LOVE PROFILE: YO BK

by iana velez | Jan 29, 2022 | ARTICLES, Profiles

LOVE PROFILE: YO BK

PROFILES

We are so excited to chat with Kate Davies Durand, the owner of YO BK with locations in Brooklyn and Miami! You can see the full interview via YouTube, and here is an excerpt of our fun IG live chat we had about what it is like owning multiple yoga studios, surviving the pandemic, and great things coming up in 2023!

Iana:
How long have you been in the location you’re in now?

Kate
We opened in 2015 at our Williamsburg location, which is on Broadway and Kent, right by the water and it was just this beautiful, sunny studio. I did a lot of the build out myself. About three years after that, we expanded to Green Point, which is quite a large studio space. We have a big upstairs room, and we also have a basement room where we do a lot of workshops and teacher trainings, and we take care of some of the overflow from busy classes. And this year we opened in Miami in February of 2022, which was a big leap and a very different market, but it’s been a fun challenge.

Iana:
Why did you choose Miami?

Kate:
When I decided I wanted to open a studio, I had an amazing mentor, and the first thing that my mentor had me do was choose five different cities and then narrow them down to two, where there was a need for the type of yoga that we were offering, where the studio could potentially be successful. And the two places I narrowed it down to were Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Miami. I ended up living in Miami for about six months and realized that just the way that the city worked, that I was not equipped to open a studio there at that point in time. It’s a city that’s way more intense in terms of regulations permitting architecture build out, which sounds weird, but it’s not logistically as challenging to open a business in New York.

Iana:
Yeah, I’m shocked to hear that. Quite honestly, I thought New York was the hardest to do and the most expensive it is to do just about anything.

Kate:
But it’s also the yoga industry that is so interesting because we haven’t quite been regulated in the way that restaurants or even massage parlors have been regulated. So between signing my lease and Williamsburg and opening it was only about 60 days. Whereas Miami, we had ten days between signing our lease and opening.

One of my dear friends who I met as a student in Williamsburg and who helped me expand to Greenpoint, actually introduced me to my husband who was the general contractor at the Greenpoint expansion, and he ended up moving to Miami pre-pandemic. So we ended up with this huge space that has an all day cafe with indoor and outdoor space, a place that people really come to and bring their laptops and stay all day, and they can come and take a class during that time.

Iana:
Wow, that is amazing, because I was going to say, as a business owner, you can’t be in three places at once. I mean, one business is challenging, three is monumental.

Kate:
Trying to be in three places at once, and I fail over and over again. That’s kind of the story of my life and the mistake I keep making. I have really amazing teams set up at all three locations. I have a full time manager in Miami who runs the show. I have a really robust sales team. We have a pretty much full time staff in NY that is at the studio to greet students, to support our team, to make sure that it’s warm and welcoming.

It did take a really long time to get to that place. When we first opened, I was teaching 18 classes a week, and I was the manager, the cleaning crew, and the janitor. So it’s been really cool to see how just people coming in the door over and over again can not just change their lives, but it can change the way that a business runs.

“When we first opened, I was teaching 18 classes a week, and I was the manager, the cleaning crew, and the janitor. So it’s been really cool to see how just people coming in the door over and over again can not just change their lives, but it can change the way that a business runs.”

Iana:
You survived the pandemic. I mean, you made it through that, and that is unbelievable to me. What was that like?

Kate:
We were actually in our first, 200 hour teacher training during the pandemic. We had 18 teacher trainees and we were kind of in this bubble in our Green Point studio where we were so saturated with the study, and just the process of training these amazing new teachers that I wasn’t even reading the news or paying attention to what was going on. I think it was the weekend of March 15, and one of the trainees came in, and she said, “Hey, I’m really not comfortable coming into this space. Can you offer something online?” And we took a vote, do we want to move fully remote or do we want to stay in person? I went home that night and I had a conversation with my husband. He said, “I have an elderly mom and I would prefer it if you actually shut the studio.” So we ended up closing our doors two days before the government mandate. I remember sitting in my old apartment going through Mind Body, which is the software system that all yoga studios use, and I canceled 80 classes,one after the other after the other, after the other. And every time you cancel a class, it’s asks: is this a permanent cancellation? And you have to say, yes, it’s a permanent cancellation.

The next day, we went live on Instagram and did that for the first couple of weeks, offering classes because everyone was just in a state of confusion and shock. In those early days, it was like you’re scared to go outside of your apartment to the hallway. You’re scared to do laundry, you’re scared to go to the bodega to get food. All of the grocery stores were out of toilet paper. It was very different from how it is now and how it was a year ago. But we started offering online classes right away. We figured out how to price them. We got a pretty good system in place.

Iana:
One of the things I always like to ask people: what was the thing, if there was a person or a mantra or a practice when things got so challenging that you’re like, I don’t know if I can keep doing this? What got you over that hurdle?

