In this episode, we sit down with Janet Fitzgerald, master instructor at SoulCycle beloved by Hollywood, and her confidante and fellow former instructor Eliza Cohen. They fill us in on turning their podcast, Witch & Famous, into a docuseries that takes them on a journey across the country meeting with healers, psychics and spiritual teachers. Plus, hear their thoughts on the future of fitness in the “new normal,” and why a focus on spirituality is so compelling during difficult times.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. I
think spiritually the planet needed us to sit down, think
about some things, and and prioritize our relationships, our hearts,
our spirituality, our connection to the planet. Hi, I'm Michael Casson.
(00:22):
Welcome to Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media,
entertainment and tech are intersecting, transforming our lives and the
way we do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be
joined by some of the greatest business minds and strongest
leaders who will share how they build companies from the
ground up or transform them from the inside out. My
bed is you'll pick up a lesson or two along
(00:43):
the way. It's all good. This is very special session
of Good Company for me. I have the great pleasure
of welcoming Janet Fitzgerald and Eliza Cone, but I want
to take our listeners down a little path. Twenty plus
years ago, I had the good fortune of having Janet
(01:04):
Fitzgerald become part of my life. I was sitting in
the audience on a bike, participating in Janet was at
the front of the class, always keeping me a line
and teaching me the importance of focus, and teaching me
so many things from the perch that she had as
an instructor and as a contributor to my mental health
(01:26):
obviously my physical health, but my mental health. And I've
had the good fortune as well over the last year
or so to meet Eliza and become familiar with the
extraordinary relationship and friendship and collaboration that Janet and Eliza
have launched. I'd love to give a little bit of background. Janet,
(01:47):
your current role is that of a master instructor at
Soul Cycle, but when we met, obviously it was before
Soul Cycle, was at Body and Soul a whole different
part of your journey. Can you talk a little bit
about what brought you into both spin but the idea
of you not just being a spin instructor, but you
being a spiritual leader. There's a lot of layers to
(02:10):
that story, but basically, I had fallen into a pretty
deep depression and I had just quit smoking and put
on about thirteen pounds, and I had friends that said,
why don't you come to spin class with us? And
I said, I hate it. I've tried it one time
three years ago. I can't stand it. It's not my thing.
(02:30):
You know, I'm not going a couple weeks later go by,
no change in me. I'm still depressed. I'm on the
couch and they're like, come on, just just come take
one class. So I went, and I remember about three
quarters of the way through putting my head down and
crying because I felt this overwhelming feeling of empowerment and
(02:54):
kind of like old me, like, oh my god, there
she is, you know. There, there's the girl that's in
dance class. There's the girl that feels fired up about
life like it. It uncovered something within me and I thought, well,
this music is really bad. Uh, but if it were good, um,
we'd really have something here. So that's kind of like
where I started. At the time. I didn't have any
(03:17):
money to ride. So I got one of my mentors
on the horn and I said, I was I was
crying and I said, I don't know what to do
because I don't have any money. Um. But I found
this thing that I think is going to change my life. Um.
And he said, go get an envelope right spinning on it.
He goes, do you have any money, and I said
I don't know. I was waiting tables at the time.
(03:38):
He goes, well, go go look in your wall and
see what you got, I think. I said, I had
three dollars in there, and he goes, okay, we'll put
one of them in the envelope. And I promise you,
gene At Fitzgerald, you will never run out of money
to spend. Next morning, I woke up and I thought
to myself, I don't need to pay for classes? What
am I? What am I thinking? So? And I'd only
(03:59):
been writing for about three months and I had like
torn My feet were like spinning through my shoes. I
had like holes, you know, because I was overweight and
just like determined. So I went to the owner and
I said, hey, listen, I noticed you don't have any
teachers at seven am on Tuesday and Thursday. How about
I teach that class for us. I've been to teacher
(04:19):
all my life. When I teach that class for you,
and then in trade, you don't have to pay any
but in trade I get to take all the classes
I want. And he said, okay, crazy lady um. And
that's kind of how that started. Well, I remember, Janet,
just to dive in there for a moment. One bit
of advice you gave to a class that I took
(04:40):
years ago. When somebody says, I don't have time. Your
retort was what that person actually meant was they didn't
choose to allocate the time correct well, talking about empowerment.
