058 - From Agriculture to Yoga: Todd McLaughlin's Journey of Purpose and Resilience

In this episode, Jessica is joined by a special guest, Todd McLaughlin, who shares his compelling journey of personal and professional growth.  Todd is a yoga instructor, massage therapist, the owner of Native Yoga Center in Juno Beach, FL and the host of the Native Yoga Toddcast.

 

As an entrepreneur in the wellness industry, Todd has navigated the challenges of evolving his career from agriculture to massage therapy and yoga. He opens up about the importance of his partnership with his wife in running their business and the daily tasks and responsibilities of being a small business owner.

 

Throughout the conversation, Todd emphasizes the significance of self-care, maintaining a balance between work and personal well-being, and finding joy in the work we do. He shares his perspective on the continuous nature of challenges, the value of humility and servitude in achieving success, and embracing long-term goals instead of seeking instant gratification.

 

Whether you're a wellness enthusiast or an aspiring entrepreneur, this episode offers a treasure trove of insights. Todd's story of self-sufficiency, passion, and dedication underscores the significance of finding joy in your work. Tune in for an uplifting and motivational episode that speaks directly to anyone contemplating a transition from a corporate job to a creatively fulfilling career.

 

Quotes from the episode:

"I think understanding that we're always gonna have challenge, there's always gonna be a work to do. And I think learning how to have a boss and how to be a good employee is the prerequisite for being able to be the boss."

 

"I think being humble and learning servitude is an absolute necessity to finding peace and satisfaction when we actually do achieve some sort of success in our business endeavors."

 

 

Connect with Todd:

Native Yoga Center

Native Yoga Toddcast YouTube Channel

Instagram: @NativeYoga

 

Connect with Jessica:

Join the email list 

Book a free sales call

Instagram: @jessicahwangcoaching

Facebook: Jessica Hwang Coaching

Website: Jessica Hwang Coaching

 

Credits:

Music co-written by Steven Murillo (@someoneinatreeband) & Jessica Hwang (@jessicahwangcoaching)

Production and audio engineering by Travis Carr (@traviscarrphoto)

 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
I thinkas a culture or just as human beings.
Maybe we love.
We love thatinstant gratification in life.
But you're speaking of the exactopposite of this long term vision
and letting that be a long term thing,because I think a lot of people, it's like
they're afraid to start because they thinkit's going to take a long time.

(00:23):
And so it feels daunting.
But you're actually talkingabout relishing in that feeling.
So can you talk a little bitmore about that?
I think that's so great.
Absolutely.
I think part of the psychologythat if you can get this
in line makes the journey a lot more fun.
If instead of thinking, okay,

(00:45):
I want to have my own business or
I want to be a successful business person,
or I want to have more moneyso I can achieve more of my dreams.
Getting into understanding
that the years that have taken to get tothe point that we were born, to the point
that we're where we are right nowand where we're headed.

(01:08):
Like, it's it's a continuous arcand it's not that we're all of a sudden
going to hit one point and go,oh my gosh, I've achieved it.
I'm happy now.
This is it. I'm done.
It's alwaysthere's always going to be work.
Welcome to Permission to Flow.
This podcast is dedicatedto lighting the way towards
greatercreativity, purpose and inner peace.

(01:30):
I'm your host, Jessica Wang.
I'm a second generationTaiwanese American.
I spent ten yearschasing the so-called American Dream
while working in corporate finance,before making the pivot into my own path
as a career transition coach, podcaster,and dharma yoga instructor.

(01:51):
Through a combined passionof courage and curiosity.
I built a career and life that is aligned
with my unique talents and authentic self.
Now I'm on a mission to helpfirst and second generation women
leave behind the corporate grindand pivot to a creative career.
Whether you want to be an artist, writer,yoga instructor, entrepreneur,

(02:14):
or any other creative venture,it's time to give yourself permission
to flow, exploreand create the life that you want.
The world needs what you will create.
Now let's dive in to today's show.
Welcome to
today's episode of Permission to Flow.

(02:34):
Today's guest I have Todd McLaughlin.
And at Todd, I am so excitedto have you on today's show.
I was on Todd's podcast a few weeks ago,
and now I get to haveanother incredible conversation with Todd.
So welcome to the show, Todd.
Thank you so much, Jessica.
I'm honored to be here. Thank you.
All right.

(02:55):
So, Todd, I would love to get startedby hearing a little bit of
what are your thoughts on purpose?
Purpose.
I think everybody has to have a purposewithout purpose.
We can get nowhere.
So I think it's a really important subjectand topics.
I'm glad you just went straight to that.

(03:16):
I take time regularly to think aboutlike what my purpose is
and I feel like the more clear
that I get on what my purpose is,the more I get out of my work.
And, so I'm a huge fan of coming up with my
why I typically think of it as like,what is my why?
Like, why am I doing this?

(03:37):
Which does bring upsimilar question of purpose.
So I'm so glad you asked. Thank you.
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So what how do you feel like purposehas kind of impacted your life?
I, I have my own business.
And so that was somethingthat when I decided

(03:59):
I wanted to start my own business, I,
I had a strong passion to succeedand make it work.
So that for mewas my one of my big purposes.
When I think about like,why did I want to have my own business?
What was my goal and what was my my dream?

(04:19):
From a very young age, was not surehow I would make my way in the world,
and I stressed a lotabout how I would earn a living.
I looked aroundand I, I didn't have a lot of things
jump out at me that made me think,I want to do that, or,
you know, that'sthat's what my calling is.
So it took me some timeto figure out what my calling was.

(04:42):
I had to work a lot of different jobs
before it finally became clear tome what I wanted to focus on.
So. But I
knew that I wantedto have my own business, and I worked
for other people, and I watchedother people run their own business.
And I always had this really strongfeeling
that I really want to havethat opportunity to be able to do that.

(05:04):
So I feel like if I analyze
a little further,where does that come from?
I'm a huge fan of self-sufficiency.
I do believe in community, and
I I'm seeing more and morehow important it is for me to ask for help
and to reach out to othersto, receive help or ask for help.

(05:27):
However, I do put a lot of emphasison being able to do
a lot of what I do on my own.
I love being self-sufficient,and so I think the combination
of my early dream of being self-sufficient
and my strong desire dream
to have my own business,those two, I think, are
what has driven me to continueto, to to keep doing what I'm doing.

(05:52):
I love
what you were saying there aboutyou had these kind of certain things.
It sounds like that
you knew about yourselfor that you, you had this drive towards.
But it sounds like it took yousome time to get there.
Can you talk a little bitabout what that journey
was likeof actually finding that right path?
Because we were talking a little bit
before we started,and you have such an interesting story.

(06:15):
So I, I would love for youto share a little bit about that.
Absolutely.
So I graduated from high school.
I grew up in Florida,
and my parents had always toldme, it's hard if you don't go to college,
you're going to end up flipping hamburgersat some fast food restaurant
or whatever it is they're flipping and,so I just was I was really good student.

(06:37):
I was just really good in high school,
had great grades and everything, butI didn't really want to go to university.
I wasn't really called to that.I didn't know what I wanted to do.
The one thing I knew I wanted to dowas travel, but I also didn't have money.
So I was like, how am I going to travelif I don't have a lot of money?
And but my parents pushed me to goto school and I went to college for a year

(07:00):
and our deal was Tod go for a year.
Try it out.
If you don't like it after the year,
go do what you want to do,but at least try it.
So I gave that idea trial.
I gave a year and I was like, look, I'mnow I want to get going.
And I had this dream of actuallybeing self-support

(07:20):
and literally, like,I always had this dream of being able
to live off the land and have a farmor have a garden
where I could rely lessand less on the grocery store,
and more and more on being ableto be self-sufficient on that level.
So I started to, travel and I went to, Long Island.

