July 17, 2024 • 31 mins
In this episode of PEAC: Train Like a Girl, we welcome Kelly Keefe, a certified yoga instructor with a powerful story of resilience and determination. Here's a glimpse into Kelly's journey and the wisdom she shares:
Background:
Certified yoga instructor
Former high school basketball player and cross-country runner
Diagnosed at age 8 with Scoliosis and Spina Bifida
Underwent major spinal fusion surgery during her high school years
Kelly's Journey:
Basketball and Cross-Country:
Basketball was her first love, shared with her twin sister
Her basketball career came to an abrupt halt during a tournament when she experienced severe mobility issues
Post-surgery, Kelly's recovery was long and painful, but she tackled it head-on with the support of her family
Personal Training and Cross-Country Running:
Kelly began personal training, which eventually led her to cross-country running. Found a supportive community, faced both physical and mental challenges, and built positive connections with her coaches
College Years:
Served as the student manager of the women's basketball team at DePauw University, where her twin sister continued to excel in basketball
Kelly's involvement in sports extended beyond her own participation, fostering community and connection.
Re-discovering Yoga:
After a car accident, a coworker recommended yoga to Kelly. Kelly found MELT Hot Yoga, where she experienced a profound connection between mind, body, and breath. Yoga helped her feel whole while simultaneously building strength
Philosophy and Advice:
Kelly believes that all girls in sports can benefit from the mind-body connection fostered by yoga and breathwork, even in as little as five minutes a day. Emphasizes the importance of becoming comfortable with discomfort. Shares her worst coaching advice experience: being told to ignore pain
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to PEAK, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by girls in sport for girls in sport.
We're here to amplify your voice because it deserves to be heard.
At PEAK, we are a safe place for girls to hang out, learn, grow, and build community.
We empower girls in sport and coaches with knowledge, resources,
(00:31):
and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
Join us for bold conversations about experiences of girls in sport.
Our discussions will make you laugh, cry, cheer, get frustrated,
and hopefully rethink the future of girls in sport for generations to come.
So whether you're walking, commuting, or cleaning your bedroom, take us with you.
(00:56):
Follow us. Give us a five-star rating. It helps more than you can imagine.
Check out our website and share with a female athlete or coach you love.
Now, without any further delays, I want to introduce you to our next guest.
Our next guest, Kelly Keith, was a student of an athlete of mine.
(01:17):
I actually can't remember when she graduated several years ago throughout her cross-country career.
She also became a personal training client of mine.
And she's going to fill you in on some of her journey there and why we started working together.
Together since graduating from college she
has also become a certified yoga instructor and
(01:40):
that is why I am so excited to have her
here today to share her story I love that
she fell in love with yoga and that yoga has found a huge place in her home
and in her heart she also has a really cool event that she is hosting with yoga
I'm going to let her fill you in on all the details but I saw that she was doing this.
(02:03):
And I'm like, this is somebody we have got to share on the Peep podcast.
So without any further ado, let's go ahead and get warmed up.
Are you ready, Kelly? I'm ready.
Awesome. I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyways, cat or dog? Dog.
(02:24):
Vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate. Beach or mountains?
Oh, I'll have to go with beach. That one's hard, though. It is hard.
Okay, road trip or plane?
Road trip, every time. I love it. So then maybe I'm going to ask you this one.
Four-star hotel or camping? Camping.
(02:45):
Does glamping count?
I think so. I'm putting yes. Then I would go glamping.
All right. And I'm really kind of curious about this. Taylor Swift or Beatles?
Oh, that's so tough.
I'll have to go Beatles, but I love me some T-Swift. I love it.
(03:08):
See, you're the perfectly well-rounded person. I absolutely love that.
So thank you so much for being here, taking the time out of your workday.
You are in corporate America now, like a real job, which is so exciting.
I want to get to know all of that.
But before we kind of dive into where you're at now, will you take us back and
(03:31):
just talk to us about your connection to sport, maybe starting in middle school
and migrating through high school? Totally.
So yeah, I actually, I have a bit of a crazier story with sports.
I was born with scoliosis, spina bifida, which is all spinal issues.
And I knew from probably the age of six or seven that I was going to need a spinal fusion.
(03:56):
Didn't know how large, didn't know what that was going to be,
but it was just inevitable. And I did not want that to stop my growth within
the community of sports.
So I actually started playing basketball at the in the age of like fourth grade around like 2007.
And it became my biggest passion up until around 2012, 2013.
(04:19):
And I actually one day at University of Illinois Champaign Urbana,
I threw my back out tying my shoe at a half court.
And it was really unfortunate, but I was bedridden, bedbound for quite some
time up until November 13th, 2013.
And I had half of my spine fused into my hips.
(04:42):
So it was a bit of a whirlwind. I had my favorite sport taken away from me.
And then I ended up falling in love with the sport of cross country, which I started in 2014.
After I had some recovery, I couldn't do any contact sports anymore.
I couldn't do a ton of high impact sports anymore. more.
(05:04):
So I knew that the cross-country team at Libertyville High School was so wonderful,
filled with so many women who coached. So I gave it a shot.
And from 2014 to 2017, I ran cross-country and then fell in love with the art
of yoga all at the same time with actually Anne-Marie.
(05:25):
She would come in on Fridays and help us out with some yoga.
Yoga and that's really when I fell in love with it and started doing hot intensive
yoga even with my spinal fusion.
So it kind of just beat the odds of what I thought I could do.
I thought I was going to lose 50% of my mobility and I actually gained so much
(05:47):
more than that through the art of yoga and through running, which was kind of crazy.
And then it became my passion all throughout my life.
And then recently, I just got my up in 2024 of March, I just finished up my yoga certification.
And I now teach at melt Pilates and hot yoga, which I'm very honored to be there.
(06:07):
Oh, my gosh, there's so many things in there that just make me smile from ear to ear.
And some things that make me sad, I mean, when you can tell when you're talking
about something that you love, the sport of basketball.
And can I share that you had another connection to basketball besides?