So can Eliza this partnership, this collab, this this friendship
that you and Janet have created, can you give us
(05:02):
a little background? Obviously you met through my understanding, as
you met through sol cycle, and the relationship was created
and it's a unique relationship. Can you give us a
little bit of background, Eliza on how you got here today? Yes, Um, So,
I had been working at Soalcycle at the time for
probably about a year, but I was My full duration
(05:23):
was about five years UM, and I, like many people,
stumbled upon Janet's class, um and I remember you also
using him. Julie Rice found you. Yes, So, I was
teaching surfing in Los Angeles at a kids camp and
one of my favorite and most beloved campers was Julie
Rice's daughter, and I had no idea who her mom was.
(05:46):
I had just started writing at Soalcycle in Los Angeles
and completely fell in love with the experience, and then
I ended up starting to nanny for um Julie. And
then when I moved to New York, for college. She
was like, I'd love to give you a up and
I told her. I was like, I'm not qualified, but
like I'll do my best. So then I stumbled upon
Janet's class, and I remember leaving that day and telling
(06:10):
my friends or my coworkers whoever I was with, that
I was never going to introduce myself because I never
wanted that class to change like it was. It just
blew me away so much and changed my life within
the forty five minutes. And I had other friends who
obviously were instructors, and I when I got to know them,
it kind of changed the dynamics. So I remember saying like,
(06:33):
I can never have that classs changed for me, which
is kind of funny now because obviously I dare undertoo myself.
Just to put the time of horizon there. I remember
as well, when you could stumble into Janet's class. Then
I remember when you had to be the first person
to call because you couldn't dare stumble in. The waiting
(06:54):
list was too long by the time by the time
we got to the next stage of spinning. So you
were lucky and that you were there you could stumble
and most people couldn't. I remember it was like a
weird time in the summer and everyone was out of town,
and I knew it was like my one shot to
finally take Janet's class. Well, having just watched Hambleton's for
(07:15):
the ninth time, you know, you didn't want to give
up your shot, So that's good. Um. Yeah, And so
that's how it started. And then we just kind of
got to know each other through like working and then
kind of hanging out and then vacation. Would you like
to kind of took a vacation together because I had
(07:36):
broken up with someone, like a couple of days before
us was the Bahamas, and so I was crying in
the back office at seventy seven Street at Soul Cycle
and she's like I'll go. I'm like, okay, great, pack
your bags and ship. So I want to go back
to something you said when you started spinning, and and
(07:56):
it's inspirational for me, and you know this talk to
us about the music and the importance of the music,
because when I tried to describe to people why spinning
worked for me, the primary portion of it was the escape.
I'm distracted easily when I'm spinning. I'm there. Whether it
(08:18):
was a forty five minute class or a super soul
or whatever you know, or a soul survivor. I'm there.
How do you what's your inspiration as you program the
music for speed, for endurance, for psychology? How do you
choose the music? It's a it's an art. It is
I have sixteen I have over sixteen thousand songs in
(08:38):
my library and they are not organized in any type
of way or with a shock by that like, how
is that possible? Um? And the big reason of how
that's possible is I really, for lack of a better description,
channel spirit. UM. So when I get up in the morning,
I pray to angels and guides, and UM, I asked
(08:59):
for them to help me put together the playlist that
will be the most uplifting and inspiring and inner energizing,
revitalizing for the people who are showing up that day.
So I really believe that you and anyone else who's
signed up for class are actually helping curate the music. UM.
I have always spelt a matter of fact. A few
(09:21):
days after I had taken that class and cried, I
made a cassette tape for that teacher, and I took
it to class and asked her if she would play
it for class. Now, if you can imagine if anyone
did that to me, I'd be like, you need to
go sit down right now. I've always been a dancer.
So if you really listen to music, Michael, it's going
to tell you exactly what to do. It's going to
(09:42):
tell you to run or to jump, or to climb
or two. So I have this deep, deep relationship to music,
and I know exactly what the music wants you to
do to it. So I get up, I make that
one set list for that experience that morning, and then
we don't re use it again because the next day
(10:02):
is different, the next set of people are different. I'm different.