(07:42):
I spent a little bit of timeworking up there with being from Florida.
I'd never seen snow before.
So my parents, my dad grew up in New York,
and when he left New Yorkand moved to Florida before I was born,
he just had no dream of ever going backto where it snowed.
So he never took me to the snowwhen I was a kid.
So I went up to Long Islandwith my bicycle
and thought I would ride my bikein the middle of winter

(08:05):
from this house over to this farmthat I got this apprenticeship on.
And, that was a really crazy ideabecause riding a bicycle
on Long Island in the middle of winterin the snow is absolutely crazy.
Super dangerous.
People look at like you're insane.
I felt insane, like, what am I doing?
So I was so fish out of water.
So from there, I realized I need to go.

(08:26):
I want to go somewhere where it's alittle warmer and a little less like this.
And, I had an opportunityto go to California and had a
the friend that was staying with inConnecticut had a friend in California.
I met with him and took the train across,and I lived in, Northern California
for a year,and I worked, just farm labor jobs.
But I did have a chance to start,trying working in organic gardens.

(08:49):
And I worked on a man's farm.
John John Jevons, who started a farmin Willits in northern California called,
he had a wrote a book.
He wrote a book called How to Grow as MuchFood on as Little Land as Possible.
And his whole thing was figuring outhow to maximize efficiency
out of the smallest,the most minimal amount of soil,
which he was a brilliant man.

(09:11):
And and from there,it's is a little bit of a long story.
So I'm going to try to make it quick,but I have from there
I had a dream of going to Hawaiiand I saved up my money.
I went to Hawaii and I started,I was a windsurfer and a surfer.
So I started teaching windsurfinglessons on Maui.
I had a friend that had a shop there,and he helped me to kind of

(09:31):
get in that door a little bit.
I also valet parked cars at the cramwhile
I worked at the chart Housekitchen, and Louie
and I cleaned Mama's Fish housestarting at like 2:00 in the morning.
I mean, I did really hardwork, like is in Hawaii.
It's hard to find jobs.
And I went in the newspaperand the only job I could find

(09:53):
was like cleaning the kitchen at Mama'sFish house.
So I was game to do anything, thoughI always at that point, because I'd left
going to university and my parentshad said, Todd, you're on your own.
Like if you're not willing to go toand further your education,
then you're gonna have to figure it out.
So and I had this really strong sensethat I wanted to do it on my own.

(10:13):
I didn't want to accept help. And which is
now I'm I'm getting older.
Maybe not the best way to look at things,but at the time, I was so pigheaded,
I was like, I'm going to do thisall by myself.
I don't want to take any moneyfrom my family or anything like that.
So I just wanted to work.
I have a really strong work ethic.
I, I love working,I personally believe that purpose

(10:36):
and having a job,no matter how menial it might seem,
or even if it's a job that maybe I feltlike was beneath me.
I don't believe in feelinglike anything is beneath me.
Like I want to get in on the nitty grittyand hang out with people
on whatever level.
And but I think work is so important.

(10:56):
So for me, at that point,
I was starting to trying to figure outlike, how and what do I want to do?
And because I had this dream
of having my own farm,I had no money where you got to buy land.
And as you know, land is so expensive.
And how do you start?
So I at that pointI just kept working and I, I,
I worked on Maui, but then I had thisdream of going to Australia and taking

(11:18):
a permaculture design course,which is permaculture
is a blend of two words,permanent and agriculture.
And it was developedby a man named Bill Mollison.
And his idea was insteadof creating a monoculture,
a monoculture is like what we seewhen we see a sugar cane field, or like
just an apple orchard, where there'sjust one culture that we're growing.

(11:39):
And permacultureis this idea of, let's look at nature,
let's look at the way that a jungle looks,and let's try to create a food forest,
more or less where everythingbenefits or feeds off of the other.
Aspect in your garden.
So I went, took a permaculture
design course and completely fell in lovewith Australia.

(11:59):
The culture, and being a surfer
I the waves inAustralia are absolutely amazing.
So I went back to the Statesand then decided
I was going to go back to Australia,and I went and I ended up staying
in Australia for five yearsand working in the viticulture industry,
because I had these high idealsof being self-sufficient.

(12:22):
But the reality is that I couldn't reallymake any money doing that very much.
Really.
So, I started justI wanted to work in that field,
and I then went into the viticultureindustry and did like pretty hardcore
manual labor, picking, planting,pruning of grapevines,
which was an incredible experiencein Western Australia, working in the,

(12:42):
in the during, you know, yearround outdoors there it's pretty wild.
And and then I stuck with thatfor about five years, working
between a company called Margaret RiverTree Planting and Land Care Services,
where we would dolarge tree plantation projects.
I had, you know, as a very I'man idealist, like,
I have, like,a little bit of a hippie dream ideal

(13:05):
of, like, you know, let's plant treesand let's save the world.
Everybody comeon. Like, there's solutions.
There's things we can do.
So I wanted to get down and
and on and on that level of,like, do tree planting, but,
I ended up injuring my neckto where I was in so much pain.
And I, somebody said, here,go see this physiotherapist

(13:25):
in Australia, physical therapistor call a physiotherapist.
And I, I went to this personin a town called Margaret River.
And he did a combination of softtissue manual technique with dry needling
and I had never had manual therapyup to that point.
Like in my experiencegrowing up going to the doctor,
we usually required

(13:46):
the only physical touch you gotwas like a little hammer
on your knee to see if your kneewould have a reflex or something.
So for me to have somebody actuallyput their hands on me and manipulate
my musculature and utilizesomething like dry needling and,
and then this person
is coming from a background of havinga lot of years of study and understanding
that I felt better the next day,and I was really blown away.

(14:07):
I, I felt like, what was that?
That's amazing.
And I started to think, you know, ifif I don't know if I want to work manual
labor the rest of my life on this level,I think I want to study body work.
And, my time was kind of coming to an endin Australia,
and I decided to move back to my hometownor I went to Miami, to study

(14:29):
massage therapy.
I decided to go to my massagetherapy school.
I think the reason that I picked that is,I admit, I was traveling through Italy,
at one point working with an organizationcalled Willing Workers on Organic Farms,
where I was doing a work trade programin, Tuscany and Italy.
And I met this personwho is a massage therapist,
and he's like, oh, I love my job.

(14:49):
I, I got,I get to work with the most amazing people
and I get to set my own hours.
And I absolutely love my job.
And at that pointI was like, loving my job. Like
like I liked what I was doing.
But I don't know if I really wasconnecting 100% with like, truly
loving what I did.
And and so I thought, you know what?

(15:12):
That just really kind of
got me thinking that Imaybe I could pursue that career path.
So, I came back to Miami,I went to massage therapy school,
and, and I thought,you know, with massage,
with massage therapy,I could start my own business.
I could have a table,
I could start doing house calls,and I could be off and running.
And that's really kindof how my entrepreneur role aspect

(15:34):
of my life started.
That was in 2000,and since then I've been, teaching yoga
and doing massage therapyfull time for the last 24 years.
So I've been self-employed forfor the last 24 years.
And I have two kids, I have a wife,I have a mortgage on a home.
I have cars that I'm paying off.

(15:55):
And, my son just turned 18and I'm able to, like, raise my family
and run my own business,which for me is a huge dream
come true, to be honest,because it's not easy.
But I absolutely love what I do.
And for me that is what is most important.
And I've wanted to.
I'm going to work really hardand I don't make a ton of money,

(16:15):
but I make enough to be comfortableand to raise my family.
And for me,that is hugely important for me.
I've always put first,I want to love what I do
and let the money follow,and it actually has worked for me.
I have to say.
Wow, there are so many.
First off, thank you for sharing.
But there are so many thingsto dig into there.

(16:37):
It's it's so such an interesting journey.
First off, and,
the the first thing I'm curious aboutis what your thoughts are because
you actually fulfilledyour initial kind of inclination,
which was you wanted to travel and,
and so you actually were really ableto travel through this whole time period.

(16:58):
Well, while doing all these farming jobs
and, and I'm curious like,how do you feel about that?
You know,
knowing that you were working in thingsthat were not necessarily lucrative,
but it was actually giving you the abilityto travel at the same time?
Yeah.
I mean, number one,
I had to be willing to livewithout a lot of resource.

