get that information of, like, How am I actually in to try to Rhonda and I'm not gonna blow out my shoulder? And how am I not gonna back then too far and injure my back? It's just like anything, like, find a good teacher, Try it. You know, I don't do one thing. I do a lot of things so and I study a lot of different things, right? Like I lied to 100 our trainings. I'm about to lead a 300 hour training this spring, so if you're listening and you want to do it, you should do it. But so I love all the other theories of yoga, and I've practiced with so many amazing a stronger teachers like Richard Freeman, who's based out in Colorado. He is on yoga Glow. I think you could take his classes online, but he's he's amazingc. And you can also do everything right. Like you can do a stronger and take a Katonah yoga class and do this and do that. Who are other teachers that you're inspired by? I'm inspired so many teachers right now. I mean, I'm always gonna give credit to Levin because she's just another. On another level, Matt sip in. He actually is amazing. He is based out in L. A. He is doing a lot of stuff with, like mobility work and Vin Jassi, yoga and Antonio. He's not officially Antonio Train, but he's done a lot of Antonio good trainings. He actually just took my workshop when I went out in L a was there a couple weeks ago, and I taught a Antonio workshop. But he's actually leading a weekend in my 300 hour, and I believe it's this summer I'll have toe. If you're interested in going, you should check the site because he it's actually gonna be open to other people to come and take his teachings, cause he's incorporating just like smart movements, which Mira she teaches at the space. She is doing very similar things. So we have a class called Mobility Flo and she It's like she does a lot of cottony yoga stuff that she's learned through me and other teachers, that she's practiced with that teacher Tony Yoga. But she's also taking her certification that she's gotten in that realm. I don't know what it's called FRC or something like this, but it's for me. It's very important to use resistance bands to use that kind of do that kind of movement in your body because for me it it's challenging. But it's like getting an oil change right. It's like there's so many things that are lacking in the yoga community that we really need. So I do like every week I'm taking your class that has, like, resistance bands in it and this kind of stuff that isn't necessarily yoga, but like I know that my body feels better when I do that. So Matt is one Mira that teaches at the space she Every time I take a class on the girl, you are amazing who else? Day GIs and haven't practiced with her in a while, unfortunately, because she moved to Europe. But she is like, I would say, a senior cottony yoga teacher. And it's just the way that she has this language that the words just flow out of her mouth. And she says things so beautifully and so matter of fact, Lee and holds such a safe place for people that I It's like a joy every time I get to practice with her. So she's another one. But honestly, I have so many like there's so many good teachers out there. I just encourage people like Go take so many different things. Go. Do you know if you're curious about something, do it.

spk_0:   41:50
If someone was interested in a 200 our destination training, where would you send them? Well, I don't know. It just depends on, like, what do you? Because, you know, you don't have to just

spk_1:   42:03
do 1 200 our training and that's it.

spk_0:   42:06
But like their 1st 1 like they were starting,

spk_1:   42:14
I would just say, Where do you want to go for two weeks?

spk_0:   42:17
Like because I don't know how they're structured anymore. I don't know if it's

spk_1:   42:20
like you could go for a week and then another week. I really just encouraged because, honestly, you're going to get a different experience out of doing a destination one like that. So maybe it's not you going because it's hard for people to get away for that long. Like I've always been in a position where I've been my own boss since I can remember that I could be like, Okay, I'm closing out my books at the salon. I'm leaving Bye. It's not that easy for people. I think so. Maybe it's just you go take a yoga retreat for a week, and then you do a 200 in town where you can. It's just open source, like there's so many things happening out there. It's like do a deep dive. What excites you know that it's not the only thing you need to do you could do 5 200 I have, like, 3 200 Our training's under my belt and 500 hour training in my done learning. Hell, no.

spk_0:   43:08
You don't feel like

spk_1:   43:08
I'm going to keep going and I'm gonna keep learning. But it's by way of me doing that research. Like I just think like people need to research and do what excites them.