Kate:
I would ask: How can I be of service to others? I feel so privileged in the way that I was raised and the opportunities that I’ve had and it’s always come back to: I have to keep providing for my staff, I have to keep providing for my students. So when I open a studio, there’s no other option than to figure out how to make it work, and that’s a different mindset than a lot of businesses, than a lot of restaurant owners or store owners are in. Our students need us, it’s a really fundamental part of their day to come in and disconnect. We have a very strict no cell phones policy across our locations. Just take an hour of your day without your phone to come and breathe. Which to me is so much more profound than anything that actually happens in those rooms. Yes, we want it to be challenging, we want it to be fun, we want it to be mindful and safe. But to me, the thing I keep coming back to is that we all need that time to disconnect. And unless it’s scheduled and we’re paying for it, we’re probably never going to do it.

“I feel so privileged in the way that I was raised and the opportunities that I’ve had and it’s always come back to: I have to keep providing for my staff, I have to keep providing for my students. So when I open a studio, there’s no other option than to figure out how to make it work, and that’s a different mindset than a lot of businesses, than a lot of restaurant owners or store owners are in. Our students need us, it’s a really fundamental part of their day to come in and disconnect.”

Iana:
What are some of the things that are coming up that you are excited about?

Kate:
So Sheri Celentano, who you know, and I are co leading some trainings and upcoming retreats. Sheri is amazing, one of the best pandemic gifts. I think that we all spent so much time talking about what the pandemic robbed from us, and how it negatively affected our lives. And there were actually some really great things that happened during the pandemic. I took a teacher training with Sheri about five years ago at the old Laughing Lotus Studio and I was like, I want to work with her so badly. I was in awe of this dazzling, sparkling woman. And the fact that now we get to lead 200 hours teacher trainings together is really incredible.

I would say the best thing for me was also a necessary shift of the team. It kind of forced people to get really clear on what do I actually want? Is this serving me? Is this who I want to be working with in the capacity I want to be working? So I feel like a lot of relationships that have become stagnant kind of filtered themselves out and created space for the new.

We also have a retreat in Greece coming up in June. We booked this amazing retreat space on an island and it’s super hard to get to and that’s why it’s beautiful. It’s amazing. We’re really so excited for that.

Iana:
I always wonder how people also choose where to run their retreats. I mean, you could literally go anywhere in the world.

Kate:
Sheri and I both have a really strong foundation in mythology. Sheri with Hindu mythology, she spent many years studying it. She’s led trainings on it as well in the past, and I was a classical studies major. So when we realized that Greece was on the table, we were like, we could really nerd out with this retreat and could really tie it into how the myths relate to where we are. There’s a huge link between Hindu mythology and Greek mythology that will be really fun to kind of tease out and bring into the classes.

Iana:
That sounds amazing. And that’s very unique.

Kate:
And the other thing with retreat, like, we’ve done a few retreats in the Caribbean, we did Nicaragua, we did the Dominican Republic. And I like the idea of taking people somewhere they might not go otherwise or they might not go on their own. That creates more of a sense of adventure and perhaps will attract more serious practitioners. It’s a big deal to go that far away.

Iana
Kate, thank you so much for chatting with me today and for supporting our next issue of Yoga Love Magazine. I can’t say this enough, but it’s only because of people like you, other small businesses who support us, it is the reason we can share free print magazines with the community! Thank you so much for and we look forward to partnering with you guys again in the future!

Our chat with YO BK founder Kate Davies

Studio Spotlight: The Yoga Hive

by iana velez | Jan 16, 2022 | ARTICLES, Profiles

Studio Spotlight: The Yoga Hive

Edited by: Tashya Knight

PROFILES

We are so excited to chat with Rebecca Gala Jones, the owner of The Yoga Hive, our first studio partner in Georgia! You can see the full interview via our YouTube link, and here is an excerpt of our fun IG live chat we had about what it was like opening a studio during the pandemic, the importance of community and rest, and exciting things coming up for the studio!

Iana
Thank you for chatting with us today. How long have you been open?

Rebecca
We opened in September of 2020, which was not a plan at all. We had signed the lease for the property in October of 2019, and then they broke ground in January of 2020. We took possession in April of 2020. We’re in Atlanta, Georgia and right after Memorial Day of 2020, they started to lift some of the restrictions. So that worked in our favor in the sense that we could have people in the studio and people that were comfortable. We wore masks, we had all of the social distancing, so that was really exciting. And then we did something we had never considered doing which was to have virtual classes, which we still continue to this day. A lot of other studios have done away with virtual classes because there are more people coming into the studio.

One of the things that was really exciting for us when that happened is that we were able to offer classes to a lot of people who are not geographically close to us. I just co hosted a retreat in North Georgia this weekend and people came from Chicago, interestingly enough, and people came from Lexington, Kentucky. They may not be able to connect in person with us in the studio, but they can take virtual classes with us. So that was one of the meditations that I often do, I mean, people open businesses in recessions at times when it’s really tricky. And we’re finally on the other side of a lot of the discomfort.

Iana
That’s the perfect way of putting it.

Rebecca
Because it’s really uncomfortable, it’s scary. There’s no right way, there’s no wrong way, there’s only a path and trust in the process. And then there’s the financial component of it. How long can I continue to be with something that I’m not really sure if there’s going to be a return? Or put money in it, or we have rent that we have to pay every month, the vast tax of what has to go behind the business. So fortunately we’ve been very lucky that every month we were able to cover our costs. I did have a business partner when I first went into it who decided that it wasn’t sustainable for her. A lot of it was because of the fact that we weren’t able to see the future. And so she decided to step away and I decided to continue and I’m very glad that I did. We have a beautiful community and I’m really proud of what we’ve constructed, staying with it.

