Jen Armistead | From Scientist to Yoga Teacher: Ashtanga, Rocket & Dharma Yoga Journey - Native Yoga Toddcast

Episode Transcript
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Todd McLaughlin (00:33):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy
you are here. My goal with thischannel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage, bodywork and beyond.
Follow us at @nativeyoga andcheck us out at
nativeyogacenter.com. All right,let's begin.

(01:05):
Hello, welcome to Native YogaToddcast today, I'm excited to
share a conversation with JenArmistead, yoga teacher,
humanitarian and co founder ofyoga Commons in Fairfax,
Virginia. Jen brings a uniqueblend of scientific curiosity,
deep spiritual practice andpersonal healing. Into her

(01:26):
teaching with over 1200 hours oftraining in Dharma, rocket yoga,
Ashtanga Yoga, and as thefounder of yoga endeavor, she
offers a holistic approach thatemphasizes breath work,
philosophy and mindful living.
In this episode, we dive deepinto Jen's journey into yoga and
how she bridges discipline withexploration and the role of

(01:48):
autonomy and self discovery andpractice. And we also explore
how she integrates herhumanitarian and scientific
background into her teaching andher vision for creating
supportive community spacesthrough her yoga studio, Yoga
Commons. So whether you're abeginner looking for guidance or
your well seasoned practitionerseeking inspiration, I think

(02:13):
Jen's insights are going to helpyou to see yoga as both very
grounding discipline and anempowering experiment. I would
love for you to check her out ontwo of her websites. She has her
personal one, which isyogaendeavor.com and she has her
website for her yoga studio,yogacommons.com, the links are
in the description. Click Checkher out. And also father on IG.

(02:35):
I'm going to put the links forboth her IG handles
@yogaendeavor and@yogaCommonsFairfax, so you can
send her some love. Thank you somuch for joining and let's go
ahead and jump on in. I'mhonored to have this opportunity
to meet and speak with JenArmistead, did I get that right?
Armistead? Armistead, oh, Imessed it up. Cool. Now I have

(02:57):
it right. Jen Armistead, thankyou for correcting me, Jen, I
appreciate that. I'm so happy tohave you here. Can you tell me
how your day has progressed sofar?

Unknown (03:08):
You know, today is all right. Been working at home, and
now I'm in my studio, my yogastudio, here in Fairfax, just
outside DC. So yeah, day isgood. It's sun shining. It's
warm outside.

Amazing. Are you originally from Fairfax?

Unknown (03:25):
No, I'm not. I was a bit of a nomad growing up, lived
all over the place, and ended uphere as a teenager, and then
finished, you know, high school,and went on and traveled the
world and ended up back hereabout 10 years ago.

Cool, I understand you are a scientist
when? Well, first of all, canyou tell me what type of
scientist you are?

Unknown (03:52):
Yeah, sure. So I'm a lot of things. I'll say that
I've spent the last 20 years ofmy life really focused on
research and then sort ofimplementation to keep people
from getting sick and dying frommalaria, so mainly pregnant
women and little kids in Africa.
So that's what I've done for thelast 20 years of my

life. Wow, you have a PhD in What? What?

Unknown (04:20):
Happened? Yeah, my PhD is in molecular Microbiology and
Immunology, and I have a degreein public health as well.

Wow. And did you start to study that? Like,
right out of high school? Youdid four years of education then
continued Master's and PhD, ordid you do four and then go out
and do other things and thencome back

Unknown (04:40):
so much school, yeah, so I had little breaks here and
there throughout, but yeah, Ithink I am one of those rare
people who kind of knew wherethey were headed from a pretty
young age. And so it all sort ofhappened pretty organically.
Right?

Yeah, amazing.
I mean, I'm curious, how, atwhat point did you start to fall
in love with or becomeinterested in yoga?

Unknown (05:09):
Oh, wow, that's, that's a packed question. Yeah. So I
think, like maybe a lot ofpeople, my yoga journey is
definitely not a linear path,for sure. And I think, you know,
when I was young, like in my20s, it was, oh, it's the class
at the gym. It's the, you know,let's just go fit this, this,
you know, workout in. And itwasn't until, really my 30s,

(05:33):
later in my 30s, where I think Ifully embraced it as not just
like something I did, but wassort of how I live my life, and
ended up becoming a teacheralong the way.

That's so cool.
I noticed that you have studiedwith Dharma Mitra, that you
practice Ashtanga Yoga, andconsider David Kyle one of your
teachers. He's awesome. I reallylike David. And so that you've
had a blend of Dharma yoga,Ashtanga Yoga. And then I also
noticed that you studied andpracticed rocket yoga. Yeah, can
you tell me a little bit aboutthe timeline of those three

(06:06):
separate traditions whichgrabbed you first, and how did
you evolve in this direction?

Unknown (06:14):
Sure, I think it started with Ashtanga, you know,
like type a people. I love thestructure of it. I love that you
can show up and you know whatyou're going to get, more or
less, you know the framework,right? You don't know how any
given practice is going to go.
But it started with Ashtanga,and then eventually moved into

(06:37):
rocket and then when I met SriDharma, it was all over. I was
like, This is my teacher. Andwhile I still really value and
appreciate both Ashtanga androcket, we teach them both. Here
at the studio, I practice bothDharma yoga is really where my
heart is.

Very cool. Can you explain why you think that
is?

Unknown (07:04):
Well, I think when you get down to it, yoga is about
the way we choose to show up inthe world and how we want to
interact with other people. AndSri Dharma, there's nothing else
like it. He has such acompassion and a patience and

(07:25):
just a desire to serve and helppeople that you can't help but
want to emulate that, to havethat kind of presence. And you
really feel it when you'rearound him, and you talk to him,
and you see the way he interactswith people. And so it was less
about this is the physicalpractice. It was more about like

(07:46):
I want that. How do I get one tobe 86 year old and still be able
to move that way, but also notbe a hardened, cynical person
living in this world and stillhave so much capacity for love
and, yeah, so that's really whatdid it for me.