(17:20):
So I did live a lifestyle.
Well, I think maybe a lot of peoplewould have a hard time with,
I lived off a very meager amount of money,
so it made me very resourceful.
I slept on a lot of couches.
I slept on the floor a lot, I drove cars,I thought I had a car in Australia

(17:40):
that I think I spent $500 for,and I couldn't put it in reverse.
So every time I would
pull up into a situation, I
had to figure out how I could parkand not have to reverse out again.
So, you know,
not a lot of people are wantingto, like, deal with that kind of stuff.
But I think if you're willingto live simply and and live

(18:03):
with very little material resource,I was able to achieve that goal.
I also, like a hard core saver.
So even if I wasn't making a lot of money,I really learned how to budget.
And if I made, say, $500 a weekand I knew I could easily spend $500
a week,I would try to live off 100 a week or 200

(18:23):
a week, and sock the other 300 awayslowly, week after month after year,
get enough, buy a ticket,get to my next spot and start over again.
So that requires a lot of faith.
Like that's kind of a scary way
for a lot of people to travel,but I was at the point I was 18, 19, 20.
I had no responsibilitieson, on familial, familial level.

(18:45):
So I really kind of thrived offthat type of lifestyle. Now.
But I want to live that way.Definitely not.
I'm 50 now.I don't want to go back to that.
But I to be really honest,what's really cool about living like that
is that now when things get difficult,I remind myself, well,

(19:06):
I've built myselffrom the absolute ground up.
I could do it again.
I could absolutely do it again.
And if I had to go
and work in the restaurant tomorrowand pull out the kitchen, that's and start
hosing them down and start from there,I could figure that out.
And I can learnhow to budget and grow again.
So I think the beauty of startingfrom the bottom and working up

(19:26):
is that you know, that you can do it againif you're if our bodies are capable
and our minds are still capable,and we have our health,
I believe that, it's not about the amount.
It's about just feeling the feeling thatyou can succeed and you can pull it off.
Yeah, I love that.
It's such a good learning.
And and it's like giving yourselfthe evidence that, like, you can manage

(19:51):
regardless,even if our all kind of wasn't there.
So, that is such a great lessonfrom that time period.
So then, I mean, I love,I love the kind of like fortuitous
meeting of a, like having this personactually be able to help you,
when you,when you met this massage therapist, but
then it inspiring you in your own journeyto become that profession.

(20:15):
So, I mean, in contrast, it sounds like,you know, obviously doing that
kind of work was more lucrative, like.
But did you feel like that was still likeI'm curious how it felt in terms
of like purpose and valuesbetween those two phases of your life?
Yeah, that's a really good question.

(20:35):
I feel like the one thing that startedto shift for me when I went to massage
school is that I could see a way for it
to enable me to have my own business.
So I, I it took me to get to that point
where I wasn't surewhat type of business I could start.

(20:58):
I was looking at my other my bosses that I worked with in, say,
the in the agricultureand or permaculture world
and all of the people that seem to be ableto sustain living doing that.
They had their own landand a lot of them had enough
money saved up to be able to just enjoyliving off of whatever they could

(21:23):
grow, and still be able to go to the storeand buy other things they need.
But it seemed likethere was a certain amount of, wealth
that was already generatoraccumulated to be able to do that.
So I knew I kind of had to figure outsome type of business idea
that I could start with.
And, I, I,
I think my fascination with the body

(21:45):
really started once I started to study,massage therapy.
I started to grow that fascinationwith understanding
and studying anatomy and physiology.
Your question, though,in relation to like,
how did that change in terms of value?
I think what I'm starting to noticenow is that as I'm able to continue

(22:06):
to work and save, I still actually have
the dream of owning land,and I don't feel like my journey
is completely over yetbecause I'm I'm running my business,
work in my business,but I have the dream and the goal
of eventually having an acreor two acres in the country somewhere
where I will be able,maybe in retirement, to

(22:28):
continue that initial dreamthat I had in my early in my teens.
And it's just going to take me a while,you know, it's
gonna I'm still working on that dream,to be honest.
But I'm so contentnow with what I'm doing, and,
and I kind of feellike that's on the back burner
and I'll be able to go back to it.
But I am derivingthe same amount of value.

(22:48):
I love working with people.
I love talking to people. My business.
I have a yoga studio and a massagetherapy studio, so I'm interfacing
with people every day they walkin, I get to see them face to face.
I get to ask them like what aches andpains they're having, how they're feeling
when we go into the yoga roomor the massage therapy room,
I can do the my best to help alleviatethat whatever they're going through.

(23:13):
And then and that to me, like the reward
factor is so immediatebecause people come out of yoga and just
they just like, start smiling and,and you can just feel that they feel good.
And to be able to have that effectwith people is just way for me.
It's more important than money,like than the actual just worrying
about the currency side and the factthat I can generate currency as well.

(23:36):
I have for me, it'sbeen just like a huge pleasure.
Don't get me wrong,running a small business holding down
a brick and mortar studio for we've beenin this location for the last 18 years.
We've seen so many challengesand we've had to tighten the belt like
Covid was incredibly challenging to beable to keep paying rent through all that.
But again, like all these challenges,just keep bringing me more excited.

(24:02):
I just keep coming back moreand to kind of keep pushing it
and making it and working it, you know,I love this.
Good question.
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Well, and I kind of love thatbecause it's it's so interesting.
Before I ask the question, that was a thought in my head, I was like,
I wonder if this whole self-sufficient

(24:23):
farming thing would kind ofcome back around in your life.
And, and I love thatit's still kind of there.
To me, it's like we have all these like,
threads is the word I like to usewhere it's like they don't leave us.
They just, like, transformand become different things to us.
So I love that.
It's like still part of your journey.

(24:44):
Absolutely.
I mean, I think it's so important,like when we have a dream
and if it's a big dream,it might take 15, 20, 30 years
to to reach that dream, but
it makes it all the better in my opinion.
You know?
I mean, like having to take time,like things that come quick.

(25:05):
We don't appreciate all thatall that much, you know, it's like
it comes quick, it goes quick and we'rejust like left feeling like what next?
So having like a really big longterm project
I think really addsto the purpose component.
I have children, so I'm likeI put my main focus on making sure

(25:26):
I can provide, a happy home for them,a home for them.
So I feel like that's a really longterm project.
Like if you for those of youparents out there
that you wanted to be parents,like get ready.
It is a long term project.
So, I don't know.
But that brings incredible purpose.

(25:46):
And I'm saying I'm not saying have to godown that track to find purpose, but
that for mehas given me incredible purpose.
I love what you just said there,because I think as a culture
or just as human beings, maybe we lovewe love that
instant gratification in life.
But you're speaking of the exactopposite of this long term vision

(26:10):
and letting that be a long term thing,because I think a lot of people, it's like
they're afraid to start because they thinkit's going to take a long time.
And so it feels daunting.
But you're actually talkingabout relishing in that feeling.
So can you talk a little bitmore about that?
I think that's so great.
Absolutely.
I think part of the psychologythat if you can get this

(26:35):
in line makes the journey a lot more fun.
If instead of thinking, okay,
I want to have my own business or
I want to be a successful business person,
or I want to have more moneyso I can achieve more of my dreams.
Getting
into understanding that the yearsthat have taken to get to

(26:59):
the point that we were born, to the pointthat we're where we are right now
and where we're headedlike it's it's a continuous arc.
And it's not that we're all of a sudden
going to hit one point and go,oh my gosh, I've achieved it.
I'm happy now. This is it. I'm done.
It's alwaysthere's always going to be work.
I mean, I and I feel like from likethe enlightenment perspective and or from

(27:20):
say seeking yoga, meditation
angle of of seeking enlightenmentand or of seeking,
finding some state of peacewhere I'm actually content.
And I used to have this visionthat like I heard of say like Buddha
or say some enlightened Yogithat I thought,
man, there must of like hit this pointand now they don't have to ever worry

(27:41):
or stress anymore.
Like they're just so happy.
And, and I kept kind of taking meditationretreats
and practicing yoga and going,why am I still seeking like I.
And then I think that that's part of it.
Like, I don't believe now that we all of asudden hit some point where we just are,
I'm done.
Like where it's just like it's over.