(06:28):
Of course. Yeah. Okay. So Kelly also has a twin sister who was a basketball
player, is a basketball player, played basketball.
And you could tell that aside from them loving the sport individually,
it was something that brought them joy together.
And so I think that that was something as a outsider looking in that was hard
to see is that you losing kind of this connection, not just with sport,
(06:51):
but this connection to your sister. Did you feel that?
Totally. I mean, totally. It was like one of our biggest things that we did together.
We did it every day. It was our love and our passion. And she ended up playing through college.
And on her last basketball game, we were crying together because I was able
to be a student assistant. I was very fortunate, wonderful program, DePaul University.
(07:16):
And they allowed me to help with the team while she played.
And so it was kind of like she was playing for both of us. And she would always say that was her why.
And that was my why of being there too. Just that was our passion.
And she was able to fulfill it for the both of us. And so when that ended,
it was kind of the craziest thing ever. Like there was one of these pictures
(07:37):
of her just sobbing and I'm in like my uniform.
Just they'll never forget it. It was one of the craziest, most heartwarming,
but wretched things at the same time. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
And to take something that was so meaningful to you and to her and obviously
then to your family and to have such a pivot was remarkable to see.
(08:00):
So in the journey to cross country and yoga was not easy. There was quite a
bit of rehab through your spinal fusion. Is that correct?
Totally. I mean, totally. I went from P3 and I saw you actually.
You helped me a ton being able to create that spinal strength just through like
those small mobility exercises that we did together.
(08:21):
And those exercises went such a long way with my spinal fusion recovery.
Recovery it almost doubled like it went
from it's supposed to be two years and then it ended up being six
months because I found I was able to find you you really
helped me through that and with those it was way healthier for me it wasn't
those high impact and it was just showing me that even exercises don't have
(08:45):
to be where you feel like you're going to pass out that you can do for your
body just to help recover so that helped me a ton on.
Yeah, I think that that's so true. And I want to talk kind of about that recovery piece.
So do you remember when, so back in high school, which I'm assuming was your
(09:05):
first introduction to yoga, is that correct? Yes, totally. Okay.
So when you were first introduced to yoga, did you think that it was something
that only old people did?
Did you think it was something you did to try to fall asleep?
Did you have, you know, what was your connection to yoga and what is your connection to yoga now?
(09:25):
When I first heard about yoga and really started seeing it,
I thought it was just a good old stretch and then you went
home you didn't do much you touch your toes you reach over the sides and then
you called it a day like it was just a stretch that your coaches made you do
before you went home you know yeah and and now it has completely transformed my way of exercise.
(09:53):
Not even just my physical body but my mental body
I am in some of the best shape I've been
in my life and I don't I'm not
high impact obviously anymore and trying to
navigate that was so difficult but then going back and going to melt bodies
and hot yoga they taught me that that's a mental thing you have to push yourself
(10:14):
in order to keep going and to make it into a workout and don't get me wrong
it's 100 degrees in that room every time we go out here so you're going to sweat no matter or what.
But seeing it now, it's just become such a vital part of my physical and mental exercise.
Yeah. And let's talk about that piece. Let's talk about so it's interesting.
(10:35):
I think people think of yoga as a stretch. And there are certainly components of yoga that.
You know allow you to be flexible or you
can build flexibility but even with cross-country I
talk a lot about this you know cross-country runner doesn't
have to be flexible they have to be mobile right they have
got their joints have to be able to move but they don't necessarily they don't
(10:57):
have to be ballerina flexible so to me when I started and was was able to come
into the high school to teach yoga I mean and that was that was Bill Etteneyer
like he was way ahead of the time to like recognize that girls in sport needed
something to kind of connect mind body.
I mean, he really was overthinking there.
(11:19):
But in order to bring yoga into a high school student, you can't talk about
the mind body connection,
you know, you know, exclusively, or, you know, it feels a little like too almost
like spiritual or too foreign.
So there is conversations around, you know it
helps your muscles you are getting more flexible but really
(11:41):
kind of like burying little pieces that people
could come back to that you know it's it's important
to slow the body down it's important to slow the mind down and it's important
to be present and be where your feet are so were you did you ever pick up on
any of those subtleties or was that something you discovered for yourself later
(12:02):
on but definitely at first when we when definitely when me and you met
and then started doing those Friday things, you could just tell immediately
whether it was conscious or not, the mood enhanced.
The different ways my body was feeling after enhanced.
And then going forward and getting that education I finally got,
(12:24):
I look back like I've been knowing this for years,
but I just didn't have those tools or didn't recognize that I had those tools
in order to see those subtleties and see that even if you see it as a stretch,
you are doing so much deeper work within your body that you don't even realize.
So I definitely was unconsciously aware, but now with my education that I received,
(12:50):
it's like I look back like, hello, it's always been there. You just never realized.
Yeah, it's interesting. And I think some of it is,
you know, you know what is you know appropriate for
you know an age type of thing so talk to me
about your certification process what made you do it you
know what are your hopes with yoga and then fill people in on what you're doing
(13:11):
with your that the shelter for dogs oh yeah totally so i started i actually
got into a pretty bad car accident in december of 2023 and or january of 2023 and.
Then I didn't know what to do. PT wasn't working. I had really bad neck strain, back pain again.
(13:34):
And one of my co-workers introduced me to this new yoga studio again.
I moved. I was from Libertyville.
I moved towards the boonie area of the state of Illinois.
And I was a little lost and I needed a community.
And my co-worker introduced me to his wife who owns Melt Pilates in hot yoga.
(13:54):
And she was the one that had me come in and just start with Pilates and help
me build my core strength.
And then she introduced me to her, like one of her head teachers there,
her name's Agnes, and she's incredible.
And she made me fall in love again. And you meet so many people in there.
And from even from that point, the community that this women owned business
(14:17):
showed me I wanted to be a part of it.
I drank the Kool-Aid. I want to be in here.
And then after that, I was like, I need to get into great shape.