So Janet and Miliza, I want to switch gears. The
two of you were working on something that's I find
extraordinarily interesting. It's a docuseries and I love the name
of it, which and famous, and I'd love to just,
you know, hear from the two of you how you
were inspired to do this and what the basic premise is.
(10:25):
You've got the podcast that's already existing and this docuseries
will be spun off of that as the basis. But
I'd love to just have you guys kind of walk
us through what to expect with which and famous Well
we um it started in tooloom. Yeah. Janet turned over
and she asked me, Um. She said, like, surprise, you
(10:46):
just won the lottery. Um, more money than you could
ever spend. Set for life, You've helped out your family
and friends, etcetera. Um, what are you what are you
going to do? And I thought about it, and I said,
you know, I've always wanted to make a documentary and
like drive around the country. UM. And I was just
and I also added like I'm not exactly sure what
(11:07):
the story would be, but I just I see me
making a documentary and driving around the country. And I said, well,
that's funny because I've always wanted to make a documentary
about all of the healers and psychics and spiritual teachers
that I have seen in the last thirty years. And
I had originally wanted to call it hex in the
City um, but upon further investigation, I found out that
(11:28):
they had been used many times. But still it was like, um,
the idea of it. So we thought, well, if we
both want to shoot a documentary, like, let's investigate this. Yeah.
And I feel like that was such a key for
me to talk about spirituality, because I realized, oh my gosh, yes,
that's what I'm passionate about. So that's what the story is,
(11:50):
that's what the documentary is, right, And she's the genius
that came up with the name. Well, it's it's a
brilliant name because it certainly catches one's attention and talk
about the spiritual journey. Talk about the healers. First of all,
how do you find these healers? I believe that God
and spirit Um speaks through other people when it's a
(12:12):
positive message. For instance, I think it was about twenty
six and I was dealing with really bad nightmares and
a friend said, I need you to have a session
with this woman is she's a like a spiritual teacher.
And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about.
What is a session? I don't you know? And I said,
in furthermore, I don't even have any money for a session.
(12:33):
She goes, you know what, I'm going to treat you.
I just need you to drive out. I was in
Los Angeles. She goes, I need you to drive out
to Palm Springs and you're gonna meet with this woman.
So that was the very first time I was ever
connected to a spiritual teacher. Her name was Lorna Terrell
and she now lives in Texas, but at the time
she lived in Palm Springs and she was extremely psychic
(12:54):
and a spiritual teacher. I met with Lorna and it literally, Michael,
it was a pivotal point in my life that completely
changed directions. Um. I had never heard anyone speak about
spirituality or life before. And she said things like, for example,
she goes, uh, Janet, I'll see that you have a
(13:16):
ring on your finger, Um tell me something. Are you
in love with that man? And I paused for a second,
and she goes, it's all right, I already know the
answer to that question, so let's talk about when you're
gonna break up, you know. So she was and and
I would ask other questions about like am I gonna
get my SAG card? And you know, because I was
(13:37):
like acting in l A and and she goes, um, well,
how's your closet look? And I said, oh, I don't know.
I guess it's kind of messy, right, And she was like, well,
you're never gonna manifest all of the things that you
want to manifest in life. Your soul is who really
brings you opportunity and money and relationships in to your lap.
(14:00):
So if you don't clean up the details of your
closet and your car and your home, you will not
be able to manifest all of your hopes and drinks.
So I get home and clean that closet. If I
were you, Janet and Eliza, let me ask a question.
You came up with the idea for which and famous
quite some time ago. It's not brand new, but it's
moving now from podcast to the docuseries. Has the overall
(14:24):
tone in your mind changed based on the current environment.
I definitely feel like people are more open now than
ever before to like other answers. UM. I think people
because we've had so much time UM kind of an isolation. UM.
