Episode 4: Transform Your Body by Listening to It | Bry Zaragoza | Movement & Mobility Specialist

Mar 13

Most of us think about movement in terms of workouts, sports, or dance classes. But Bry Zaragoza sees it differently. As a movement and mobility specialist, she helps people understand how their bodies are designed to move & how to move for life. From years as a dancer to working with clients of all ages, Bry has learned that small, intentional changes can prevent injury, improve performance, and make you feel more at home in your own skin. This conversation explores how to build a better relationship with your body, why mobility matters more than you think, and the simple shifts you can start making today.

“As a human we need experience in order to grow and appreciate life. If you don’t have enough struggle you create it to be able to experience and learn those lessons. From some of the most traumatic stories that I’ve heard come some of the greatest humans I know.”

— Bry Zaragoza

Joe Manganiello
Coachell a
True Bl o od
Joe Ro gan
Honey H oney (band)
Ice House
Lon g Beach
Mar ilyn McDowell School o f Danc e
Ball et
Nutcrack er Ballet
Dance Moms
Wilson High School Long Beach
Canada
Celtic Tiger by Mi chael Flatley
M ichael Flatl ey
Honda Cen te r
Iri sh Da ncer
UK
Ch ina
Ho ng Kong
Ru ssia
Eat ing Diso rders
Yoga
Bear Dance Company
Nate Hodges
RhetOrac le Dance Compan y
Swan Lake
University Reno N evada
California State Uni versity Lo ng Bea ch
Dr. Justin
Pe rsonal Trainer
P hysical Therapy
Mobility & Mov ement
S unspar k Yoga Stu dio
Pi lates
24 Hou r Fitness
Gym Fail
Joints
Tissue
Lora Bleijenbe rg - see Lora’s Podcast Episode
R ecovery
Cross Train ing
On Th e Ball Fitness
Sho reline V illage L ong Beach
MCT Oil
Yoga Sutras
Sanskrit
The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seekers Guide to Extraordinary Living Stephen Cope
Maslow ’s Hierarch y of Needs
Scythe by Neal Shusterman:
Yin & Yang
Wha t’s in the Way is the Pa th
“Wha t you resist persi sts” Carl Jung:
S MR - M ild Re lease
FRC - Functi onal Release
Biomec hanics
Fascia
Chronic Pain Netf lix Doc
Neil Degra sse Tyson
Harry Potter:
Dr. Beau Hightower
Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Rethinking movement and mobility
01:20 Bry’s journey from dancer to mobility specialist
03:15 What most people get wrong about stretching
05:00 How small changes can prevent big injuries
07:10 Building strength through better movement patterns
09:20 Why mobility is essential for everyday life
11:00 Working with clients of all ages and abilities
13:15 The role of posture in long-term health
15:30 Common movement mistakes and how to fix them
17:20 Training for longevity, not just performance
19:00 How to listen to what your body is telling you
21:15 Movement habits that pay off for decades
23:00 Why rest and recovery are part of mobility training
25:00 Bry’s advice for moving better starting today
Well, as a human, we need experience in order to grow and appreciate. And I think that if you don't have enough struggle, you, you create it to be able to experience and learn those lessons. Growth potential. Well, I would never say it's impossible, but it could be so hard compared to most people's experience from some of the most traumatic stories that I've heard come the greatest humans that I know.
That's Bry
Zaragoza and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. These are people that inspire me and remind me that everything is possible. I hope that you will be left, entertained, inspired, and moved to take action towards living your most powerful life.
Bry Zaragoza is the mobility and movement specialist certified yoga teacher. Personal trainer and dancer from Long Beach, California. She began dancing at age two, teaching dance classes at 16, danced internationally on tour with a Celtic tiger by a Michael Flatley show, and found her dance home in the rhetorical dance company after years of sacrificing her body for her love of dance and searching for a new way to repair herself, b Bry went on a path of personal training to discover her new passion for guiding people to find balance in their bodies and their life.
In this episode, she talks about what it was like to be a professional dancer, how she found her way into personal training, and how her views of what you can do with your body and how you can take care of it have evolved. Bry is hands down, one of my favorite humans and best friends, and I'm so excited that she was a yes to being on the podcast.
All the work she's done to have expertise in body movement and the connection between your physical pain and hidden emotional pain and really going down the path to look at someone. From a 360 perspective to help them live their best life is what I find so fascinating about her work and methodology.
When you go to Bry with a problem about your personal fitness or a body injury or pain, she really does start by looking at all the different parameters to find out what's going on. It's so refreshing to have a specialist look, not just to solve the acute issue, but want to solve the root cause in addition to being great at what she does.
She's a great wife, friend, dog. Mom de Paco. Super fun and all around, amazing, loyal person. I'm really excited for you guys to meet her, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on what you got from this episode. All that's coming up shortly. First, the Powerful Ladies Podcast is brought to you by Boldly Fine.
Boldly Fine is a small but mighty design and development agency based in Los Angeles, specializing in website design, brand development, e-commerce, and bringing big ideas from awesome people to life. For a 20% Squarespace discount or a free design consultation, visit boldly fine.com. Boldly fine is who is the creative minds behind that?
The Powerful Ladies website redesign, and I cannot be happier with choosing them to help us transform powerful ladies from the website that I designed on myself to the beautiful, awesome website that we have today. I cannot recommend them enough.
Joe Magella or Manganelli from, uh, magic Mike. Married.
Yeah. And Trueblood that he is tall and big and brought, and I met him at Coachella and he gave me a hug. One of the best starstruck moments I've ever had. Yes. Oh my goodness. Yeah, I just recently brought that picture out. I found it on my phone and I was showing somebody, I was like, this guy. Mm-hmm. He was so nice.
He's very, he's so, so nice. He, he sat in this chair. He sat in this chair just this past week. I wanna have that mic.
Alright, so we've clearly already started this podcast, so how about we
just let everyone know who you are. Introduce yourself. I am Bry Zaragoza and I am a movement specialist and personal trainer. Um, yeah.
One of my favorite humans on the planet.
Aw.
Yeah. Thank you. No, I'm so excited you're here. 'cause like you think about who you want in your podcast and you always want your favorite people that you naturally have amazing conversations with.
And so I'm like, yes. And I'm so excited that you're a first in studio guest. I'm excited too, but yeah, a little nervous. That's okay. That's okay. You're gonna be doing great. So obviously we were just talking about Coachella and Mr. I'm gonna mess it up. What's the right name? I think it's, it's Joe Magella or Manganelli.
I mean, he's amazing. Uh, he actually would fit perfectly into the Zara GSA clan. I think he would just be like the fifth Zaragoza brother who are the family that you've married into that are amazing. Um, but you met him at Coachella?
I did, yeah. So it was, gosh, maybe 2000. 15 or so. And, uh, I was with a group of friends and nobody watched True Blood except me.
Mm-hmm. And he was just walking and I saw him and I turned around and usually, um, I'm, I'm not the kind of person that gets very starstruck, but he was my favorite character on the show because he is pretty dreamy.
Mm-hmm.
And, um, he was also a werewolf, by the way, which was very appealing.
Mm-hmm.
And so I turned around and I told my friends, oh my gosh, it's the Wolf From True Blood.
And they're like, what the hell are you talking about? And I was like, it's that guy. And they're like, well, you should go say hi to him. And I was like, absolutely not. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so they finally convinced me to, they're like, no, no. Basically pushing my body towards him. And so when I came up to him, I could not look him in the eye, partly because he was at least a foot and a half taller than me.
Mm-hmm. And partly because I was so shy that it, it just. Didn't seem like the right thing to do, so I said hi. I love your show. And nothing, nothing else. And he was like, oh, like, that's so nice of you. And I went to like shake his hand. Mm-hmm. And he just hugged me and then I said, absolutely nothing more.
And my friends were like, turn around, let's take a picture. And I was like, okay. Turned around, just smiling like an idiot. And I was. Just waving no sound. Bye-bye. And I ran back to, uh, my boyfriend at the time, now my husband, and I was like, oh my God, guess what happened? And told him the whole story and he was very excited for me.
So.
Well, I mean, it sounds like an entire dream scenario, right? Like your body freezes and your friends are like, go, go, go.
Yeah. Yeah. And in the moment it was, uh, one of my favorite shows too. So nice. Mm-hmm. I'm glad that he was so nice. He was just so nice and not awkward at all. Mm-hmm. I was doing all the awkward for both of us.
Have you met a lot of other celebrities? Um, I met Joe Rogan once. Mm-hmm. That was really neat. Um, I was also, had, had too much to drink at his show, so because of that. Had a similar experience of the non-talking thing. Mm-hmm. So maybe this is a pattern since I haven't met many stars and it's been a very similar experience.
Both. Yeah. Uh, but with him I did, I talked to him a little bit about, yeah. I guess that he had had on that really inspired my choreography. Mm-hmm. Who was that? Honey? Honey. Honey. Honey was the band? Yeah. Oh, nice. Yeah. And so he, uh, he wanted to ask me more about my choreography and I just tapped out. I was like, it was nice to meet you.
Goodbye. I'm running away now. I'm running away. I'm too drunk to have this conversation.
Was that separate? Like, did you go see him at a show? 'cause we went together and saw him that one time we did. Yeah. But this was before that. Um, where
were we? The, is it the Glasso, the Glass House here
in La Pasadena.
Ice House. Ice House. Yeah. There we go. Mm-hmm. Frozen water. Looks like glass.
Yeah. Clear material. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And a house. Amazing. Yeah. The Ice House, they still go there. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
What, what song were you inspired by From Honey, honey?
Mm. I'm singing it in my head and the title
is Leaving Me.
What did that inspire from a choreography perspective?
So, um, at the time I feel like I was struggling to find, uh, my power and express it. Mm-hmm. And so mostly I did that through music and this song, um, it talks about, you know, her journey and her good, you know, aspects and her bad and her struggles, but, um.
Owning who you are mm-hmm. When it's good or it's bad, but you're standing up for yourself. And so I wanted to also give that to my students, and the tone of it speaks to me deeper maybe than the lyrics. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um, about that constant beat. Mm-hmm. And just finding a constant and grounding back to it.
Yeah.
But then having your moments of like breaking through with, you know, move that movement that maybe takes you to the edge of something and then you have to ground yourself back in. Um, we talked a lot about that. Well, I talked a lot about that in teaching, how to use tone of something. Mm-hmm. Um, plus lyrics, like lyrics mostly secondary.
Yeah.
To, uh, make a statement or to feel a statement just for yourself if it's a private thing. Mm-hmm. So
well, I think this is a perfect time to, to go back in time for everyone that's listening. Um, so you're currently a personal trainer, mobility and movement specialist. Yes. You also have lots of years, uh, in a lifetime of being a dancer, both training people and dancing yourself.
So let's just start from the beginning and tell people like where you grew up and give us like the rundown from like zero to. 18, right. Roughly. Yeah.
So the dance journey did begin literally at zero. Uh, my mom worked at a dance studio that was a few blocks away from, um, the house that I grew up in, and she was teaching there and working there.
And so from the time I was born, I was going with her into the space. So that place has been pretty much a second home for me. Mm-hmm. Um, my whole life. And the studio's called Marilyn McDowell Studio of Dance. Um, and Marilyn was one of my teachers and she was a wonderful lady. Um, so I actually started taking class though when I was two.
And, um, I, I found videos though of before that my mom taking class, Marilyn teaching and me in the window doing it in the lobby, imitating what they're doing and then them inviting me to come into the studio. And while my mom's doing sit ups and I, I laid down on her as she's doing sit ups and take a nap.
That's adorable.
But it was, yeah, so finding those videos, that was, that was pretty fun. So I danced there for a while. Mm-hmm. And then went to a few other studios. Um, and that studio's in Long Beach, California. It's in Long Beach, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep. And, uh, went to a few other studios and developed. Uh, very different training, mostly ballet.