I need to mentally be stronger.
And I was telling this to Agnes, and she told me teacher training will change
your life, whether you want to be a teacher or not.
Just learning the art of yoga and the history of yoga and why we do yoga is
(14:41):
so important if you want to enhance your own practice.
So going from there, it was three days a week from four to five hours a day
and did it for quite a few months.
It ended up being longer because I got hit again in another car accident.
But that second car accident actually, with all the resources I had,
(15:01):
made my recovery so much faster than I thought.
Don't get me wrong, I had some neurological issues but my body kind of bounced
back faster if I didn't have the yoga that I did have it would have taken me
about a year to recover again so I got very blessed in that element.
And so then I got into yoga and now I just it ignites my passion.
(15:23):
I have so many folks from around the community coming in that yogis meant for
crazies who can put their foot over their heads.
And I just say, no, everyone can do it. You just have to be open minded to the
whole idea of yoga, because being in uncomfortable situations is one of the bases of yoga.
It's it's OK to be uncomfortable in new spaces.
(15:46):
It makes you grow as a person. in. So then I actually work for a car dealership,
Brilliant Subaru in Elgin.
And at Brilliant Subaru, we're able to do dog adoption events all the time.
I bring in adoptable pets every Tuesday, Friday from Anderson Humane in South Elgin.
And with all of my favorite elements of animals, I love my job and I love yoga.
(16:08):
I was able to have the idea with my boss, Shannon Tampa,
a buff that we should do puppy yoga and which
is so fun and they're all going to be adoptable
puppies and it's going to be at we have a dog park as
well at our dealership which is just i'm very blessed to
have and it's beautiful it's not just a fence and
gravel area it's a huge yard with beautiful trees
(16:30):
and we're very fortunate enough that i was able
to grab that space and we're gonna have a big fundraiser and
have puppies and just enjoy and it's gonna be in the summer and
it might be a little toasty so we might get some hot yoga action
in there so i'm really that's amazing
yeah that is so cool i'm so excited talk about all your passions like you're
(16:53):
passionate about your job and you're passionate about animals and you're passionate
about yoga and you know thinking outside the box you're like okay what can we
do to incorporate all these these things that I love,
but also to give back to community.
When I saw that, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is absolutely brilliant.
(17:14):
And the fact that the puppies then can be adopted is amazing.
It was just like an extra splash. So like we can make them adoptable.
I'm like, yes, please. That'd be awesome.
Absolutely amazing. And I like that you kind of keep circling back to the different
tenets of yoga that, you know, anybody can practice yoga and,
(17:36):
you know, yoga is for everybody and that getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is,
you know, part of the practice.
It doesn't matter what the shape looks like, right?
It's settling into breath and it's settling into a shape and getting comfortable
with the uncomfortable because I think you're exactly right. In life,
(17:57):
That is such an important skill set. Sometimes we brush over the uncomfortable.
And I'm wondering if it's because
we, you know, we sweep it under the rug and we don't talk about it.
But I wonder if it was something that really connected to you because,
you know, in a very early age, you realize that at some point you were going
(18:20):
to have to have this radical surgery.
And you've not dove into the details, but I have to imagine much of your days
and much of your life was uncomfortable.
Yes, it was almost a constant state of pain.
It was either sitting or standing, walking.
(18:42):
Most of my life, I've always been exactly set in those uncomfortable situations,
because of my physical pain.
So do you have uncomfortable for me? Isn't that foreign?
I kind of love it. Obviously, it makes you a better person if you can't grow in comfortable spots.
Yeah, I think that's right. Right. Mm hmm. Yeah.
(19:03):
And I wonder if that's like if you go back and kind of reflect back on to your
your time in high school.
What do you think is one of the reasons we're showing up here in this space
is to give information to girls in sport coaches and caretakers so they can
have more challenging conversations and move forward.
(19:25):
You know, what do you think that we could be doing from a cultural perspective for girls in sport,
particularly in high school, to allow them to understand the benefits of practicing
yoga, particularly at that high school age?
So not something that could be available to them down the line when they're 25 or 45, but.
(19:48):
Understanding the value of practicing yoga in high school.
I guess maybe I should ask, do you think it's important for girls to practice
yoga in high school? Totally.
High school is, again, a constant state of uncomfortability.
You're going through so many changes.
You don't know. You want to fit in, but you want to be yourself.
And yoga is one of those places that you can be uncomfortable.
(20:13):
And it allows, but everyone's uncomfortable. So that's what makes it comfortable
because no one quite knows what they're doing, especially if you've never done it before.
And being in that state of meditation and focusing,
allowing your inner dialogue to be quiet and to allow yourself to be in that
uncomfortable situation is so important because, again, it'll make you grow as a person. in.
(20:37):
It'll make you those that class presentation.
Oh, not a big deal. I just had to try and touch my toes across the room in front
of all of my colleagues and all of my classmates and things like that,
that you put yourself in the uncomfortable.
So you are uncomfortable going forward.
So I think yoga is so important too, because it does help with that mental health part as well.
(21:01):
Allowing yourself to be in the moment and in the practice to release all those
anxieties and all of those uncomfortabilities that you have in your outside
world is so important because it'll help you grow as a person and become more
confident within yourself because you're allowing yourself that time.
Yeah, I would agree with that. So is there something do you
(21:22):
think we could be doing better to give
more access to girls in
high school to access to the benefits of yoga
oh yeah i definitely think that coaches can
see because they know how important stretching is but bringing in those elements
of yoga and like having those conversations about yes we all can touch our toes
(21:46):
but would anyone like to actually do it together as a group Because even I remember
in high school for cross country, after a big run, everyone stretches together.
And even that can be considered as a mini yoga flow.
But bringing them into that space and bringing them in saying,
this is your time to reflect on yourself.
(22:07):
Allow yourself this space and having those resources such as going online and
just looking up a few videos and talking.
And it shows there's so many things on YouTube, let alone like 20 minute flows.