(28:02):
I think understandingthat we're always going to have challenge,
there's always going to be work to doand right now,
if I can get into the momentof finding some joy
and whatever work I'm doing,so if I'm working for somebody
with the dream of having my own business,the work we're doing,

(28:22):
the work you're doing right now,working for with someone else, is the work
you have to do to get to the pointto have your own business.
So if you can start thinking,I already have my own business,
I'm minding my own business,
but I'm working for somebody,so how could I have my own business?
I think learning how to have a bossand how to be a good employee

(28:45):
is the prerequisitefor being able to be the boss. So.
And then even right now,I say I'm the boss.
But I have clients.
My clients are.
My boss will never not have a boss.
We're always going to have a boss.
There might be somebody out therethat maybe got in inheritance
that has never had to work,
that's never had to learnhow to be a servant or to have a boss.

(29:10):
Right.
I think being humble and learningservitude
is an absolute necessityto finding peace and satisfaction.
When we actually do achieve some sortof success in our business endeavors.
So with that being said, I think thatgetting right into the moment right now,
and even if I feel like I or you feel likeyou don't have your own business

(29:32):
or you're not successful yet,try to cultivate this feeling of like,
right now I am my own bossbecause I am in charge of my my mind.
I'm in charge of my mood.
I'm in charge of my diet.
I'm in charge of my
where I'm going to sleep, how I'm goingto make my bed like I am my own boss.
And I think, like,
once we get that in our psychology,then we're like, okay, cool, I'm doing it.

(29:55):
And it's like, you already achieve.
You can achieve it rightnow, here and now.
So I know it's easier said than done.
And and I'm still working at that myself,like keeping this sort of framework.
But this is part of my purposeis to just keep reminding myself
that I still am a servant.
I'm still serving others.
I am my own boss,but I still have lots of bosses,

(30:18):
and I just want to make my bosses happy.
And if I can make my boss happy, myboss is happy, then that's how you start.
Just like it works.
Beautifullysaid, beautifully said I love,
I love what you just said there abouthow can you see that you already
are accomplished, that thing that you wantand you can do it in this moment.

(30:41):
Like, I mean it's absolutely a, a practiceI think and,
and somethingthat maybe people who are listening can
well have to listen to this a few timesand really wrap their head around it.
But I think it is so incredibly truewhere it's like that ability to go,
oh, right here and right nowI already have it, right, like right here

(31:01):
and right nowI can already have that autonomy over
how I feel, how I'm thinking about things,how I'm looking at it.
And that's already giving me
that, that freedomor that thing that I'm moving towards.
And so I think that isincredibly powerful.
And what a great reflection.
So thank you for sharing that and says,

(31:21):
yeah.
So I'm now I'm curious, like how did yogacome into the picture with that.
And for you.
Oh, good.
So I was going to massage therapy school
in Miami, and my mom and dadlive in a town called Tequesta.
And it's about an hour and 15 minutesnorth of Miami in a town called in Palm

(31:42):
Beach County.
And so I was driving up and visitingmy mom and dad on the weekends
when I wasn't, taking the course.
And my mom started practicing,
a style of yoga called Bikram yoga,which is popular hot yoga.
And I had when I was
when I was 18, I started practicing yoga,but I started a style,

(32:04):
I actually started hanging out
with the Harikrishna devoteesand chanting, learning like mantra, yoga,
japa mantra, or like mantra yoga,where you just like you have a 108 beads
or those of you that grew up Catholic,like your rosary beads are,
they're they're malas.
They're the same thing that I used inIndia.
I used the theory is that the Catholicsactually got it from the Indians,

(32:27):
but you don't want to beat that.
But, we debated if you want.
But nonetheless, so does chanting mantra,chanting Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, high Hari highRama, Hare Rama, Rama, Rama, hare hare
and that was the first type of yogathat I learned.
And so then I explored different, yoga.
When I was in Australia,I mentioned Iyengar Yogi

(32:48):
and I started taking Iyengar classes,but that didn't fully grab me.
It was a little slow. I love Iyengar now.
I really appreciate
yoga now, but at the time it just didn'tcatch me all that much.
And so when my mom was like, Todd,you got to try this Bikram yoga with me.
I went to become yoga classand it was so hard.
It was so freaking hot.

(33:09):
And I absolutely loved it.
And I came out of the yoga room going,I just felt so good.
I thought, wow, this is so cool. You know?
Because when I do get a massagetherapy session, you would lay on a table
and somebody else has to work on you,
and you get off the tableand you feel so good
and you get an incredible feeling from,I get it, incredible

(33:30):
feeling from massage therapy.
But when I went into the yoga room,I found I could actually
do a yoga practiceand have a similar type of feel good
after word fact that I started to thinklike, well, maybe a massage therapy
and yogaactually have a lot more in common
than I realized, and it felt likeyoga was like a self body work.

(33:50):
It kind of felt like a self massage,like you could,
you could kind of get a similar effect.
So I thought these two things workreally good together.
And so I was practicing.
I just really got so amped on yoga.
I started going to yoga every day,and that helped me a lot
because I was like coming out of my partyphase.
And I really just started thinking,I want to give up

(34:11):
this whole partying thingand get a little more into health.
And I started getting more like addictedto yoga, to where I was like,
I just didn't want to go out.
I wanted to feel really good.
When I woke up in the morning,
I wanted to do yoga first thing and startpracticing yoga every day.
Start practicing yoga twice a day.
I was really into it, so I'd met someonewhen I finished massage school,

(34:31):
they said, well, what type of massagemodality would you like to go into?
And I was like, well,with a locksmith, like, what do you like?
And I said, I love massage, I love yoga.
And I said, well,have you heard of Thai massage?
I said, no, they said, well,it's like a blend of yoga and massage.
And right then a light bulb went off.
I was like, oh my gosh, I want to studyThai massage and I love traveling.
So I saved up my moneyand I went to Thailand.

(34:53):
I had never had a Thai massage,
but I thought this is my excuseto travel to Thailand.
And I got my first time massage in Bangkokat a place called Ypo
and that was an incredible experience.
I blew my mind because I went to WaPoand there's
this big roomwhere there's about 70 mats on the floor.
And for those of you that haven't had timemassage, I'll try to explain it here.

(35:16):
But Thai massages,like there's a mat on the floor.
You stay fully clothed and the therapistmoves you through a series of yoga
like stretches while working acupressurepoints along the meridians.
And so I was laying on the floorreceiving Thai massage.
There's about 60 or 70other Thai massage therapists,
and about 60 or 70 other peoplegetting a massage at the same time.

(35:36):
And it's like one big room.
So it's not like in a treatment roomwhen you go to a spa and you're like,
in this one room with somebody else,this huge room with all these people.
And I just was like,what in the world is going on?
And one person would get upand they'd walk off,
the next person would come lay down,and it was this huge,
like massage room happening in it.
It just blew my mind.

(35:56):
I'd never experienced anything like it.
And I just, I got so in love.
I went to northern Thailand, I met my timemassage teacher Chung Call, set a client
and I started training Thai massageand I just
it blended everythingso perfectly together for me.
I was like, okay, this is my passion andI, I came or I just added to my passion.
So when I came back to Florida, I starteddoing Thai massage and teaching yoga,

(36:19):
and I found that those two things workso unbelievably well together because
it's just a really
beautiful modality and everythingreally started to come together.
I found that the more I studiedand and traveled
and studied,I could put more and more pieces together.
It was just this feelingthat it was growing,

(36:42):
that my my learning was growingand my appreciation for yoga, massage
and I continued to pursue differentmodalities of massage, and I continued
to pursue different modalities of yogafrom there, came back to Florida.
My wife and I, while at the timewe weren't married yet, but Tamara,
my now wife, would be married20 years in October.