We have a diverse staff of teachers that offer all kinds of classes. We have programming for pregnant women, we have programming for seniors who have balancing issues. We have women’s classes, we have men’s classes, we have different styles of yoga. We teach yin and ashtanga and restorative and vinyasa and power. So we tick a lot of boxes and we’re in an area where we’re fairly easy to get to. So we’re moving right along.

Iana
Were there moments where you thought, I don’t know how I’m going to get through this?

Rebecca
Definitely. So many times it came up because it’s like, what am I doing? Why am I doing this? And what was so interesting is I never thought that populating the studio would be the challenging component. I’ve been teaching yoga now for 20 years, always in the Atlanta area, and have been fortunate to have a following. So I never thought that that would be the difficult part of opening the studio. But there was just something that said, keep going. There was just this little voice constantly inside that said keep going. And on those days when you get just so there weren’t very many people coming into the studio or there was just a lot of fear some little thing would happen, it would be just a little nudge. My go to stock phrase all the time was “choose the hope over, doubt and then look for the signs.” So then a little sign would come up, someone buying class cards or a former student would reach out, we would get a little corporate gig, a private student that I hadn’t seen would start taking lessons again, etc.

“My go to stock phrase all the time was ‘choose the hope over doubt, and then look for the signs.’”

So some little thing would happen that would say, “you’re going in the right direction, keep going” and so I would just sort of lean into that. One of the hardest parts, of course, was when my business partner left. And then I thought, I’m not ready to stop, I have a vision for what I want to happen with this and I just wasn’t ready to say, this is it. I wasn’t ready to do that. I think we’re both exactly where we need to be now in many ways.

And then I was fortunate enough to have a lot of people behind me. Family, support, mentors, even the leasing agency wanted us to continue. When I say we, I think about myself, my teachers, my husband is a very active participant, he is a yogi himself. So I’m not doing it alone. I mean, I’m the person that signs things and whatnot. But I’m not here by myself though. And I guess that’s another go to is just that feeling of there’s somebody or something that wants this to continue. It’s not just me and the community that has gathered around us.

Iana
That’s amazing. It’s so important to have that foundation of support and having your own personal vision and motivation to keep going.

Rebecca
I’ve been teaching for a long time, and I’ve always wanted to have a space and I didn’t know, should I do this? And another one of those little phrases that comes up all of the time is one that came to me just before I made the decision to go into partnership and open the studio. It was, “you’ll regret it if you don’t try.” So I feel as though that’s something that we all need to remind ourselves of: we’ll regret it if we don’t try. While it’s not always easy, it’s typically worth it most of the time. And the reality is that no matter what you do, there’s work behind it. No matter what we do, no matter how much I love teaching yoga and creating community and being able to do so many other things that we’re doing at the same time, there’s still work, there’s effort and then there’s ease.

Iana
That was one of the things that surprised me the most when I launched my magazine, because I still work a full time job in addition to the magazine. When I would do my full time job, I could understand when I would feel a little bit cranky or tired or not so motivated, that made sense. But when I was doing the magazine, I thought, how can I be tired? I love this so much, but I’m still human and get tired and need rest. And it’s still, like you said, it’s a lot of work no matter what.

Rebecca
It doesn’t matter how passionate you are about something or how meaningful it is to you, it’s still going to take effort. I think it’s very important, particularly when you’re doing something where you share energy, that you take a step back and you recharge the battery too. I have a new teacher here at the studio, and she fields emails for me and does a lot of some of the behind the scenes things. So I can take one day a week, Tuesdays, and I completely go off the grid. I don’t look at any personal or professional emails. I’m not on Instagram on Tuesday or anything like that which is really important, I just let my time unfold however I want. So it’s important if you’re a creative type, or you’re in a nurturing profession of some kind where you share energy, to get a total disconnect from all of it on a weekly basis.

Iana
I really started doing that seriously not that long ago, quite honestly, probably about three or four months ago. And it was by accident. The first time I did it one day, I was so tired I couldn’t do anything. I just watched movies on my couch all day long. I had Disney Plus, and I just watched all the Avengers movies with my puppy on my lap, and thought this is amazing. The next day I went back and I felt great.

Rebecca
Exactly. But that’s exactly what happens to all of us, we think we don’t deserve that, especially if you’re an entrepreneur. Who’s going to feed that machine if you’re not doing it right? So that’s part of it. But you need to rest or take the afternoon, or go for a walk without your phone, any of these things. Because what I find is that I become more creative if I have a break rather than continuing. And nobody wants a grumpy yoga teacher.

One of the yoga tenants is about non harming. If you’re continuing to work in these cycles where you’re working all of the time, and it’s just overwhelming, you’re not being kind to yourself and you’re harming yourself.

Iana
I love that! It’s so important. I love that studios are open now and there’s that sense of community where we can remind each other of these things.