Um, I was in a pre-professional company for ballet and did nutcrackers, uh, a million times. So when you, so just recently I've been able to hear the Nutcracker and be like, oh, I'd like to go see that again.
I was just gonna ask that, like, like at what point does doing the Nutcracker make you wanna vomit when you hear the Nutcracker song?
Um, it, it doesn't do that
anymore. Mm, it did for a long time. No, there were certain roles in the Nutcracker that I really, really enjoyed. So I, the Snow queen, I was snow queen one year. Nice. And it's just so exciting and that's one of my favorite scenes in the ballet. Mm-hmm. And so now, especially thinking back to it, it, it is fun.
Mm-hmm. Before it felt like a drag, you know? Yeah. As, as my friends were going on ski trips and like going out and doing all that fun stuff, I, in my teen years, high school years mm-hmm. I was training and in the Nutcracker and doing a bunch of other shows, which I appreciate way more now than, than
mm-hmm.
How many
hours
a week were, were you committing to dance? Um,
three or four hours a day, Monday through Friday, um, and six to seven on Saturday. Mm-hmm. And then, yeah.
So when you're going through that, I mean, obviously it's a big sacrifice, especially as a teenager, as you were talking about, like, does. In the moment where you were like, no, I love this, like, this makes total sense to me.
Or did you feel that you were making a sacrifice then? Both. Mm-hmm. Both. It
was incredibly rewarding, um, to train that hard. It made me really organized with my time. Mm-hmm. Um, because I, I wanted to still succeed in school
Yeah.
And do that the best I could, and I wanted to be the best dancer that I could.
And, and I, I wanted everything. Yeah. And so I think in the moments of wanting the social life too mm-hmm. Um, I had some resentment, but then in the moment of classes or dancing or performing, um. I kind of forgot about that stuff.
Yeah.
And
was, was dancing something that your, your family, um, encouraged or was it really just driven a hundred percent always by you?
Uh, well, my mom
danced. Mm-hmm. So that's. I mean, that's how I got started. Yeah. And then I was always really supported by my family.
Yeah.
They, uh, yeah, definitely. But it wasn't like a dance mom scenario. I mean, I know you there absolute, so. Oh, absolutely not.
I know the answer to this one, but
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
My, my grandma would take me to class too. Mm-hmm. Um, but nobody really liked. Staying at the studio. Like they said, they liked watching me take class, but because of the whole dance mom situation Yeah. They often left. They'd watch, you know, maybe the beginning and the end of class. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah, they, they were not the dance mom personality.
Yeah. Just a strong support system.
Yeah. For sure. I can, I can confirm. So after you got, went through high school, you were dancing all the time, like, um mm-hmm. When I started teaching
in high school.
Amazing. So I started
teaching Jazz and TAP when I was 16. Mm-hmm. And so I went back to that original studio that I had started at and that's where I got the job.
So I started subbing for them and then they offered me two classes and I was super excited
about it. And like, did you feel like in that moment. Did you feel like, all right, I'm reaching it, like dancing's becoming like a career, or had you
thought about that yet? Oh, that was my plan. I was very serious with that plan.
Yeah. Um, the plan changed somewhat. I always knew from when I was little that I wanted to, to tour the world, like travel mm-hmm. With dance, and that was kind of my main goal. Mm-hmm. Um, I also had, I thought that I wanted to own a studio. Um, and then when I was teaching a lot and doing more of the behind the scenes, I realized that I just love the teaching and that maybe owning the place and doing more of the management mm-hmm.
And the behind the scenes and the book work and all of that. Yeah. That wasn't necessarily for me and I'd lose what I loved about mm-hmm. Being in a studio.
I think that's a really important distinction for people to figure out. Like I work with so many designers who you're, when you're put into the corporate system, you keep going up, keep going up and like, all right, I'll be a design manager and then I'll be what?
And then they get there and they're like, I hate managing people. Or No, I just wanna keep drawing stuff. Right. And so there's been a few people that I've been really impressed with who keep getting offered different promotions and they're like, Nope. Like this is my happy place. I'm just gonna stay here.
That's wonderful. Like, just gimme more work to do. Yeah. And I think it's really nice for people to see that versus feeling, you know, the pressure to, to be in an owner role when you don't need to, like mm-hmm. It's just a story. Yeah. I agree. So you started teaching high
school?
Mm-hmm.
And then what? Um, and so in high school also at my dance studio, I was doing mostly ballet.
But in my high school, um, it was at Wilson High School in Long Beach and they have a great dance program that actually trains you to be more of like a choreographer and production mm-hmm. Type person. So I was getting that education there where students audition pieces to be in the show. If your dance makes it, you then audition other kids to be in your dance and you have to costume them, light them, edit your own music, and do all of that.
So that was, that was really great in my education too, to have that kind of freedom and guidance mm-hmm. From my school. And then crazy discipline training from my ballet studio. So, so that happened. After that I decided that I definitely wanted to be a professional dancer. I should get into the commercial dance industry in la and I went for it.
Yeah. Uh, got an agent, did my head shots, started auditioning and absolutely hated it. Pretty much everything about it. So classes, again, training mm-hmm. To in LA with those kind of people, meeting different teachers. That's where I actually got a bunch of work was just from taking class Yeah. And meeting these really neat, creative people.
But all those shows were free. Yeah. Donated dance time. Yeah. Which totally fed my soul. Mm-hmm. Made me a way better dancer and human, but wasn't exactly the career. Uh, well, you can't live without money. You can't pay rent without money. Yeah. So I was working, you know, other jobs to supplement and then the auditioning process just wasn't for me and
mm-hmm.
Um, I had auditioned a lot earlier. Mm-hmm. But it was so different. LA Yeah. So I actually decided that I didn't want to be a professional dancer in my early twenties. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Early twenties. Went back to school for a semester and what happens, my friend calls me, he's like, I'm in Canada. I'm on tour with this Irish dance show.
Can you fly out in like a week and learn the show and perform it? We've we're down like four jazz dancers. No way. Yeah. I was like, right. When I decide and commit to quitting dancing, I get the opportunity that I've always wanted since I was a kid. Yeah. To go and travel. And so I, I went
mm-hmm.
And, you know, dropped outta school and got subs for my teaching classes and.
Quit my other jobs, flew to Canada, learned the show in a ballroom, like not even the official rehearsals. He's like, teaching me this show. Oh my goodness. And, and literally performed it the next day. So that was really cool and super fun. Um, and as we kept going, I was learning more and more pieces. Mm-hmm.
You know, being put in and you rotate through different parts of the show. Um. But yeah, so that show was called, uh, Celtic Tiger by Michael Flatley. And he was in the show, um, not my favorite person and but an incredible cast. And so we traveled from the east coast to the west coast of Canada. Mm-hmm.
Dropped down into the US and then did West Coast, east Coast. So what was really neat is we played at the, uh, the Honda Center. I think, I can't remember if at that time it was still the pond. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But we, we did a show there. So my family and my students and my friends, they got to come and see that show and me and my friend Jason.
'cause everybody was familiar with him too. Yeah. And, um,
I mean, what, when you. How does it work where a friend just gets to call you? Like, were they freaking out? They didn't have people and they're like, whoever knows someone, call someone. Like how does that moment come up? Well, yeah, they had auditioned,
um, hundreds of jazz dancers out of the uk.
Mm-hmm. And, um, he was, my friend Jason was a really phenomenal Irish dancer at the time. So that's, he was there as an Irish dancer, but they were putting him in as a jazz dancer because he had done both. We went to high school together. Okay. Um, and so the show didn't treat its cast really well. Mm-hmm. And people were getting injured because of poor.
Like rehabilitation practices. Yeah. And it was one of those things that I thought was super exciting as an early 20 something to go do a show in an ice rink where they're keeping the ice cold frozen and our stage is built on top of it in the arena and going in and warming up. Mm-hmm. Just to still be freezing and then performing crazy hard.
Mm-hmm. For an hour. Then go sit on a bus, not a sleeper bus. Yeah. To drive to the next town overnight and wake up and rehearse, start rehearsing in the next ice arena during hockey season in Canada. Mm-hmm. To do it again. So you could see how that was injuring people right and left. Yeah. So injuries, poor treatment, these other jazz dancers were like, we're out.
Mm-hmm. And went home and they were, they were really in a crisis. They were putting more Irish dancers into the jazz dancing roles. Mm-hmm. And changing the choreography that they had originally hired someone to do, to make us, uh, I was told one time to not sweat. So the ice arena thing helped with that.
But, uh, they were filming us really close to project up on the screens during the show. So, uh, the movement also couldn't be so difficult. Yeah. That we would. Sweat and look, you know, red or purple or just all the beautiful colors that people turn when they're exerting themselves. I am an expert at those colors.
Me too. And I work out. Yes. Yeah. The fair skin. Yes. It's great.
Has all of its benefits. So I mean, it, you hear so many stories about like what people go through, whether it's in acting or in dance. Mm-hmm. And it's, I mean, you're certainly adding to some of that, you know, mythology of like, no, like it really happens that way and, and you're like, I think dancers get into this unique situation where you're half professional athlete and half.
Performer. Mm-hmm. And so I totally get why people are like, I'm out. Like I have to protect the tools that allow me to work.
Right. But a lot of times we make the choice not to. Mm-hmm. So if it's, you know, it's feeding your soul. And a lot of the times too, when you're in the show and your adrenaline's so high, you don't even feel the injury.
So I, um, in one of the shows farther down the road, um, I caught my toenail in the trap door for one of the pieces and it ripped off. So it's like, you know, yeah. It's gross. Yeah. Kind of blood. Uh, a lot of blood. Well, I didn't feel it really. And I had a quick change and I was like, grab me the tape, wrap it up, like, let's go.
And I had to then put on heel character shoes and do this really fast salsa dance. Mm-hmm. Which I then proceeded to roll my ankle twice because my foot went numb for my toenail that had ripped off. And I started like. I couldn't feel the, the bottom part of my leg because I had wrapped it so tight to keep it from bleeding and to keep my toenail on and to make sure it didn't catch on any of the shoes I was putting on.
And so I rolled my ankle twice during that dance and then proceeded to finish the show and had a huge swollen ankle. Mm-hmm. But the thing is, if you get taken out of a performance, and this is where that whole company not treating dancers super well, comes in. Mm-hmm. If you don't perform no pay for that show, even with an injury, if you didn't complete the show.
Yeah. So here's what I have to say about that. They wouldn't hire anybody that worked through their agency for the show. You had to not be represented to work on this show. Yeah. Because what agent would allow that to happen to happen. Exactly. 'cause if you don't get paid, they don't get paid. Exactly. Yeah.
And, and they also protect your body for you. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So. Again, uh, well, this is leading how I got into personal training. Yeah. Because I would make those sacrifices while dancing and mm-hmm. And it, it, you know, I loved it so much. It really fed my soul that it was worth it. Yeah. And I still say it was worth it.
Oh yeah. 'cause we ended up traveling all over the UK and all over Europe, and we went to Hong Kong and had a blast for that time in my life. Broke my body a little bit, but yeah, that also opened the door into, uh, my path mm-hmm. That I'm in now.
So how, how long were you traveling and working on that show?
On and off for a little over a year. Mm-hmm. And then when you came back, were you immediately like, let's do this again? Or were you like, I need something else? Like how did you transition from that to the path you're on now? Well, you could watch
the cities that they were adding onto the tour, and so I kept looking to see, do I wanna go there?
Yes, I do. Yes. I will stay with the show. Oh, I still have subs for my classes. Excellent. Uhhuh. Yes. Let's travel more. Yeah. Yeah. And so it, I ended up only stopping because the show got canceled. Um, Michael Flatley got sick or something happened with him. Mm-hmm. And they started taking off like we were supposed to go to Russia.
Mm-hmm. And they started canceling. So that's kind of what ended that.
Interesting. And was he just like not a nice person or like, didn't, did you guys interact a lot? You said he wasn't your favorite person. I don't know if you can say anything more about that or if you want to.