Great point.
Jen, that's really cool. Can youso were you living in Virginia
when you traveled to New York totake your first class with
dharma? Yeah. So how long of aTR, if we were to train, bus or
ride car. How far are wetalking?

Unknown (08:23):
That's not too bad. I mean, if everything's operating
according to plan, you know,it's about three and a half hour
train ride. So it's really notbad.

So would you go up for weekends? Or how are you
able to manage a professionallife as a scientist? And I guess
let me back up a little bit.
What type of job did you have asa scientist? You mentioned to
the capacity of helping peoplein Africa over deal work with
malaria. But what did that looklike on your professional level?
On the professional

Unknown (08:53):
level? Yeah, sure. So I spent, you know, the better part
of my career in research, right?
So not just in a lab, but, youknow, out in the world, and
trying to come up with new waysto fight this disease. But I
ultimately transitioned toworking more in like
implementing these kind ofprograms, and worked for the US
Agency for InternationalDevelopment. So USAID was where

(09:16):
I worked for many years, and sothat is more boots on the ground
and trying to help some of the,like most remote, rural,
vulnerable populations. So itwas using kind of the scientific
expertise that I had to figureout the best way to really
support these communities.

Wow. So were you traveling to Africa and
looking at implementingsolutions in the real time
scenario over there,

Unknown (09:45):
yep, and then managing the programs, and, you know,
working with the governments tounderstand their needs and
trying to fill the gaps thatthey couldn't support on their
own. So, yeah, lots of travel inthat job.

That's incredible. I had a chance to
travel to Africa. Kind oftraveled. I backpack from
Zimbabwe up through Mozambiqueand Malawi. And when I got to
Malawi, there's a place called,is it Lake Malawi? It's near
Mount malanji. And they, theywere like, well, there's so much
malaria there that either youhave to get on the malaria
medicine. And I remember takingthat, and everyone had told me,

(10:18):
that'll affect your dreams andand I did have some of those
dreams where I was being chasedby something, and I could not
wake up, and it was, it wasreally kind of crazy. I thought,
I'll be fine, but it was areally heavy experience, so I
opted for not going to thatparticularly heavily plagued
malaria area because I washaving a bad reaction to the to

(10:40):
the medicine. Can you tell me alittle bit about your experience
with traveling to some of thoseareas, maybe having a little bit
apprehension about you gettingthe disease yourself and what
your experience was, and tryingto manage that?

Unknown (10:52):
Yeah, that's a that's a valid point. I will say that the
sort of the the preventativetreatment that travelers can
take has changed, and it's nolonger that one,

so they're gonna recommend that drug
anymore. What was that? Was itChloroquine?

Unknown (11:09):
Yeah, mefloquine was probably what they had you
taking. So there's a there's adifferent drug. So it all
depends on where you are andlike, what is the most effective
drug? But yeah, so I will say itdepended on where I was and what
I was doing, and, you know,whether I had to take those
medications. But yeah, if I wasout really far out, and where

(11:30):
that was the case, then yes, Itook my preventative medicine.
But in a lot of the capitalcities, you don't have to worry
about it. So, yeah, it justdepended.

What a huge problem, right? I mean,
obviously here, if we grew up inthe United States, we probably
don't really think aboutmalaria. We read stats. We hear
about it. Can you tell us alittle bit about what you
learned and how serious of aproblem it is, and what was some
of your insights are?

Unknown (11:54):
Yeah, well, I mean, first thing, it used to be here.
It used to be all over the US.
In fact, that's why we have theCDC. So the CDC was actually
created to get rid of it here inthe United States, and it can
still happen here. And it haslike, I think last year, there
were a few cases down in Floridawhere you are, and also up this
way, I think in Maryland, maybeTexas too. So it's transmitted

(12:17):
by a mosquito, for people whodon't know, and, yeah, I mean,
it's, it's a hugely devastatingdisease, like I said,
particularly to little kids andto pregnant women. And it's a
disease of poverty, right? So ifyou don't live in a house that
has, you know, good screeningand good steals and a door,
you've got sort of a environmentaround you that's not kept up,

(12:41):
and you have lots of standingwater and things like that that
accumulate. You know, you'regonna have mosquitoes, right? So
it's a disease of poverty, andit unfortunately, just keeps
people in that pattern. And, youknow, I don't have the numbers
in front of me today, but, youknow, it's, it's a lot of
people, you know, millions, thatare at risk. And, you know,
probably at this point, hundredsof 1000s that die every year.

(13:04):
Wow.

Yeah, it's, I remember at one point someone
asking for money, can I have $5please? I have a family member
who's dying of malaria, and weneed medicine. And can you give,
you know, can you give me $5 andhow can you say no, and, and
it's such a heavy thing. Well,did you utilize your yoga
practice to kind of manage thestress of dealing with some of

(13:28):
this stuff?

Unknown (13:29):
Sure, yeah. I mean, I would say, I mean, I Yeah. I
mean, I'm that person that has ayoga mat everywhere, you know,
I'd bring my little folded uptravel mat everywhere I go and
find a place to practice, evenin these, you know, sort of
super remote areas, and, youknow, people are always really
curious about it. And it wasalways a fun way to introduce

(13:49):
people to yoga, whether it'slike people I'm there working
with, or it's, you know, kids inthe community, because, you
know, like they, a lot of themhave no idea what it is. They've
never seen it before. So it wasa fun way, for sure, to connect
with people, because it'ssomething new to them that I get
to share. But also, yeah, thegrounding benefits of the
practice tremendous. And even ifit was a situation where I'm not

(14:14):
doing, you know, yoga, Asana,the breath work and meditation,
for sure, that's like a dailythat's a daily practice. Yeah?