(37:04):
We, we had an opportunityto run a Bikram yoga studio in California,
and this was our first chanceto actually run a brick and mortar studio
as a co-owner.
We had other people that bought it,and they needed somebody to run it,
and they made us, 50,50 ownership in the profits.
And people had said to us, look,if you guys are boyfriend girlfriend

(37:24):
and you're going to work together,this will either make or break you,
like couples can either work really welltogether or you want to kill each other.
And so we thought,this is going to be a great way
for us to figure outif we actually can work together.
And we loved it.
We moved to San Diego and,we started running the studio.
We rented a small apartment.
We had one car.

(37:45):
I rode a bicycle every day backand forth to the studio, and we made it.
It started a pump. It was thriving.
We had a really successfulyoga studio and,
we had taken Bikram yoga teachertraining, which is a whole nother story.
But when we we hit this pointwhere we started to like, not really love
hot yoga and Bikram,I won't go far down this track,

(38:06):
but because I'm not a really nice person,he wasn't a role model to me.
I just didn't really like the wayhe was dealing with people.
And I thought,
I want to study a different type of yoga,and I wanted to go to India
because I felt like maybe I'll geta more authentic experience in India.
And I didn't want this,like American commercialized yoga.
I wanted to try to seewhat it was like in India.
And we went and studiedwith, Joyce Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore.

(38:30):
And this is in 2004.
And that was anotherabsolutely mind blowing experience.
And when we got in there, when I startedpracticing Mysore style Ashtanga,
for those of you that don't know whatthat is, I'll just try to explain you.
You memorize the routine,
you go into the room, everyone practicesthe routine at their own pace

(38:51):
and the teacher walks around and helpsdoing assist or adjustments in the poses.
So as I was practicing yoga,it was like somebody would come over
and do a Thai massage,move on me, a stretch on me.
While I was practicing,and then another light bulb went off.
I was like, now this is a wayI can incorporate my
Thai massage stretching with peoplewhile they're practicing yoga.
And I was like,

(39:11):
okay, here's another piece of the puzzlethat's really taking me
another step further.
So we studied with rejoicing, came back,and that's when we decided, you know what?
We weren't happy with what was going onin the Bikram yoga world,
and we wanted to move out of the franchiserealm and actually do a soul independent
mom and pop studio that wasn't a partof some larger organization.

(39:33):
And that's when we opened up our studio,Native Yoga Center, here in Juno Beach.
And that's, 18 years ago, and we've beenin the same location ever since.
So that's another longanswer to your question.
And I think your initial question was, my, my, how did I get involved in yoga?
So that's kind of a quick versionof some of the different aspects that

(39:54):
then I was able to blend yoga practicein with my massage therapy practice.
And, and that'swhat I'm teaching and practicing today.
Now that was amazing.
I love it because it wasit was so filled with these
like little momentsalong the way where it's like,
okay, I've been doing this thing nowI incorporate this and you're like, yes.

(40:15):
And then this,this other thing comes along and yes.
And like,
so I love the analogy that you're doingof the puzzle pieces coming together.
I feel like that was so amazing, right?
Where it's like you're stilland and to me, it's like
you're still following your purposethroughout the whole journey.
But it's like each timeit's like something else clicks

(40:37):
in and makes sense for you,and you keep going along
and you're like,oh, this makes even more sense.
And then you keep going.
And so I love that kind of,
the way that you toldthat story was just very compelling.
So thank you for sharing. Absolutely.
Yeah.
So well and then so I'm curiousbecause so now you are

(40:58):
you're owning this, not a franchiselike your soul, like your own business.
The dream that you had,you had set out for at the very beginning.
Like, what has that really been like?
You know, I know you talked a little bitabout the ups and downs of it.
You know, I think that some people geta little concerned around
moving into wellness spaces,which you've spent

(41:21):
most of your career and,because of the fact that, like, it's
it might not be very lucrative, you know,like, there's all these issues around it.
And yet people really want to
be teaching yoga and doingthese kind of wellness practices.
So. So how has that really, been for you?
Oh, what an incredible journey.

(41:43):
I highly recommend it,
but I want to preface my endorsement
with, a little joke that somebody told merecently from an entrepreneurial nature,
an entrepreneurial side, they said,the really cool thing about being your own
boss is you get to choose which 12 hoursof the day you want to work.

(42:04):
And so being a small business owner,you are pretty much setting.
I. I've set myself up to work 12 hoursa day if I have to on some days. Now.
When I first started my business,I had this sort of idea
that I would be able to grow it
and eventually just kick back and

(42:27):
collect residuals and be retiredand not have to do much.
And that hasn't really been my scenario,because what I'm finding in the service
industry in this, I do see yoga massageas a service industry job is that,
you know,

(42:49):
it's so it's so personal.
And people are coming for my wife and I,and we have incredible teachers
here in our studio that have been with usfor a really long time.
And I feel like they were really tightcommunity,
a tight knit groupand really supportive of each other.
And, I say that being that, but I do

(43:11):
feel like people do come to my wife and Ibecause we are here every single day.
And when we remove ourselvesfrom the equation, like,
I just got back from vacation, I feel likethere's this, like when the mouse away.
When the cat's away, the mice will play.
It's like, oh, it's hot.
And tomorrow,you know, we'll stay gone to.
And then and then we come back inand then people come back and it's like,

(43:33):
I have to be here.
My my business requiresthat I'm here consistently being present.
And because I have a very specializedniche skill, with our yoga
and with my massage practicethat I try to bring more people in.

(43:54):
But people are comingbecause they've heard about me.
Does that like I can?
I want to say that from a conceited place,but more from an actual actual place.
The more the betteryou get at your profession,
the morepeople want you, but they want you.
And so to switch over to liketraining a team where I could step away
and have them do all the work,I haven't figured that part out yet.

(44:16):
I'm still a very handson kind of business owner, and
I do everything, as much of itwhile my wife and I do everything.
I would not want to run this businesswithout my wife, to be honest.
She does so much of the stuffI don't want to do,
and I do a lot of stuff she doesn'twant to do, and to be able to have
the two of us to be able to hold it downlike that is so incredible.

(44:38):
So, you know, there'sso much to talk about here in terms
of, running a small business.
And I want to stay on trackwith your question.
The ups and the downs.
What are the hard parts?
The hard parts are having to haveto show up every single day.
The good part of that,I have to show up every single day.
So I don't get to be lazywhen I want to hit the snooze button.

(45:00):
Like this morning I wrote on my little.
I have a whiteboardthat I write on every day, and I keep.
I wake up and I write downwhat are the tasks that I have to perform
today.
And I at least I'm aiming to performlike today's tasks were.
I got to finish my quarterly report.
So one thing about being a businessowner is you have to do your taxes.
I have an accountant,but I have to do quarterly reports,

(45:21):
so you have to import everything in liquidbooks.
It's not the hardest thing in the world,
but it's not my most favorite thing to doeither.
So that's one of those things, like,okay, you got to be self-motivated
to pull that off.
The other thing I have to dois have to edit my podcast for this week.
So I got that on the agenda.
But at the bottomI wrote really big don't Hit Snooze.
And I don't know where that came from.
I heard it somewhere,I heard something there.

(45:43):
I saw a social media post or something.I was like, don't hit snooze.
And I'm like, I love that.
Don't hit snooze.
Like get up, get started.
And I think that's what I loveabout having a business because it
I have to show up.
You know, if I didn't have to show up,I could come up with
so many different excusesand I something about the routine

(46:04):
is so good for my health and wellnessbecause like knowing that
I have to show up and having that purpose,I don't even give myself a second chance
like I don't give them.I don't second guess it.
So when my alarm went off, this morningand I was like,
I do my exercises, I went for a walk.
I walk my dog.
I have the certain things I like to doin the morning as a morning ritual.