Rebecca
That’s what we’ve seen that is so exciting. There are a lot of people that have moved here or some traveling nurses that will come in and they always find community here for however long they’re here, even if they’re here for three months. We have some doctoral students that are working on their thesis at Emory University so close to us, and they just find a community here. People know that when they come to the studio on a regular basis, they’re going to see familiar faces. Our tagline is “you belong here” and we do our best, and we try to be reflective of the community around us and offer diversity and a welcoming space. I’m so excited when I see all ages and all sizes, and everyone from every walk of life in the studio, because everybody can do and needs yoga. We make sure that people feel they have a safe space to come to, and feel acknowledged and seen.

“Our tagline is ‘you belong here’ and we do our best, and we try to be reflective of the community around us and offer diversity and a welcoming space. I’m so excited when I see all ages and all sizes, and everyone from every walk of life in the studio, because everybody can do, and needs yoga. We make sure that people feel they have a safe space to come to, and feel acknowledged and seen.”

Iana
And I love that I hear that more and more. Now that I see studios embracing this and saying, yes, come, you can’t touch your toes, great. Who cares? It doesn’t matter. Just sit in the corner if you need to. I remember one of my teachers said, we want you to show up every single day for class. And if you’re too physically tired, it doesn’t matter. Just sit and listen. You can sleep in the back, but just be in the space and let it absorb in your body. You don’t have to be moving doing the Asana, but just be with us.

Rebecca
And just see what’s possible. I think that’s one of the things, too, with the pandemic, we all got into this mindset of feeling very isolated. So it’s important that we can come in. Over the weekend, when I was teaching that retreat, I opened up with one of the quotes from Theodore Roosevelt about the comparison as the thief of joy. So by human design, we feel as though we have to apologize: “Oh, I used to be able to do this stuff, but I’m older now and I’m out of shape.” No, you did the hardest part, you got here. We didn’t want mirrors in the studio because the mirror is you. It’s about how you feel in your body. I’m certainly not judging you. And so reserve that judgment. Put it somewhere else. We don’t need to judge ourselves for what we are or are not able to do. So just being in your body, being in community, learning how to breathe.

We see such great suffering. Several of my teachers are therapists as well as being yoga teachers, and people are depressed. They’re anxious, they’re worried. You come here, and this is to help you deal with all of that stuff. And it doesn’t have anything to do with how flexible you are. You may increase your flexibility. You may not. You may get stronger. You may not. I mean, if those are things you’re looking for, you certainly can do it. All people can do when they come into the studio is to get a little bit more in touch with breathing and then what breathing can do for you and make you feel like when you walk away.

Iana
And thank goodness we can all breathe.

Rebecca
Everyone can breathe. When people tell me, I can’t do yoga, can’t touch my toes. I say, can you breathe? You can do yoga.

Iana
You’re alive and you’re good.

Rebecca
That’s exactly right. And if you can’t sit on the floor we have a class where they use chairs. It’s really nice to see my vision taking root in that every person feels as though there is a class on the schedule they can go to. I can go to any class, I know I’m welcome in any class. We’re in an area that is largely Jewish based and so there is an Orthodox community here. And so it was originally the idea to offer a women’s only class so that women who don’t feel comfortable because of or for cultural reasons don’t practice with men would come. And then we have a men’s class because men often feel like it’s just women that practice yoga and they feel as though they come into a class where there are women that they’re going to be laughed at or they won’t be able to keep up. So we have a class that’s dedicated just for men.

If you like jazz, we have a class that’s yoga and has jazz music because music is therapeutic. All kinds of things on our schedule that really try to tick boxes so everybody feels welcome. So if you can breathe, you can do yoga. I love that.

Iana
What do you find is the most popular class? And it could just be because of the time it’s offered, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but what class is generally the most full?

Rebecca
The class that we tend to see the most people in consistently is a Flow and Restore class. We do about 30 minutes or so of movement on your feet or sun salutations. And then the second half of that is more restorative or yin poses or stretching, for lack of better word. I love that qualifying that people really enjoy that it’s accessible for most people to do. And then the other thing is we have a basics class. We do that once a week, and that’s usually pretty popular most of the time. Most of our classes do really well. We see quite a few people in them.

Iana
I’m so happy for all your success. I always like to see what’s coming up that you’re super excited about. Do you have any other retreats that are coming up or anything you want to share?

Rebecca
We have a few really exciting retreats. We have a retreat in the southwest of France in May that we’ll be going to, which is really amazing, which is very exciting. Then it’ll be our third year in a row to go to Shinolani which is in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. It’s a beautiful setting in the jungle. It’s so wonderful, we’re excited. They’re lovely people and have great programming when we go.

The other thing that I’m really excited about is that Jasmine, our teacher is a doula, and she’s soon to be a midwife, and she has a whole program she’s bringing to the yoga hive, which will be all about women’s services. She’ll be our women’s support services coordinator. And I’m really excited because both are something that I wanted to have and do. She’ll be introducing all kinds of wonderful resources in classroom settings and also outside of that with her services.

All of my teachers are very diverse, and one has a coaching business, so she’ll be introducing more things. 2023 will see more of what my teachers have to offer aside from just coming in and teaching a class to see more programming that will be centered around their particular talents and gifts, too. So that’s the things I’m really excited about for the year ahead.

Iana
Big stuff is coming. I’m so happy to hear that.

Rebecca
The pleasure is all mine. Being a steward for this practice is really important, and I’m glad to have these types of opportunities. So thank you very much. Thanks for the chat and thanks for continuing to do the work that you do, too.