I know a lot of people are like looking in
words and working on themselves. And I know, for me,
(14:44):
at least, like working with these brilliant healers has how
my own self growth exponentially. Thin. Witchcraft to be thought
of like doing something to someone or putting a spell
on someone, Now it's not what it is. It's more
just about like really, um, getting in touch with the
(15:05):
Earth planet and harmony with everything, and harmony with relationships
and harmony with yourself, your body, what you ingest, how
you operate in the world. So the cool thing about
this UM quarantine and the virus is that it hit
the pause button so that everyone is forced to stop running. Okay,
even getting on a bike helps me kind of run
(15:26):
from some of the stuff that's going on in my head,
you know what I mean. So the fast pace of
New York, I can get out on the streets and
like kind of outrun a lot of feelings. However you
want to do that. Now we're being forced to like
sit down. I really feel that in spirituality there's about
one million reasons for every one thing that happens. So
we can analyze, you know this about why this is
(15:48):
happening to our world. For all you know, this could
be an all day discussion, but I think spiritually the
planet needed us to sit down, think about some things
and and prioritize our relationship ships. Our hearts are spirituality,
our connection to the planet. And I've always felt like
UM the same with my class. I always felt like
(16:09):
I was a good bridge where I could like reach
big executive guys that would normally not be into spiritual practice,
but I could reach them through music and through relatability.
So we feel like we can offer spirituality to the
masses that will be more easily digested. Some of it's
gonna people are still gonna go like that's too wacky
(16:30):
for me, but but hopefully they won't want to turn away. Well,
I'm here to say what I said at the beginning
of this conversation, and I'll reiterate it again. You reached me.
You reached me in a way that no one else
had because I had that focus. And I guess the
question that I had, which I think you already answered,
(16:51):
was in this moment, people have changed. We're all working
from home or what's the acronym or heard the other
day not w f H, WFB working from dad. I mean,
you know, there's all kinds of iterations on what people
are doing. So, guys, in the spirit of this is
all about spirituality, are there any tips or techniques that
you can kind of share with us? What do you
(17:14):
think about going back to the core and back to soul.
What do you think the future of exercise is. I mean,
are we all gonna go in are we going to
get back to some you know, comfort level to be
on a bike, you know, reasonably close to somebody. Part
of the spectacular that I felt was that energy and
(17:35):
and what you get from the sixty or so writers
around you, even though you're in your own zone. And
one of the great things for me about the relationships
that I built over the years when I was pretty regular,
it soul in class where the people it was a
level playing field. You know, Michael, the future of fitness
(17:56):
UM is going to be different for a while and
certainly for the next years. But I will tell you
UM kind of like, just like in the twenties, I
think there's gonna be a lot of underground things happen
prohibition fitness. I really do. I really feel like people
are gonna you know, you're gonna they're gonna throw, I
(18:20):
don't know, get a warehouse in Culver City, roll up
the doors, throw fifty bikes in there. Everyone's signed, gets
their temperature taken before they come in, signs, release forms,
And I think there's gonna be underground things happening where
people can still get this feeling that you're talking about
if they choose how about outdoors what we did in
(18:42):
Can last year. They're planning outdoors, I believe, right now
in the Hampton's Yeah, what's so successful? Yeah, Michael, I
want to I want to add one thing everybody on
the planet. Basically, if I had one piece of spiritual
advice that would increase everyone's integrity at any company or
any person on the planet, it would be something that
(19:04):
I tell the trainees at Soul Cycle. I said, listen, uh,
just so you know. And this was back in the
day when Julie Elizabeth own the company. I said, you
do not work for Soul Cycle. You do not work
for Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler. You certainly don't work
for me. You will be successful and have the longest
(19:26):
career and the most exciting trajectory if you work for
your soul period period, you show up and you do
it for you. You do it for your soul, and
then the energy that you create is exponentially much much
much bigger than funneling it through This is who employs me. Well,
(19:49):
that's a great way to end. To do it for
your soul, to do it for your own spiritual journey,
to do it for your KPI s. Your key performance
indicator is that we all create for ourselves. I think
there's no better place to end Good Company with Janet
Fitzgerald and Eliza Cone than right there. We love you, Hichael.