Amazing. Can you I noticed that you have
opened up a yoga studio inFairfax called Yoga Commons, and
it looks like you've been openfor two, a little over two
years. Can you tell me a littlebit about what inspired you to
open up a yoga studio?

Unknown (14:38):
Yeah, so I joke that I'm an accidental entrepreneur,
because I never had anyinclination to open a yoga
studio. But sometimes theuniverse just presents these
opportunities, and you can't sayno, so I have so my business
partner that I have the studiowith Michelle, so she and I have
taught in this area for. Manyyears at some of the same

(15:01):
studios, we have some of thesame students, and we both
started teaching independentlyat sort of a local gym that let
us rent out some space becausewe were struggling to be able to
teach what we wanted to teach inthe way that we wanted to teach
it. And for me, that was Dharmayoga. It was really a hard sell

(15:23):
at studios in the area to putsomething like that on the
schedule. You know, it's not hotyoga, it's not power yoga, it's
not go, go, go. It's it washard. So I started doing that.
And, you know, we startedbuilding up some some people
coming and practicing with usthere. And we ultimately wanted
to grow, and so we needed tofind a different space, because

(15:44):
that gym couldn't accommodateus. And we just stumbled across
a place that was for lease. Itwas shockingly inexpensive,
required, like, very minimalwork. And so we just said, Let's
do it.

Amazing, very good, yeah. And you're, I mean,
the two year mark, when we'restarting businesses, everyone
says, All right, if you make itthree, the percentages are
pretty low. If you make itthree, if you make it to five,
the percentages even go lower.
Can you give me a synopsis ofwhat you're feeling and thinking
being at the point you are? Doyou feel optimistic for the

(16:20):
success of it? Have you had anybig challenges? What do you what
are you noticing?

Unknown (16:27):
Yeah, I mean, I think I'm, I'm pretty happy with what
we've created. And we went intothis, you know, fortunately, we
were able to sign a one yearlease, which is like unheard of
in this area, and we said, thisis the vision we have for the
community we want to build.
We're going to do it, and if itdoesn't work, like that's okay,
we're not going to we don't wantto create something that we

(16:48):
don't fully believe in. And sothat really looked to us like
deeply rooted in Ashtanga and inDharma yoga. And so that's what
we ran with. And, you know, Ithink we have a Mysore program,
so we teach sort of traditionalMysore style, Ashtanga Yoga in
the mornings. We have groupclasses throughout. We have

(17:09):
Dharma yoga, and we have Rahayoga as well, right? But I think
in the beginning there was likeone Mysore student, you know,
it's like it takes time, right?
It takes a lot of time, and justkind of having the faith that
the people who need thesepractices will find them,

(17:30):
because we're a no frills, otherthan the beautiful plants you
see behind us and a solitary omthat hangs on the wall above the
door, there is like nothing.
There's no mirrors, there's noartwork. It is. The Yoga is what
it is.

Yeah, very cool. Congratulations. Because I
understand how challenging itcan be, but it can feel so good
to kind of stick to your guns, alittle bit stick to your dream
and your aspiration. What sortof feedback are you getting back
from the community in relationto your your both of you having

(18:04):
this sort of passion to hold itthe way you are. Are you getting
good feedback, and are peoplesupporting?

Unknown (18:11):
Yeah, for sure, we have a really great sort of core
community that are here. Youknow, most days of the week,
they're here to practice and youknow, we are intentional in
creating opportunities for thiscommunity to expand, you know,
beyond just asana practice,right? And so we we try to have

(18:31):
those opportunities for sort oflearning more about yoga
philosophy, little more subtlepractices, the pranayama, the
meditation, even introducingpeople to things like plant
based eating, and, you know,having opportunities for them to
explore, kind of these otheraspects of living, like a yogic
lifestyle, where we can, andthat's nice, because you are

(18:54):
bringing together people thatare like minded, that are
curious, that are interested Inspirituality, they're interested
in growth, and so I think thosepeople find us, and, you know,
I've seen some really beautifullittle friendships kind of
emerge and flourish, which hasbeen great, nice.

I'm really curious, because I know that I
personally consume information,and I consume news information,
and I often wonder, what's thetruth here? And then, so when I
hear stories from people, one onone, like people that are
actually experiencing something,I feel like I can trust that

(19:36):
source of information a littleeasier than I can something
that's coming through a largenetwork. Can you, before we
started the podcast, you mademention that your transition
from the science community tobeing a yoga studio owner was in
relation to the doge cuts. Canyou tell me a little bit about
what your feelings were and whatit's like from your side of the

(19:58):
fence, from from yourexperience? And what that whole
process is like, to lose yourjob under those under those
pretenses,

Unknown (20:07):
yeah, so, so, so I, you know, we started the studio
before that happened, so I waseffectively working close to two
full time jobs for for what,about a year and a half or so.
And, yeah, I mean, in January ofthis year, I, you know, anybody
who was paying attention to thenews will know that, you know my

(20:28):
where I was working, USAID wasdismantled, and so 1000s of
people, just alone in thatagency lost their jobs. And
yeah, I mean, it's, I'm veryfortunate. First, I will say
that I have this whole otherlife, this whole other passion
and and I'm grateful that I havethe opportunity to lean into

(20:48):
that further. So I think first,I want to say that I've, I've
kind of looked at this as like,Okay, this is your next step in
continuing to serve yourcommunity in this way. So I've
kind of approached the wholething with that mentality as
like, maybe this is a gift whichhas helped to make it less

(21:10):
awful, because it is awful, andnot just because of all the
people that have lost theirlivelihoods. I mean me,
personally, right, lost mylivelihood, but all the
beneficiaries of all theprograms,

yeah, yes, you know, yes, that we're counting
on you. Yeah. So what type ofoutfall Have you noticed with
the folks that didn't havesomething to fall back on? Are,
do you stay in communicationwith some of the caught your
colleagues? What? What do youwhat have you witnessed from
this sort of change?