(46:25):
I try not to pick up my phone.
I try not to look at social mediawhen it's dark out.
I get up at 5 a.m., it's dark out.
I try to do my yoga
meditation, and I have an inversion tableto try to get my back stretched out.
Like there's things that I do to like work
on my own personal health and wellnessfirst thing right away.
And that usually gives methe inspiration to then

(46:45):
see everybody and workwith everybody throughout the day.
So I have I have found thatI have to budget time for my self-care.
When I put my businessfirst and I put myself second,
I startto notice that I start feeling crappy
and then and not really enjoyingwhat I'm doing as much so
it's harderto budget taking care of ourselves

(47:07):
first before the business, when we have topay our bills because it's so scary.
When you have a lot of overhead,you gotta like,
you gotta come up with the rentevery month.
So it's hard to find that balance.
I know I'mgetting a little off the subject,
but I feel likebecause I'm really important,
part of being a self-made business personis that definitely budget

(47:27):
in time for self-careand and make sure that you keep,
even if it's five minutes,some sort of self-care routine.
And I find if you do that, that'swhere I get a lot of my motivation to then
like, okay, six days a week, here we go.
I make sure I have one day off a week,but I only take one day off a week

(47:48):
because there'sso many things I want to do.
I have so manyprojects I'm working on with my business.
Like between podcast,I'm trying to grow my YouTube channel.
I try to do all my social mediamarketing myself.
I teach livestream classes,so I have an online platform,
so I'm keeping my content up on my onlinepractice and then plus coming in,

(48:10):
I keep a full schedule of massage therapyclients every day and teaching classes.
I teach 3 to 4 classesevery day in the studio, so
I really I get so much joyout of actually doing it, but it
I personally feel likeit does require a lot of work.
I just think you got to be willingto dig in and work.
Work hard, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.

(48:31):
I mean, yes, I feel like,
what you just said made me be like, yes.
There is no doubt in my mindthat you, Todd, are a very busy person.
But I also sounds like you're doingso many wonderful things
that are helping so many people.
So I love all of that.
I love your tangent, honestly,because I think it is really,

(48:52):
really important to note that it's like
you don't go into following your purposeand, and doing things
that that are in service of others, without needing to take care of yourself.
Right? Like you have to come first.
And it's like we can only giveif we're pouring into our own cup first.

(49:12):
So I think that was like a very,very important
point to makebecause people can lose sight of that.
And then you burn out in the thingthat you actually enjoy doing.
And and we don't want that for ourselves.
It's not how you can continuehelping other people.
So, I, I love what you were saying there.
I definitely also make such a pointof saying, like, my personal practice

(49:35):
and my time in the morningis super important to me.
And and it's the only way that we are ableto do
all the millions of thingsthat we want to do to help other people.
So I love that.
Thank you.
Yeah.
The so like, what was my next point?
Okay. I

(49:56):
you don't have to talkif you don't want to. I,
I like your question is I want to pauseenough to actually get at that.
You direct me.
Yeah.
I'm like, no,you said so much great stuff there.
I was like, where do I want to go next?
I mean, was there anything elseyou want to share off of that?
Well, I'm curious,what is your daily ritual like?
What?
I know maybe not every day,but if you have your ideal daily ritual,

(50:20):
what type of things do you doto keep your your motivation going?
Yeah.
So I have a very, pretty structured self practice for me.
Like I actuallyI start my morning with Reiki.
So I'm also a Reiki practitioner.
So I literally lay in bed.
And this is kind of it's funny,I started this
because I don't like to get out of bedvery quickly.

(50:42):
Like I it's like I have friction for that.
So I was like, oh, well,if I do my Reiki practice in bed,
then I get to look it in my bedfor a moment without feeling guilty
about it, and bI get to do Reiki on myself.
So I do that and then I get readyand then I journal.
I do some pranayama, some meditation,and I do some movement,

(51:03):
and then I start my day.
So it's and it's like, you know, thethe practices may change,
but it's pretty muchI always do a little bit of everything,
just to kind of likeI feel like it's like tuning the,
the gears in my head so I can doall of the things I want to do.
Oh, yeah, definitely.
I agree, I'mpretty good about keeping it on the daily,

(51:27):
but of course I'mhuman and I sleep in too.
And I do hit the snooze buttonwhen I need to.
I mean, being able to keep the bodybattery charged is,
a really challenging thing.
Personally, as a yoga teacher and bodyworker, it's very physical work.
I have had some physical challenges.

(51:48):
About two years ago, I started to develop
an extremely intense back pain
that really threw a spannerin my whole world,
because I'm so physical and so activethat when my body started to talk to me
and say, Todd, you have to lay down,you have to literally stop.

(52:10):
Like, I had such extreme back painand it was so embarrassing
because I'm like, I'mthe yoga teacher, massage therapy guy.
I'm coming in.
I can hardly move,and I'm in so much pain.
And so that was not what I hadin the cards
for me, as like part of my successfulbusiness plan.
That was like the opposite of whatI expected to happen in my career path.

(52:34):
But part of the challenge of, the how,
how hard I push myselfis that I, my body, you know, the
so amazing is the body will talk to usand or my everything.
It's talking to us.
And if we're not paying attentionand listening
and trying to override this
feelingsthat we have, it'll get so intense.

(52:57):
And for me, it got so intensethat I started going to doctors.
It turned into doctors,
told me I needed to have surgery,I needed to fuze my spine.
And again, this was like,no, this is not what I envisioned.
I thought, Now I'm going for back surgery.
I couldn't believe it.
So I my wife started

(53:17):
taking overand she's like, Todd, you're staying home.
You're not going out.
You're you're staying home.
And I was like, I was like, freaking out.
But that was literallywhat I needed to do.
And I and it's been about a two yearprocess.
I decidedI wasn't going to go for surgery,
and I started just researchingand reading books.

(53:39):
And for me, I'man instant yoga practitioner,
and I've been pulled onand pushed on to do backbends.
And I love Backbendsand I can do really deep backbends,
but I have a spondylolisthesiswhere my L5 has slid forward.
So now when I backbend, it compressesmy spinal cord
so intensethat I can't move the rest of the day.

(54:01):
So I had to give up back bending.
And for me,
like I love
back bending so muchand I got so much attention
because of how deep I could go in my backbends, that I had an identity
around this, that it was this,like cosmic is
like God was telling me,okay, well, it's time for you to grow now,

(54:23):
and you got to change,and you can't do what you've been doing
all these times for years.
And I had to a completely eliminatebackbends out of my practice.
And I can do bridges, and I can actuallydo backbends now that I've healed.
But I don't really want to.
It's I have this thing of like,now I need to stiffen
my spine a little bitand I need a little more stability.
I push so hard into flexibilitythat I got to loose,

(54:47):
and now I'm actually trying to tighten up,which is a really funny concept.
As a yoga teacher, you're like,
I never thought I'd try to get tighter,but now I'm trying to tighten up.
And I mean, this is part of life.
Like we have to constantly.
It's not going to go the way we want.
It doesn't go the way we expect,but there's so many gems that come out of

(55:08):
like learning to bendand move in a new way,
like literally,but also figuratively speaking.
And I think from a business perspective,too, there's been so many things
I thought I was doing, what I need to do,
and I'd had to just completely wipethe slate clean and start all over again.
So right now I can say I'm not I'mnot in a lot of pain.
I'm learning how to manage my pain,and that has been one of the best,

(55:32):
most empowering lifeexperiences of my life.
I at first I felt so defeated I wanted to,
I did cry, I was like so beat down.
And now I'm like,oh my gosh, I have come out of this
and I'm and I'm feeling better.
And I think one of the main thingthat's happened for me too,
from a yoga teaching perspective, it'smaking me a better teacher

(55:53):
because now when someone comes inand says,
I had that pain before, I was like,oh yeah, back pain.
Sure. Well, this iswhat other people tell me you should do.
But now that I'm learninghow to heal my back pain, when
people come in and said back pain like,oh my gosh, I got to share this with you.
I got to show you what I've learned.
I've gone through the wringerand I think I've figure some things out.
Let me try to see if it'll work for youand I.

(56:15):
I think that if we can approach lifelike this, where
if we take our hardships and don't give up
and study and
research and ask for helpand try to learn how
we can fix and change and grow,that's what makes us better.
And that's what grows our business. That'swhat makes it.
That's what helps us to find our niche.