Jason Naylor

by iana velez | Dec 22, 2021 | Art & Music, ARTICLES

Jason Naylor

By iana velez

ART & MUSIC

“Do you remember when you were too cool for LOVE? When you were too busy being tough or macho to let any one know that you actually have feelings? Well, were you really tough? Because guess what…that shit is over…love is on fire. All the cool kids are into it. And I’m proud to say that I think love is tough, cool, masculine, AND manly. And NOW is a great time to talk about it. So get into it…get on the love train with me, and if you’re not, then start learning. Learn to love LOVE. Because love can change the world.”

Bold. Colorful. Happy. Scroll through Instagram and Jason Naylor’s art is sure to catch your eye. With messages of positivity delivered in his signature syle, when you see his work, you can’t help but smile. We chatted with Jason to learn more about the man who put the smile on our face.

Q. YOU ARE KNOWN FOR YOUR BOLD, BRIGHT BEAUTIFUL MURALS THAT EXPRESS MESSAGES OF POSITIVITY. TELL US MORE ABOUT THAT.
I think i’ve always been a pretty positive person, like sorta relentlessly optimistic. I like to look for the silver lining in everything and I guess i’ve kind of discovered that most people really respond to and enjoy positivity and optimism. Something I realized a few years ago was that there is this world of positive quotes and motivational messaging and its huge – but its a smidge cheesy in terms of design. That “motivational world” is full of beautiful messages that resonate with me and millions of people, but the messages come on tacky refrigerator magnets with sad font choices and unfortunate typographic designs.

I started putting up my own positive messages in an application completely opposite the fridge – the street. There’s something magically vulnerable about putting your art on the streets because it is an open forum for any and all to love, despise, photograph, celebrate – even destroy (but please don’t do that). It’s the most public forum to express any message, so what better place to express positivity, color and love? Visually, street art has edge to it, but I believe that feelings are the new edge. Love is the new black. And vulnerability is the new chic. So to me, bright colors framed in black is the perfect way to design a message of love for the street. And I sincerely hope my designs are a little better than the ones found on the refrigerator magnets.

Q. WE HAVE ASKED A LOT OF OUR COMMUNITY IN THIS ISSUE TO SHARE WITH US ADVICE THEY WOULD GIVE TO THEIR YOUNGER SELF. IF YOU COULD SEND A MESSAGE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF WHAT WOULD IT BE?
I often think about baby me, and how crazy I was. I grew up in a very stringent religion/culture so I went through the expected rebellion to escape it. But crazy as I may have been, I feel that I wouldn’t be the “me” I am now (and love). However, here are a few things to say to that guy in hopes of sparing some unnecessary troubles.

IT’S OK TO BE YOU.
This is the biggest one. My whole life I felt people were telling me what to do and who to be. In order to feel like I was myself, I had to prove that I wasn’t like anyone else by being the opposite. This is a disaster, because the opposite of what you think people expect of you, is not necessarily who you are. And who you REALLY are IS cool. So f**k what people expect of you altogether, and be comfortable with you are. Easy to say, hard to do.

MODERATION.
I have gone through a lot of extremes in terms of behavior, appearance and opinion. Extremes often affect the balance in the system, and lack of balance causes unrest. Peace and happiness are more easily found when you have balance in your life, so practice moderation in things. Balance things out a bit, and you’ll find yourself at peace more frequently.

GRATITUDE.
This one is huge, and easy. Gratitude can solve all your problems in seconds, and it’s the easiest and most effective way to change your attitude. Remind yourself to feel thankful for the good, the bad, and the difficult. Feel thankful for the things that are easy, thereby enabling you to endure the challenges. Feel grateful for the pain so you know what it feels like when its gone. Practice gratitude. Do it.

Q. THE THEME OF OUR ISSUE IS TRUTH. WHAT DOES TRUTH MEAN TO YOU?
This takes us right back to my advice to “Jr. me.” Its ok to be you. Understanding who you are relies on being honest about what really is TRUE to you. It’s a simple concept, but in practice it can be difficult. Being honest with ourselves is something that I’m sure we can all improve, and I think it’s safe to say we, as a culture, don’t do this enough. What do I really like? What do I really think about life? What kind of music do I like?

Start small, ask yourself what do I want for dinner? And then notice that your opinion will begin with scanning your expectations of what others may want, and weighing those into your opinion. DON’T DO THAT! Stay in your lane, don’t worry about what others want or like. What is it that YOU want. Just you. So that’s a little bit on being honest with who you are, what you want and being yourself.

Now TRUTH itself is a bigger concept that I think relates to the way one experiences reality. And it speaks to your core values. What is true to me may be different than what is true to you. Here are couple of my truths: It’s true that kindness is the key the success. It’s true that I am often reminded of how far I can get in life by being nice. It’s true that I will never regret being the bigger person. It’s true that I can rise above my fears, I have done it before and I will do it again. It’s true that I have the power to be the best me I choose to be. And it’s true that that me, is good enough for me.