Unknown (21:44):
Yeah, it's pretty devastating. I mean, I stay in
touch with a lot of mycolleagues, and you just hear, I
mean, living in the Washington,DC area, it's, it's everywhere,
right? This is the heart ofgovernment, and it's tough out
there, like they people aren'tfinding jobs, and then the jobs
they do find because there's somuch demand. You know, the pay
is not what it used to be,either, and so, you know, people

(22:07):
are feeling very disheartened asthey as they work towards it.
But I've seen some beautifulexamples of people that have
embraced their hobbies or thingsthat they liked and are turning
into a business. I know peoplewho are now, like, full time
doing and selling pottery,people who are working as travel
agents. So there's been some,you know, people have embraced

(22:29):
this as an opportunity toreinvent themselves, and that's
been really cool. But themajority, I think, are really
struggling.

Is it? Is it a bitter vibe around where you
live. I'm just curious. Like, I

Unknown (22:43):
All right, yeah, you know, I mean, it's a big city,
right? And so yes, it's youhave, you have tourists, you
have the people who live herewho have nothing to do with the
government, and you have thegovernment. So it really just
depends on who you talk to. Andyou know, there's folks on both
sides of the political fencehere that live in this area. And
I, you know, I don't think yousee as much divisive sort of

(23:10):
conversations and actionshappening. Certainly, there's
lots of protests and thingshappening in DC at the moment,
given kind of what's happeningthere with sort of martial law
being implemented, which hasbeen really wild.

What did you notice with that? I'm curious. I
have not been to DC, yeah,that's forever, yeah.

Unknown (23:32):
I mean, in response to perceived, you know, crime and
danger in the city, there's beensort of a deployment of, you
know, various different federalagencies, military police,
National Guard, etc, and they'reall over, you know, I think I

(23:53):
was in New York practicing withsridharma A few weeks ago, and I
took the train, and I came back,got off the train in Union
Station. It was just floodedwith military police, like armed
military police, and I was like,What is going on? And then read
the news and realized, like,what was happening. And, you
know, it's all over, it's allover the city, and

it's, does it make you feel safer, or does it
make you feel weirder?

Unknown (24:19):
No, it makes me feel really weird, and it doesn't
make me feel safer. I you know,I have a lot of friends who are,
you know, American citizens, butoriginally from somewhere else,
and they definitely don't feelsafe. And I know a lot who are
just not even going into DCproper, which is kind of where
they are. They're staying out inthe suburbs because they just

(24:43):
don't even, they don't even wantto deal with it. Yeah, so it's,
it's a weird time to be alive

in this city.
Yeah. Thank you for yourhonesty. I appreciate you
sharing all that. Are you? Youknow there's on in the world of
Ashtanga and rocket and K.
Someone doesn't know who LarrySchultz is and rocket yoga. Can
you give a little bit of thestoryline that you understand
that's how Ashtanga and rockethave connection, and how they've

(25:11):
been gone off on their owntracks.

Unknown (25:14):
Yeah, sure. I mean, so so obviously Ashtanga is, you
know, a tradition through theJoyce family. And Larry Schultz
was a student of Pattabhi Jois.
And, you know, I think he had anickname of like the bad man of
Ashtanga, because he questionedsome of the dogma around the
practice, particularly, youknow, sort of having to wait to

(25:37):
be given a pose, even if he knewhe could do it so things like
that. And, you know, he opened astudio in San Francisco. And you
know, I think he always calledhimself an Ashtanga, even though
he ended up creating the rocket.
But he was trying to make itmore approachable and more
accessible. Because Ashtanga isa very demanding, rigorous

(25:59):
practice, and he wanted to makeit more accessible. And I think
he was starting to play withchanging up the sequence a bit.
And it wasn't until he becamethe teacher for the Grateful
Dead and went on tour with themto be their yoga teacher that
kind of working so closely withthem, and being able to get

(26:19):
feedback, like immediatefeedback on the practice, kind
of it merged into what we callthe rocket now, which changes up
the primary and intermediateseries of Ashtanga, drops out
some of the poses that are notgoing to be accessible for
probably 90% of the population.
And it it kind of gets rid ofthe hierarchy. There's no more

(26:41):
gatekeeping. It is, you know,it's not sort of this. You learn
a pose at a time. You can do thewhole sequence. There's some
advanced postures from the laterseries that are brought in. But
really, the choices are put inthe hands of the practitioner.
Right? You choose whether or notyou think you are ready for
handstand or leg behind thehead, right?

Yes, well said.
Jen, I'm curious. I love thefact that you are continuing to
maintain a Mysore style Ashtangaroutine in the morning for
folks, but I would love to hearhow you are structuring it in
relation to the rigidity of theAshtanga sequences and the
fluidity or experimentation ofthe rocket. Are you allowing

(27:28):
people to come into Mysore andskip a few poses and do a few
handstands here and there? Orare you trying to keep your Are
you trying to keep your yourMysore room very like, let's
just stick to learning the posesin this order. I'd love to hear
your feedback.

Unknown (27:47):
Yeah, I think it's one of the reasons why we have both
on the schedule. We haveAshtanga because you need to
know the rules before you canbreak them.

And great.
Well, yeah, yes, yeah, yeah.

Unknown (27:56):
And the Ashtanga is to learn, to learn the tradition.
So I will say that. So Michelleis the primary teacher. She runs
our Mysore program, and I dothink we're more progressive in
that, you know, we wanteverybody to find a pose that
works for their body, that worksfor them. We don't want them to

(28:17):
be stuck in marichyasana D forthe rest of their lives. There's
so much more to gain moving outof primary series. Nobody should
be stuck in primary seriesforever. So I think we are a bit
more progressive in that sense.
But yeah, it's prettytraditional.