spk_0:   43:18
I love that. Let's talk about breath work. Yeah, not meditation. E. I love both. Talk to me about your journey. Um, breath

spk_1:   43:30
work as I take a deep breath for me, I got where did I get exposed? I feel like it was really cute, Tonio, because a lot of what we do in Katonah is prana yama, You know, either they have actual just Prada yama classes where it's all pronto yama or it's like a beginning or the end, which is by doing that, it just me embodying that I was like this just makes me feel alive in my body in my breath. Right? So it was through Katonah yoga that I really got opened. It opened my eyes to it, but also kundalini So when I was out in Hawaii years ago, um, I was staying in Hana. I don't know if you guys know it's called, like the road to Hana. Have you heard of that?

spk_0:   44:21
Yeah, I was just in Hawaii. Yeah, it's trip. Where in Hana Worry. Uh,

spk_1:   44:26
so my cousin Angel who I love you she were born on the same day. So we're twin cousins, like, same

spk_0:   44:32
day, same year. So we literally grew up

spk_1:   44:34
thinking we were actual twins.

spk_0:   44:36
I am, really? Was, as I tell people that So she lives in

spk_1:   44:39
Hawaii and she was living up in Hana, so I stayed at where she was staying. But we were in, like, yurts right on this, like cliff overlooking, Like, I would get up and do, like, what? Morning meditations and watched whales. It was just like it was insane. But anyways, when I was there for a few weeks, the only yoga that was available to us up there Waas, kundalini yoga, which I hate it. At first I was like, This is hard. What we're doing is you're just like sitting and you're doing these things called Korea, and I don't wanna keep go into that whole world because it would take a while to explain what that is. But a lot of it is breath work, so it was like the way I felt afterwards. I was like, Oh, I feel great. I feel alive like there's air in my tires I can think more clearly on the weight. It's like if you do three minutes of breath of fire in the afternoon, it's like taking a shot of espresso, right? In a way, it's not gonna give you a crash afterwards, like there's just like all these tools that you can use within your body. So for me, that was like, fascinating. So a big part of what I do on don't tell you everything that I do believe in the morning for about 1/2 hour, I'm pretty much doing like pronto mama. That's kind of like my morning practice till they get me going, get me in my body and it's just like what I've found. That works and I I love it so a lot of times, if you come and take my class, we're starting with a least some breath work and ending with breath work because I have felt an experience. The benefit of breath work

spk_0:   46:13
Your morning Kanayama. Are you doing specific counts? Inhale. Exhale. There knows mile that. What does that look like? Yeah, right now I'm

spk_1:   46:22
actually doing It's actually a kundalini Korea, and it lasts for about 1/2 hour. But this is I go through these like, 40 day things. So for 40 days, I'll do the same thing, and then I'll switch it up because it gets me, like, build that mo mentum, right? But so a lot of the practice of the what Katonah Yoga has done in the teachers that teach the breath work is we've taken the theory and put it into some kundalini techniques, right? So we might just be sitting and we'll do something that's called breath of the Seasons, where we use our imagination. So in your seat you would inhale and imagine the breath is rising from the seat to the crown of your head. It's moving north. Pause at the top. Hold. Exhale down the front of your body. It's moving down. Posit the bottom. Hold its breath with the seasons because you imagine inhale. Everything rises. It's spring pause for summer, something ripens like an idea ripens exhale for fall. It descends a positive bottom for winter. You go in and insight. So there's all these like things that we do with the imagination. It's called a rap, right? So the idea is, by way of you wrapping yourself with your breath. With your imagination, you become well contained. And the more that you do these raps, you then can learn to wrap from the left hip to the right shoulders. You cross reference right, because any time you're working with anything, you're always cross referencing yourself. Where am I going? Where am I headed? Where have I been? So there's all these different techniques that we can do that air so simple that get you to like the more you rap like a ball of yarn. You don't wrap it one way it's gonna unravel. You wrap it up to down, left to right, right to left, you know, cross in the centre. So that's the idea that Vivien took this, and it's like wrap yourself up like a ball of yarn so that you don't unravel like how well contained can you be not just in the body but in the mind and she says this. It's like the last thing we would do in life is losing her mind, right? We

spk_0:   48:13
don't have an amazing body, and

spk_1:   48:15
then your mind go. So there are these things like, you know, you play cards with your family, you're gonna work your brain like crossword puzzles. I don't do them. I wish I did. I'm horrible at them. But my grandma, she's 93. I think she doesn't crossword every day. And she read

spk_0:   48:29
what she reads like a book a day.