(20:12):
I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company. Good
Company is a production of I Heart Radio. A special
thanks to Lena Peterson, chief Brand Officer and Managing Director
of media Link, for her vision of Good Company, and
to Jen Seely, vice President Marketing Communications of media Link
for programming amazing talent and content. Good Company is edited
(20:32):
by Jessica crime Chich
Good Company is a production of I Heart Radio. I
think spiritually the planet needed us to sit down, think
about some things, and and prioritize our relationships, our hearts,
our spirituality, our connection to the planet. Hi, I'm Michael Casson.
(00:22):
Welcome to Good Company, where I'll explore how marketing, media,
entertainment and tech are intersecting, transforming our lives and the
way we do business at a breakneck speed. I'll be
joined by some of the greatest business minds and strongest
leaders who will share how they build companies from the
ground up or transform them from the inside out. My
bed is you'll pick up a lesson or two along
(00:43):
the way. It's all good. This is very special session
of Good Company for me. I have the great pleasure
of welcoming Janet Fitzgerald and Eliza Cone, but I want
to take our listeners down a little path. Twenty plus
years ago, I had the good fortune of having Janet
(01:04):
Fitzgerald become part of my life. I was sitting in
the audience on a bike, participating in Janet was at
the front of the class, always keeping me a line
and teaching me the importance of focus, and teaching me
so many things from the perch that she had as
an instructor and as a contributor to my mental health
(01:26):
obviously my physical health, but my mental health. And I've
had the good fortune as well over the last year
or so to meet Eliza and become familiar with the
extraordinary relationship and friendship and collaboration that Janet and Eliza
have launched. I'd love to give a little bit of background. Janet,
(01:47):
your current role is that of a master instructor at
Soul Cycle, but when we met, obviously it was before
Soul Cycle, was at Body and Soul a whole different
part of your journey. Can you talk a little bit
about what brought you into both spin but the idea
of you not just being a spin instructor, but you
being a spiritual leader. There's a lot of layers to
(02:10):
that story, but basically, I had fallen into a pretty
deep depression and I had just quit smoking and put
on about thirteen pounds, and I had friends that said,
why don't you come to spin class with us? And
I said, I hate it. I've tried it one time
three years ago. I can't stand it. It's not my thing.
(02:30):
You know, I'm not going a couple weeks later go by,
no change in me. I'm still depressed. I'm on the
couch and they're like, come on, just just come take
one class. So I went, and I remember about three
quarters of the way through putting my head down and
crying because I felt this overwhelming feeling of empowerment and
(02:54):
kind of like old me, like, oh my god, there
she is, you know. There, there's the girl that's in
dance class. There's the girl that feels fired up about
life like it. It uncovered something within me and I thought, well,
this music is really bad. Uh, but if it were good, um,
we'd really have something here. So that's kind of like
where I started. At the time. I didn't have any
(03:17):
money to ride. So I got one of my mentors
on the horn and I said, I was I was
crying and I said, I don't know what to do
because I don't have any money. Um. But I found
this thing that I think is going to change my life. Um.
And he said, go get an envelope right spinning on it.
He goes, do you have any money, and I said
I don't know. I was waiting tables at the time.
(03:38):
He goes, well, go go look in your wall and
see what you got, I think. I said, I had
three dollars in there, and he goes, okay, we'll put
one of them in the envelope. And I promise you,
gene At Fitzgerald, you will never run out of money
to spend. Next morning, I woke up and I thought
to myself, I don't need to pay for classes? What
am I? What am I thinking? So? And I'd only
(03:59):
been writing for about three months and I had like
torn My feet were like spinning through my shoes. I
had like holes, you know, because I was overweight and
just like determined. So I went to the owner and
I said, hey, listen, I noticed you don't have any
teachers at seven am on Tuesday and Thursday. How about
I teach that class for us. I've been to teacher
(04:19):
all my life. When I teach that class for you,
and then in trade, you don't have to pay any
but in trade I get to take all the classes
I want. And he said, okay, crazy lady um. And
that's kind of how that started. Well, I remember, Janet,
just to dive in there for a moment. One bit
of advice you gave to a class that I took
(04:40):
years ago. When somebody says, I don't have time. Your
retort was what that person actually meant was they didn't
choose to allocate the time correct well, talking about empowerment.
