Get Out Of Your Mind and into Your Body: Discovering Fitness, Wellness, and Health Secrets with JayBird's Ariel Swan

In this empowering episode, we embark on a unique conversation that explores the intersection of fitness, wellness, health, and entrepreneurship.  Join Sofia as she dives deep into these topics with seasoned Pilates expert, JayBird co-founder and successful entrepreneur Ariel Swan.  Ariel shares her journey of building a thriving business in the fitness industry while prioritizing the holistic well-being of their clients. Join us as we delve into the secrets of running a boutique Pilates studio, overcoming challenges, and achieving remarkable success. Discover how this visionary expert integrates the principles of fitness, wellness, and health into their entrepreneurial endeavours, fostering a vibrant and supportive community. Gain valuable insights into the symbiotic relationship between entrepreneurship and personal well-being, and how a passion for fitness can be transformed into a thriving business. Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a fitness enthusiast, or simply seeking inspiration, this episode will provide you with a wealth of knowledge, practical advice, and motivation to pursue your own entrepreneurial and wellness dreams. Tune in and be empowered to make your mark in the world of fitness, wellness, health, and entrepreneurship!

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Transcript

  Hello everyone. And thank you for tuning into the, all the things podcast. If this is your very first episode of welcome to the club. Thank you for listening. My name is Sofia Merlo. And you can think of me as your new internet, best friend. Who is always, and I mean, always down to talk to you about health, wellness, entrepreneurship, and navigating life as a young adult, because let me tell you, it is not easy. 

Before we dive in to today's episode. I have some housekeeping. I have some reminders as always, especially if you're new around here. So if you haven't done so already make sure you're subscribed. So you never miss a new episode. Every single Thursday. Also, I would truly love you. If you left us a five star review on apple podcasts and Spotify. 

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For more content tips and laughs make sure you're caught up with us on all of the socials. And that is that all the things, the pod on Instagram, Kik talk, Pinterest, Twitter and YouTube. All of our guests episodes are featured on YouTube as well. If you prefer to watch. Our website, is that all the things, the blog.com or if you want to send us an email, if you're interested about partnering with the podcast, being on the podcast, or if there's a guest, you want to see, make sure you get in touch with us. And that is that all the things, the blog@gmail.com. 

So before we get into our amazing guests, Ariel Swan, the founder of Jaybird, are you kidding me? She's on the podcast. If you know me even a little bit, or just keep up with us on social media, then, you know, I am literally. Always in a Jaybird class, always in a Pilates class. I think all my friends are obsessed with Pilates. 

and Jaybirds, it's truly our favorite workouts, our favorite way to decompress from the day. So having Ariel on the podcast, Was pretty much a dream of mine. So the fact that she is on the podcast is so surreal and a bit of a pinch me moment. Before we dive in. I am currently in the UK, not at the time of recording this intro, I'm still in Vancouver, but when you listen to this. 

I will be in the UK, which is just so crazy talking about the future because one of the main themes of this episode was being present in the moment. But of course I'm prerecording as much as I can for you all,  so maybe it's already aired. Maybe it will be airing next week, but you can expect lots of UK blogs. I have many mikes with us, so me and my girlfriends will be taking lots of content for you documenting our adventures. There'll be so many story times. I can imagine I'm putting out energy that everything went smooth with their flights, with traveling. 

So you don't have anything to report on that again. As the time I'm recording this, I just got back from a Shanaya Twain concert. So my voice taken a lot of bee propolis, a lot of hot water and lemon, and we're trying to nurse back to health, but I'm doing all these intros ahead of time. I think that's enough. 

Prep work  enough admin. Let's get into today's episode with Ariel Swan.   

For those who are unfamiliar with Ariel, she is a third generation. Vancouverite committed to improving the community that she loves. So she has an extensive background in being a professional dancer. She's danced all over the world and she used those skills and experiences to be a kick ass entrepreneur in the health, wellness, and movement spaces. 