That you can take and you can even use it for yourself do it for yourself first
and see how different you feel as a coach you'll want that for your players
(22:27):
or your runners or whatever you see fit because girls and might not have those
resources or might not know about the resources and yeah it's so important.
Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And I'm glad you brought up the conversation of YouTube.
And this has been a rethink for me, because I kind of used to be like,
oh, like kind of like, you know, downplay the YouTube or mostly because I have no idea what it is.
(22:52):
And see, that's me like making a decision about something before I know.
No, but I think you're right. I think YouTube is a really good resource.
And I actually know several programs that are using resource at practice now,
using YouTube as a resource during their practices. And I thought,
you know what? That's brilliant.
They're plugging this in these 20 minute programs and they're giving exposure
(23:15):
to girls in sport, you know, to practice.
Right. So I think you're exactly right. And that is like, you know,
that's like low scale in. like everybody has access to YouTube, right?
So almost anybody could do that. And even if once a week, we're encouraging
coaches, and we're here to talk about girls in sport, but obviously,
(23:37):
there's benefit to boys in sport also.
So I think that that's right. I think that's a really good way to do that just
to give them easier access, because not everybody has, you know,
the availability to bring in a specific yoga coach.
That's obviously a luxury that, you know, some school districts will never have
the opportunity to have. So I think that's really good.
(23:59):
What's your thought specifically about breath work and yoga?
Do you practice breath work?
Does it valuable to you? It's everything.
It's okay. That's one of the bases that I've learned is breath is life.
How you, your pace of your life is going is how fast you're breathing.
(24:19):
Everything so if you are constantly
in that shallow anxious breath you're
you're you're moving you're fast and that will
start picking up within your health and even i've learned i have i'm very lucky
that i have the resources that i've seen that happen on myself i was a very
shallow light breather and that constantly constantly constantly affected my
(24:44):
sleep it affected my attitude, it affected my mood,
it affected my way I was eating.
But once you take the time to clear your head, deep breath work,
all three parts, lower stomach, ribs, upper chest.
Full deep breaths, it's crazy how fast it affects your fight and flight. It affects your memory.
(25:06):
It affects the way of your recovery.
So just that deep mental breath work, just four deep breaths at the hold at the top does wonders.
And you'll have, it's maybe two minutes of your day before when you wake up, before you go to bed,
if you're at lunch by yourself, it will do wonders
for your breathing and then your mind will just all
(25:29):
of a sudden start clearing and your body will start reacting
and the more you do it the better you feel so just
start from there just a quick two minutes of just deep breathing goes such a
long way yeah i think you're exactly right i mean this is this has been so incredible
to sit down to listen to you reignite why i love being a certified yoga instructor,
(25:54):
because sometimes, you know, life can kind of get in your way, right? Totally.
Maybe, you know, but to hear somebody like you reshare their thoughts and their
passion, you can just feel it.
And I'm so thankful that you took the time out of your day and your schedule
and all that you have going on to be here to have this conversation.
(26:16):
I do want to start the cool down. But before we do that, I want to ask you one more question.
Do you think, because I get this a lot, do you think yoga is sport?
I do. It's crazy.
We've had professional athletes at our studio. We've had people with the highest
athletic ability come in and be like, this is harder than some of my hardest workouts.
(26:41):
And that's when you know, and the validation, like it is a sport.
It's a mental sport and a physical sport. So no matter what, I think it's a sport.
I'm agreeing with you. So when people kind of downplay it, I think that's why...
We don't see as much influence of yoga in high school athletics as people don't
see the value of it, particularly as a sport.
(27:03):
What I loved and the reason I really wanted to have you on was you're a remarkable athlete.
You're a remarkable person, like just a human, like you're a remarkable human. Thank you.
It's true. But to see you go from this passionate basketball player and to have
to have his rethink and do a sport like cross country after a spinal fusion, which was hard.
(27:26):
And then embrace being, you know, the student manager for your team at DePauw
with your sister, who, by the way, they had a couple of huge years down there, too.
I was able to follow that and watch some of that. So that was super fun.
But then to go and take your passion for sport and do something like yoga where
(27:46):
you're not not only doing this for your own physical and mental well-being,
but you can tell you want to give this to other people.
That really, it is so amazing on so many levels.
That's why I wanted to talk to you, because I want people to know that sport
is for everybody, even somebody who thinks that after a spinal fusion,
(28:08):
that their life in sport is over.
You're here to show people that it's not. That's just the beginning.
That's just that was just the beginning of your story.
Totally. And thank you for saying all those such nice things.
All right. Let's get us cooled down here. What am I going to start with?
Oh, well, some of these are like, what's your favorite way to calm your mind
(28:31):
and body? Deep breathing, baby.
Deep breathing. there you go
all right if you were still a
high school or a collegiate athlete and
you're on a bus what would be a food
that you wished was portable enough to eat after competition on a bus that's
(28:54):
tough um actually since i've seen this a lot like with my traveling with my
sister she She would always say that she just wanted something with high protein intake,
but almost like just like protein shakes that are more available and not taste like chalk.
There you go. I love it. Okay. I like that. Yeah. So I would say that one.
(29:15):
Awesome. If talent were not an issue, what sport would you love to excel in?
Golf. Oh, how fun is that?
Well, my spinal fusion, I have never been able to truly get into the sport.
So I think it's because I can't that I want to do it even more. Yeah, I love that.
Best or worst advice a coach ever gave you?
(29:40):
Oh, push through an injury. That's so bad, right? I hope it's so bad.
Yeah, no, that one's the worst. Okay.
And then the other one, and it's kind of similar, it would be mind over matter,
just like allowing your infrastructure to allow you through it,
but pushing through an injury, nah.
Yeah, I agree. Like, what is that? That's so old school, right? That was so yesterday.
(30:02):
All right. What do you want to leave for our audience? So if you were going
to give advice to your 16-year-old self, what would it be?
It's okay to be uncomfortable in all these situations. Stay comfortable being uncomfortable.
I think that's really good. That is good, good, good wisdom.