Learn more about Jason // jasonnaylorcreative.com and @jasonnaylor

My Covid Body

by iana velez | Dec 20, 2021 | ARTICLES, Trending

My Covid Body

Compiled by Iana Velez

TRENDING

Yoga Plus Magazine - COVID- MEGAN - INGRID - GINA - bio pic

If you lived in NYC during the pandemic, chances are you knew someone who got COVID.
While most people generally think about their yoga teachers as healthy people, we quickly learned that COVID-19 did not care if you were young or old, healthy or not, COVID came for anyone. We reached out to our community of yoga teachers to share their stories with us.

Yoga Plus Magazine - COVID- GINA bio pic

Name: Gina de la Chesnaye
Age: 50
Where do you live: Brooklyn, NY
When did you get COVID-19: March 2020 and March 2021

Describe how the experience felt in your physical body:

The first time I contracted COVID in March 2020, I didn’t realize that my first symptom was related until it was listed in the news. Essentially, I experienced awful diarrhea. This was followed by profuse sweating, headaches, sore throat and that awful “itchy” feeling one
has when a virus is in the body. Intense physical aches and pain, plus weeks long lethargy followed. Occasional chest tightness came and went, but luckily, I never had problems breathing or high fevers. I attribute the daily breathwork practice I have to helping keep my lungs clear and aiding with anxiety. I did notice that my symptoms were worse at night,
and I could literally feel when the virus was dying. For a week or so, I felt as though I had the carcass of it still moving through me. I developed high blood pressure, which I never had before and utilized hibiscus tea and cardio to bring it back down over the following months. The second time I contracted it, I lost smell and taste, and experienced intense body aches that again, were worse at night. Smell and taste returned after a week or so, but I am still working with lethargy and pain in the body. It was fascinating to track the virus as it moved through me. I literally felt like it was learning me and I, it. As I watched the virus tear through the country and across the world, I realized it was learning Us.

Describe the emotional/psychological experience:

It was frankly terrifying in the beginning. No one had a clear understanding of
what it was and the fear that was circulating in NYC was palpable. This was heightened by the non-stop ambulance sirens and the inability to see people’s faces. We were suddenly afraid of each other. Anyone could be a threat or if we had the virus—we were the threat. It
became clear to me, as well, that any unresolved or unmetabolized trauma in the body came rearing back. Anxiety and depression increased in nearly everyone; I experienced both. My heart would race, monkey mind increased, and mornings were filled with dread. I am fortunate that I was able to parse out the experience of my nervous system with knowledge and use my skills, but it was not easy. There was also intense grief. So many had lost their lives, including people I worked with and family members. The collective grief of this as a country is something that we must begin to address.

As a yoga teacher, how did having COVID-19 impact you?

My first thought was “This is why we practice.” Again and again, my practice sustained me. I was able to come to my body and my conscious connection to it to heal and gain wisdom, in deeply profound ways and not to just work with my shit but to step back, witness
and process the dysregulation that was occurring locally and globally. Not being able to share practice with people in person was a loss. That connection and co-regulation are so necessary to us as physical beings. However, I was able to share practice online with people across the country and different parts of the world. I offered classes and workshops through various online platforms. While we were separated physically, we were still able to connect in ways I hadn’t thought possible. For years, people had recommended I offer classes online, and I thought that was just weird. Now I see how remarkable and beautiful it can be. We can connect over vast distances. The path has no boundaries.

What surprised you the most about your COVID-19 experience?

Covid was a mirror. Someone I was in a workshop with commented that the pandemic very clearly showed us what our life choices were and how they led us to exactly that precise moment, both individually and collectively. Typically, I travel two to three times a year to share skills and practice in East Africa through my organization, The Nachan Project. Being home and unable to travel made me realize that part of the reason I enjoyed traveling so much was because being home was sometimes painful. My home, while a beautiful home, carried so many memories of a failed marriage and trauma that I neglected to tend to it in a mindful way. It’s not an easy thing to observe in oneself, but if we are in the practice of genuinely paying attention to our habits — both the positive and negative — that is what we must do. And then, utilize our practice to move forward with compassionate awareness. And, yes, not just metaphorically pull the weeds out and declutter, but literally

Yoga Plus Magazine - COVID- INGRID bio pic

Name: Ingrid Baquero
Age: 39
Where do you live: Astoria, NY

When did you get COVID-19:

November 3rd, 2020. I remember clearly as it was during the elections, and I wanted to celebrate sooo bad the weekend of November 7th but couldn’t leave my house. I used up whatever energy I had to bang those pots out of my window.

Describe what the experience felt like in your body:

My first symptom was feeling tired. A couple of days later, I had a fever, and said “oh no, how?” Immediately, I went to City MD and took the test, and received the call minutes later that I tested positive. The fever continued for an additional day, followed by loss of smell, taste, and severe fatigue, which lasted beyond a month.

Describe the emotional/psychological experience:

Honestly, I was disappointed in myself, I didn’t know how I caught it, as I had been extremely careful. I’m also a very active person — I run, bike, dance, do yoga, but my body had not felt this extreme exhaustion before. I couldn’t work out for the life of me, which affected my mood. Instead of fully resting, I tried to push through the exhaustion as I continued to work my day job, which made it worse. I went into a post-COVID depression and burnout after the two-week quarantine.

As a yoga teacher, how did having COVID-19 impact you?

I looked forward to teaching my Saturday class during this pandemic because it gave
me life. I saved my energy to host a slow flow yoga class virtually the second week
of being sick. My breathing, though, was off — I had to catch my breath, which wasn’t ever an
issue before.