Yeah, that's cool. I think you're right. I
mean, there is a fine balance,isn't there? Like you said, in
terms of learning the rules, ifyou never get a chance to learn
the rules, there's such alearning experience with that.
But that's cool that you guysare keeping it flexible, and now
you made mention, which is afunny irony, you're keeping yoga
flexible. Are you when you saidposes that 90% of the population

(28:58):
probably won't haveaccessibility to what were the
first three poses that come tomind in first and second series
that if you could drop you wouldsay, Yeah, I'd let that go.

Unknown (29:10):
Marichyasana D, even marichyasana B, the half lotus.
There are people who are nevergonna be able to do that without
pain, without major discomfort,right? Like, there's a lot that
goes into being able to do apose, and part of it is just
what is just, what is youractual anatomy? How does your
femur sit in your pelvis, right?
So that one Supta chromasana,

for those listening that don't know what
it is, legs behind the head,forward, folded, arms wrapped
behind the back.

Unknown (29:37):
Yeah, yeah. It's a beast, right? And I would say,
you know, early in intermediateseries, kapitasana, right? Most
people, yeah, they're gonnastill, they're gonna stay there
forever. They don't have toworry about the leg behind the
head that it's like they're notgonna get out of the back bends.

It's so true. I had somebody this morning after
she got to kapitas, and shegoes, Oh, I feel like I can
relax now. You.

Unknown (30:00):
Know. I mean, I'm one of those fortunate people, like
I'm I'm naturally fairly backbendy. So, like captions, not a
problem for me, but all the legbehind the heads postures,
forget it. I mean, people aregenerally one of the other
right? I feel like you're eithermore predisposed to back bends
or to sort of that, thoseexternal rotation hip,

(30:23):
externally rotated hip postures.
And that is not my Yes, yes.

Great point. I love I'd also want to ask you
like, I love that you so I had,I had a chance to interview
Dharma Mitra, and one of myquestions for him was about the
challenge of like you and Igetting a chance to practice
with him, or with some in asituation where we get this

(30:49):
really deep connection, orfeeling of like, Wow, there's so
much to this yoga, and I reallywant to share all these deep
layers with folks. But thenthere's the business side of it,
and the hot yoga pump it outweights and sculpt and and then
all of the corporate aspect,which is, you know, contending

(31:12):
force to deal with as a mom andpop. So I'm, I'm I'm curious. I
guess my question for him was,how do we balance wanting to be
passionate, share the passionateside that isn't really popular.
I'm curious, if I ask you thesame question, how are you
balancing finding a way to sharewhat maybe isn't the most

(31:34):
popular side of yoga and stillstay competitively edged?

Unknown (31:41):
That's a great question. So I think a big part
of it is knowing how to read theroom and who's in front of you,
and you know, you can't givethem the whole thing at once,
right? It's, it's breadcrumbs,and being able to understand
when, okay, they're receptive.
And it's an energy, and you canfeel it as a teacher when you're

(32:01):
in a room. You're in a room, andeven if just one person in that
room, I get that sense from I'llgo a little bit deeper, right?
So my favorite thing to teach ispranayama, meditation, and, you
know, I try to put a little bitof it in all my classes, and I
have a whole class where that'sall I teach, and it's my
favorite, because the people whoare there want to do that deeper

(32:23):
work. But yeah, I think as longas there's one soul in that room
that I feel connected with, I'lldo it right. And you put a
little bit more out there, butyou just, unless you're someone
like sridharma, you can't justput it all on the table right
away. You have to give themlittle bits to work with. And
when they start to understandthose little bits, and they go

(32:48):
away and they start, you know,bringing that into their life,
they come back and they wantmore. So it's, yeah,

very cool.
Yeah. I am curious, as you guysare like so you you are running
your studio with a partner, afriend. What would be your
response to me, saying, Wouldyou do it by yourself?

Unknown (33:12):
Oh, hell no. Oh, my gosh no. I don't know how
anybody does this by themselves.
I am does

anybody do it by themselves? Maybe there is, I
don't know, yeah, you've got,you have, if there's a lead
role, like, I guess, if we wereto look at Dharma and say, well,
he's doing it by himself. Butthen if you go, no, he's
actually has a lot of peoplehelping so, so, but um, do you
feel like you share a 5050,power? Share with your your

(33:44):
friend. Yeah, pretty evenly. Youguys are pretty even on the end,

Unknown (33:48):
yeah. I mean, I really couldn't ask for, like, a better
partner and amazing, you know,it all just kind of fell like
the responsibilities fellorganically, naturally, just
like, This is what I'm strongerin taking over, and this is what
she's stronger in managing. Andit's just kind of fallen out
that way. But, yeah,

it's, this is a little bit of a harder question,
and I hope I'm not being weirdhere, but I had somebody who so
I'm working with my wife, andpeople always say, well, that's
a challenge I would never takeon. Or they'll say, oh, that
sounds amazing. I'd love to doit, like working with your
spouse, challenging, but also Iwould never think about doing
this without her, right? Like Icouldn't imagine trying to run a

(34:29):
studio without without her beingthere as my 5050, partner,
someone I once said to me, Well,if you're gonna do that with
someone who's your friend, comeup with an agreement, in case
something were to happen, wereyou almost like a prenup? Have
you? Have you both? How To whatlevel do you guys operate? I'm

(34:49):
curious, and I hope that's nottoo personal. Yeah, thank you.

Unknown (34:54):
Yeah. I think in this day and age like you, you have
to take those precautions. Youknow where? We're fortunate in
that we have a long timestudent, both of us, who happens
to be a business attorney. Andhe basically gets, you know,
free lifetime yoga with us forhis legal services, which is

(35:14):
phenomenal for us. Wow. And he'slike a little guardian angel,
honestly. And he, you know,where we were, two sort of
fledgling business owners. Wehave no idea what we're doing.
And you know, he has guided uson this path the whole way,
like, make sure you have thisand make sure you have that. And
one of those things was sort ofthis agreement, right about, how

(35:35):
does this work if one of usdecides we don't want to do it
anymore, right? Yeah. And sohe's always looking out for us,
so we're really fortunate.