(30:23):
So Kelly, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be here.
I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to sit down and chat with you.
I'm so excited to see how your puppy yoga program goes.
I think it's going to be a huge hit. I'm sure you're going to do it multiple times.
We'll make sure that we have the links to the yoga class and also the car dealership
(30:49):
and where Kelly teaches yoga in the show notes. So make sure you guys check back for that.
Also, don't forget to follow us, share our episodes, join us on Instagram at peak train like a girl.
Take a minute to explore our website. And again, we're going to make sure we
drop all the links to the show and everything Kelly talked about in the show
(31:09):
notes. So make sure you guys check back later.
And if you're feeling inspired, make sure you share our episodes with A.C.
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Music.
(00:10):
Welcome to PEAK, Train Like a Girl, a podcast by girls in sport for girls in sport.
We're here to amplify your voice because it deserves to be heard.
At PEAK, we are a safe place for girls to hang out, learn, grow, and build community.
We empower girls in sport and coaches with knowledge, resources,
(00:31):
and support we think is necessary in today's athletic environments to thrive.
Join us for bold conversations about experiences of girls in sport.
Our discussions will make you laugh, cry, cheer, get frustrated,
and hopefully rethink the future of girls in sport for generations to come.
So whether you're walking, commuting, or cleaning your bedroom, take us with you.
(00:56):
Follow us. Give us a five-star rating. It helps more than you can imagine.
Check out our website and share with a female athlete or coach you love.
Now, without any further delays, I want to introduce you to our next guest.
Our next guest, Kelly Keith, was a student of an athlete of mine.
(01:17):
I actually can't remember when she graduated several years ago throughout her cross-country career.
She also became a personal training client of mine.
And she's going to fill you in on some of her journey there and why we started working together.
Together since graduating from college she
has also become a certified yoga instructor and
(01:40):
that is why I am so excited to have her
here today to share her story I love that
she fell in love with yoga and that yoga has found a huge place in her home
and in her heart she also has a really cool event that she is hosting with yoga
I'm going to let her fill you in on all the details but I saw that she was doing this.
(02:03):
And I'm like, this is somebody we have got to share on the Peep podcast.
So without any further ado, let's go ahead and get warmed up.
Are you ready, Kelly? I'm ready.
Awesome. I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask anyways, cat or dog? Dog.
(02:24):
Vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate. Beach or mountains?
Oh, I'll have to go with beach. That one's hard, though. It is hard.
Okay, road trip or plane?
Road trip, every time. I love it. So then maybe I'm going to ask you this one.
Four-star hotel or camping? Camping.
(02:45):
Does glamping count?
I think so. I'm putting yes. Then I would go glamping.
All right. And I'm really kind of curious about this. Taylor Swift or Beatles?
Oh, that's so tough.
I'll have to go Beatles, but I love me some T-Swift. I love it.
(03:08):
See, you're the perfectly well-rounded person. I absolutely love that.
So thank you so much for being here, taking the time out of your workday.
You are in corporate America now, like a real job, which is so exciting.
I want to get to know all of that.
But before we kind of dive into where you're at now, will you take us back and
(03:31):
just talk to us about your connection to sport, maybe starting in middle school
and migrating through high school? Totally.
So yeah, I actually, I have a bit of a crazier story with sports.
I was born with scoliosis, spina bifida, which is all spinal issues.
And I knew from probably the age of six or seven that I was going to need a spinal fusion.
(03:56):
Didn't know how large, didn't know what that was going to be,
but it was just inevitable. And I did not want that to stop my growth within
the community of sports.
So I actually started playing basketball at the in the age of like fourth grade around like 2007.
And it became my biggest passion up until around 2012, 2013.
(04:19):
And I actually one day at University of Illinois Champaign Urbana,
I threw my back out tying my shoe at a half court.
And it was really unfortunate, but I was bedridden, bedbound for quite some
time up until November 13th, 2013.
And I had half of my spine fused into my hips.
(04:42):
So it was a bit of a whirlwind. I had my favorite sport taken away from me.
And then I ended up falling in love with the sport of cross country, which I started in 2014.
After I had some recovery, I couldn't do any contact sports anymore.
I couldn't do a ton of high impact sports anymore. more.
(05:04):
So I knew that the cross-country team at Libertyville High School was so wonderful,
filled with so many women who coached. So I gave it a shot.
And from 2014 to 2017, I ran cross-country and then fell in love with the art
of yoga all at the same time with actually Anne-Marie.
(05:25):
She would come in on Fridays and help us out with some yoga.
Yoga and that's really when I fell in love with it and started doing hot intensive
yoga even with my spinal fusion.
So it kind of just beat the odds of what I thought I could do.
I thought I was going to lose 50% of my mobility and I actually gained so much
(05:47):
more than that through the art of yoga and through running, which was kind of crazy.
And then it became my passion all throughout my life.
And then recently, I just got my up in 2024 of March, I just finished up my yoga certification.
And I now teach at melt Pilates and hot yoga, which I'm very honored to be there.
(06:07):
Oh, my gosh, there's so many things in there that just make me smile from ear to ear.
And some things that make me sad, I mean, when you can tell when you're talking
about something that you love, the sport of basketball.
And can I share that you had another connection to basketball besides?
(06:28):
Of course. Yeah. Okay. So Kelly also has a twin sister who was a basketball
player, is a basketball player, played basketball.
And you could tell that aside from them loving the sport individually,
it was something that brought them joy together.
And so I think that that was something as a outsider looking in that was hard
to see is that you losing kind of this connection, not just with sport,
(06:51):
but this connection to your sister. Did you feel that?
Totally. I mean, totally. It was like one of our biggest things that we did together.
We did it every day. It was our love and our passion. And she ended up playing through college.
And on her last basketball game, we were crying together because I was able
to be a student assistant. I was very fortunate, wonderful program, DePaul University.
(07:16):
And they allowed me to help with the team while she played.
And so it was kind of like she was playing for both of us. And she would always say that was her why.