spk_1:   48:31
And she's so like with it. And she's still, like, sarcastic, and we played cards together. I want to be and I won't have my mind. I don't wanna lose my mind. And it's not to say that, like if you do this practice, you will not get Alzheimer's or whatever like theirs. It's not that, but it's the idea of like, how can you train your mind better

spk_0:   48:50
if someone only had two minutes and they wanted to be in a relaxed state, so not necessary breath of fire, since I know that's very energizing. As you said. What breath work practice

spk_1:   49:01
would you recommend for two minutes for two minutes. I mean, there's so many, but a simple one, because I feel like he's listening. I just want something to start out, one that's like super simple and calming for me is just have your hands on your palms facing down. Close your eyes as you inhale. Flip your palms up as you exhale. Flip your palms down and then start to add to it in hell. Palms flip up. Hold the breath. Pause. Exhale palms down, posit the bottom and then inhale palms up. Hold the breath. Take another inhale hold to keep adding to it. Depending on how long you're sitting right, you might take like five inhales. Exhale five exhales right. You take like you're going for like empty, empty, empty and then full full full so for two minutes changes your neurology like you can literally like. Get over something also. What I love is if people have two minutes in the day, go to the bathroom at your job. Or if you have a job where you're like by yourself or it doesn't matter. If you take a forward full, they do a standing forward fold. Put your butt at the wall, give yourself a boundary Fold Ben journeyed so that your belly connects to your thighs. You fit yourselves. You're hinging from the joint instead of taxing your back and literally just like get over yourself like get over what is going on like And it flips. You know your head is lower than your heart. So it's an inversion and, you know, take a few breaths and then come out of it and

spk_0:   50:28
I love you. Everyone go to the bathroom right after I would take, like,

spk_1:   50:33
forward fold breaks. I'll be right back, and I would go in between flash and forward fold and for a few minutes and then come back and like, feel energized

spk_0:   50:42
and just hang. I love that idea. Done. What about some other resource? Is whether that's books, maybe even favorite artists or music that you like that relate to yoga breath work, anything that you can give to people listening. So I would say, if you want to know

spk_1:   51:01
more about cottony yoga, go to their website, which is cottony yoga dot com. There's so many like links that they have where you can buy books, you know they have a shop online, a lot of the books that they sell. I've read in love, so go there for those. One of my favorite books is women who run with the Wolves and that, to me, is like It's funny because for a long time I was like only reading philosophy and like, esoteric things. And my teacher was like, Get out of your head like some like So I just open my mind like women who rumbles like a bunch of like, short stories and they're kind of like fairy tales in a way, but like ancient one, so they're just super interesting, and it just like I love reading it. So I've read it a ton of times, but it's one of those things, like sits on my coffee table and you can pick up and, like, read a few pages in the morning. And it's just like such a nice read, and every time you read it, it's gonna be a different message. S O for me. I love that kind of thing. It's like, Where do you go too much. Where do you not go? Enough like I was not going to the world of like I was like two in my depths for a long time. So I think, you know, philosophy is great and I do read a lot of it. But I also you know, no one. It's timeto like Get out of the deep end.

spk_0:   52:27
Oh my gosh, it's so funny that you say that because I have that book. Have you read it? I've tried. Oh my God, it's so funny because similar to what you were saying, I literally only read self help. Basically, I'm like, so obsessed with that. I'm also like they want to read other things, but I feel like my mind is so still in that place of self help language that it it's been hard for me to read that book because it is very imaginative, uses a different part of rain. I'm like, I'm not following the story.

spk_1:   53:01
We'll hear something about me. I have, like, five books that I read it a time right. So it's like, What time of day for me like that is nice when you're like sipping on your coffee in the morning and you have, like, a moment when it's quiet and you can just like I don't like to start my day with, like hearing somebody else's thoughts and opinions. So for me, I'm I used to listen to a podcast right when I woke up. I don't do that like I save that for the afternoon for later because I want to be with my own like what do I want, not have that like, what does somebody else want? And also so I think I mean, trust me. I listen to my fair share of podcasts, but I also limit the ones that how often I listen to them, because I think that you could get so much into, like what other people think that it's you like what I think anymore. Like, what is my thought? What do I want to dio? Because there's too much. There's just too much right now. There's so many podcasts. There's so many books. There's another, you know, thought leader influencer. It's like, Who are you? What are you doing to influence yourself before you're trying to influence somebody else? Oh my God! So I just love like I always started out my daily It's me like my phone. I log out of Instagram before I go to bed. I don't open it up until hours after I'm awake. Like I am not getting that. What are people doing? Otherwise I'm gonna be an ink like I'm going to start off my day like anxious whether I know what or not like subconsciously, it's like, Oh, look what you know. It's like there's just so many things to see. It's like limit