Um, we didn't interact a lot.
Yeah. But he'd watch our rehearsals mm-hmm. And criticize people's appearances. Yeah. And tell them like, add extensions to your hair. Mm-hmm.
You're
gaining weight, go to the back line, you know mm-hmm. Things like that. Not direct. Yeah. There was no direct interaction. Mm-hmm. Because he'd get helicoptered into all of our venues Oh.
And, you know, be put up in really nice places and then fly to his castle in Ireland and, you know, do his thing. Yeah. While, while we sat in the sleeper bus Yeah. And traveled
that way. So it's really just the, the nature. It sounds like you would expect Right. Of being in a performance show of, of with a star.
Yeah. And also having everything be so visually driven. And I'm sure they're looking for perfection and feeling what they want, but it's, well,
back to what you were saying before is mm-hmm. It's that blend of athleticism plus an aesthetic. Mm-hmm. So you need to look a certain way. Yeah. Play a certain role, keep that up as well as do these, you know?
Yeah. Crazy athletic movements. Mm-hmm. But don't look like you're doing it. Yeah. No, I mean, luckily the ballet training helped a lot with that. Like, make it look effortless. That's what ballet is all about. Mm-hmm.
So when you meet someone today that says that they're a dancer, have been a dancer, what do you like in your head?
What do you instantly, like, I know this, this, this, this, about that person? Or does that not exist? Mm, no, it exists. Yeah.
Um, mostly.
Well, the positive things that usually come with someone who has trained mm-hmm. That intensely to be a dancer, is that they will be very organized. Mm-hmm. They will be on time.
Mm-hmm.
Um, they'll be very particular and with every correction, like in regards to movement. So as a trainer, when I get a dancer that comes in
mm-hmm.
It's gonna be detailed Yeah. Down to like an eyebrow. Like, where would you like my focus to be when I do this? You, you know, yeah. I'm, I'm being silly, but it's that detailed. Mm-hmm. Which I think is really fun. Yeah. My brain works that way 'cause I was trained that way too. Mm-hmm.
But
it can lead to obsessive and over analyzation and, um, making, doing your movement to look a certain way is very different than experiencing the movement from an internal.
Place. Mm-hmm. And having an intention that I'm doing this because I want to feel this, I wanna develop this, versus I'm doing this because I want it to look this way from the outside.
Yeah. So
a lot of those mental elements come in to play when you're training a dancer. Does it look right? Yeah. You know, that kind of questioning to me, like, does it feel right?
Mm-hmm.
Well, I, I think that's been a big change for you, for you as well, right? In this journey. 'cause Oh, yeah. I think so many when you're, when you, what you love means that you are judged from the outside for so long. Mm-hmm. It's going to have an impact. Right. And like, know, being aware of how you present yourself, how you're standing, what are you looking like, like you know, that you're getting judged outside first.
Definitely. If
ever
inside. Well, and because your eyes, like your personal eyes become your perception of. Everybody else's. So when you train in front of a mirror for your whole life and you're analyzing it, you're constantly only looking at yourself as if you're other people judging you. Yeah. And critiquing from the outside place.
Mm-hmm. Um, and that comes into body image. Yeah. Issues that usually comes with a dance background. Yeah. Body image issues in some way or another. It's not all the same. Yeah. And it's not all eating disorders. Mm-hmm. But it can be, again, obsessive Yeah. With appearing a certain way. Mm-hmm. Um, people liking the shapes that you make with your body.
Mm-hmm. And it's hard to separate that when you've trained so extensively in that way. Yeah. To change it when you go into other movements. Mm-hmm. You know, I found, I found that I caught myself in yoga of all things. Yeah. In yoga. Trying to appear to the teacher that I was doing everything how I should be.
Yeah. And so that was a big breakthrough moment in my yoga training mm-hmm. To stop working from an external point and start working from that internal point. Yeah.
Um, I, I think that's such a big point because there's so many people who aren't dancers or aren't being, um, performing in a visual perspective that also struggle with all of the judgment that comes.
Like, I think it's just hyper focused when you're in a performance, uh, hobby career.
Yeah. Well, and with any of those, like a performance career mm-hmm. Or an athletic career, um, competition is a huge element. Yeah. And competition with yourself. Mm-hmm. Um. So when you're always trying to be better than yourself, sometimes you're missing what's happening right then.
Yeah. And if you're trying to be better than the other people in the class, like that's a whole nother, that's a whole nother element. And sometimes I think when you're a highly competitive person, you don't even realize mm-hmm. That that's what you're doing.
I had this realization yesterday, I was doing a at home yoga, uh, on YouTube, and it's the same yoga I love doing, which like the brick room 26.
I know it in my head. I don't really need the YouTube to do it, but I like having to stop thinking and just listen to somebody else. And then I realized, I'm like, why does this feel different? I'm like, oh, because I'm not competing against anybody in my living room. And I'm like, what is wrong with you? And I don't even, to your point, like.
I'm equally com I'm competitive and I don't realize how competitive I am, and that there's always an element of competing. Mm-hmm. Until I step away and have a moment like that where I'm like, oh, I didn't even think I was competing in yoga, but guess what I am. Yep. I am. Even if it's with myself in the mirror.
Like
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah. That's why, I mean, recently I've been trying to experience as much of a yoga class by closing my eyes mm-hmm. As possible. Um, because really that's the only, if my eyes are open, I'm watching people. Mm-hmm. Um, for, for a couple reasons. One is the innate. Competing. Yep. Number two is, I'm looking at their form as a teacher.
Yeah. Thinking, oh God, please don't hurt yourself. Like, yes, that doesn't look, that doesn't look great. No one's correcting you. I should, Nope. Mm-hmm. I'm not teaching right now. I am taking close your eyes.
No, I have the same freak out. Even the video yesterday, the woman was going way too fast. She was skipping things.
She wasn't telling people where position should be. And I'm nervous for these poor people who have clearly taken this class years ago 'cause it's had all these views. And I'm like, oh God, they're doing it wrong. Do they know they're doing it wrong? Are they still doing it wrong? I'm like, okay, stop. Stop. So whoever you guys are in that poor yoga channel, please go see another instructor.
Yeah, yeah.
Or get a little hands on somewhere and mm-hmm. Learn it for yourself and know what cues you wanna follow and
Yeah. Which
ones they don't suit your body. They might suit someones. Mm-hmm. But just, you know, not for everyone.
Yeah. So you, so you get up the tour, you, you're back in Long Beach?
I'm back in Long Beach.
Mm-hmm. And a bunch of the, my fellow teachers at, uh, the dance studio, um, they are in a, a dance company called Bear Dance Company. And it, it stopped existing right at that moment. Okay. So one of the dancers decided that he wanted to create his own company. Ooh. And it happened, you know, right at that perfect timing of when my tour was ending.
Mm-hmm. The other company was ending and so Nate Hodges started Rhetorical dance company. The Amazing Nate. Yes. The amazing Nate. Yeah. And, uh, uh, we just. It was the opportunity that I had been looking for in a dance career. Mm-hmm. Um, because we choreographed on each other. Um, some people were working dancers and working on other shows.
Mm-hmm. So the schedule allowed for people to do multiple shows at a time. Mm-hmm. We'd usually do one a year and, um, but we got to set work on beautiful dancers, you know? Yeah. And then again, light it, tell stories, make statements, social statements. Mm-hmm. And, uh, truly express ourselves and then form some of my closest friends.
And it's so funny because my life, like, I can't imagine, to, to me, rhetorical is like another limb that you have and that all of you have that are part of that group. And not only are you guys all so talented. But the collaboration that is always talked about for how you guys have built your performances and worked together.
And I think just like any family, of course there's moments when there's conflict because you're so, everyone's so passionate and committed and Oh
yes, you've got
a whole team of very competitive high people. High passion, high intensity, yes. Yeah. But it's, it's such an amazing group of people and I feel so lucky that I've been welcomed into the group, as you know, as a friend circle.
Well, I mean, you just fit so well. How could we not thank you? No, but like it's true. Like you guys are such amazing people and when you see you guys together and that you are like family and how much you compliment each other and are able to create these amazing things, like to me it's, I wish every dance group w would feel and look the way that you guys do because.
There's a lot of the stereotypical negative stuff that I think isn't there, and it really is a group of people that love each other that are making stuff together. It, it's like the perfect combination of what the expression of dance could be.
Yeah.
Um,
I think that it reads authentically Yes. Like that.
Because in a lot of the work, we were problem solving our life journey. So a lot of the pieces were about mm-hmm. What was happening now and, um, you know, dynamics people had even within the group with each other, like creating pieces that tapped into that. Mm-hmm. And, um, or what was happening in our community or what was happening politically.
And so you're, you're problem solving and addressing these feelings that you have. Mm-hmm. But through art, which creates conversations within the group and bonding and compromise. Yeah. Two, I mean mm-hmm. It's tough. Yeah. Not everybody sees things the same way, even when you're really close. Mm-hmm. So going through that together, it was a really full spectrum.
Mm-hmm.
Experience. And the shows are amazing. Like the, so to give anyone listening perspective, like the, how I was introduced to this group before I had met anyone besides you and like our whole friend group is much larger than the dance group, but it's a, there's a big part of it, right? And all these guys, 'cause I met you through my boyfriend 'cause you're friends with him.
And so even on the guys in our social group, we're talking about this dance group and I'm like, what group of guys ever talks about a dance group? They're like, no, you have to go. Like, you're gonna be so excited when you go to this. It's so amazing. And then, um, to meet everyone and then realize that you think dancing and you think like the Nutcracker and you think swan leg and you think everything is like.
It's all beauty oriented and like, um. I don't, I'm thinking of the right words, but like, it, there's a element of like ladylike and sere. Grace. Grace. And then like to hear people like you're getting clues that maybe that's not the type of events that you guys put on or shows. And then they're like, oh no, it's horror themes.
Like this one show. I'm like, what? Like the, um, I think I'm blending shows together at this point, but. I love that you guys and Nate in particular, 'cause he's obsessed with this genre, but to bring in the, uh, macab and the horror and like anything you like, like, and bring it in, like the mixes of music. The, to your point, like it, you see the different dimensions of everyone's personality coming together and the shows are amazing.
Like the, the one, um, dance where it was the haunted house mm-hmm. And the phone's ringing and like you, the, the, you have the people that live in the house and then you have, um, the ghosts that are coming through and how they're interacting with them and they don't know they are like it was. The scariest and coolest dance I have ever seen.
And it really, it's not, it's not dance what you guys do. It's an entire dance theater. Like it's a full story. It's, and Nate is a, a wonderful storyteller. Yes, yes. And game maker and game. Yes. He, like, I really hope he one day starts his side business of just making games because there are a few people who have that talent to like, think all the details through and he's so good at it.
Definitely. Um, but yeah. So I, I know that you guys had stopped for a little while. Like, are you guys doing any more shows? Well, a
small group of us, so Nate got a job with the University of Reno, Nevada. So he is no longer in Long Beach. Mm-hmm. But we are going to do a performance at, um, the university. And travel out there.
Mm-hmm. Teach some workshops to the students and then bring back a couple pieces that, um, are in our, are in rhetorical repertoire mm-hmm. And perform those again. So I'll be doing a dance called Two of Swords, which is super fun. It's one of my favorite pieces. Um, it's just a trio and we have blindfolds and two big swords and we do this, um, practice.
So the dance is about discipline. Mm-hmm. And control and practicing until it creates this frenzy of movement. And we end up having basically a sword fight, but blindfolded. And it's just a very fun dance about, um, well, going in blind to something and growing within it. Yeah.
That's, I mean, just the, like, who else would be talking about a blindfolded sword fight at the dance?
So that's what makes me so happy about it. 'cause you guys really approach it with, the only rule is the technical application of dance. Otherwise, from a creative perspective, it's like, let's, let's tell a story. Let's go. Yeah. Though I, I'm always really impressed by that. So anyone who hasn't gone to a rhetorical show, there's a million things you can Google on YouTube and find some things, but I really hope that you guys keep doing shows so that I.