That's so cool.
Yeah, that's so interesting,because I have friends who have
tried it, did not have that inplace, had a tricky situation.
So congratulations on havingsomeone like you said that's
that's helping you, and you canafford it, type of thing. And
giving that sort of advice, Ithink it's important. Do you
feel like, now that you've hadthat, that it's actually really

(36:04):
important for you, for for forus, to succeed, oh,

Unknown (36:09):
100% because then you don't even have to think about
it, and it sets expectationsbefore you do any and I honestly
think before you spend any moneyon anything, get that in place,
like 100% because, like you, Ihave seen studios fall good
studios because the ownersdidn't have an agreement in

(36:29):
place.

Yeah, yeah.
Amazing. What is one of the ifyou could, if you could Nix one
of your duties. So one of thenow that, well, you haven't, you
have all these new duties yourstudio owner, if you could get
rid of one of them, becauseyou're just like, it's my least
favorite thing. What would itbe?

Unknown (36:48):
Social media? And you know, it kind of just fell to
me. And so Michelle does some ofit, but 90% of it is me, and I
don't love it, you know, butit's a necessary thing, like
this is where people live, andif you're not there for them to

(37:10):
see, you know what? What'savailable? Like, what? How else
are you gonna like? Peoplearen't out there. You know,
walking around as much as theyused to. There's no yellow
pages, right? Like they're gonnafind you on social media or
they're gonna find you onGoogle, so you gotta have a
presence, right?

Yeah, great point. I agree with you. What's
the one thing that is yourfavorite?

Unknown (37:33):
Oh, well, it's just the community. It's the people. It's
like, you know, I never, youknow, we had a student base, but
I never really realized when Iwent into this how much it was
going to grow and all thesepeople that I were going to
become sort of part of my almostdaily life at this point. And so

(37:54):
that's really the best, is justconnecting with people, seeing
them flourish, have their owngrowth and realizations as they,
you know, start this path or gofurther along.

It nice. Have you embarked on leading teacher
training?

Unknown (38:52):
Yeah, so we're working on that now, so we will do our
first 200 hour teacher trainingnext year.

Cool. Nice. Are you? Are you the kind of person
that can organize curriculumeasily, or is that a bit of a
challenge?

Unknown (39:05):
Yeah, I think that comes somewhat naturally to me.
I mean, in my younger years inmy career, I taught, you know,
at the college level, and sopart of that involves some
organization around courses, youknow, separate from the studio.
I have my own business yogaendeavor where I've done some
online courses as well. So yeah,I feel like I have, I have a

(39:29):
knack for it

cool. As a scientist, which sometimes
people want to clump scientistsinto people that don't believe
in God, and as a yogi, who has apassion for the spiritual
aspects that dharma teaches.
Where do you land, and how doyou balance the two?

Unknown (39:51):
Yeah, that's an awesome question. And I think you know
what people forget about scienceis that it's all still theory.
It's all still hypotheses,right? And we do our best to
show that it's most likelycorrect, like, we can never be
100% right about any hypothesisthat we're testing. Like, that's
just the way that it is. Right.
There's certain things thatwe've accepted as more or less

(40:13):
fact at this point, right? Butfor me, one it is really a
depressing way to live yourlife, to think that we're born,
we die and we go back into theearth, and that's the end of it.
For me, I just don't acceptthat. I don't want to believe
that. I think I've always wantedthere to be something more, but

(40:34):
also just the idea of thecreation of everything. That's
here, whichever way you want tobelieve in. It is magical.
Whether you're thinking about itas a god of some kind, creating
all of this, that's prettyamazing. And whether it is
happening naturally, thatthey're like particles came

(40:56):
together, we had a big bang thatthat could even happen without
any divine intervention, that'salso pretty magical. I just, for
me, there's no way like therehas to be and, yeah, so I think
I've mostly always felt, even inmy, you know, younger youthful

(41:18):
days, where I definitely wassort of anti religion and sort
of the traditional concept of ofGod. I kind of rejected those
pretty early on in my life, butalways felt that there was
something so I've kind of alwaysbeen seeking, kind of an
explanation for it all, and yogahas given that to me,

great answer, how what was your first response
the first time you went to oneof Dharma psychic development
classes.

Unknown (41:50):
Psychic development is one of my favorite practices. I
you know, dharma says all thetime that you know, he'll
jokingly say it, ah, you allcome and I say the same thing
every time, but then he'll alsosay, you know, but it you know,
it registers. You receive itwhen you're ready. And it's

(42:14):
true, because every time I goand practice with Dharma, I know
he's saying, like, the exactsame thing, but it hits
different sometimes, and you geta little bit of a deeper
understanding of the knowledge,and I feel very much that way
about psychic development. And,you know, for people who don't
know what it is, you know, it'sa unique practice in the Dharma
yoga lineage, it's really onlygone through a few people,

(42:37):
right? So Dharma learned it fromhis guru, Yogi Gupta, and Yogi
Gupta learned it from his guru,who, we don't really even know
who that is, but we know it wassomebody, you know, who was
really living the yogic life outkind of in the middle of
nowhere, right? So it's prettysacred thing, and it's, you
know, set series of practicesthat are really, you know,

(42:59):
helping you purify, like, getyour energy straight so that you
can actually see what's what.
Like, get clear on, you know,who you are, what you're doing.
How do you grow spiritually,right? And I think the first
couple times I did thatpractice, I was just like, What
I don't understand, like, it'snot registering. And, you know,
eventually when I just kind ofsurrendered to it, and it was

(43:25):
just like, Okay, I'm doing thething, because I'm here, I want
to do the thing, and iteventually clicks, right? And I
think that's that's inparticular, really powerful
practice, and one that I canteach now, which is really cool
because of just training thatI've done under dharma. But,
yeah, it's one of my favoritesto practice and to teach.