So can Eliza this partnership, this collab, this this friendship
that you and Janet have created, can you give us
(05:02):
a little background? Obviously you met through my understanding, as
you met through sol cycle, and the relationship was created
and it's a unique relationship. Can you give us a
little bit of background, Eliza on how you got here today? Yes, Um, So,
I had been working at Soalcycle at the time for
probably about a year, but I was My full duration
(05:23):
was about five years UM, and I, like many people,
stumbled upon Janet's class, um and I remember you also
using him. Julie Rice found you. Yes, So, I was
teaching surfing in Los Angeles at a kids camp and
one of my favorite and most beloved campers was Julie
Rice's daughter, and I had no idea who her mom was.
(05:46):
I had just started writing at Soalcycle in Los Angeles
and completely fell in love with the experience, and then
I ended up starting to nanny for um Julie. And
then when I moved to New York, for college. She
was like, I'd love to give you a up and
I told her. I was like, I'm not qualified, but
like I'll do my best. So then I stumbled upon
Janet's class, and I remember leaving that day and telling
(06:10):
my friends or my coworkers whoever I was with, that
I was never going to introduce myself because I never
wanted that class to change like it was. It just
blew me away so much and changed my life within
the forty five minutes. And I had other friends who
obviously were instructors, and I when I got to know them,
it kind of changed the dynamics. So I remember saying like,
(06:33):
I can never have that classs changed for me, which
is kind of funny now because obviously I dare undertoo myself.
Just to put the time of horizon there. I remember
as well, when you could stumble into Janet's class. Then
I remember when you had to be the first person
to call because you couldn't dare stumble in. The waiting
(06:54):
list was too long by the time by the time
we got to the next stage of spinning. So you
were lucky and that you were there you could stumble
and most people couldn't. I remember it was like a
weird time in the summer and everyone was out of town,
and I knew it was like my one shot to
finally take Janet's class. Well, having just watched Hambleton's for
(07:15):
the ninth time, you know, you didn't want to give
up your shot, So that's good. Um. Yeah, And so
that's how it started. And then we just kind of
got to know each other through like working and then
kind of hanging out and then vacation. Would you like
to kind of took a vacation together because I had
(07:36):
broken up with someone, like a couple of days before
us was the Bahamas, and so I was crying in
the back office at seventy seven Street at Soul Cycle
and she's like I'll go. I'm like, okay, great, pack
your bags and ship. So I want to go back
to something you said when you started spinning, and and
(07:56):
it's inspirational for me, and you know this talk to
us about the music and the importance of the music,
because when I tried to describe to people why spinning
worked for me, the primary portion of it was the escape.
I'm distracted easily when I'm spinning. I'm there. Whether it
(08:18):
was a forty five minute class or a super soul
or whatever you know, or a soul survivor. I'm there.
How do you what's your inspiration as you program the
music for speed, for endurance, for psychology? How do you
choose the music? It's a it's an art. It is
I have sixteen I have over sixteen thousand songs in
(08:38):
my library and they are not organized in any type
of way or with a shock by that like, how
is that possible? Um? And the big reason of how
that's possible is I really, for lack of a better description,
channel spirit. UM. So when I get up in the morning,
I pray to angels and guides, and UM, I asked
(08:59):
for them to help me put together the playlist that
will be the most uplifting and inspiring and inner energizing,
revitalizing for the people who are showing up that day.
So I really believe that you and anyone else who's
signed up for class are actually helping curate the music. UM.
I have always spelt a matter of fact. A few
(09:21):
days after I had taken that class and cried, I
made a cassette tape for that teacher, and I took
it to class and asked her if she would play
it for class. Now, if you can imagine if anyone
did that to me, I'd be like, you need to
go sit down right now. I've always been a dancer.
So if you really listen to music, Michael, it's going
to tell you exactly what to do. It's going to
(09:42):
tell you to run or to jump, or to climb
or two. So I have this deep, deep relationship to music,
and I know exactly what the music wants you to
do to it. So I get up, I make that
one set list for that experience that morning, and then
we don't re use it again because the next day
(10:02):
is different, the next set of people are different. I'm different.