What surprised you the most about your COVID-19 experience?

How sneaky COVID is, and how even a healthy, active individual can get sick. Also, how important it is to rest and take care of yourself. The world can wait until you get better. The world needs you healthy.

Yoga Plus Magazine - COVID- MEGAN bio pic

Name: Megan Fliegelman
Age: 34
Where do you live : New York, NY
When did you get COVID-19:
March 2021

Describe how the experience felt in your physical body:

My disease expression had a number of distinct phases. My acute disease was
not extreme, bad allergy symptoms, some mild chest pain, and a headache
ruled the first two weeks. As the acute viral symptoms began to wane, I noted a profound shift in my fascia & energetic systems, gatē completely changed. That pulsation of energy I had gotten to know so well became a stranger. As this happened, it became too hard to consume solid foods as my heart and head declined (I lost 25 pounds, which often is complimented). In June, I had a preliminary diagnosis of Vasospasms of the Coronary Arteries that were setting off arrhythmias. We are trying to understand and control changes in my EEG and get a handle on the weight loss and other organ damage. Hopefully this is all temporary, but we just do not know how COVID-19 affects the body or what the future holds. Science is slower than disease. I have dealt with major health events before, but none of these things were a part of my life before COVID-19.

Describe the emotional/psychological experience:

The entire medical system is completely strained. The burden of COVID-19 on the medical system and infrastructure exposed how ill prepared we are to manage emerging pathogens as a society. A year and a half into the pandemic burnout is a profound issue that is
completely pervasive in everything that touches most of society, but specifically medicine. This is compounded by the complexities of emerging pathologies and many long haulers without quantifiable findings. I am not “lucky” enough to have quantifiable findings so my doctors are taking me seriously now. Early in my disease expression, I was told everything was anxiety. Only after things further declined in a quantifiable way was I able to find any appropriate, respectful care. It is trauma pushing trauma and in this dynamic everyone loses. This is system-wide problem. I was in love with my work before I had COVID-19, I was not teaching as much, but I was running a large organization and putting the principles of yoga into practice in a corporate setting; it was like art, and I loved it. Unfortunately, I was not able to continue working. I can not wait to take on the next project and put the principles to work — creating systems that build norms that are in line with my soul.

As a yoga teacher, how did having COVID-19 impact you?

In this process, I have learned so much and been able to connect the dots of teachings and lessons that have been in me but not fully integrated. At this stage in my disease expression, I may not be processing a lot of external information, but internally, there is a whole new level
of understanding opening for me. There is a richness and vibrancy that is now behind the stick figures that were the techniques I so well knew. In the loss there is a new, in that there is always hope in the grief. With this experience under my belt and hopefully in the rearview mirror, I will be able to offer richer alternatives and modifications. I am refining understandings
of techniques, which always opens another way or wording to accessing them. As a teacher, I will be better prepared to support the fluctuations of the lives of my students when I get back to teaching. Oh, and how sweet it will be to be back teaching…

What surprised you the most about your COVID-19 experience?

What surprised me the most was how there were very distinct cycles in how society reacted to the changing reality of life in a global pandemic. The incredible interplay of fear, gratitude, and a pathological need to know, instead of a need to keep building a base for understanding. These dynamics play out on repeat in many ways, and there is a great deal of momentum to their flow. The power dynamics of conflict never happen in a vacuum but always include the vacillate of rajas and tamas around, but rarely settling in on sattva. There were so many points in this pandemic period where we could find that pause and plateau, only to be knocked into a different spiral of conflict. There are statements of the pandemic being over. The pandemic is not over. The mitigations procedures are being rolled back now that specific thresholds of vaccination are being met. That leaves out a lot of society; that leaves out all of those who are unable to access the vaccine, and all of those who will not have an effective immune response to the vaccine. This leaves entire subsets of society behind and amounts momentum behind power dynamics of inequality in society.

BATALA NYC

by iana velez | Nov 10, 2021 | Art & Music, ARTICLES

BATALA NYC

Tawny Lara, Music Editor

ART & MUSIC

Yoga Plus Magazine - MUSIC BATALA NYC drumming

People, predominantly women, are looking for some sort of outlet to express what they’re feeling and how they’re dealing with current events. Batalá New York is providing just that: a true awakening to the women playing the music and for the audiences lucky enough to see their shows. Batalá New York is part of a global arts project made up of over 30 bands around the world. The music of Batalá originated in Salvador, the capital of the state of Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. New York’s all women afro-brazilian samba reggae percussion chapter has performed at Brooklyn’s Curl Fest, NYC’s Women’s March, and Make Music New York, to name a few. Batalá New York’s directors, Deinya Phenix and Laura Torell, let us crash their rehearsal space in Williamsburg on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Over the course of two hours, we danced while they were practiced, chatted with some of the musicians, and even got to play a few songs with them.

Thanks for letting us crash your band practice! The energy in there was incredible. Everyone had a beautiful, genuine smile on their face. How would you describe your rehearsal?

Deinya: I like to use the Brazilian Portuguese word axé coming from Ifá religion. It means divine, creative energy.

Laura: Suingue, it means to swing. It means you’re not just playing the music – you’re feeling the music. You’re feeling the beat. That’s why we try to use less words and more demonstration.