spk_0:   54:34
that. Oh, absolutely. For awhile I actually created a separate INSTAGRAM account, and I only followed five people I'm like, I only want to hear from five people that I do want to be influenced by. And that's it. Yeah, And trust

spk_1:   54:51
me like, you know, Instagram is valid, such a nice tool and like I get really inspired by people there, too. But, like I'm also like not going to people's pages just really compare myself. I'm going to be like, Oh, like this isn't look cool like That's awesome. Great. Also, another thing I got into the past couple of years because I was so in the world of like the quote unquote self help. Oh my God, how can I did it. I started listening. Thio, stand up comedians that have podcasts and there I love it so much. So I have, like, three that I that I go on like I rotate between because they're just fucking hilarious. Maybe in the middle of the day, like I just need to, like, last. Like, I'll put on one of their podcast and I'll just crack up and it's not them. Like doing stand up. It's them, just like you know, the podcast. But also, from then I've gone on to, like, go see them at the funny bone when they come in. So it's just like, cool. Like making it a point to, like, go and like, watch stand up comedy sometimes. Like go to a fucking concert. Go watch live jazz like don't stay

spk_0:   55:56
like the world of, like self help forever because it's like Jesus, you know, My God, let's get out of it. Yes, I go back in it, but, like, just moved way,

spk_1:   56:07
you know, because otherwise it's like, What are you doing? Like you're

spk_0:   56:10
fine. Yeah. Oh my gosh, I'm seriously cracking up because that is a goal that's self help language. But that's something that I've been doing a lot more to is watching comedy because I don't own a TV so I like literally. Don't watch any TV. I don't want any Netflix, but I'm like, You know what? I want the laugh more and I feel like I do laugh a lot like with friends and stuff like that. But I'm like, What else can I do? Tow laugh? And someone recommended him like, Oh, it's so hilarious

spk_1:   56:45
rushing, I recommend. Go Like what? Because you have been Chicago, there's Oh my God, there's so many good places to go in Chicago,

spk_0:   56:52
I stand

spk_1:   56:53
up and it's so different when you go and see it It's the best time ever

spk_0:   56:57
You're gonna die though, because I went on my first comedy show, like two weeks ago. It was not good I like is my humor bad? But I went with my boyfriend because he had been to like a lot of comedies like Oh, I'm so Pumped that you want to go to a comedy show now and I'm like, Is this fun? He was half time her intermission or whatever they call it, and he was like, Do you wanna Li like This is Well, they work that, too,

spk_1:   57:22
because there's good and bad everything

spk_0:   57:24
right. I only go to the people that I actually know we're funny. I I'm not just like, Oh, let's go to, You know, funny bone on a Saturday night. I only like buy tickets of the people. I know that. So

spk_1:   57:35
there's that, too. Just like there's good in bed. Italian

spk_0:   57:39
restaurants in yoga studio tea. Yeah, to you.

spk_1:   57:42
It's like other people. They think it's funny ever. So don't let that

spk_0:   57:47
stop you from my favorite. Yes, please. Okay, let's end with an instagram question. Since we're kind of on that topic, I love your instagram. I feel like you're really intentional with posting to which I really like, Like you don't post that much. But when you do, it's long form captions, and it's always really thought provoking. So thank you for that. Have you always had a good relationship with instagram? Hell, no. Hell, no. Tell me, Mar,

spk_1:   58:16
I So first I started my friend Brian Foster. If he's listening, I used to do here with him, you know, he was like, have you seen this new app? I was always the last person to get on everything right. My friends were like, Are you going to get a damn Facebook already. It was like years after him. Like I think that

spk_0:   58:32
that that is just the weirdest thing to me. Like, I don't want people knowing what I do like, I don't need to tell