So Janet and Miliza, I want to switch gears. The
two of you were working on something that's I find
extraordinarily interesting. It's a docuseries and I love the name
of it, which and famous, and I'd love to just,
you know, hear from the two of you how you
were inspired to do this and what the basic premise is.
(10:25):
You've got the podcast that's already existing and this docuseries
will be spun off of that as the basis. But
I'd love to just have you guys kind of walk
us through what to expect with which and famous Well
we um it started in tooloom. Yeah. Janet turned over
and she asked me, Um. She said, like, surprise, you
(10:46):
just won the lottery. Um, more money than you could
ever spend. Set for life, You've helped out your family
and friends, etcetera. Um, what are you what are you
going to do? And I thought about it, and I said,
you know, I've always wanted to make a documentary and
like drive around the country. UM. And I was just
and I also added like I'm not exactly sure what
(11:07):
the story would be, but I just I see me
making a documentary and driving around the country. And I said, well,
that's funny because I've always wanted to make a documentary
about all of the healers and psychics and spiritual teachers
that I have seen in the last thirty years. And
I had originally wanted to call it hex in the
City um, but upon further investigation, I found out that
(11:28):
they had been used many times. But still it was like, um,
the idea of it. So we thought, well, if we
both want to shoot a documentary, like, let's investigate this. Yeah.
And I feel like that was such a key for
me to talk about spirituality, because I realized, oh my gosh, yes,
that's what I'm passionate about. So that's what the story is,
(11:50):
that's what the documentary is, right, And she's the genius
that came up with the name. Well, it's it's a
brilliant name because it certainly catches one's attention and talk
about the spiritual journey. Talk about the healers. First of all,
how do you find these healers? I believe that God
and spirit Um speaks through other people when it's a
(12:12):
positive message. For instance, I think it was about twenty
six and I was dealing with really bad nightmares and
a friend said, I need you to have a session
with this woman is she's a like a spiritual teacher.
And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about.
What is a session? I don't you know? And I said,
in furthermore, I don't even have any money for a session.
(12:33):
She goes, you know what, I'm going to treat you.
I just need you to drive out. I was in
Los Angeles. She goes, I need you to drive out
to Palm Springs and you're gonna meet with this woman.
So that was the very first time I was ever
connected to a spiritual teacher. Her name was Lorna Terrell
and she now lives in Texas, but at the time
she lived in Palm Springs and she was extremely psychic
(12:54):
and a spiritual teacher. I met with Lorna and it literally, Michael,
it was a pivotal point in my life that completely
changed directions. Um. I had never heard anyone speak about
spirituality or life before. And she said things like, for example,
she goes, uh, Janet, I'll see that you have a
(13:16):
ring on your finger, Um tell me something. Are you
in love with that man? And I paused for a second,
and she goes, it's all right, I already know the
answer to that question, so let's talk about when you're
gonna break up, you know. So she was and and
I would ask other questions about like am I gonna
get my SAG card? And you know, because I was
(13:37):
like acting in l A and and she goes, um, well,
how's your closet look? And I said, oh, I don't know.
I guess it's kind of messy, right, And she was like, well,
you're never gonna manifest all of the things that you
want to manifest in life. Your soul is who really
brings you opportunity and money and relationships in to your lap.
(14:00):
So if you don't clean up the details of your
closet and your car and your home, you will not
be able to manifest all of your hopes and drinks.
So I get home and clean that closet. If I
were you, Janet and Eliza, let me ask a question.
You came up with the idea for which and famous
quite some time ago. It's not brand new, but it's
moving now from podcast to the docuseries. Has the overall
(14:24):
tone in your mind changed based on the current environment.
I definitely feel like people are more open now than
ever before to like other answers. UM. I think people
because we've had so much time UM kind of an isolation. UM.