I get to see more selfishly, but also so that other people
can experience too. Yeah. I personally, I don't think that I will be doing any more shows after this. Mm-hmm. Um, because I'm focusing more on my
Yeah.
Training and movement that other kinds of movement. But definitely Nate is still choreographing.
Yeah. Um, I have a bunch of other friends that are still putting amazing work out there Yeah. For younger students and professional level. And so if anybody needs any direction of beautiful movement and things to experience, yeah. Uh, we can talk about that. Awesome.
Awesome. Yeah. So what I would love to start getting into, because I, to me it's so fascinating personally based on what I've dealt with, but also how you have fixed my body as well.
So, um, I know that when my body gets broken. The first person that I know I need to call is you. The second person I have to call is Dr. Justin. Shout out to the amazing Dr. Justin. Um, but I think that we're, we've, we're moving into an era of people being aware, not just of what you put in your body and chemicals and all of that stuff, but really how your entire body interacts.
That never has been accessible to the average person before. Mm-hmm. Like without being a doctor or a nurse or a chiropractor or list someone who specializes in the body. I feel like it's, people are becoming more hyper aware about it because probably how much more pressure we're putting on our bodies every day, uh, physically and mentally.
But then just knowing that, like also being aware that you can fix some of these things. Mm-hmm. You went from dancing to, to being a personal trainer. Mm-hmm. And then now you are a mobility and movement specialist, also, still a personal trainer. You just completed, um, an amazing, um, uh, yoga training series.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah. 200 hour Yeah. Yoga Alliance, uh, through a studio in Orange called Sunpark. They're amazing. Um, yeah, I finished that one, but let's rewind a little bit. Perfect. And go back to coming home from tour. Mm-hmm. My body was really broken. One of my friends was, um, getting her physical therapy degree.
Mm-hmm. Um, at Cal State Long Beach, but she was also a Pilates instructor and also a, a dancer. Yep. So she really put me back into a place with that training where I could still move my body for, for a time. I thought that my body was gonna be done at 25. That's crazy. So. Working with her one-on-one. Mm-hmm.
Um, I was so inspired that I could get movement back that I hadn't had mm-hmm. For a while and thought I wouldn't have for a while that I asked her, you know, well, how do I become you? Yeah. And she said, you know, Pilates is such a niche, um, category. You might be better off just going for a general personal training certification mm-hmm.
Doing that program and more doors will open for you and you can then go into more specialized things based on where your opportunities lie. And that was definitely great advice. Yeah. And, uh, so I decided to get my personal training certification and I did a six month, like in-house program. Mm-hmm. Where it was 50 50.
Hands-on movement with my classmates and then, uh, bookwork and lecture. Mm-hmm. They also included in the course business skills. So writing a five-year business plan for a hypothetical gym and learning how to write a specifically like a fitness resume. Yeah. That was really neat. 'cause I'd only done dance resumes before.
Right. So it was neat learning. They're similar. Yeah. But, um, and straight outta that program, like right when I graduated, I got a job at 24 Hour Fitness. Mm-hmm. Because my teacher had been a manager there. Okay. So that was, that was the door. Yeah. Um, I enjoyed 24 Hour Fitness because it taught me what I like about it, what I like about personal training.
Mm-hmm. Um, and kind of like a stepping stone game plan of, you know, how do you present yourself to people? How do you keep track of your clients? Like mm-hmm. Record keeping all of the computer work. Yeah. But it also showed me how I don't wanna be a personal trainer. Yeah. I don't wanna go out on the floor and harass people or belittle them to make them want to work out with me.
Mm-hmm. Who wants to work out with someone who says, Hey, you're doing that wrong. Yeah. Come over here, let me show you. I know better. Nobody wants that. Yeah. So I learned that, um, at 24. Mm-hmm. Because that was how we were coached to go and be kind of aggressive mm-hmm. In putting ourselves, putting ourselves above other people's movement.
Yeah. Which I completely disagree with. Yep. Because someone can be doing something. For example, I watched a man come in every day and throw a medicine ball at his stomach laying on the floor on his back, just hitting himself over and over and over with like a 10 pound medicine ball, Uhhuh. Okay. You know what?
I asked him one day, excuse me, sir, what are you training for? He's like, well, uh, I'm a fighter. So impact now. Do I think that's the best way to do it? No. Yeah. But I will say it is hard to, to create an impact situation when you're by yourself. Mm-hmm. Um, so in that way, what he was doing made sense for that.
Mm-hmm. Now, other people approached him and said, excuse me, sir, like, can I show you how to use that medicine ball more effectively? And of course he said, no, I'm doing this because I'm doing this for a reason. Yeah. So it didn't open a door for them to train him. Yeah. But just being curious about, you know, people gave me a hard time because some of the things, I was using machines in a way that would help with my flexibility in dancing.
Yes. But their strength training machines. Mm-hmm. So people would look at me like I was a crazy person. Yes. And then often come up and tell me how what I was doing was wrong or that I would hurt myself. It's like, oh, have you been in this body for 30 years? Yeah. No. Mm-hmm. I have.
Well, I think there was a line too, because, I mean, I personally get lots of vehicles out of the, like, gym fail videos that people put together.
Like I think, um, our friend Laura posted one the other day of a guy laying on his stomach with a 25 pound weight and his lower back, and he was Oh, Jesus, like reverse humping. So he was like popping oh my, his butt off the ground. Mm-hmm. And again, I'm, I'm sure he had some logic behind it. 'cause people don't, let's try to think what, what could he be training for?
This
could be fun. What could he be training for in that movement? Yeah. Pushing against weight on your back as you hump the bottom. The floor. What he was like, he
was like popping his butt up. Right. The worm. I mean, professional, maybe explosive movement from a Is he a stripper? Like does he need to do like the worm move and like pop back up off the ground?
I know, I don't know. I don't know. Well, yeah, I wish we could ask him. Uh, that would be a really fun game actually. Like, we're gonna have a second podcast called, we're just gonna call in all the gym fails and ask them what they were actually trying to do. I love it.
Or we could do like a, Hey, let's go to the gym.
Yes. And talk to people about their intentions. Yes. Their movement intentions. '
cause I, I think and that's what you were getting to, right? Like going up to people and asking them what they're intending to do mm-hmm. So that you can then provide assistance versus just being like, or just
have a conversation.
Yes.
And then if, you know, if when you go up and ask someone like, Hey, like that's a really interesting movement that you're doing. Like, why are you doing it? Mm-hmm. They usually want to talk about it. Like, they usually wanna talk about what they're training for or they're excited about something. Mm-hmm.
Because people typically, when they go to the gym, you know, unless they're in this like, kind of grind routine Yeah. They're usually working towards something. Yeah. And then they wanna talk about it, so then you can. You know, have a conversation and not even about training or trying to change what they're doing.
Mm-hmm. But then you're a presence and you can say like, oh, okay, cool. Like, I'm a dancer, and like, if you ever have any questions Yeah. Uh, I'm right over here. And, you know, and a lot of times then that in itself gets you to meet people and it feels a lot better Yeah. In helping to train them and helping to guide them.
Like, you can't force your opinion on somebody that doesn't want it. Mm-hmm. And so when people are ready, then if you've become a presence and offered some, you know, they're just comfortable coming up to you. Yeah. Then you end up creating a good movement relationship.
So obviously you have a lot of personal passion for movement based on where you came from.
What, what is it about personal training that you were passionate about, specifically That part? Like in the part helping others part? Um.
Well in helping others, I wanted to help people not hurt themselves. Mm-hmm. Based on, you know, my past experience and be able to have longevity Yeah. With their movement.
And movement brings a release in so many ways that sometimes when you can't do that movement anymore, you feel like incredibly sad. Mm-hmm. And so one of the things that I learned, um, personally, is that movement. Either I can revisit that movement mm-hmm. Again. Mm-hmm. With different recovery methods. Yep.
And, um, cross training to help keep the joints and the tissues at optimal performance levels. Like you can work that way or find joy in the movement and in unexplored movement mm-hmm. That creates those same attachments and feelings that you had instead of trying to go back to do something you did before.
Sometimes it's fun to explore how you can do it moving forward in a new way.
Yeah. Because there's no one's ever experience all the possible movements that you can do. No.
Or how do you like, do it differently? Mm-hmm. You can do the same movement, but like, well, this time my intention is, um. Let's say to see how far my range goes under control.
Mm-hmm.
And then next time I do this movement, it's to see like, well, how much, how much load can I hold? Mm-hmm. And then the next time it's to see like, how fast can I do this? Yeah.
And
you can explore any position or any movement and so many different ways. Mm-hmm. That it, it's endless. Yeah.
So then being at 25 Hour Fitness and being a personal trainer, how did you then evolve to being, um, you know, having your own business and finding a gym and then even developing further into really specializing in, um, mobility in particular?
So my wonderful friend and, um, gym owner who I rent space from, Laura Lineberg, she approached a couple trainers at 24. Mm-hmm. Um, because she had stalked them secretly and she liked what they were doing. Yeah. Um, and then had invited them to her space to see if they'd be interested in putting together their own business mm-hmm.
And working there. And one of those people was my friend and coworker Adam. Mm-hmm. And he said, Hey, Bry. You know, I think you'd really like the space. Let me introduce you to Laura. So we were workout partners at the time. Mm-hmm. And he had me go over to on the ball fitness. Yep. And we worked out, I met Laura and it was kind of love at first sight.
Oh yeah. For sure. Yeah. I've had similar, she's amazing experience with her. Mm-hmm. No, she is, she's one of those like amazing humans that radiates love for everybody. Mm-hmm. And if you're feeling bad about yourself, like you wanna be in her space. 'cause like, it'll go away in a second. 'cause she's gonna make you laugh.
She's gonna love on you. Mm-hmm. And then you're gonna realize, no, I wanna love on her back. It's not about me anymore. Yep. And like, the whole thing goes away in three seconds. You're like, how do you do that? Yeah. She's magic. Yeah, she is. She's definitely a magic. And she posts those amazing, funny videos, which I get a kick out of.
Mm-hmm. Yes. And so, um, how, so a lot of people look at different career paths, right? And obviously you're a great example of how you start in one place and it just keeps evolving. Right? It's not, it's not a clear mm-hmm. Whatever you think your clear vision is can change so often. Oh yeah. And it can change, right?
Based on your personal experiences and when you're making a choice to go off and do your own thing, like were you, were you nervous to leave and go to the scene? Oh, I was terrified,
yeah. Mm-hmm. Because I operate under, like I told you with the, uh, dancer personalities. Mm-hmm. Organized. I have a goal, I'm going to do this and I'm gonna make it happen no matter what.
So I really had to throw that mm-hmm. Throw that away. And I had been practicing like in small ways how to not stick to a plan. Mm-hmm. Was very hard. Yeah. Um, and, but this one was a big jump. Mm-hmm. And I think, but, but I think because of Adam and because of Laura mm-hmm. Um, like there seemed to be a good support there.
Yeah. It just felt right. Mm-hmm. Like intuition felt really on point. Mm-hmm. That it was worth. It was worth it to me. Mm-hmm. And Adam broke down the numbers of like what we were getting paid at as trainers at 24. And then even if I lost 50% of my clients, he's like, look at this. See, you're gonna be just fine.
It's the same if you lose 50% of your clients. I was like, oh, thank you for your math skills, sir. Mine are not the greatest. Yeah. So that was, that was comforting. Mm-hmm. Having someone break it down in a logical way too. Yeah. For me.
And so once you felt comfortable about the numbers and knowing that you could continue to feed yourself making this change, like, like what was the next step?
Like, was it getting the clients, was it putting together more programs? Like, well,
so taking clients from 24 hour fitness is technically illegal.
Mm-hmm.
Um, so I just told my people I'm going to be leaving and. If you would like me to assign you another trainer at 24 mm-hmm. I would love to recommend you to someone.