(56:36):
That's what helps us to knowwhat to dial in on. And,
that's not the way I kind of wanted it to,but I'm actually thankful for it now.
I'm thankful for the pain.
I'm thankful for the suffering becauseit's helping to become a better person.
I think things like that.
I well, I'm curious, like,did you end up having to get surgery
or you were able to heal it through other,interesting.

(56:59):
I'm I'm open toif I have to go get surgery
at some point later on in life,I will do it.
But my goal is to
is to try to not do it, because I,I started talking to a lot of people
that had spinal fusions, and I heard mixedreviews and I went to a doctor.
He's like, look,you have 30% chance it'll help, 30% chance

(57:20):
you'll be exactly the same, and 30% chanceyou'll be the worst or worse off.
And I was like
30% chance.
Same chance. Worse.
That's at least 60% chancethat things aren't going to get better.
Odds are not looking as good, right?
But some people get so much compressionthat I believe fusion
and lifting the pressure off of thethe nerves is absolutely critical.

(57:43):
So I believe in asking help from doctors.
I'm not the type of yoga personthat says I won't visit a medical doctor.
I've had to have help from doctors.
I'm very thankfulfor the medical association, but I'm also
on the holistic side of things whereif I can avoid surgery, I'm going to like.
I'm not looking to try to get fixedwith the knife every single pain.

(58:07):
So, oh my gosh, I've learned so much andand I the biggest one and I know this is
taken is a little off topic,but if there's anybody listening
that has back pain, buy a book calledThe Back Mechanic by Stuart MacGill.
And if you're a yoga teacher or Jessica,you don't have back pain.
But as a yoga teacher,if you read, the back mechanic. Wow.

(58:29):
Simple applicable advicethat you can use as a teacher
if you're a physical therapistor whatever, that is just profound.
And there's
so many people that suffer from backpain, like the percentages are enormous.
So I honestly, I just think it's it's ait's a real thing.
And I mean, pain and suffering.
We're trying to figure out
how to alleviate our pain and sufferingand and it's a journey for sure.

(58:51):
But this is what we'rethis is what we're trying to do.
Yeah, we want to.
We gotta figure out how to how to lesssuffering, you know?
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, I love everythingyou've been sharing here because I,
I'm like, oh,I'm definitely going to go check that out.
But be it is so true.
Like the things that those hardshipsenable us to, to be able

(59:12):
to really provide more to the peoplethat are also suffering similarly.
So sometimes we have to learn thingsthe hard way in order to assist others,
to learn a little bit easierthan what we went through.
And it sounds like you've done that,which is amazing.
Yeah.
So I'm like,oh my God, I we're already we've,

(59:34):
I've been talking for quite a whileand I'm like,
oh, there's so many other thingsI want to talk to you about.
Oh my gosh.
Well, I know that's what's weird.
When have you seen people?
Me you know, it's not hard to converse.
You know, we can talk all day.
It's true.
But before we wrap up, I'm like,because I was like, oh, I,

(59:56):
I feel like I, I was curious,like what your experience was like
through Covid and, you know,you started your podcast during Covid.
Maybe.
Let's talk a little bit about thatand then we can wrap up from there.
But I would love to kind of talkabout that because let's that's I think
let's talk about the biggest strugglein terms of like financial
and like all of the work that you dowas so in person and everything.

(01:00:19):
And so having to shift gears around that,I'd love to hear a little bit about what
that was like for you.
Thank you.
Jessica, I love talking about this.
So as a massage therapistand a yoga teacher,
when there was this concept of pandemicand six feet apart,
it was like havingthe rug ripped out from underneath me.

(01:00:40):
Because everything I dois about being in a closed space
in our studio and as a massage therapist,touching people.
So I had a real quickly figure out,what in the heck am I going to do?
So, I went online like mosteverybody did,
and I'd always been apprehensiveto going online because I am such
an in-person kind of person and,didn't grow up with the technology.

(01:01:04):
So it took me some time to kind of wrapmy head around getting excited about it.
And so the first thing seemed like, well,let me at least put a camera in the room.
I can teach classes
in front of the camera,and we have such an incredible clientele.
And one of the beauties of
at that point, we were in businessfor like 16 or 15 years at at that time.
So we had so many clients that wanted tosee us succeed that when we went online,

(01:01:27):
they continued to support usfinancially by taking the classes online.
So even though our main revenuedropped from like down,
like I think we went down to like 40%of what we were earning prior to Covid,
but at least it was 40% of something.
And so we just obviously stoppedeating out,
obviously stopped taking vacations,obviously stopped doing a lot of things,

(01:01:49):
tighten the belt, and then we had to letgo of a lot of our employees.
Unfortunately,we've been able to bring a lot back,
but at the time my wife and I waslike, is like starting our business
all over again.
And we came in.
Well, at that point,when I realized I wanted to go online,
I wasn't really a big fanof being in front of the camera.
I was a little shy about it, and I thoughtto myself, what would I want to do?
And I started listening to podcastsand I'm like, oh,

(01:02:11):
maybe I could do thatbecause I love to talk.
I love talking.
If you haven't noticed, I like to talkand I love learning.
I love to learn by listening to youlike when I get a chance to host you.
So my podcast name is NativeYoga Podcast, but our yoga studios, Native
Yoga center,our website is Native Yoga center.com.
So my wife is like, well,you have to do a podcast

(01:02:31):
since your name is Tyler said yes.
And I just my podcast episode number one
was me sitting in my garage going,what is going on?
Is it the end of the world?
I'm like, like we had to shut our studiodown and I, how am I going to survive?
And it was so freaky.
I remember the time I was like,

(01:02:51):
I just couldn'tbelieve it was happening, to be honest.
It just felt like
otherworldly.
It just never transitioned.
I never came across.
So what a blessing though.
This is a classic exampleof like through friction.
If we're keep our mind frame onwhat can I do?
What can I do right now?

(01:03:11):
What is there's I just let me startand I was lucky enough
to somebody had the podcast gearand he said, Todd I'm not using it.
Borrow it.You can buy it off me if you like it.
And so that kind of helped me to jumpthe hurdle
of the financial investment,to get started with a little bit of gear.
And I just started doing the podcasting.
What an incredibly therapeutic process,

(01:03:32):
because I started interviewingyoga teachers all over the world
and asking them,what do you how you surviving?
What can I learn from youthat I can do what I'm doing here?
And so by reaching outand asking questions
and talking to people,I figured out solutions.
And little by little,I mean now my show is doing really well.
And I'm like, Holy cow,I can't believe that it's growing.

(01:03:54):
I've been at it for like four years.
I think I'm up to episode 175.
I, I'm getting ready to releaseyour episode really soon.
Everybody please go to and listento Jessica's episode on my show.
I can't wait for you to hear her story.
She has so many incredible stories.
You have to go check it out.
And so.
But with that being said,I found that beyond.

(01:04:15):
I didn't know what I wanted to do.
I didn't know what niche I could godown. And podcasting.
Once I found this,I really started to love it.
And it's been such an incredible processand I so thankful.
I'm so thankful to meet you, Jessica,because I got introduced to you
through Andrew and Pam Jones,and they said, you got it.
You got to interview Jessica.
She's another podcaster, yoga teacher,and I think you guys are going

(01:04:38):
to really get along great.
And so, you know,like when I got a chance to meet you
and your podcast, you're like,just alone to have that to talk about,
like to share stories and, and like,what camera do you use?
How do you which platform do you use?How do you edit?
How do youhow do you get your show out there?
Like I learned, I've learned so muchfrom what you're doing to Jessica.
So I feel like it's it's,

(01:05:00):
the morewe come together, the more we talk.
The more we keep an open mind, the morewe're willing to listen to others.
And I think what's really importantright now more than ever is like,
we have like, I want to be opento listening to your viewpoint,
even if your viewpointis so radically opposed to what I believe.