spk_1:   58:36
people what I'm doing. I was the last of my friends to get Facebook. Wow. I was the last of my friends to get Instagram because I was just like, what is this shit? Like I never know about, like, the APs and stuff. But he was like, Well, look, you can like post photos and was like, Oh, photos. I love that. When I first started, it was just me, like, literally how instagram used to be. It was like, Here's a picture of my

spk_0:   58:55
talk And so that was fun. Until then I

spk_1:   58:58
opened, I realized like, Oh, it's a marketing tool. So I opened. Thank and I used it in it. I mean, I think that I from the outsiders, you know, it's like I was like, posting quotes and like any more, I'm like, Oh my God, I wanna barf like the idea of me you like, and I get it like that. It just it worked, but also It was just like

spk_0:   59:21
I'm trying to post less of,

spk_1:   59:23
like other people's words. It's like I I'm trying to challenge myself that when I post, it's my own thought, right? So there's that. So for a long time it was just like me, like posting quote because I knew that they would get it likes and people would see

spk_0:   59:40
it and it was just kind of like, You gotta play the game a little bit because

spk_1:   59:43
I was promoting a yoga studio and I would also like caption underneath it and stuff. But like, I mean, honestly, it's just you spend a lot of I feel like I wasted a lot of time on it before you know where I try not to do that now, Um, but I think that I would like to get back Thio Just, you know, instead of posting like this curated photo shoot photo of me, I've had this, like want to get back to, like, just Here's a random photo that I literally just took in the years of thought that I just had e think that it's like a challenge that I'm wanting to do for myself, because anymore it's like It's boring to me now. Like when I go to Instagram, it bores me so but some people don't like. I have people that I follow. They're just doing like it's, like, thought provoking. They posted thing, and then they say a thing. And I'm like, Wow, I want I want to know what you have to say. So for me, it's like you could only see so many beautiful photos of people. It's like, OK, that's great. But it's also like, Okay, now what? You know what else is there?

spk_0:   1:0:50
So I'm not saying,

spk_1:   1:0:51
like, don't do that just for me. I'm I'm less interested in that side of it anymore. Yeah, since yes. So trust me like I get bored of my own stuff. I'm like, Okay, what are you doing?

spk_0:   1:1:06
One instagram that really spoke to me was when you talk about the misconception of the term self love, I love for you to speak on that. Yeah. What? What about that post? So I had a quote that I put out that I really like. And you honestly kind of talked about it when he talked about how Antonio Go really is focusing on that center but the sentence that I loved Waas self love is the ability to know what I need in each moment to maintain myself. And it's a constant practice. Yeah,

spk_1:   1:1:40
because you know self love. Like, where do you turn now and you're not seeing that word or like hearing it right and it's everything. It's It's not one thing. It's everything. It's knowing when you need to chill and take a bath, you know? But I can't tell you how many people buy me like bath salts and stuff and like battle of Artist. And I'm like, Thank you, everyone. But like, you know, I don't know. It's like, um, I don't just like take baths all day long, you know? It's like you got to do the work. So I think Okay, this isn't Katonah yoga analogy, but like our body is a vehicle, right? It is where it is, how we get to one place to the next. It's how we get to where we're going and where we went ahead and it has to be maintained, right? So some days you have to, like, know to put air in your tires, which every day you need air in your tyres. It's Prada Yama, right? You need to know like put gas in your tank like you need to be able to, like, get somewhere right. You need to learn how to drive. You need to know that you need to see what's in front of you and what's behind you. What's to the left? What's there? I have to use all the mirrors. You have to like know how to do that. And you know, sometimes your car breaks down, you have to get fixed. But then once you do all those things and it's like well maintained, you can go on a joyride, right? You can like, just go drive because you want to drive. But it's a nice day and you want to listen to your music really loud and, you know, roll down the windows and get fresh air and then, like, pick up your friend that you love and you can talk Thio and they enjoy the same music as you do. You know, it's like it's just like this. It's everything. So self love to me is like okay, but like, do you need to stop in like, get an oil change? like you. You know, you can only take that joyride for so long. And then you got to stop and get gas, you know, or else you're gonna run out of gas or you can only, like, work so hard. Um, because some days it's about, like, doing the work. But then it's about, like, knowing when to, like, take a quick break and, like, listen to some comedy or take a forward fold like it's just I think that it's not just about like, you know, getting a facial and you know that side of things. It's not about that, like self pity, you know, like, what was me? And I'm not saying that people think that it's just I think that it has this, like, misconception of like, what does it mean to truly practice self love? And I think it's just like understanding where you're at in every season that you're in and, like meeting yourself in that place. Like if you just had a newborn like be kind to yourself that you can't do the things you once we're able to dio If you just opened, you know, newborn quote unquote knew anything like if you open up a business kind of like you're burning something like, you need to understand that, like that doesn't last forever, right? A newborn's only a newborn for someone, and it's hard, and then you like, get through that wave and then you can, like, you know, relax a little bit, and then something else is gonna come up there like an ordinary teenager, and it's gonna be hard, like it's just like understanding that, like the were just like living. We're just like living and our bodies having a human experience. And there's always gonna be these, like waves that come and go. But like can you have enough like tenacity toe like not get knocked down, right? So a lot of the practices in your mind becoming more dimensional, right in the body, becoming more dimensional so that when you breathe your breathing forward back left, right, so that, metaphorically speaking, if you get pushed down, come bounce back instead of just fall flat. So for me, it's like, How can I be more dimensional? How can I meet myself where I'm at the honest with myself but not like be shitty to myself? You