I know a lot of people are like looking in
words and working on themselves. And I know, for me,
(14:44):
at least, like working with these brilliant healers has how
my own self growth exponentially. Thin. Witchcraft to be thought
of like doing something to someone or putting a spell
on someone, Now it's not what it is. It's more
just about like really, um, getting in touch with the
(15:05):
Earth planet and harmony with everything, and harmony with relationships
and harmony with yourself, your body, what you ingest, how
you operate in the world. So the cool thing about
this UM quarantine and the virus is that it hit
the pause button so that everyone is forced to stop running. Okay,
even getting on a bike helps me kind of run
(15:26):
from some of the stuff that's going on in my head,
you know what I mean. So the fast pace of
New York, I can get out on the streets and
like kind of outrun a lot of feelings. However you
want to do that. Now we're being forced to like
sit down. I really feel that in spirituality there's about
one million reasons for every one thing that happens. So
we can analyze, you know this about why this is
(15:48):
happening to our world. For all you know, this could
be an all day discussion, but I think spiritually the
planet needed us to sit down, think about some things
and and prioritize our relationship ships. Our hearts are spirituality,
our connection to the planet. And I've always felt like
UM the same with my class. I always felt like
(16:09):
I was a good bridge where I could like reach
big executive guys that would normally not be into spiritual practice,
but I could reach them through music and through relatability.
So we feel like we can offer spirituality to the
masses that will be more easily digested. Some of it's
gonna people are still gonna go like that's too wacky
(16:30):
for me, but but hopefully they won't want to turn away. Well,
I'm here to say what I said at the beginning
of this conversation, and I'll reiterate it again. You reached me.
You reached me in a way that no one else
had because I had that focus. And I guess the
question that I had, which I think you already answered,
(16:51):
was in this moment, people have changed. We're all working
from home or what's the acronym or heard the other
day not w f H, WFB working from dad. I mean,
you know, there's all kinds of iterations on what people
are doing. So, guys, in the spirit of this is
all about spirituality, are there any tips or techniques that
you can kind of share with us? What do you
(17:14):
think about going back to the core and back to soul.
What do you think the future of exercise is. I mean,
are we all gonna go in are we going to
get back to some you know, comfort level to be
on a bike, you know, reasonably close to somebody. Part
of the spectacular that I felt was that energy and
(17:35):
and what you get from the sixty or so writers
around you, even though you're in your own zone. And
one of the great things for me about the relationships
that I built over the years when I was pretty regular,
it soul in class where the people it was a
level playing field. You know, Michael, the future of fitness
(17:56):
UM is going to be different for a while and
certainly for the next years. But I will tell you
UM kind of like, just like in the twenties, I
think there's gonna be a lot of underground things happen
prohibition fitness. I really do. I really feel like people
are gonna you know, you're gonna they're gonna throw, I
(18:20):
don't know, get a warehouse in Culver City, roll up
the doors, throw fifty bikes in there. Everyone's signed, gets
their temperature taken before they come in, signs, release forms,
And I think there's gonna be underground things happening where
people can still get this feeling that you're talking about
if they choose how about outdoors what we did in
(18:42):
Can last year. They're planning outdoors, I believe, right now
in the Hampton's Yeah, what's so successful? Yeah, Michael, I
want to I want to add one thing everybody on
the planet. Basically, if I had one piece of spiritual
advice that would increase everyone's integrity at any company or
any person on the planet, it would be something that
(19:04):
I tell the trainees at Soul Cycle. I said, listen, uh,
just so you know. And this was back in the
day when Julie Elizabeth own the company. I said, you
do not work for Soul Cycle. You do not work
for Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler. You certainly don't work
for me. You will be successful and have the longest
(19:26):
career and the most exciting trajectory if you work for
your soul period period, you show up and you do
it for you. You do it for your soul, and
then the energy that you create is exponentially much much
much bigger than funneling it through This is who employs me. Well,
(19:49):
that's a great way to end. To do it for
your soul, to do it for your own spiritual journey,
to do it for your KPI s. Your key performance
indicator is that we all create for ourselves. I think
there's no better place to end Good Company with Janet
Fitzgerald and Eliza Cone than right there. We love you, Hichael.
(20:12):
I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company. Good
Company is a production of I Heart Radio. A special
thanks to Lena Peterson, chief Brand Officer and Managing Director
of media Link, for her vision of Good Company, and
to Jen Seely, vice President Marketing Communications of media Link
for programming amazing talent and content. Good Company is edited
(20:32):
by Jessica crime Chich
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