And that was my why of being there too. Just that was our passion.
And she was able to fulfill it for the both of us. And so when that ended,
it was kind of the craziest thing ever. Like there was one of these pictures
(07:37):
of her just sobbing and I'm in like my uniform.
Just they'll never forget it. It was one of the craziest, most heartwarming,
but wretched things at the same time. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
And to take something that was so meaningful to you and to her and obviously
then to your family and to have such a pivot was remarkable to see.
(08:00):
So in the journey to cross country and yoga was not easy. There was quite a
bit of rehab through your spinal fusion. Is that correct?
Totally. I mean, totally. I went from P3 and I saw you actually.
You helped me a ton being able to create that spinal strength just through like
those small mobility exercises that we did together.
(08:21):
And those exercises went such a long way with my spinal fusion recovery.
Recovery it almost doubled like it went
from it's supposed to be two years and then it ended up being six
months because I found I was able to find you you really
helped me through that and with those it was way healthier for me it wasn't
those high impact and it was just showing me that even exercises don't have
(08:45):
to be where you feel like you're going to pass out that you can do for your
body just to help recover so that helped me a ton on.
Yeah, I think that that's so true. And I want to talk kind of about that recovery piece.
So do you remember when, so back in high school, which I'm assuming was your
(09:05):
first introduction to yoga, is that correct? Yes, totally. Okay.
So when you were first introduced to yoga, did you think that it was something
that only old people did?
Did you think it was something you did to try to fall asleep?
Did you have, you know, what was your connection to yoga and what is your connection to yoga now?
(09:25):
When I first heard about yoga and really started seeing it,
I thought it was just a good old stretch and then you went
home you didn't do much you touch your toes you reach over the sides and then
you called it a day like it was just a stretch that your coaches made you do
before you went home you know yeah and and now it has completely transformed my way of exercise.
(09:53):
Not even just my physical body but my mental body
I am in some of the best shape I've been
in my life and I don't I'm not
high impact obviously anymore and trying to
navigate that was so difficult but then going back and going to melt bodies
and hot yoga they taught me that that's a mental thing you have to push yourself
(10:14):
in order to keep going and to make it into a workout and don't get me wrong
it's 100 degrees in that room every time we go out here so you're going to sweat no matter or what.
But seeing it now, it's just become such a vital part of my physical and mental exercise.
Yeah. And let's talk about that piece. Let's talk about so it's interesting.
(10:35):
I think people think of yoga as a stretch. And there are certainly components of yoga that.
You know allow you to be flexible or you
can build flexibility but even with cross-country I
talk a lot about this you know cross-country runner doesn't
have to be flexible they have to be mobile right they have
got their joints have to be able to move but they don't necessarily they don't
(10:57):
have to be ballerina flexible so to me when I started and was was able to come
into the high school to teach yoga I mean and that was that was Bill Etteneyer
like he was way ahead of the time to like recognize that girls in sport needed
something to kind of connect mind body.
I mean, he really was overthinking there.
(11:19):
But in order to bring yoga into a high school student, you can't talk about
the mind body connection,
you know, you know, exclusively, or, you know, it feels a little like too almost
like spiritual or too foreign.
So there is conversations around, you know it
helps your muscles you are getting more flexible but really
(11:41):
kind of like burying little pieces that people
could come back to that you know it's it's important
to slow the body down it's important to slow the mind down and it's important
to be present and be where your feet are so were you did you ever pick up on
any of those subtleties or was that something you discovered for yourself later
(12:02):
on but definitely at first when we when definitely when me and you met
and then started doing those Friday things, you could just tell immediately
whether it was conscious or not, the mood enhanced.
The different ways my body was feeling after enhanced.
And then going forward and getting that education I finally got,
(12:24):
I look back like I've been knowing this for years,
but I just didn't have those tools or didn't recognize that I had those tools
in order to see those subtleties and see that even if you see it as a stretch,
you are doing so much deeper work within your body that you don't even realize.
So I definitely was unconsciously aware, but now with my education that I received,
(12:50):
it's like I look back like, hello, it's always been there. You just never realized.
Yeah, it's interesting. And I think some of it is,
you know, you know what is you know appropriate for
you know an age type of thing so talk to me
about your certification process what made you do it you
know what are your hopes with yoga and then fill people in on what you're doing
(13:11):
with your that the shelter for dogs oh yeah totally so i started i actually
got into a pretty bad car accident in december of 2023 and or january of 2023 and.
Then I didn't know what to do. PT wasn't working. I had really bad neck strain, back pain again.
(13:34):
And one of my co-workers introduced me to this new yoga studio again.
I moved. I was from Libertyville.
I moved towards the boonie area of the state of Illinois.
And I was a little lost and I needed a community.
And my co-worker introduced me to his wife who owns Melt Pilates in hot yoga.
(13:54):
And she was the one that had me come in and just start with Pilates and help
me build my core strength.
And then she introduced me to her, like one of her head teachers there,
her name's Agnes, and she's incredible.
And she made me fall in love again. And you meet so many people in there.
And from even from that point, the community that this women owned business
(14:17):
showed me I wanted to be a part of it.
I drank the Kool-Aid. I want to be in here.
And then after that, I was like, I need to get into great shape.
I need to mentally be stronger.
And I was telling this to Agnes, and she told me teacher training will change
your life, whether you want to be a teacher or not.
Just learning the art of yoga and the history of yoga and why we do yoga is
(14:41):
so important if you want to enhance your own practice.
So going from there, it was three days a week from four to five hours a day
and did it for quite a few months.
It ended up being longer because I got hit again in another car accident.
But that second car accident actually, with all the resources I had,
(15:01):
made my recovery so much faster than I thought.
Don't get me wrong, I had some neurological issues but my body kind of bounced
back faster if I didn't have the yoga that I did have it would have taken me
about a year to recover again so I got very blessed in that element.
And so then I got into yoga and now I just it ignites my passion.
(15:23):
I have so many folks from around the community coming in that yogis meant for
crazies who can put their foot over their heads.