Mm-hmm. Um, but I just wanted to let you know that that's what I'm gonna be doing. Yeah. So in the end, like they all ended up contacting me and say, Hey, we'd like to come with you and not work with Yeah. Other people. So mm-hmm. They, they ended up just following me and that was a really big moment too, to feel that what I was doing was on track.
It was making a difference. Mm-hmm. Um, that I, I got some, you know, positive feedback that people would want to like, take what I'm offering Yeah. And come with me. So
Well, I think that's so hard when, when you're, you know, there's an, even though there's so much like training and education and planning and knowledge behind everything that you do as a entrepreneur, there's still the moment of like, uh, does anyone care?
Am I actually doing this right? Mm-hmm. Like you don't get the same, um, positive reinforcement cycle that you get in a, in a company where you have a manager Right. And you have reviews and there's, there's structure to being like, am I doing this right? Especially for people like you and I who are constantly asking ourselves, are we doing it right?
Right. Just because it's, it's not a, like, are we doing it wrong, but like, I wanna do it better. Yes. And so when you don't have that cycle of feedback all the time, it can be horrifying. 'cause you're like, I can be making this all up. I don't know what I'm doing. Like, all those thoughts come up. So I think it's a really great example of when you're able to get that feedback from people in a way that's not just them telling you mm-hmm.
But it's them changing a part of their routine or their life to be like, no, like, I'm on your team. Mm-hmm. Like, that must have felt amazing. It,
it did. It really did. But it also gave me the opportunity to, um, ask them, you know. What am what do you like that I'm doing? Mm-hmm. Because I'd like to continue.
Mm-hmm. Do you have any feedback for me to do something better? Um, or does it, do some things not work for you, but you're doing them because like, we're friends. Yeah. You know, like just check in. So I have to like, from that point on. Yeah. Um, I try to remind myself frequently mm-hmm. To check in with people mm-hmm.
And see like, okay, this worked for you at this point, where are you at now? Yeah. And that's such a big, a big part of it. And I feel way more comfortable now with the influx and like the, um, well let's just say the tides mm-hmm. Of people coming and going and Yeah. It's not always about like, if someone stops training, it's not always about like, I did anything wrong.
Mm-hmm. Or, um, like, they don't like it anymore. Yeah. There's so many different factors and so, um. Really talking to myself about being open to like people's lives. And like a lot of times there was nothing I could have done to change the situation. Mm-hmm. But I'm always open and I wanna continue these relationships with people like, who are not training or still training so that we can always have conversations.
Mm-hmm. No matter what. And that's because you
care about people. Like, like, like, but I, I think there's a lot of people like, um, I think it's hard to be in a people based service as a career and not care about people, but I also think there's a. What I love about working with you is, the first thing that you ask me every time I show up is, how are you today?
How does your body feel today? Like the fact that you were willing to throw away whatever you had planned to service my body instead of whatever else was there that,
yeah, that, that practice came about in a funny way. Um, because right when I got out of training school, I used to take the craziest detailed notes, like I had folders on clients that were like novels.
Wow. Yeah. During a session, I could take three pages of notes. I would write out the workout. I was trained to like plan the amount of reps. Mm-hmm. And plan the amount of weights, like, you know, all of that. Yeah. And I was pre-planned and I'd spend so much time doing it, and half the time, more than half the time they'd come in and I was like, Hmm.
This doesn't seem like the best plan for you today. Yeah. This seemed like it was a good plan for me today. I have to throw it away now. Yeah. And so I just think it's so important to check in and, and even when you go in to like, do movement on yourself, for yourself
mm-hmm.
Um, to check in like, well, these are the things that I did before.
Is that appropriate? Mm-hmm.
Um,
energetically, you know, did I eat well yesterday? Mm-hmm. Um, how is that gonna affect me today? Mm-hmm. Like, for example, yesterday I decided that, um, well, Tony and I went to take a bike ride mm-hmm. From our place to Shoreline Village and back, which is approximately 22 miles.
Yeah. Now I we're getting back into biking, not doing it super frequently. We did it a couple weekends ago, but we stopped a lot. Mm-hmm. So I was thinking, oh, well I did it a couple weeks ago. Like, I'm just gonna have like my coffee with my MCT oil and some protein powder and like, you know, basically fasting like no real food.
Yeah. And let me go take this 22 mile bike ride and let's not stop. Hmm. And at that go, it was great. Couldn't feel my legs like three quarters of the way through. Mm. Um, I was getting really annoyed at Tony, but that was just projecting Yeah. The annoyance at my quads. Yeah. That were on fire and jelly legs.
And he's like, Hm. Oh, this is so beautiful and so fun. Oh wait, you're back there. Let me slow way down and wait for you. And I was like, you gotta keep up with Embry, you gotta keep up with, you can't, your legs will fall off. I'm pretty sure they're just gonna fall off. So yeah. Stuff like that. Mm-hmm. Not fueled appropriately.
Yeah. Pushing too hard, too fast. Not taking the breaks, I was not respecting my body. Um, yeah. And I still do that all the time.
It makes me feel better that you do it because you're so aware of all of that. Right. And, and so it makes me feel better that when I mess up and forget that it's okay because people who spend 90% of the day thinking about that, they still mess up.
Yeah. Like, thank you for giving me some grace to give myself.
You're welcome. You know what I'm really great at, at seeing it in other people. Yeah. And, and appropriately programming for things outside of my own personal body. Yeah. Uh, yeah. Inside is, it's harder. Mm-hmm. It always
is. It always is. Yeah. Um, one of the things that you've talked about really making a big impact for you in the, in since I've known you, which has been about five years now, which is crazy, um, is like the impact that the yoga course had on you, and I would love for you to talk about that.
Hmm. So, or if I've skipped anything, we can go back to something else
too. No, I, okay. Yeah. I just wanted to, 'cause this is one of the things that I was referring back to this morning. Yeah. Um, and thinking of things in the yoga course that really made a huge impact. And there's a book that I love called The Wisdom of Yoga, A Seekers' Guide to Extraordinary Living.
Mm-hmm. And it's by Stephen Cope. And he, um, I might be right, he's either a psychologist or a psychiatrist, I can't remember exactly. Mm-hmm. But we can look that up. Um, but he breaks down the Yoga Sutras from a psychological neuroscience perspective. And what are the Yoga sutras, um, like, what does that mean?
So they're, they're the guideline. They're written in San Sanskrit. Mm-hmm. I know that part. Uh, to, so they were, they were developed by the seekers mm-hmm. And it's guidelines on how to live an enlightened life, basically. Okay. And to maybe, in my words, not, not theirs, um, but have a guideline to be your best self.
Mm-hmm. And so he breaks it down because many people have translated the yoga sutras. So when you look them up, it can be a whole spectrum of ideas. Yeah. Even on one sutra. Yep. Even the word nama say has like 25 definitions. Oh my gosh. Google it. Exactly. Mm-hmm. Just like that. So, um, but I loved the way that he broke them down.
Mm-hmm. Um, and it's a, it's a story full. Uh, it's all an anecdotal, his experience of being a teacher, like a yoga teacher. Mm-hmm. And then, um, he and his small group of friends going through their. Yoga training experience and their life experience and like their reflections on things. But because he offers, um, a perspective from a scientific way mm-hmm.
It's a really great blend of like, let's just say who do. Yeah. And, um, and science and it makes sense. It makes it made sense to me. Awesome. So one of my favorite parts of that book was about, um, the realm of hungry ghosts. Ooh. It's this idea of having a huge mouth to consume and always still being empty.
So I think in the book he says it's like a huge mouth with a tiny, tiny neck, so nothing can ever get through. So you're just constantly feeding this yourself in trying to fill yourself. Mm-hmm. It's. Remaining empty the whole time. So that can be on so many different levels. Yeah. Um, you know, people can use substance mm-hmm.
To try and escape and escape their, you know, their experience like dole down their experience and so they keep consuming to distract, right? Mm-hmm. Away from that. Um, and it just, it made such a huge impact. In fact, the Hungry Ghost was when I started closing my eyes Oh yeah. In class. Mm-hmm. Um, and having, like, playing perfect.
Yeah. Is is part of being a hungry ghost mm-hmm. Because you're wanting to consume affirmation. Yeah. And wanting to consume like an outside experience to something that will change Nothing like you have to, it has to be coming from within. And the only way to fill the body is from within, and there's nothing to consume that will change that.
And
I think that's a huge statement too. So just reflecting on its own, because it doesn't matter if it's food or water or, um, emotions or needs, like whatever, physically, emotionally, psychology, psychologically that you are craving. Like it never goes away if you're craving it outside of you. Mm-hmm. I mean, you literally do have to eat and drink, but Yeah.
You there you can get to a point where you c it's not enough. Like after you're sustaining yourself, it's still not enough. Yeah. Which is what we're dealing with as an e epidemic. Right. So, yeah.
Um, and it is a fine line between like healthy competition mm-hmm. And then. It never being enough. Yeah. When you win, like that's a fine line to dance because it's motivating to be productive and it has all these positive, um, elements attached to it, and at the same time, it breeds obsession and that deep hunger mm-hmm.
Of needing more, wanting more, um, it material, non-material love. Mm-hmm. Like people, people do it with love all the time. Yep. Craving. Mm-hmm. Uh, the attention or someone to, you know, touching them Yep. Um, or caring about them when in reality they probably already are. Yeah. If you're around someone and you're in their space, they probably already love you.
Yeah. Um,
but if you can't feel it inside, there's your hungry ghost.
Mm-hmm. No, I, it's, um. And I think too when you compare it versus like a Maslow's hierarchy of needs, right? Like where do you have food? Do you have shelter? Like do you, like, you start getting these basic things and so many people in western world are lucky enough to have all of Maslow's needs met at some level.
And the questionable part on that statement might be the, the love and security feeling, again, internal versus external. And it's interesting to me that so many of the places that seem to have the balance that we're searching for, especially through yoga practices, are in places that don't have. The hierarchy of needs covered.
Yeah. Like they've inverted the pyramid and I mean, what do you, I'm sure you see this all the time with different clients and like your own journey, like why do you think there's that discrepancy between some of the poorest nations in the world are the happiest and the most zen and the, and the, you know, potentially most spiritual and then where we have everything we need to survive as a human, it's so depleted or, or lacking?
Well, as
a human, I think that we need experience in order to grow and appreciate. And, um, and I think that if you don't have enough struggle, you create it.
Mm-hmm.
You create it to be able to experience and learn those lessons. Um, and so when you have too many things and are given too many things, and it's.
It's simple, you end up making things out of nothing to struggle through to learn from. Mm-hmm. That's just, it seems to be a pattern. So when you're born without some of those needs met, it's great opportunity. It can be great like trauma. Yeah. You know? Um, and there's definitely situations where the trauma is just so overwhelming.
Mm-hmm. That growth potential. Well, I would never say it's impossible, but it could be so hard mm-hmm. Compared to most people's experience. But a good, it, it also is not like from some of the most traumatic stories that I've heard mm-hmm. Come the greatest humans that I know. Yeah. And, and I just think that's important.
I mean, that was a, that was another. A fiction book actually that I read called Si. Okay. By Neil Schusterman. Okay. He wrote a young adult book, um, about a time when the world had achieved, um, like everything that we shoot to achieve right now. So medicine, right? Mm-hmm. No one dies, no one gets sick. Like, you know, if you get, let's say you get hit by a car, they just reconstruct you and then you go back into your life.
Yeah. And it's fine. Um, there's no such thing as poverty because this algorithm mm-hmm. Called the thunderhead, it solves literally every single problem environmentally, all of these things. So the world is, is perfect. Yeah. And so in this story, like I really started thinking about that. Mm-hmm. What they have to do is create a group called the Sides that have to choose who they murder because the world cannot sustain all the humans that are never getting sick or dying.