So along with Jaybird, which we'll get into, I think my audience is very familiar with Jaybird. She's also one of the. Creators have slow jam Sundays. It's a Vancouver favorite. And it's become one of the best love events in the city and a brand all on its own. She's also one of the founders of the, the people, a grassroots organization that began with a few friends getting together to help the people of the downtown east side here in Vancouver. I believe Ariel mentioned on another podcast that this began actually as one of her birthday celebrations. 

She didn't feel like celebrating one year as we all do for birthdays. I know I've talked about that in the past. I get anxious around my birthday, but she used that energy to create this really beautiful moment and movement. So she asked all of her friends who would've spent money on a gift for her to instead use that money on a meal and gave it away to people in need. And it blossomed into this charity from there. 

And of course she is also one of the co-founders of Jaybird. So Jaybird is about experiencing the present moment. They are a contemporary movement studio that believes in shedding the layers that hold us back for getting outside perceptions and letting go of expectations. And later near the end of this episode, we actually hear the inspiration behind the name of Jaybird as well. 

So it uses infrared heat, it's sensation, oriented language. It has the best music. That just lets you be in the moment, have a dance party, forget about everything else. That's going on outside the world. It's in a dark room and it's mirrorless. So you are not comparing your moves, your body, anything else to what's going on in front, behind or beside you? You're truly in the moment. 

And it's a fantastic workout on the physical side of things as well. I go to Jaybird weekly. I truly love it. My girlfriends love it. It's kind of my perfect weekend routine. Going to Jaybird here in Vancouver and then having a little walk, grabbing coffee with friends, it really just sets you up for success on so many levels.  

In this episode, Ariel also gives us such great insight. To the inspiration and idea behind Jaybird in a creative and business sense. She talks about the collaboration between her and her business partner, Barbie bent, who I've also met in the Vancouver community. And she's one of the co-founders of. 

I agree west between the two of them. They are. The most incredible power team in the business wellness fitness industry. I truly look up to them so, so much. And like I said, at the beginning, having area on the podcast was a huge honor. This episode has so much value for anyone looking to be in the entrepreneurial space, the wellness space, the fitness space, or just looking to have a little bit of self-improvement and really. 

Tangible tips to help you each and every single day, we even have tips for when you're driving, how to get to a more relaxed place in your mindset. You're not going to want to miss this episode. If you enjoy it, be sure to share it with your friends, your family, and I can't wait for you all to dive in and hear this episode between Ariel Swan and all the things. 

  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍  📍 So Ariel, my very first question, I relate to your background that you had a lot of different interests and you've spoken a lot about that you've had different interests, different avenues, and that you were a professional dancer for a long time. So when you decided to put your efforts outside of your professional dance career, how did you learn to embrace failure in business and have clarity in pursuing these industries like music, charitable work, Pilates, yoga you do so much. It's a good question. I think the answer to that question is the failure came in not necessarily getting to where I wanted to get as a professional dancer. Mm-hmm. So I had some injuries. There was some things that I wanted kind of had seen my life get to that didn't end up happening.

So you have these hopes and dreams, like maybe I'll make it to LA and make it on this. And you kind of have to embrace failure when that just doesn't happen and it doesn't matter. How hard you work. Mm-hmm. I think the world was saying no to me, but I kept pushing Yes. Over and over again. And then finally I just had to be like, This is not working.

And it was an acceptance of looking at the way the world was reflecting back at me, what was happening in my life. And when I got to that place where I was like, you no longer have the tools to do what you want to be doing, AK dancing at the level that you wanna be dancing at. What's next? And it was a hard, hard time in my life to accept that I wasn't going to be able to get to this idea of who or where I wanted to be as a dancer.

And I kind of just had to step back and say, You know, like what's next? And movement was always medicine for me. Music was always something that I loved. And giving back is something that I feel is kind of a way that we just can exist in the world to better the world. So I kind of in decided just to cha have to completely change.