And I just say, no, everyone can do it. You just have to be open minded to the
whole idea of yoga, because being in uncomfortable situations is one of the bases of yoga.
It's it's OK to be uncomfortable in new spaces.
(15:46):
It makes you grow as a person. in. So then I actually work for a car dealership,
Brilliant Subaru in Elgin.
And at Brilliant Subaru, we're able to do dog adoption events all the time.
I bring in adoptable pets every Tuesday, Friday from Anderson Humane in South Elgin.
And with all of my favorite elements of animals, I love my job and I love yoga.
(16:08):
I was able to have the idea with my boss, Shannon Tampa,
a buff that we should do puppy yoga and which
is so fun and they're all going to be adoptable
puppies and it's going to be at we have a dog park as
well at our dealership which is just i'm very blessed to
have and it's beautiful it's not just a fence and
gravel area it's a huge yard with beautiful trees
(16:30):
and we're very fortunate enough that i was able
to grab that space and we're gonna have a big fundraiser and
have puppies and just enjoy and it's gonna be in the summer and
it might be a little toasty so we might get some hot yoga action
in there so i'm really that's amazing
yeah that is so cool i'm so excited talk about all your passions like you're
(16:53):
passionate about your job and you're passionate about animals and you're passionate
about yoga and you know thinking outside the box you're like okay what can we
do to incorporate all these these things that I love,
but also to give back to community.
When I saw that, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is absolutely brilliant.
(17:14):
And the fact that the puppies then can be adopted is amazing.
It was just like an extra splash. So like we can make them adoptable.
I'm like, yes, please. That'd be awesome.
Absolutely amazing. And I like that you kind of keep circling back to the different
tenets of yoga that, you know, anybody can practice yoga and,
(17:36):
you know, yoga is for everybody and that getting comfortable with the uncomfortable is,
you know, part of the practice.
It doesn't matter what the shape looks like, right?
It's settling into breath and it's settling into a shape and getting comfortable
with the uncomfortable because I think you're exactly right. In life,
(17:57):
That is such an important skill set. Sometimes we brush over the uncomfortable.
And I'm wondering if it's because
we, you know, we sweep it under the rug and we don't talk about it.
But I wonder if it was something that really connected to you because,
you know, in a very early age, you realize that at some point you were going
(18:20):
to have to have this radical surgery.
And you've not dove into the details, but I have to imagine much of your days
and much of your life was uncomfortable.
Yes, it was almost a constant state of pain.
It was either sitting or standing, walking.
(18:42):
Most of my life, I've always been exactly set in those uncomfortable situations,
because of my physical pain.
So do you have uncomfortable for me? Isn't that foreign?
I kind of love it. Obviously, it makes you a better person if you can't grow in comfortable spots.
Yeah, I think that's right. Right. Mm hmm. Yeah.
(19:03):
And I wonder if that's like if you go back and kind of reflect back on to your
your time in high school.
What do you think is one of the reasons we're showing up here in this space
is to give information to girls in sport coaches and caretakers so they can
have more challenging conversations and move forward.
(19:25):
You know, what do you think that we could be doing from a cultural perspective for girls in sport,
particularly in high school, to allow them to understand the benefits of practicing
yoga, particularly at that high school age?
So not something that could be available to them down the line when they're 25 or 45, but.
(19:48):
Understanding the value of practicing yoga in high school.
I guess maybe I should ask, do you think it's important for girls to practice
yoga in high school? Totally.
High school is, again, a constant state of uncomfortability.
You're going through so many changes.
You don't know. You want to fit in, but you want to be yourself.
And yoga is one of those places that you can be uncomfortable.
(20:13):
And it allows, but everyone's uncomfortable. So that's what makes it comfortable
because no one quite knows what they're doing, especially if you've never done it before.
And being in that state of meditation and focusing,
allowing your inner dialogue to be quiet and to allow yourself to be in that
uncomfortable situation is so important because, again, it'll make you grow as a person. in.
(20:37):
It'll make you those that class presentation.
Oh, not a big deal. I just had to try and touch my toes across the room in front
of all of my colleagues and all of my classmates and things like that,
that you put yourself in the uncomfortable.
So you are uncomfortable going forward.
So I think yoga is so important too, because it does help with that mental health part as well.
(21:01):
Allowing yourself to be in the moment and in the practice to release all those
anxieties and all of those uncomfortabilities that you have in your outside
world is so important because it'll help you grow as a person and become more
confident within yourself because you're allowing yourself that time.
Yeah, I would agree with that. So is there something do you
(21:22):
think we could be doing better to give
more access to girls in
high school to access to the benefits of yoga
oh yeah i definitely think that coaches can
see because they know how important stretching is but bringing in those elements
of yoga and like having those conversations about yes we all can touch our toes
(21:46):
but would anyone like to actually do it together as a group Because even I remember
in high school for cross country, after a big run, everyone stretches together.
And even that can be considered as a mini yoga flow.
But bringing them into that space and bringing them in saying,
this is your time to reflect on yourself.
(22:07):
Allow yourself this space and having those resources such as going online and
just looking up a few videos and talking.
And it shows there's so many things on YouTube, let alone like 20 minute flows.
That you can take and you can even use it for yourself do it for yourself first
and see how different you feel as a coach you'll want that for your players
(22:27):
or your runners or whatever you see fit because girls and might not have those
resources or might not know about the resources and yeah it's so important.
Yeah, I think that's exactly right. And I'm glad you brought up the conversation of YouTube.
And this has been a rethink for me, because I kind of used to be like,
oh, like kind of like, you know, downplay the YouTube or mostly because I have no idea what it is.
(22:52):
And see, that's me like making a decision about something before I know.
No, but I think you're right. I think YouTube is a really good resource.
And I actually know several programs that are using resource at practice now,
using YouTube as a resource during their practices. And I thought,
you know what? That's brilliant.
They're plugging this in these 20 minute programs and they're giving exposure
(23:15):
to girls in sport, you know, to practice.