Mm-hmm. So they have to kill people and people are incredibly dull. So this world mm-hmm. Without any suffering, the art does not exist. Yeah. Or if it does, it's, it's really, you can't relate to it. So they, it's this whole you species of humans. Mm-hmm. That can't feel you, like flatline all your emotions.
'cause there's nothing to Exactly. Well, and you can't relate. Like if you have never suffered and most people don't know anyone, that gets picked by the side Dom. You never experience loss
crazy.
You never experience, so then you don't appreciate happiness.
Mm-hmm.
And so if you don't understand being ill, you don't appreciate being well.
Yeah. And so it's a really neat story.
Um, it's very, it's very, um, it takes either the yin or the yang out of the equation. Mm-hmm. And so what do you do with when you're left, which is one, right. And
it's all these dull beings, but it's, it's also creating sociopaths, people that have so within the Sodom because they can't feel Yeah.
How would you know the rules and to respect things when you've never been given the capacity to learn them? You know, like mm-hmm. So it's just an interesting, interesting concept and something I've been thinking about. Yeah. Um, in working with people and their experiences with trauma and, you know, how they're eating and mm-hmm.
How their health is and mm-hmm. Immune systems that I think, you know, there's a place for us to have the journey of, let's say cancer.
Yep.
And maybe, maybe you don't live, but if you can go through the experience and keep learning and keep contributing and, um, feel how hard it is. Mm-hmm. It's not necessarily a bad thing.
You have the opportunity at that point to then grow for yourself. Yeah. And have all the people around you. Do the same in the experience?
Well, it just, it brings up what does it mean to be human? And why are we here and what's the journey for? So I mean, just saying that word, right? Like you have to assume it's a journey if you believe in that logic.
So if you're here for a purpose, and I believe you are, and I believe you're here to learn things, and I believe you're here to have this human experience, if you take away those, if you take the human experience away, like why bother, right? Mm-hmm. What's the point? And it sucks, right? Because there are things that you have to deal with that you don't want to, and you do have to feel things that make you.
Any range of like the negative feeling spectrum, right. From the trauma to, uh, fear to being scared, to like, all the way up to just being uncomfortable. Right. As like the, the simplest thing. But if you don't, to your point, if you don't feel it, you can't get to that other place. Mm-hmm.
And, and if you use the Hungry Ghost and avoid it with mm-hmm.
Whatever you're trying to soothe yourself with, to not feel it so deeply. Yeah. Then you're in this looping and where you, you can't get out, you're seeing
stagnant. Th there is a book title that I saw that I, you, I saw the title and then I was like, I don't even need to read the book. I get it. And it was, the title was simply, um, what's, what's In Your Way is the Path.
Hmm. And I was like, I think I, okay. Note to that author. Maybe change the title so people wanna actually read what's inside of it. Because you gave away the answer on the cover. But, um, it was so intriguing to me and I was like, oh, do I buy this for somebody? Like, this is amazing. And I was like, no. Like I can just say it like, we'll just talk about it.
And I think it's important. Like the other phrase is like, what you resist persists. And it's so true. If you wanna find the shadow that keeps hiding behind you, it's the one that you're trying to tell to go away and not deal with. Just be like, leave me alone. Nope. Sorry. That's not the way it works. And it's frustrating, right?
Because so often you have to do a lot of personal reflection to see, it's easier to deal with the shadows that are bigger and more obvious, but then the ones that are like maybe a little bit more gray than black mm-hmm. And you're like, damnit, they're still there. Yeah. I hate those. Um, but you know, you have to, part of the fun of this whole experience is taking that stuff on and learning from it and developing.
So, I mean, it's so interesting to think about from. There's no way you can work with people every day, especially about their bodies, and not combine their past, their current state, their emotional state, their, um, you know, spiritual state, their wellbeing and their physical body itself. Like how do you even start to take that on with a client you have or do you not?
And just see how it develops. Um,
I don't, I don't go in with that intention. I just know that it manifests. Yeah. And to me it's, it's beautiful. Mm-hmm. Um, even, even in the breakdown moments, because it is very common that while people move, they start expressing them themselves. Like, you know, maybe it's something.
That happened earlier that day. Yeah. Maybe they're upset about something. Uh, maybe they've suffered great loss. And it is really important to me to know those things, like mm-hmm. Where they're at emotionally as we're moving because it makes their movement different. Yeah. Um, but it also I think, is incredibly therapeutic mm-hmm.
To have people having a physical experience and all of the, um, body chemistry, uh, working in a way that when they express these hard feelings, there's no resonating, um, anxiety and negative energy trapped within them. They're doing physical movement where they could just let it out in that way as they're talking about it.
Yeah. And a lot of times we don't get that opportunity. Yeah. And so it's neat to see people being comfortable enough. And working with them, it's, it's one of my favorite things Yeah. About the job and there's, it's the safe space, you know, there's, there's no rules, um, in this way. Yeah. You know, but, uh, it's, it's something that I never knew existed within this job.
Mm-hmm. But I'm so happy Yeah. That it does. And now it's such a big part mm-hmm. Of, of what I'm doing and sharing these experiences because just as much as I'm teaching them about their movement, they're teaching me about. Their life, life in general mm-hmm. Their experience. And to be able to have a conversation with a 10-year-old who's, you know, in school and going through all of the things with that and Yeah.
You know, we get to have a fun little, like, dance session in the back of the gym mm-hmm. And then have like an 83-year-old in the same day and talk to them about how they remember the city being Yeah. You know, what they, and telling their stories mm-hmm. And where they came from. Mm-hmm. It's just super neat.
No, I mean, it, it, and I can hear in your share how, how you talked before about dance fulfilling your soul, and I really hear in that like how what you do today fills your soul and, and like how it give, how much like you give to so much in what you help people with, but that it's giving back so much more to yourself.
Definitely. I, and I think that's, that's actually why I started varying away from performing. Mm-hmm. Um, and, and even, and teaching. Group. So this is an extension of my teaching experience. Mm-hmm. But I had the time of teaching larger group classes where there isn't the opportunity for, um, the intimacy.
Yeah. And I've just been gravitating way more to the one-on-one. Mm-hmm. And all the different ages. Yeah. That it's, yeah. I'm very grateful. No, that's amazing.
So if someone's listening and they're like, I've never heard of a mobility specialist before. Do I need one? How do I know if I need one? Like, maybe just say, what does mobility specialist do and why might they need a mobility specialist?
A mobility specialist can come in so many different forms. Mm-hmm. Um, I would say for me it's. The yoga, um, blending in with some tissue work. Mm-hmm. So, SMR self, um, myofascial release with tools, um, or I, I often use my hands, but I am not a certified massage therapist. Yeah. But based on the education that I've had with my mobility certifications, sometimes I just like using my hands over using tools because I can feel like a response mm-hmm.
From the person that I'm touching a little bit better mm-hmm. And feel like I can give them a better release. So, hands-on work mm-hmm. Stretching. Mm-hmm. Um, there's a wonderful program called Functional Range Conditioning, FRC. I have not taken that course, but my coworkers have. Mm-hmm. So we, we love to take courses and then share all of our ideas together.
Yeah.
Um, and so some of their philosophies are about finding, um, control over a full range of motion mm-hmm. In a joint, and that applies to every joint of the body. So that's another way to be a movement specialist. Mm-hmm. So I've adopted some of their ideas and put things based off of their philosophy into my programming as well.
Um, but it's gonna be so specific to the person I'm working with. Mm-hmm. I don't think that I can define it as one thing. Yeah. In particular,
I know that I'm always recommending people to you or to find a mobility specialist in general when they start talking about how their body is broken or doesn't work anymore.
So, um, you know, if we, if I use my mother for example, like she's always talking about how she has bad knees and I'm like, it's almost like the. I, I can't wait for somebody to make a documentary about mobility and your body versus what the commercial industry talks about. Mm-hmm. Because when, when you suffer an injury or you don't, you lose a range of motion or something doesn't feel right anymore.
And so much like stress that you deal with also manifests in its body so often, which we talk a lot about, but people so often will go to their doctor and say like, this hurts. And they'll look at just the knee and they'll say like, oh yeah, it makes sense because you've deteriorated tissue or tendons or whatever.
And they give you a regimen about that, but they never talk about how it fits into your whole body.
Right.
And they, they don't try to, they don't give you a program to, um, they give you the quick solution and not a whole body. Uh, therapy suggestion. Yeah.
And I mean, that is by, well, that's how they're trained and that's what they're qualified to do mm-hmm.
Is to take what's happening in the moment and try to make it better. Yeah. Whereas I think, um, chiropractors, personal trainers, massage therapists, everybody, um, we're all kind of doing this hybrid thing with information and sometimes when you have a degree that's so specific
Yeah.
For liability reasons, you're not allowed to explore outside of that training, um, you know, it can get you into a lot of trouble if you present ideas that are out of the box, you know?
Yeah. Just in case maybe that doesn't work well for the person that you're working with and they have so much more responsibility mm-hmm. Legally. Yeah. Um, than someone like me. Mm-hmm.
And
so I, I love that freedom. Yeah. Um. And even like physical therapists sometimes are restricted because of what their degree Yeah.
States they can do and what they cannot do. Um, and so in that, in that way, I think that's why personal trainers are so, like you could see that label somewhere and it could mean a million different things. Yeah. Same with a chiropractor. Yep. And same with a massage therapist, because if you're talking about the biomechanics of someone's movement mm-hmm.
You know, plus how they can balance out their entire body plus like this leads to this and uh, you know, we have our fascia. Mm-hmm. And that is one whole system that there's not a whole lot. Known about it. And I, I like to say lines a pole. Um, I might've seen it somewhere, I might've made it up, but it's where, let's say one place in your body hurts.
Uh, for example, if you feel like, you know, I'm getting this pole behind my eyebrow, like a headache. A headache. Mm-hmm. Right. But it's really deep, like right around the brow area. Yeah. Like someone's pulling hairs from the inside. Ooh,
very. And
pulling on it. Yeah. I told that to Dr. Justin one day. He's like, wow, that is a creepy yet accurate description of that feeling.
Um, but you can push around the lter scapula or the occipitals or the upper traps and create that feeling. And now that's on the back of your head. Right. But the sensation is right above your eyebrow. Yes. And so that's a line of pull that I like to reference when someone's experiencing this one thing in one place.
Mm-hmm. Let's think about all the different branches that could be connected to it, and let's start eliminating possibilities and eliminating suspects and see where we go on that pathway
and, and I think that highlights one of the most important things I think about your body and pain and what you feel wherever you have the pain.
Unless it's clearly a broken bone, like the source of it is probably somewhere else.
Yeah. Well, and there's a difference between catastrophic injury that happens in a moment. Like, I fell off a rock, my foot is dangling. Yeah. That's catastrophic. I dunno. Anyone that's happened to recently. No, no, no one. Um, I mean, that's catastrophic.
We know. Okay. That's an, that is problems with the ankle.
Mm-hmm.
Right? Mm-hmm. Now, later though, as the healing, after the surgery, there might be all these crazy problems that start going into the knee and then the hip and all of that in, in recovering. So that comes back to what we're talking about now.
But yeah, it's most, it is less likely that it is a catastrophic injury and most likely that you've repeated a movement so many times in a way that your body doesn't like.
Yeah.
Um, and it creates an imbalance in that joint. Mm-hmm.
That,
that is the more likely possibility and correcting a movement pattern that you're not even thinking of in life.
Mm-hmm. Not even at the gym. Yeah. Just like, how do you sit in your car? Oh, is that making my neck hurt guilty? Yes. Every time I get outta the car, my neck hurts. Okay. So let's address how you sit in your car, because you're doing that so many times a day. And no amount of training in the studio or the gym can help that if you're not consciously thinking about that action when you do it so well.
And I think, so that was a personal experience I had, which is one of the reasons that I ran to you in the past two years. 'cause I was commuting every day at la. I was in the car four hours a day and then sitting the rest of the day. And just the commute itself was stressful. And then this job and trying to like make it all work and then sitting, just basically having a chair that sucks in my car that I'm trying to deal with every day.