And the day that I quit dancing, I actually haven't been in a dance studio and taken a class since I did that, which is so crazy. Oh wow. So it was kind of just like that. I'm done. I still dance in the club and dance in Jaybird, but I haven't taken an actual class or done anything since then.

So, yeah, I guess that, if that answers your question, it was kind of like an acceptance of failure and looking at what the world is offering you and being like, okay, this is no longer working, so. Instead of fighting an uphill battle to, of an idea of what I think I want, why don't I look at what life is offering me and start to make changes that way?

So yeah, moving forward, it's a kind of that exact lesson. You're like, okay, what is working in my life? What is not working in le in my life? And sometimes a letting go or you see it as a failure as actually opening something up for something new to happen that you never knew EXI would exist. There's quite a few things in that that I wanna unpack a little bit.

One you just mentioned, letting go. That's something that I think we all struggle with at times. No matter how much you're open to the universe, how much you're open to receiving. I think we all had this idea in our heads of a one year, three year, five year plan and the outcome we'd like to see, and it's hard not to be attached to that, but.

Again, and I see this a lot with dancers. I love talking with dancers. Growing up as a competitive dancer for a long time I thought professional would be my career path as well, and had to have that realization on my own too. But hindsight is 2020, and there are so many things growing up as dancers that were able to take into the world, into the workforce.

But in that moment, It really seems like your life is over, that your career's over everything. You've worked so hard. Literally since you were a kid, you danced like 20 hours a week. You're dedicated your whole life to it, and then it just comes to this crashing halt. So on the other side of things, you can now see how you can apply your dance and all these skills into it.

And like you mentioned Jaybird, I absolutely love our dance springs. I feel like that is, So freeing and my inner dancer can truly come out. But for you, how do you think your dance background helped you as an entrepreneur? Well, as a dancer, you are like, you're kind of always an entrepreneur because you don't have a set job that you're always gonna get.

So you are self-employed, you're constantly looking for how you're going to make money. So you're constantly looking what you can do next, what job you're gonna get. So you definitely have this like kind of a fire under your ass. All the time to continue to put yourself out there, to continue to take risks.

So I think for me, you're kind of used to hustling in a way that you can't just kind of sit back and be like, oh, well, you know, getting a paycheck. So I think as an entrepreneur, just that idea of like, knowing that the work doesn't end, you can get, you can always get better. You can always look for something else.

So I feel like that kind of. Prepared me for knowing like the amount of work it takes to start your own business and to really excel at that. So I would say that's one thing. Discipline is a huge thing as well. Like dance teaches a lot of discipline. Dance teaches I think that.  Really just putting your mind to something and like being able to really work at something, you will see results.

Mm-hmm. May not always be as we just talked about exactly where you think you're gonna go, but I definitely think it teaches discipline of mind, body. And then finally, like for me, like I just. Realized that I took a lot of my dance and brought it into Jaybird because I missed dancing, I missed moving.

And the funny thing was, is it actually dancing, like a free person? When we're in Jaybird and I'm like, just go crazy. That was really hard for me at first because I was so used to dancing in a way that I thought would make other people happy. And what I would be dancing for another person not dancing for me.

So how does this look cool? Am I hitting all the right accents? Am I doing it right? And now, I really feel like to have that ex expression and freedom in movement, you have to let all that go and get silly and get weird and just  Move your body and whatever would feel good for you. So there's a lot of things that it helped me with, but also, you know, I had to unpack later when I was like, oh whoa, I still wanna do it right.

And movement has no right or wrong. So I think that that's something that I've learned a lot in the dark space in Jaybird. And I also just love seeing people dance cuz I think dancing is like, it's such a communal, every culture in the world dances. So it's something I believe we're meant to be doing. It can be a bit of a double-edged sword, what you men mentioned with discipline, cuz there's a quote, I love that discipline creates freedom and I really believe in that.