(01:05:21):
I want to try to understandhow you got to your viewpoint.
And if I just ask questionsand don't rebuttal,
there's that'll break down the barriersso that you and I can just see eye to eye
if we're willing to ask questionsand listen.
And so this process for me,like podcasting is I think
I think it's a strategyfor us to get together on the global level

(01:05:45):
and in and collaboratemore than compete with each other.
And if I can promote you and you'repromoting me now, thank you so much.
Like, what an incredible opportunityfor us to collaborate.
And so I think the more as a
on a global level, if we try to figure outways that we can collab rate
with people that we don't agreewith, let's try to find people

(01:06:08):
that we don't agree withand how can we work with them?
How can we collaborate?
There's got to be something we can do.
If we can start thinking like this,we can live in a world where
there's no war
and there's peace, and we can share waterand we can share food,
and we can share business ideasand we can share everything.

(01:06:28):
I think I think it's possible.
It's a bold vision,but I do believe it's my main visions.
My main goal is like,we have to come together and let's unite.
I don't think we need to have a civil war.
We don't need to go to civil war.
We've done enough civil warsover the years.
All over the world.
There's been civil warfor how many thousands of years?

(01:06:49):
We've learned from that.
If we can't look at historyand learn from that and come together.
And I was skip all that.
So that's part of my visionwith the podcast and talking.
It's not about podcastingand trying to become famous.
It's about let's communicate,guys, let's talk, let's talk.
And I think it's possible,and I think you and I are proving it.

(01:07:12):
We didn't know each other from thefrom the man in the moon,
the woman in the moon.
We just metand started collaborating together.
So I can't wait to see what comes out ofour what we what we're cultivating here.
Because it's it'sI think there's a solution.
I think we can find solutions.
I could not agreemore with everything you said.
Yeah, I, I think podcasting is such abeautiful platform that just allows us to.

(01:07:36):
Yeah, to, to meet people.
I mean, we're completelyin different places right now.
I'm in New York, you're in Florida.
Like, it's like we're breaking downso many barriers
that, that I think it's just incredible.
And and to me it's like, yeah, beingcurious, having deep conversations and,
and then allowing other people to listenin on those to gain these insights,

(01:07:59):
to hear so many different points of views
and perspectives and,and learn a little bit from each other.
I just think it's so powerful.
So I, I, I love everything you sharedand yeah, it was such a gift.
So thank you again to Andrew and Pamfor connecting us.
And yeah, it was it was such a blessingto be on your podcast.
I love having you on on mine.

(01:08:21):
This conversationhas just been so incredible.
So yes, I, I feel so blessed
to have podcasting come my way and I'mso thankful that you have it as well.
So we can we can meet each other like thisand share this, these great moments.
Thank you Jessica.
Maybe moving down the road of somebody
listening that goes, well, that's great,you guys.

(01:08:42):
That's so cool that you get to do that.
I'm not doing that.So how does that fit into my life?
Well, I obviously you're listening.
So it is fitting into your life.
And you know maybe we can if you want tolearn how to do it, it's not that hard.
So like start a podcast, start conversingwith your friends and family.
It's a really fun skill.
I love the element of not

(01:09:04):
of not knowing what I'm going to ask you,
not knowing who you are, not knowing.
I try to do a little research.
Sunak totally ignorant,but I kind of like not knowing.
I believe like everybodyhas an incredible story to tell
and the ability to ask questions like.
And I think that that is this really simple formula for, for figuring out how to

(01:09:30):
get along.
I know we already said all this,but we can.
If you want to learn how to podcast,we will teach you.
It's not that hard.
Absolutely. Could not agree more.
I mean, I
the thing that I love saying right nowis I'm like we,
I fully believe we are in the golden age
of knowledge and the ability to learnhow to do practical

(01:09:50):
anything, and podcasting
is one of the simplest ones in my opinion.
But I just think that there'sso much opportunity right now
to to be able to learnwhatever it is that you have this.
Like if you're saying it'sa crazy dream out there, it's like, no,
it doesn't have to be that crazy.
Like, just go on the internet,learn it and

(01:10:10):
and just start doing itand just be in the journey.
And so I think that's so much of whatwe've been talking about today, which
I think has been so beautiful as well.
Thank you. Jessica,I really appreciate this opportunity.
Yeah. Thank you.
So before we wrap up, is there anything else
that you'd like to sharethat we have not covered off?
I know we've talked about a lot.

(01:10:32):
I know I think we did a great jobof covering the bases.
I mean, I just want to tell thoseof you that are listening.
Keep going, keep powering forward.
Dream big. Read you.
I really encourage you to read, readbooks,
read, read things other than social media.
Read books

(01:10:52):
where people had to take the timeto actually write the entire book,
get it edited, and formulate their ideasin a professional fashion.
A huge reader. I read it every day.
I'm a voracious reader, I think.
Keep reading, keep learning.
That's probably all I'd have to add toto our conversation.
Perfect, perfect.
All right,let's get into our final questions then.

(01:11:15):
Your first question ishow would you describe
your current relationship to yourself?
Feeling happy
about where I'm at right nowand feeling successful.
That's the word I would pick.I love that.
What is somethingthat you are currently working on?

(01:11:35):
I am currentlyworking on building my YouTube
channeland hitting the 1000 subscriber mark.
I think I'm around about 760something subscribers,
and my goal is to monetizemy YouTube channel,
not for just the money side of it,but more because I picked a challenge

(01:11:57):
I didn't think I could do YouTubeand I'm almost there.
I'm three quartersof the way there of hitting my goal,
so that's a projectI'm currently working on.
Amazing.
Everyone go and subscribe to Todd'sYouTube channel.
Thank you, Native Yoga Center.
Thank you for the plug. Of course.

(01:12:18):
What, next question is,what do you consider
most valuable to you right now?
For me is my family,my wife and my children.
I gain so much joy out of watching them.
My children growand my wife is absolutely incredible

(01:12:39):
and she's just the mostamazing person in the world.
So just hanging out with my family is iswhat's most valuable to me.
Amazing. All right, next question is
what is the best lessonthat you've learned recently?
The onethat I covered with my back injury.
I think the main lesson

(01:13:01):
I learned out of that is
be patient.
Study and be diligent
and be willingto try different things to heal.
And then stick with it.
And just just don'tdon't think this is over the end.

(01:13:21):
Like be able to see that,
that, that it's going to get better
like and not I got so down and dark like
if the next timeI have a really dark moment in my life,
I want to somehowtake from that experience
and just remind myselfthat it's going to be okay.

(01:13:43):
Don't give up.
Yeah, that's that's the biggest lessonI've learned lately.
Such an important lesson.
All right.
Your final question is, what do you seeas the purpose or meaning of life?

(01:14:07):
I'm going to say sharing and love.
I'm going to say,like the two sharing love.
That's that's my biggest purpose.
Like, to somehow tap in to feeling loveand to feeling compassion
and then to somehow communicatethat somehow share it.

(01:14:27):
So for me,
on a deep level, that's my purpose.
Beautiful.
All right.
Well thank you so much Todd.
This has been incredible.
Can you remind everyonewhere they can find you.
Yes my website native yoga center.com.

(01:14:48):
All of my social media Instagram Facebook
is at Native yoga podcast.
Native yoga Todd castYouTube native yoga center.
Amazing.
All right well definitely go and check outTodd's podcast.
Subscribe to his YouTube.
And it has been such a pleasurehaving you on the show today.

(01:15:10):
I'm so glad we got to do thisand have another incredible conversation,
and it's just been such a pleasure gettingto know you, getting to hear your story.
So thank you so muchfor coming on the show.
Thank you Jessica, you're so good at this.
Keep going.
And you have such an incredible vibeand way of your
of being that I just think you'reyou're going to be you're doing great.

(01:15:32):
Thank you so much. Oh thank you so much.
Want to create more flow in your life?
Go to the show notesand sign up for the email list.
I'll be sharing more strategiesand insights
with youjust like the ones you heard today.
Remember, the power to create the lifeyou desire resides
within you and I'm here to support youevery step of the way.

(01:15:56):
The world needs what you will create.