And we kept moving my position and sit, but like I had a moment driving home one day where I was getting such a bad headache and having so much pain in my neck that I had a moment of blacking out, like I couldn't see. And I'm in the road and I'm like, what the hell is going on? It freaked me out. Right?
It was like a split second, but the pain was so bad that it was affecting my vision, let alone my comfort. And that was like the night I got home and I called you. I'm like, I need your help. And it's, there was so many factors to what that was. And it wasn't my neck. It was everything behind it. It was what I was doing.
The fact that my back wasn't as strong as it should be. Like there's so many elements that go into it, and I think that so often we also don't account for how much our body being not optimized for what we needed to do, just drags our energy levels down too. Mm-hmm. Like when,
that's like a vicious cycle.
Mm-hmm. You know, you're tired and. And so then maybe you eat, eat poorly to soothe yourself.
Mm-hmm.
And then because you eat poorly, it disrupts your sleep.
Yeah.
And then because your sleep is disrupted, you don't wanna move more or better. And so then you're tired again and you repeat Yeah. Like all the time.
And so that's how the emotions, I think, really get trapped in the physical body and have an impact on the physical body. Mm-hmm. And stress levels too, with joint issues. Mm-hmm. And we store these pains and these, uh, experiences that we don't have a physical outlet for in different places. And we'll find that they reoccur and, and that does go hand in hand with the repetitive movement of certain things, but also the repetitive mind work.
Yeah. Of how you're patterning through your day. What you're, what you're doing.
So we have so many people that start the new year and they have their New Year's resolutions, and you hit on like 20 different things that we could be doing for ourselves. So between like eating right and drinking enough water and sleep and moving and stretching.
Like if you, how do I start with one thing and like, what's the first thing I can pick to make an impact and then start layering on the next elements,
I think before trying to take an action. Mm-hmm. Um, you need to know, you have to be conscious, like what's happening. Mm-hmm. So as a resolution, um, I'd say slow down and.
Really take in, uh, your experiences both like the good and the bad. Mm-hmm. So, you know, start to notice when body, when your body is hurting somewhere and what you're doing, um, start to notice if you're just eating to soothe or eating to fuel. Mm-hmm. Or if neither Yep. You know, you're just eating. Yeah. Um, and just start to notice.
Mm-hmm. I would say that's, that's always a step one, because you can't, you can't fix what you don't see. Yeah. And you don't, you don't know what you don't know. Yeah. And so once you start making observations, then you can put things into action. But if you start going into action blind. You might, I mean, that might be a fun experience.
Go down a crazy path and then have to like find your way out. I don't know. Yeah. But I, I would notice, I would want to notice first. Yeah.
How, how has personal training and taking the yoga program and moving into this mobility phase of your career, what has it done for you personally? Um, it's made me appreciate
more, um, and I've been able to handle, I've always had anxiety.
Mm-hmm. Um, and recently it is less and less. And recently because I'm open to it happening, like I know it's gonna happen and now I can kind of predict Oh yeah. The situation that I'm getting myself into. I'm starting to feel these things that are tells for my anxiety. Mm-hmm.
I feel
like. My path has given me tools to not take it away.
'cause it's probably not gonna go away. That's part of who I am. Mm-hmm. But, um, I have tools in my pocket to experience it honestly.
Mm-hmm.
And move, maybe move through it from a negative, negative space into a positive space. Mm-hmm. A little bit faster than I have in the past and not get stuck in a repetitive negative cycle.
Yep.
Well, I know even like you do so many experiments yourself with what you put in your body and mowing, which ones like actually make you feel the way you want to versus you enjoy in the moment. Even as heartbreaking as that can be to like have to give up something, a food or a drink that you love because you know that it doesn't suit what you're creating for yourself.
Mm-hmm. Or your body doesn't like
it. Or, or, or also being open to, uh, I wanna be in this moment and eat that thing. Mm-hmm. That I said I wasn't going to or drink that thing that I said I wasn't going to. Yeah. And I know, I know what it will do. I'm going in with knowledge and I'm making the choice and then not beating myself up over it.
Yep. Like, just have the experience and do it. Mm-hmm. And, and move forward. Yeah. And not feel guilty about it and realize that's part of the balance of it all.
Well, and, and that's, that's such a big takeaway in the sense of if you're, whatever path you're on for your personal growth or your health or fitness or movement, like, don't, don't add more negative thoughts into it by being guilty and beating yourself up for you are aren't doing, because that's just layering on more stuff that you have to, you know, get rid of eventually.
But like, just go in with like, there's a beautiful space for grace for yourself and where you are in the moment and knowing that it's good to have a goal that you wanna get to, but being open to if that's where you're meant to go or not. And like. See, or that it's not a straight path.
Mm-hmm. Like maybe we'll still get there, but I have to turn left and right and then backwards a couple times and then yeah.
Maybe I'll get there and maybe it was not meant to be and I'll end up somewhere else. More beautiful.
Yeah. Less control, more peace. Mm-hmm. More relaxing. Yeah. Um, how, how much of your path have, do you think that you relied on? Like facts and logic or like intuition and how it's felt in the, in the moment
I rely mostly on intuition.
Yeah. Um, but I love finding out facts. I think that I have come to rely mostly on intuition. Mm-hmm. Because of all the facts searching I have done. And you start to realize that when you know well quote, know more mm-hmm. You realize how little you know, and that information that you find truth in is conflicting.
Mm-hmm.
And
so how can both be true?
Yeah.
And it's, um, situational. And that's where intuition comes in. Mm-hmm. So pulling out like all of my stored facts and knowledge and books. Reference references. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Um, analyzing a moment and seeing if those facts suit the person right in front of me or myself, or this experience mm-hmm.
That I'm in. And feeling, feeling if it feels right for me and for whoever's involved.
Yeah.
And I think that's important. It's important because we don't have little, little cameras and scopes that we can look inside our bodies and say like, oh. What, what's happening on a cellular level. I wish I had that, like the magic camera that would show like the new app, this is exactly where the injury is.
Like yeah, this is exactly where the sickness is Uhhuh. And then it's like, great, I have some information and some reference books. Mm-hmm. That I can go look up and fix that problem. But it's never that way. Mm-hmm. And it's gonna be different tomorrow. Yeah. And it was different yesterday. Yeah. So what helped yesterday may not help today.
Mm-hmm. And that's okay. Mm-hmm. Like we just have to go from here and be intuitive for ourselves and me, for my people.
Well, and and I think that so many people are realizing that. Today. Um, taking care of your body is your responsibility, and it really is a journey because there's so many factors to it.
Yeah. There is. There is no one solution. Um, the variables are endless. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Especially when we, we are factoring in not just what you're doing, like eating, drinking, not eating, not drinking, not sleeping, but then you have pollutants and chemicals and other people and who knows what's on the list that's impacting you.
There's that horrible documentary show, and it's not horrible because it's not made well. It's horrible because it's so heartbreaking, but the people who are now like have chronic pain and they don't know the source of it, or they're like electromagnetic sensitive, you can't even see it. And there's a, it's a documentary on Netflix.
I'm gonna, I'm messing up the Google it guys. You'll find it. It's like people in pain, but how people are, are. Pain that people would've ignored in a traditional medicine field are now finding like, no, it's like a real thing. Mm-hmm. We just didn't know it impacted people before. Right.
Like it's, or like, you know, post-concussion syndrome.
Mm-hmm. That's, that's an example of what you're talking about. Mm-hmm. There's not like. You know who said this? I don't remember who said it, but somebody on a podcast that I was listening to said, science should Come. Oh, I think it was Neil deGrasse Tyson. Okay. Said Science should come, um, with a sign on the door that says good until further notice.
That's perfect. I love it. Yeah. It's, you know, like whatever I'm feeling attached to or what draws me, like information that I'm reading and I can relate to it, like it's really great for right now, but that may be proved wrong down the road. Mm-hmm. So in presenting that information, I'm like, well, let's try this and see, and it may work and it may not, and then maybe tomorrow will find something better.
Yeah. You have to,
you have to. So, as someone who helps so many other people, what do you, what are the practices that you put in place for yourself to make sure that you're getting all the. Good stuff that you need, that you're able to keep helping everyone.
Time, boundaries. What does that mean? I was really terrible with time boundaries for a very long time.
Um, it means that limit, I I limit myself to five days of, of work. Mm-hmm. And, uh, I, I even had a therapist tell me once, like, I am ordering you as your therapist to take two days off per week where you have to schedule that as free time. Mm-hmm. I was like, oh, okay. Uh, I don't know if that'll work for me right now.
Um, anyways, but no, I put that into practice now. Being out in nature mm-hmm. Is a complete reset for me. Mm-hmm. So just being in the trees, feeling the air, taking the shoes off, uh, grounding. Mm-hmm. Um. And then, and moving and, and, and the outdoor part walking. You like go for hikes. You are camping, hiking, um, you know, even driving to beautiful places and getting out of the car and just sitting there.
Mm-hmm.
You know? Um, any of that, uh, I think should be scheduled into a weekly, weekly routine Yeah. For personal happiness and wellness. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah. And not getting caught up in the chaos of sometime like busy cities or busy routine and like work and then home. Mm-hmm. And then meal prep and then move, you know, that, that you can plan to be the healthiest person Yeah.
And completely miss the mark. Mm-hmm. If you plan it too much, there has to be that, that give of time, like space and just let things resonate. Mm-hmm. Um, yeah.
As someone who's. Um, more aware than most people about the impacts of like the choices you make on your body. Obviously you have a whole community and world full of people that either dunno this information, choose to ignore it.
Like how do you, like in the yoga class example, how do you in real life have relationships and see people not doing things that are best for them and like, how do you turn that off so that you can have a relationship with somebody and just be their friend versus always thinking like, oh God, oh God, no.
Well, I said before I love to close
my eyes, but, but besides that, um, you know, my experience of watching them mm-hmm. Is usually not anything like their experience that they're having. Yeah. Um. And keeping that in mind is really helpful. Like even though. I wouldn't want to do the movement that way.
Wouldn't want them to do the movement that way. Yeah. They may be having an awesome moment. Mm-hmm. In that movement. And who am I to say, stop that? Yeah. Like stop enjoying your moment. It's not right. Yeah. Your moment is not right. Yeah. So I have to constantly remind myself of that if something pulls my eye.
Mm-hmm. That it's not, it's not my job. Yeah. Like I'm not the teacher of all, even though I have a teaching role. Yeah. That, that's been a hard one. Mm-hmm.
I think
over time that started with the dance teaching and then, you know, not being a teacher to my husband. Yeah. That's not my job. But it's hard not to be a teacher, like when you put yourself in that role.
So, yeah. I, I feel like I'm doing better at not being the teacher of like my friends and my husband and my family. Um, and then trying to like also take that out and like, walking around in the world, it's not the teacher of the world. Yeah. No. I get anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Don't want to be, it would be so stressful.
It would.
Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, obviously this is the Powerful Ladies podcast. So what, what have been moments in your life that have shown you the power that you have inside? Uh,
like to have an exact, an exact thing. 'cause I feel like. Um, I feel powerful in little ways. Mm-hmm. Like little experiences where it occurs to me Yeah.
In that moment. Um, and it's usually like not in the moment of something big Yeah. That I have the realization mm-hmm. That I'm powerful
mm-hmm.
In that moment. It just feels extreme. Yeah. Like, uh, like in a performance. Yeah. I guess performing.
Always feels big. I think big is the right word. Yeah. Um, extreme, like the extreme human experience of, uh, building something up and creating something and like sending it out there and like having this, this powerful energy exchange. Like 'cause mm-hmm. Performers have that with their audience. And you feel when, when you're not succeeding in delivering Yeah.
Like, you feel almost like a vacuum mm-hmm. Of energy when you're not getting the point across or, and you can feel when someone's excited. Yeah. Like, even though it's black out there and you really can't see them. Um, and so going through that, it feels very big. Like you did something. Mm-hmm. And then afterwards there's this lull, like a complete, like, like the zombie out for like a week.