spk_0:   1:5:28
know, Do you have a journaling practice. You know, I don't I write a lot like I have, so

spk_1:   1:5:35
I always have. Like, it's funny sometimes when I teach workshops and I don't say bring a journal Like what? Everybody doesn't just walk around with a jerk

spk_0:   1:5:43
like I always have, like three journals like I love jazz

spk_1:   1:5:46
like you wouldn't believe, because I'm always either, like taking notes or like If I have an idea, I jot it down. Mine isn't like gum, you know, like I feel

spk_0:   1:5:57
this way. It's less about that. It's about

spk_1:   1:5:59
like inspiration I get are just ideas like and then I just riff off of it. And some days it goes on for longer in some days not, but I always have it with me. What are you working on right now? Oh my gosh, so many things Tell me I'm working on a manual that I've been wanting Thio crear on time. So yeah, it's actually funny. I have about like, 40 journals that I've been going through and putting post it notes on and taking notes of where it's gonna go in this manual, and I'll share more like what that is soon. But it'll be, it'll relate to the practice and like the theory of the practice. So I'm excited. What about internally? Oh, what am I working on internally? You know, there's some habits that I've realized that you get rid of one bad habit. In a lot of times, you pick up another habit that you it's like you just got rid of this But then you turned it into this. So it's like, I'm realizing these things that I've done that I've just turned it into another bad habit. So I'm trying to really kick certain habits that I have aren't serving me, But it's cool because I'm like witnessing it and I notice it now, so it like makes it easier. But I'm definitely working on that process of like, you know, it's like you can say that you're practicing yoga, and that's good. But how are you practicing it right? It's like it could look like it's not a bad habit, but really, it is so that's my work. Great.

spk_0:   1:7:51
I love that so much. Let's end on some rapid fire personal questions. Oh, get all right. One word to describe yourself. Uh, honest. What's your favorite yoga pose. Lotus Variations book. Every charge girl should

spk_1:   1:8:15
read the War of Art.

spk_0:   1:8:18
I love that book. Yes. Favorite restaurant in Columbus, North Star. I'm just a sucker. I've been here two days and Ivy's can't two days. It's so good. I

spk_1:   1:8:33
just Yeah, I go. There are

spk_0:   1:8:35
three staples in your pantry. Tahini G apples. They ripped morning beverage. Oh, absolutely. Favorite morning beverage. Um, bulletproof coffee. Oh, what you put in it? Is it just the NTT? Actually,

spk_1:   1:8:55
don't use them, actually use G and then just coffee. And I put right now I've been using this layered Hamilton is that it's like super food blend. It's like the tumor coffee. One is the tumeric for putting in your coffee,

spk_0:   1:9:11
and that actually does have

spk_1:   1:9:12
coconut oil in it, I think. Okay, I'm wrong. So I blend that altogether

spk_0:   1:9:16
young, uh, invited mix. Oh, my gosh. And then do you fast. Then I I don't do like I don't do the whole, you know. Yeah. You just love your bullet proofs. Yeah, and a Me too. The mill you'd like to meet.