And when you have structures put in place, then you're able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. But I can totally relate because even at a wedding, at a party, people are like, oh, you were a dancer. Start dancing. Like I can dance un choreographed. You have to gimme a 5, 6, 7, 8. I can't just whip something out here.

  There's a lot of power when you're able to not care about that and not care about how you look, and really just be present, be in the moment, do what feels right for your body.  I wanna talk a little bit about though I really liked what you mentioned of being an entrepreneur as a dancer. I don't know if everyone always sees that or thinks about it, cuz you have to be your own promoter, your own marketer.

Keep yourself in classes to stay on top of trends. Be relevant in the dance space. Do you think dance helped you be able to take a risk? When I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs, they, the biggest thing for them was taking on a risk, and it was something they've never done before. But being a dancer, I feel like you're always have a bit of air of risk because there's that uncertainty.

Do you connect with that at all? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I had a massive fear of failure, don't get me wrong, when I started tapered. But you're used to hearing, no, so it's like actors, dancers, singers, people that put themselves out there constantly. There's. Maybe one job or five jobs and you're, you might just, it doesn't mean that you're not good.

It just might not be that you're the right fit. So you keep putting yourself out there and you keep, you're gonna hear no a lot, and so you have to continue to pick yourself back up and continue to know that like maybe this isn't a representation of you as a dancer, you as a human, it's just you in that role.

So I definitely think that. You start to understand, you can't really look at it as failure. You have to look at it as learning or just accepting like, okay, I didn't get that one onto the next one. And that can be really hard. It can be really, really hard to continue to pick yourself up and time and time again, go out and try.

But I do think like, You're kind of used to putting yourself out there and hearing No, or putting yourself out there and maybe you hear Yes. So I, yeah. I do think it does help you with failure in a way, or help you helping, excuse me, with accepting if maybe the outcome isn't exactly the way that you wanted it to be, because that's just life, right.

It is, and I think it's such a skill and I'm really thankful for having that rejection. Now when I go out and reach out to people for the podcast or things in general, I'm not scared of rejection and I really chalk that up to dance. But one thing I'm personally working on, and I love Jaybird for this, I think it's helped me, is my ability to practice being present in the moment.

That's something that. I am not great at naturally. I really get ahead of myself. I have to remind myself if I'm in an amazing moment, to not just try and get content to post on Instagram or post for the podcast to just be with whoever I'm with. And in Jaybird, it's a dark room. You can't have a phone. You can't be videotaping while you're in the class.

So I wanna get more about. That. So a lot of my audience lives in Vancouver or Toronto. They love Jaybird as well. I know all my friends come to classes with me. But for those who can't outside of Jaybird's physical benefits, its mission during class is to be present and reflect inwardly.  So for people that also struggle with this, or maybe they're not able to go to a Jaybird class if they live in a different city, do you have any tips to have these moments?

Outside of class, so breath work that you really love to do, little mantras that you say to yourself or anything like that. Yeah, of course. I mean, I think to be honest, it's a mission for everybody. So I don't think that , you know, maybe you can practice and it gets better, but it's still like every day I have to work on this.

Like for me, it's easier when I'm in Jaybird to find it. But outside of life,  when your mind is going and you got tons of different things going on, it's really hard to be present. And society constantly is pushing you into the future, into the past, and we end up missing the present moment and then our life just kind of like, Flies by and we're like, where are we?

Where of our lives go? So I think really simple tips, like things that I use a lot is just feeling your feet,  on the ground, being present with something that is grounding you into this moment or grounding you into your body.  So the reason that we use our body in Jaybird is, is that like your physical form can only exist in this moment.

So your mind can live in the past or in the future. But your body only exists right here. So when you bring your attention back to what's happening in your body, you're bringing yourself back into the present moment.  So a simple thing, if you're feeling nervous or you're feeling like scattered, just feeling your feet on the ground and just taking a couple breaths just to anchor yourself down into this moment.