And in looking back at that, I, I would feel powerful in those moments. Mm-hmm. Because it had such a big energetic. Impact. Yeah. But in small, and I, and I wanna have less of those because it feels like in this space of trying to create more balance in my life, situations like that, um, can act like more as setbacks.
Yeah. And, and finding the power and the energy and the, the breakthroughs in, in all the small moments, more like frequently Yep. Feels better. So it's hard to say a specific moment, but performing. Mm-hmm. Or like teaching, like succeeding in a group class when I was super nervous Yeah. Going into it. Yeah.
Yeah. I, I have felt powerful after that. Yeah. But it's like this good, like kind of like high feeling where mm-hmm. Then you just wanna go run around and do things. Yes. One of my favorite feelings versus the void of like, I'm a zombie for a week after a show. Yeah.
Yeah. So where do you, when you are feeling down about yourself or not inspired, where do you go to, to re um, motivate and inspire yourself and remember like how wonderful you are as a human?
Hmm. The trees? Yeah. Yeah. Just being, um, just being out in, in the trees specifically. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Um. I feel like I have less judgment for myself for some reason in those areas. Yeah. But I also like to, um, sometimes have fiction stories. Like right now I'm listening to all of the Harry Potter books again, Uhhuh.
Um, and I often like to listen to something, uh, a work of fiction. That's a great story, but everything about it is the real human experience. Mm-hmm. And walk in someplace beautiful and just like be there.
Yeah. Be present to the magnitude of outside and mm-hmm. The human experience all at once.
Yeah. And that's a big, that's a reset.
Mm-hmm. Because I'm hearing somebody else's story. Yeah. But it feels like it's partly my story 'cause it's so relatable.
Mm-hmm.
Um, but I'm not too sucked into it, becoming obsessed with it. Yeah. Because I'm in nature and I'm grounded. Mm-hmm.
Who are, um, women that you admire and are inspired by, or who have had a big impact on your life?
See, like, there should be so many answers in my head right now.
Well, are there women that you love to follow, that you love? Like having, like calling up?
I, yeah. Well, I mean all of my close lady friends mm-hmm. Um, in different moments. I don't really have, you know, someone famous Yeah. That I can think of right away and you don't need to.
Yeah. Um hmm. Yeah. But I mean, well, so Laura mm-hmm. At the gym Yep. Um, is an inspiration in how she leads her life. I really admire mm-hmm. How she walks her path and, um, and her experience being of service to people. Mm-hmm. And so she, she is definitely, uh, a person that I admire. Um, but I admire like all of my close lady friends for so many different reasons.
Mm-hmm. It's hard to.
It's hard to pick. Um, how important has it been for you to have a circle of girlfriends on your journey?
To be honest, um,
the fact that they were girls never occurred to me.
Yep.
But. The connected energy of like having a feminine energy support system.
Mm-hmm.
Um, that was a non-compete zone. 'cause none of my, none of the girls in my, or women Yeah. In my close circle, um, have that, like, we're all competitive mm-hmm. Uh, with our, like, maybe with our careers mm-hmm.
Or with our athleticism mm-hmm. But not in a way where we compete to be better than each other. Yep. It's always like, um, come into my space and hold me. Yeah. I'm feeling depleted and it's, you know, it's, it's mutual, it's reciprocal and, uh. I know that I could call like 10 people Yeah. And talk to them about anything no matter how ugly.
Yeah. Or how wonderful. Yeah. Good news is great to be shared too. Yeah. But, uh, I have, I have that in my lady friends mm-hmm. And in some of my guy friends as well.
Yeah. 'cause you and I have talked a lot about, and I've been really open with you about struggling with calling this entire thing Powerful ladies in general because it cuts out so many people that are critical to my everyday and my experience this far.
And I think we share in that. So I'm really happy that Powerful Ladies Podcast will have all sorts of guests on it. It won't be female specific, uh, or female identifying specific. Um, and I think that's a big thing, right? Like there's so many, um, men in in my life that. There were moments in my life when I thought that I just didn't have girlfriends because I didn't get it.
Like I wasn't that type of, um. And this is not a negative, this is just my description of it, but like, I wasn't the bubbly, outgoing, cheerleader version. Like I not super feminine, not girly and d in different periods of my life. And I think anyone looking at me from the outside in would be like, what are you talking about?
That's not true at all. But like, I haven't felt like I've been like a, like a girly girl ever. Mm-hmm. And like I know, like when I get news about people getting married or pregnant or engaged, I'm always like, yay. But I'm not like the waterfall of emotions of like. I don't know. I just don't react the way that I see other women react as an example of my lack of girliness.
But so for me, it's like always that's, it's, I, it's ironic to myself that, um, pardon me, it's ironic to myself that we're calling this a powerful ladies podcast when in reality it's just like powerful people and who have supported us. And I just wanna give this as a moment to acknowledge all of the non ladies who have been such a force in both of our lives.
Yeah. 'cause there's so many.
Well, I think, but I think you're onto something with the feminine energy. Mm-hmm. That is specific to female. And that's maybe what you're talking about with the powerful ladies. Yes. Like, not a stereotype of the, of what it looks like. Oh, back to like an aesthetic versus, you know, um, an intention.
It's not what it looks like to be a girl, or how do we define being a girl, but like the feminine energy, like that exists, the yin and the yang, you know, there's a, there's a duality, there's a dynamic there. And, you know, I think that's how
No, I totally agree with you because there's, and there's also something too, I, um.
Only another woman can understand like the full scope of what you go through sometimes and not, I'm not even talking about like a monthly period. Well, that just makes me
giggle because I was totally talking to Scott and Tony about periods last night trying to explain to them like how that feels. And like they indulged me for much longer than I thought they would.
And Yeah. And I was like describing it and then all of a sudden, and Tony didn't even say anything, he just got up and like walked and like went to grab some cushions and Scott goes, Tony's tired of hearing about periods. And he goes, yep. He's like, okay, we can stop now.
Yeah. Like, and I think that's a great example 'cause there's so many stereotypes about it.
Um, but it's, it's just a matter of like having to make the choice, right. Of like to be a mom or not be a mom uhhuh. Mm-hmm. Or like, you know, the, the fact that there is the reality behind. What's going on with the Me Too movement. And in my world I've just been like, that's the way it is. Suck it up. Let's keep moving.
Like for me personally, but like that's really, that's the thing. And it, and I, I didn't realize until recently that it didn't have to be, and that there's a guy who was on a podcast or, or it was on a comedy special talking about how he's like, I'm a nice guy. I'm not the guy you're worried about in Me too.
But I just realized that every girl I've ever dated, when we went on a first date, she was worried if she was gonna get kidnapped or die. And I was just worried if I was gonna get some. And that was like the definition of like what it means, like the discrepancy between being male or female. And I think that's such a true point.
'cause like there's so many things that we just accept as the way they are and 'cause we're so driven to like, keep going forward, you forget like, wait, should it be like that? And that's, I think that's a really interesting discovery part of it too. Yeah. So as we're wrapping up today, um. Like, what, what are the, the, what do you wanna tell the women out there about staying confident and finding their path and like what's, what's your takeaway lesson that you would like to share?
Hmm. Have the intention of loving yourself as is. Like no attachments right now. Yep. So not always picturing that ideal of where you want to be, but like, take it in right now. What are you grateful for? And be there and you know, then plan. But take the moment. To appreciate, like, especially, you know, in, in training when people are, let's say, on a nutrition plan or like they have a weight loss goal or they are training for an event, uh, recognize your own accomplishments and movement towards that.
Mm-hmm. And don't throw that away and only look at what you haven't done yet.
Yeah. Thank you. Mm-hmm. It has been such an honor to have you on my podcast and I love that I can Thank you for having
me.
Of course. Um, and like, who, who you are for me, and this is making me emotional is just like, I know that you are always, uh, yes.
And that means so much when you're creating something new. Don't cry, Jordan. You're gonna make me cry. So thank you. And I love like who you are for the world and what you contribute. So we blew through two hours so quickly that, and we have so much more that we could talk about that I think people need to hear about.
So I'd love to have you on again and, um. We can, because you introduced you, we can pick a topic, right. And like really just dive into it. I mean, Jesse sent us that video that I also wanted to talk to that we didn't get to. Of the guy, like hammering people back together. I have
been terrified to look at that video.
I haven't even opened it yet. 'cause I don't like, I don't know how, um, like is it visceral? Like, I mean, is there, does it show a lot of like the inner workings moving? No, it's, it's, it's a little scary for me
to open. I don't do well with like, injury videos. It's not an injury. It's not, not like that. It's literally.
It would be like with me, with my neck uhhuh in the event, like I had a rib out. Oh, just
watching an adjustment?
Yes. Okay. It's like watching an adjustment. Okay. That's not that scary. It's like, and the guy, he's very charismatic and um, but he uses this hammer method to like, push things back where they should go.
Well I just saw the big hammer in his hand and the way he was holding the dude, I, I was scared. No, watch it 'cause it's fascinating. Okay. Okay, great. And I was so proud of myself 'cause I'm watching the readjustment. I'm like, I know where the problem is. Look, you can see it, you can see it in his back left shoulder.
Mm. Mm-hmm. And I was so proud that you've taught me so much and I could see it and he was trying to get the guy there. But, um, this, um, chiropractor or physical therapist has tons of YouTube videos. His first name is Bo, I'm gonna forget his second name. But he, he does a lot of work with, um, athletes and UFC fighters.
So it's a UFC coach that got injured training with sparring with his client and um, he has to get a rib put back in. It's fascinating to watch the whole experience. Like there's parts where I was freaking out and there's other parts where I was like, Ooh, I think I need to move my arm like that right now.
Oh, and so all of a sudden, like we're copying what's happening in the video, but we have so much work we can get into. We're asking everybody on a scale of powerful ladies, from human to powerful ladies, if one is human, and 10 is a powerful lady. How do you feel today? How do you feel on most days? Oh, that question.
Uh, well, today I am feeling really powerful being in your guys' space. Awesome. So, uh, man, let's say, let's say a nine. A nine today. Let's say a nine. Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah, that makes me feel good.
Yeah.
Amazing. That means we did our job today. Thank you so much. Thank you.
There is so much more that Bry has prepared that, and we could have gone into so many discussions about modern body optimization and everyday balance. I mean, that's really the game we're all playing, right? How to look and feel our best while also mentally being our best. It's a really interesting conversation, and I'm glad that more and more people are talking about whole person solutions instead of isolated quick fixes.
Bree provided some great resources that will all be available in our show notes, as well as on the website in our blog, an Empowerment tools section. If you have questions for B Bry, if you wanna come, have her speak at your studio, if you wanna collaborate with her in any way, or you just want her to be your personal trainer, you can email her breezy movement@gmail.com.
If you'd like to support the work that we're doing here at Powerful Ladies, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google Play, or anywhere you listen to podcasts. Leave a review on any of these platforms. Share the show with all the powerful ladies and gentlemen in your life.
Join our Patreon account. Check out the website, the powerful ladies.com. To hear more inspiring stories. Get practical tools to be your most powerful. Get 15% off your first order in The Powerful Ladies Shop, or donate to the Powerful Ladies one Day of Giving campaign. And of course, follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies for show notes and to get the links to the books.
Podcasts and people we talk about. Go to the powerful ladies.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. She's one of the first female audio engineers in the podcasting world, if not the first, and she also happens to be the best. We're very lucky to have her. She's a powerful lady in her own right, in addition to taking over the podcasting world.
She's a singer songwriter working on our next album, and she's one of my sisters, so it's amazing to be creating this with her, and I'm so thankful that she finds time in her crazy busy schedule to make this happen. It's a testament to her belief in what we're creating through Powerful Ladies, and I'm honored that she shares my vision.
Thank you all so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. I can't wait for you to hear it. Until then. I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.

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