spk_1:   1:9:37
I'm just gonna say Beyonce, you know who doesn't want everyone say Beyonce? Yeah,

spk_0:   1:9:42
What frustrates you in the yoga space. Well, if I'm frustrated any coach face, I really don't want to be there, so I don't know. I don't know what frustrates me. Yeah, like

spk_1:   1:9:59
if I'm frustrated, that frustrates me. I don't think you know, should you should have enough tools to not let yourself get

spk_0:   1:10:06
frustrated. Doesn't make sense. Like I

spk_1:   1:10:10
think that there's places forever for everything. Like some places have mirrors. Do I, You know, do I know. But like I'm not I don't know. Do you see what I'm saying? I

spk_0:   1:10:19
don't know. I'll tell you what frustrates me in the face. This happened this morning. I went to Ashtanga Mysore, and the instructor did not adjust me. I'm like, I'm paying for my sore, which is literally for adjustment. She just sat there the entire time. I'm not gonna name the studio, but I'm like that fresh Amy. And it was so it was a great practice for me, though, because I was so upset. I'm like, what? But I'm like, All right, well, this is my practice. Yeah, get over it and do your practice. You're in a studio rather than doing it in a hotel room. but that fresh

spk_1:   1:10:58
aid me. We'll also like anymore. I'm so particular of like If I go and take a class, it's like, I know that like, I really valued teacher that I'm going to So I really don't. It's like, hard for me to get frustrated in the yoga class anymore because of the fact that I

spk_0:   1:11:11
limit. Like what I'm doing doesn't make sense. Totally. What is your next

spk_1:   1:11:17
adventure? Um, we'll say this. I'm leading a retreat in Greece this summer.

spk_0:   1:11:23
I literally saw that yesterday, which I want to go. It's during my birthday.

spk_1:   1:11:30
Um, me and Megan. She is amazing. She's another Antonio, a teacher. She owns a studio in Denver called the KUNA. They should go. Is it done leading? And she's so much fun. She's amazing, and I've never been degrees so

spk_0:   1:11:46
totally awesome. We'll definitely get up in the show notes. If you guys are interested. What has been your greatest lesson on friendship?

spk_1:   1:11:56
Like, you know, check in with people like that, like No, I just, like, really value the friendships that I have.

spk_0:   1:12:04
Greatest lesson on spirituality.

spk_1:   1:12:07
Um, you know, anything can be like a spiritually experience like hike. There's always more like hiking, you know, go for a hike. Get in nature. Last question. What does being hashtag in charge mean? Thio being in your five like your hands are on the steering wheel, You know where you're going. You're not in the driver's seat. Like, have your vision keep looking forward and know that it's like it's going to take stamina. It's gonna take tenacity and like, embodiment. But you got this.

spk_0:   1:12:44
Thank you so much. This was so much fun. Where can girls learn more about you? My and

spk_1:   1:12:52
my personal instagram is Josi Schweitzer. The space is the space Columbus. That's the studio I own here in Columbus. And that's pretty much I mean, the space columbus dot com is the website.

spk_0:   1:13:03
And then you said your next event Would that be the TT Or is there Are there any other events going on?

spk_1:   1:13:10
I'm leaving the 300 our teacher training. I'm leading a retreat slash training in Bedford Hills, New York, this summer at the Katona Yoga Studio, where Naveen owns it and she'll actually be making an appearance there. I'm leaving that with another teacher. He is based in Colorado. His name is Ari. So we're co leading that. That's this summer as well. That's before the grease retreat. But all those things were on my website.

spk_0:   1:13:37
Perfect. Yeah, so? Well, thank you. You've inspired me so much. And I'm gonna do my Katonah yoga research Well, right after this podcast

spk_1:   1:13:46
Super. And we were talking before the You know, the podcast started about like, what you're doing is incredible. So thank you for honestly creating what you've created. It's incredible. I've seen it grow in the past years because I've taught a

spk_0:   1:13:58
charge that one. Thank you guys for listening. I would talk to you next week by the charge girls. Good morning. Yes, I'm talking to you. Was time to get charged up Because this day is new This guy says hi. Hands bluer than blue With the sun shining and all the birds chirping to two day is the best day to be alive The miracles appear once you open up your eyes Surprise time to keep living the dream So get up and join the rest of your charge. Teen, huh?