Right. So I think you're exactly right. And that is like, you know,
that's like low scale in. like everybody has access to YouTube, right?
So almost anybody could do that. And even if once a week, we're encouraging
coaches, and we're here to talk about girls in sport, but obviously,
(23:37):
there's benefit to boys in sport also.
So I think that that's right. I think that's a really good way to do that just
to give them easier access, because not everybody has, you know,
the availability to bring in a specific yoga coach.
That's obviously a luxury that, you know, some school districts will never have
the opportunity to have. So I think that's really good.
(23:59):
What's your thought specifically about breath work and yoga?
Do you practice breath work?
Does it valuable to you? It's everything.
It's okay. That's one of the bases that I've learned is breath is life.
How you, your pace of your life is going is how fast you're breathing.
(24:19):
Everything so if you are constantly
in that shallow anxious breath you're
you're you're moving you're fast and that will
start picking up within your health and even i've learned i have i'm very lucky
that i have the resources that i've seen that happen on myself i was a very
shallow light breather and that constantly constantly constantly affected my
(24:44):
sleep it affected my attitude, it affected my mood,
it affected my way I was eating.
But once you take the time to clear your head, deep breath work,
all three parts, lower stomach, ribs, upper chest.
Full deep breaths, it's crazy how fast it affects your fight and flight. It affects your memory.
(25:06):
It affects the way of your recovery.
So just that deep mental breath work, just four deep breaths at the hold at the top does wonders.
And you'll have, it's maybe two minutes of your day before when you wake up, before you go to bed,
if you're at lunch by yourself, it will do wonders
for your breathing and then your mind will just all
(25:29):
of a sudden start clearing and your body will start reacting
and the more you do it the better you feel so just
start from there just a quick two minutes of just deep breathing goes such a
long way yeah i think you're exactly right i mean this is this has been so incredible
to sit down to listen to you reignite why i love being a certified yoga instructor,
(25:54):
because sometimes, you know, life can kind of get in your way, right? Totally.
Maybe, you know, but to hear somebody like you reshare their thoughts and their
passion, you can just feel it.
And I'm so thankful that you took the time out of your day and your schedule
and all that you have going on to be here to have this conversation.
(26:16):
I do want to start the cool down. But before we do that, I want to ask you one more question.
Do you think, because I get this a lot, do you think yoga is sport?
I do. It's crazy.
We've had professional athletes at our studio. We've had people with the highest
athletic ability come in and be like, this is harder than some of my hardest workouts.
(26:41):
And that's when you know, and the validation, like it is a sport.
It's a mental sport and a physical sport. So no matter what, I think it's a sport.
I'm agreeing with you. So when people kind of downplay it, I think that's why...
We don't see as much influence of yoga in high school athletics as people don't
see the value of it, particularly as a sport.
(27:03):
What I loved and the reason I really wanted to have you on was you're a remarkable athlete.
You're a remarkable person, like just a human, like you're a remarkable human. Thank you.
It's true. But to see you go from this passionate basketball player and to have
to have his rethink and do a sport like cross country after a spinal fusion, which was hard.
(27:26):
And then embrace being, you know, the student manager for your team at DePauw
with your sister, who, by the way, they had a couple of huge years down there, too.
I was able to follow that and watch some of that. So that was super fun.
But then to go and take your passion for sport and do something like yoga where
(27:46):
you're not not only doing this for your own physical and mental well-being,
but you can tell you want to give this to other people.
That really, it is so amazing on so many levels.
That's why I wanted to talk to you, because I want people to know that sport
is for everybody, even somebody who thinks that after a spinal fusion,
(28:08):
that their life in sport is over.
You're here to show people that it's not. That's just the beginning.
That's just that was just the beginning of your story.
Totally. And thank you for saying all those such nice things.
All right. Let's get us cooled down here. What am I going to start with?
Oh, well, some of these are like, what's your favorite way to calm your mind
(28:31):
and body? Deep breathing, baby.
Deep breathing. there you go
all right if you were still a
high school or a collegiate athlete and
you're on a bus what would be a food
that you wished was portable enough to eat after competition on a bus that's
(28:54):
tough um actually since i've seen this a lot like with my traveling with my
sister she She would always say that she just wanted something with high protein intake,
but almost like just like protein shakes that are more available and not taste like chalk.
There you go. I love it. Okay. I like that. Yeah. So I would say that one.
(29:15):
Awesome. If talent were not an issue, what sport would you love to excel in?
Golf. Oh, how fun is that?
Well, my spinal fusion, I have never been able to truly get into the sport.
So I think it's because I can't that I want to do it even more. Yeah, I love that.
Best or worst advice a coach ever gave you?
(29:40):
Oh, push through an injury. That's so bad, right? I hope it's so bad.
Yeah, no, that one's the worst. Okay.
And then the other one, and it's kind of similar, it would be mind over matter,
just like allowing your infrastructure to allow you through it,
but pushing through an injury, nah.
Yeah, I agree. Like, what is that? That's so old school, right? That was so yesterday.
(30:02):
All right. What do you want to leave for our audience? So if you were going
to give advice to your 16-year-old self, what would it be?
It's okay to be uncomfortable in all these situations. Stay comfortable being uncomfortable.
I think that's really good. That is good, good, good wisdom.
(30:23):
So Kelly, thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to be here.
I can't tell you what a pleasure it was to sit down and chat with you.
I'm so excited to see how your puppy yoga program goes.
I think it's going to be a huge hit. I'm sure you're going to do it multiple times.
We'll make sure that we have the links to the yoga class and also the car dealership
(30:49):
and where Kelly teaches yoga in the show notes. So make sure you guys check back for that.
Also, don't forget to follow us, share our episodes, join us on Instagram at peak train like a girl.
Take a minute to explore our website. And again, we're going to make sure we
drop all the links to the show and everything Kelly talked about in the show
(31:09):
notes. So make sure you guys check back later.
And if you're feeling inspired, make sure you share our episodes with A.C.
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