How long have you both been doing this?

Deinya: Well, in this band since 2012. I used to do folkloric dance including Afro-Brazilian dance and samba. And I’ve been doing that pretty much since 2006.

Laura: I’ve been doing this since 2012. So, five years I’ve been playing Brazilian percussion since 2007. I started off with samba and I played with various samba bands. I’ve played a couple different genres in Brazilian music. I dipped into a little bit of Samba reggae during that time, which is why this transition felt really good.

Batalá’s vibe is empowering women all the world. Are the groups always women-based?

Laura: Only in a few key cities: New York, Washington D.C., Mendoza, and Brasília.

Deinya: What’s interesting about all female bands is that only two of them are female led: New York and D.C. Drumming is often dominated by men. An all female Batala group is focused on female energy that eclipsed in a mixed gender setting. It creates a positive space for women. Women tend to be braver in the context of other women. Take more risks creatively around other women. Half of us have traveled to play in other bands, some co-ed of course.

What does the word “awake” mean to each of you?

Laura: In terms of what we’re doing here, a key thing is that we are bringing in people who have had perhaps no experience, or very little experience in playing music, or drumming. I would say more often than not people come in with no experience. It awakens a sense of creativity, that musicality that may have not existed before. That’s what happened to me when I first started playing Brazilian percussion with other groups. I hadn’t done it before at all. I didn’t think I could do it, and here I am 10 years later leading this project.

Deinya: I took a few percussion classes here and there but I never considered myself to be a percussionist until Batalá. So I’ve been waking up to a shift in identity. Batalá, more than any other project I’m involved with now, has connected me with my ancestors. Including those who have brought African religion, and traditions from the motherland to the Americas. I travel to Brazil often and one thing I’ve noticed since participating in Batalá is that the African traditions are expressed differently in each place where slaves were taken. Brazil happens to be one of the most conscious places as far as the African traditions of my ancestors. Connecting with this music has awakened a consciousness in me, a racial conscious that I didn’t have before.

Batalá uses five different drums. Can you tell me a little bit about the significance of each drum? Why are there five?

Laura: The five drums comprised of five different parts so that they all connect into one arrangement. We have the surdo 1 and 2 which provide the bass. I would say the surdos are the wheels and the caixa is the engine.

Deinya: We also call the surdos the heartbeat. It’s a single beat for the heartbeat. One, two, one, two. With that heartbeat going, the band feels like it has life. The dobro plays in between the heartbeat, almost like a breath. The repinique resembles the African djembe drum. It’s one of the hardest ones to play because it’s very loud.

You need extra earplugs for that one?

Deinya: You definitely need extra earplugs. But also for women, in general, being loud is difficult yet so necessary. Another form of awakening comes from women playing this repinique drum. It’s a master drum and here we are – women – playing it. Where the repique often calls and the dobra will respond or the other way around. They interact a lot. And this is the heartbeat of the engine going the whole time.

It sounds like it all works together like a well-oiled machine.

Laura: Yeah. It is also interesting when you go to Batalá worldwide you see that the repinique and the caixa are primarily played by men in co-ed environment, whereas the dobras are played primarily by women. Surdos are kind of a mix. I started playing dobra, because I used to play a similar drum in samba, and I wanted to learn the repinique because I wasn’t seeing a lot of women play this drum outside of the context of an all women band where by default all of the women play all of the drums.

Deinya: I also feel like playing the repique I’m serving my space.

Laura: Yeah. Because it’s a call thing. I love that in Rio style samba all the calls are done by repinique. It’s like you lead and then it responds. So, it’s nice to put yourself out there.

You all wear red, black, and white when rehearsing and performing. What’s the significance in those colors?

Deinya: Like I mentioned before, a lot of African traditions were brought to Brazil and the Americas. They’re often expressed and reinterpreted through popular music formats and aesthetics. The colors are often connected to the Orixas, which are deities of the African religion Candomble. White and red together are the colors of Iansa and Xango. Iansa is a female Orixa that is connected and syncretized with Santa Barbara that is the goddess of sacred thunder, lightning storms, and hurricanes. The red and white are also connected to Xango who is the god of thunder and lightning. The colors red, black, and white together are associated with Exu a trickster deity. So those colors are meaningful to us, but they’re also high contrast and energetic.

If anybody wants to get involved in Batalá, how can they?

Deinya: They should write us. Our website is batalánewyork.love

Dot love?

Deinya: Yeah. If you use “dot com” it will still connect, but we love to say “dot love.”

What’s the audition process like?

Every few months we are tentatively open to new members. It just depends on what we need. Some have little to no drumming experience, while others have been drumming for years. These women come from all walks of life.

What’s the age range of your group?

Deinya: Right now, we have about 45 women age 20-68. There was a time when we had someone as young as 11 in the band, my daughter. Most of the women involved in Batalá are in middle class. I really want to expand our community to other cultures and classes. We’re doing workshops in The Bronx and the Lower East Side to branch out our membership. If I had been caught by a movement like Batalá when I was younger, I’d be so much better for it. I want to offer this opportunity to younger women, especially younger black women.

Follow Batalá on Instagram @batalanewyork. Check out their music on YouTube and ReverbNation.

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