Very cool, when you wake up and you're getting
ready to go, you're gonna goteach, but you just have that
feeling like, I'm just notfeeling it today, and you're
like, your your mojo is justslowed down, which is totally
natural. Like, who's who's upevery single day and ready for
action. Do you have any thingsthat you do to help break that

(44:09):
ice? Yeah.

Unknown (44:11):
Well, the first thing I do is, I remember that dharma is
86 and he gets up

and does it perspective, like, oh my gosh,
I'm only this age. And, yeah.

Unknown (44:21):
So whether or not it's like my body's not feeling it,
that's a huge part my mind's notinto it. I try to think, you
know what, there are thesepeople out there that are so
dedicated, and you know, theydon't feel good and they're
tired, and they still show upand they serve. And so I do try
to put myself in that headspaceand remember that it's not about
me, and that it doesn't matterif I look my best, if I can do

(44:44):
the pose, if I choose to do anyof the poses at all, like it's
about the people that I'm thereto serve. And so I think
reminding myself of that helpsthat, you know, remembering this
doesn't have to be anythingfancy, like yoga is yoga? Just
give them the essentials, right?

That's a good point. Yeah, I mean, and that's
generally the pressure off thatI have to go in here and
perform. No, maybe today I'mgonna be a little more quiet
until I feel excited, superexcited. Let me just get the
ball rolling. Yeah, cool.

Unknown (45:16):
Yeah. And I, you know, I'm one who, I'm pretty
introverted person. I don't loveto be the center of attention. I
don't like public speaking. I'vedone a ton of it in my life,
obviously, and I teach, but Ilove a good silence, and I
really like to give peoplespace. And so I think on those
days when I'm really not feelingit, I give my class space to

(45:40):
create the energy. Be nice andthat often, can carry it through
without me needing to put my,you know, any kind of special
spin on it, right?

Yeah, great answer. Book I need to read.

Unknown (45:57):
Oh, book you need to read. I read this amazing book
I'm gonna It's, I'm very nerdy,so it's called, I'm telling
everybody about this bookbecause I loved it. It's called
notes on complexity, and it isan interesting mix of the
scientific theory of complexityand how it relates to

(46:21):
spirituality and kind of how weview the self, wow. Yeah. So
it's, it's, it's mostly writtenfor your everyday reader, but,
you know, it gets a little bit a

little bit much. We need a challenge. We
need a good challenge. We don'twant to, yeah, yeah.

Unknown (46:37):
But this is a book I can't even remember who the
author is right now, but Ireally, I loved

it. Oh, man, I appreciate that. Do you even
have time for shows like I thinksometimes people think yogis
don't watch shows. Are you? Whatdo you watch TV? Are you a TV
person or

Unknown (46:57):
not much? I will say I you know the time I used to
watch stuff because I traveledso much for my job, was when I
flew on planes, because I wouldtake these 24 hour trips to get
to places. And that was the timethat I watched stuff. And
nowadays I don't really watchmuch unless so I have a teenage
son, and whenever he wants tohang out, if he's like, Hey,

(47:18):
Mom, I want to watch this thing.
I'm like, yes. So whether it'ssome superhero thing, or it's a
soccer game or whatever. I'mgenerally like, whatever he
wants to watch. I'm here for the

company. That's awesome. How old is he? Do you
mind me asking? He's 15? Oh,man, it's so cool. So cool.
Yeah, what a great adventure,right?

Unknown (47:40):
It is, I will say motherhood is, is pretty
amazing, pretty amazing thing.
We have

a student, husband, wife, they, I think
their baby's 10 days old now.
And so all of us that havechildren in the Mysore room are
are like, you know how whensomeone's getting ready to have
a baby, and you know, it's thegreatest joy of life, and at the
same time you're kind of goingwhole get ready. What kind of
advice would you give somebodywho is embarking on parenthood,

(48:09):
and you know, they love theiryoga practice, they what? I
mean, there's so much we couldtalk about here, but like,
what's something that pops intoyour head about, like, advice
for the new coming parents,

Unknown (48:23):
wow. I mean, and as it relates to yoga, I think the
most important yoga you do willnot be on your mat and not be in
the Mysore room or in the groupclass. It will be in your
everyday life and the way thatyou treat your family and your
loved ones and everybody elsefor that matter. So I think use

(48:45):
this as an opportunity right toreally live your yoga, because
parenthood will test you inevery possible way.

Yes, I affirm truth to that statement. What is
something that's happening inthe yoga scene? If there is such
a thing that just irks you, thatif you could change it, you
know, without, I guess we don'tneed to worry about everyone's
feelings, but without hurtingone's feelings, if that's

(49:15):
possible. But is there anythingthat you watch or witness that
you just go, Oh, I wish. I wishI would just change?

Unknown (49:24):
Yeah, I think one of the most disheartening things
for me, you don't see it so muchas a practitioner and as a
student going to I mean,sometimes you do, but as a
teacher, you often experiencethat there isn't as much yoga in
the yoga studio, as you wouldlike, in terms of how it's

(49:44):
managed, how people are treated.
You know, people think we're allthese calm, you know, lovely
people. I have seen some of themost like drama filled like
toxic things happening withinthe culture of a yoga studio,
and I wish that wasn't the case.

(50:07):
I think if I could changeanything, it would be for that
to not be the case. Andsometimes it's because it's
business, and ultimately, youknow, there's money at stake,
and that often, sometimes means,you know, watering stuff down,
or, you know, hurting people'sfeelings, and people don't get

(50:29):
to teach what they want toteach, or creating an
environment of competition,which, you know, unfortunately,
I've seen all of those thingshappen. And, yeah, it's not
great.

Yeah. Yeah, great answer. I agree with you.
I know, isn't that aninteresting thing where people
like just almost assume, Iassumed, I assumed that I would
be entering into a traditionthat's of 1000s of years old,
and therefore, automatically,that meant that everybody was
going to work or be ethical andcare for everyone, and it would

(51:03):
be this really pleasantenvironment. My my first yoga
teacher, serious one was BikramChowdhury, so I got a real rude
awakening. I should have done myI should have done my homework
before I showed up for thatteacher training. You know what?
I mean, like, it was a greatexperience, don't get me wrong.
I mean, I learned. I mean, Ithink we can learn from
everything. I mean, that's onething I really appreciate about

(51:23):
the way that, in relation to myquestion of your career change,
I I appreciate that you arefocused on, well, look at the
positivity of the changes thathave occurring for for you, at
least, you know, right? So Ithink that's a really amazing
way we have, a way that we weneed to, or can benefit from
facing life or dealing with lifechallenges, but our longer term

(51:48):
goal, if we look say, like 510,years, and I know that's like an
annoying question, sometimes,what do you see happening? What
would you like to see if you canput your intent in a direction
and manifest it where, where,and what are you looking at?

Unknown (52:01):
Well, I hope this studio is still here and still
going, you know, bringing Dharmayoga here. I was it in terms of
Dharma yoga teachers, and now,you know, we have three that are
currently in training to beDharma teachers, and one other
sort of Og Dharma yoga teacherwho's been around for a while,

(52:24):
who made her way here, and Ihope to see that this is still
thriving as sort of a Dharmayoga center affiliate in five to
10 years. I really hope thatthat's the case, and that I'm
not the one doing all theteaching, that it's now other
people who get to share thispractice. So I hope for that.
Michelle and I run retreats. Wehave sort of a, you know, long

(52:47):
term goal. We'd love to have ourown retreat center one day. So
that's, that's a maybe somewheredown the line, maybe we're
working on that in five years.
Nice.

Where was your where would be your dream place
to lead a retreat to,

Unknown (53:01):
oh gosh, where to lead one to?

Yeah, you get to pick you just get to right
now say, Okay, we're going here

Unknown (53:08):
for somewhere to go. I would really love to go to the
Galapagos.

Nice answer.
That would be amazing. Though Ihave had,

Unknown (53:17):
I've had a lot of people say that I should do one
in Africa, because I haveexperience traveling there, and
so that's a maybe as well.

Wow, that's a great point. Did you ever get
involved with the Africa yogaproject? Yeah.

Unknown (53:31):
So I've done, from time to time, I'll do sort of
donation based classes andthings like that, and that's one
of the primary recipients of thefunds that we raise. Generally,
go there.

Cool. If you had to pick a country, which
countries did you visit? Wouldyou go to in Africa

Unknown (53:48):
for a retreat? Yeah, the easy one is South Africa.
The more interesting one, well,they're all interesting. I'd
love to bring a group toTanzania. I'd love to bring a
group to Kenya. One of myfavorite places, which will not
be bringing a retreat to isZimbabwe, and you've been there,

(54:09):
so it's a really special place.
And, yeah, it's just not goingto be

retreat friendly. The vibe and the
politics is Whoa, too. Peoplehave been telling me, you know,
Okay, fair enough. I did get achance to interview a woman
named Dorcas marungu, who's inKenya, Nairobi, yes, and she's
involved with Africa yogaproject, and I know she really
made me want to go there too.
I'd love to go to Kenya. That'sa great that's a great idea. I

(54:38):
think. Don't you think if you'regoing to take a retreat, if you
take someone where you'veactually been, the chances of it
being good are going to be somuch better than if we randomly
pick a place that, I mean, aplace like, I mean, Africa is so
fascinating. What if, what anincredible country. And at the
same time, you kind of want toknow what you're doing a little
bit. I mean, yeah, I think

Unknown (55:00):
it can be, yeah, yeah.
It can be really intimidating, Ithink, and a bit of culture
shock, especially if you are, Imean, even if you stayed in a
capital city, but going outbeyond that can be a little bit
of culture shock. I think formost people,

it's amazing.
There it really is. Oh my gosh,Jen, I am so grateful to have
this chance to meet and speakwith you. I was really looking
forward to this. I just want tolet everybody know. I'm gonna
have links in the in thedescription down below, but
we're gonna find you with youryour personal website is yoga
endeavor.com, you also onInstagram, yoga endeavor, same

(55:35):
handle, and then your studioname is the website is yoga calm
and. Dot com and with the samehandle on IG yoga, commons,
Fairfax, well, actually adifferent handle, but they get
the idea, yeah. So I'll havethose there. People can click
and it'll be super easy. Thankyou so much for sharing your
stories around your life andjourney and yoga. I really

(55:58):
appreciate it. I feel likethere's so much potential
learning by hearing conversationand hearing like boots on the
ground style, like what's goingon. So I appreciate your honesty
and openness and everything thatyou shared. Thank you so much.
Is there something that youwould like to conclude with
today, to leave us? What kind ofnote would you like to leave us

(56:21):
on,

Unknown (56:23):
Oh, wow. Just to say, like, I'm eternally grateful to
be able to share this practice,to share my journey, to connect
with people like you, who areyou know on the same path, and
you know anybody who's on thispath that's curious, that's
learning, just be open, bereceptive.

Thank you, Jen, thank you so much. Yeah, thank
you. Thank you for joining me inthis inspiring conversation with
Jen Armistead. I reallyappreciate it. If you'd like to
learn more, please remember, gocheck out Jen on her websites,
yoga endeavor.com, and yogacommons.com and if you enjoyed

(57:00):
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Until next time, have a greatone. Take care. You. The

(57:28):
native yoga Todd cast isproduced by myself. The theme
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Jen Armistead | From Scientist to Yoga Teacher: Ashtanga, Rocket & Dharma Yoga Journey

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Jen Armistead | From Scientist to Yoga Teacher: Ashtanga, Rocket & Dharma Yoga Journey