 Another thing I find really helpful is just noticing your breath. So, A breath is a really good representation of how we're showing up in each moment. So for instance, if your breath is like short and tight and restricted, you're probably slightly short and tight and restricted. If you're relaxed and deep taking full breaths, you're probably feeling quite relaxed.

You're feeling a lot more chill. Maybe you're not having like, Anxiety or all those things in the moment. So knowing that you have the tools to kind of help change your state by using breath.  So if you wanna slow yourself down, start to take deeper, fuller breaths, usually in through the nose, out through the nose.

Help settle the nervous system. So, Even if you're coming up, someone said something to you, you're feeling like it's a hard moment, just pause and take like three deep breaths. Feel your feet on the ground. It's okay. And then choose to make your next step from there instead of just reacting. So those are really simple, but they're so impactful and it's even just checking in with your breath.

Am I breathing? How am I breathing? Can I feel my feet on the ground or am I just living up in my head with things like racing constantly? So those are simple tools, but very, very impactful tools. I would just, you know, and also if you like mantras, sometimes just like a simple mantra as you breathe in, like, I'm here.

And then exhale like I relax. That's it. So simple.  Or I let go or I surrender, or whatever words you like. But just that recognition. Like in inhale, I'm right here, exhale to soften. Cuz we're so constricted, we're so tight, we're so wound. And then we are constantly. Bumping around in our heads between what's gonna happen and what someone said.

And so those are some simple tools I'd say just like play around with. But breath is one of the best tools to really anchor you back into the present moment. I love utilizing breath work, and I think if people don't have a practice of yoga or Pilates, it's easy to be disconnected, but it's something you can literally do everywhere.

I know for me, I do it when I'm driving a lot. I've been in Vancouver for three years and I still get stressed out finding parking, so doing a double inhale, long exhale box. Breathing while I'm in my car helps me so much. But you can do it in public settings as well if you are. Going to an interview or you're meeting someone and preparing for a difficult conversation.

It can be really discreet. It can be to yourself. You can have those mantras going in your head and it makes such a difference. I think people underestimate the value as well and think, oh, well, I'm always breathing, but there's a difference between automatic breathing and active breathing and I, I'm so glad you brought that up, and hoping my audience will have more awareness of this tool as well.

Absolutely. Yeah, no, really, it's so true. And the thing is, is that most of us aren't really breathing. We breathe at like 30% of our lung capacity. And if you think about that, you're really only bringing in like 30% of the oxygen, 30% of like that newness of what you need in your body. So I think breath is something that is definitely when you start with trends of like new wellness trends, breath is on the forefront and it's there for a reason.

And it is, as you said, one of the simplest ways. To really change state, to really become present and to, you know, honestly, just actually make your fellow self feel a lot better. So we're highly recommend breathing. Speaking of tools that we have in our back pocket for whether it's business, lifestyle, wellness, I wanna get more into the business side of things.

So in another podcast you talked about how beneficial your partnership with Barbie Ben is. We love Barbie here, and that the two of you really compliment each other with your skills on the business. Creative movement side, they all blend together really well. But do you have any advice or tips for young entrepreneurs out there or people listening that wanna take the next step and they need some motivation or tools to either find that business partner or take things on themselves?

You just gotta do it. Yes. It's like the hardest thing to say, but you have to be willing to fail and you have to be willing to know that like, If you don't try, it will never happen. I was terrified. I, I think I said no the first time we were talking about it, like about Jaybird and. It's just like, I talked about this on another podcast.

I was at a place in my life and I was saying yes to everything that made me the most afraid. So my like work at that time was, is that anything that made me afraid? I would say yes to do it. So if I was, didn't want, if I was  feeling afraid to have a conversation or walk up to someone, I was like, you have to go do that if I, whatever.

So I just kept challenge myself. To walk towards uncomfortability because in that is where the growth happens. So when it came to Jaybird, I was almost too afraid, and then I had to really look at myself and instead of making excuses, Take that step. When it comes to advice, I mean, everyone has different advice.

I never went to business school, so I'm so lucky that I have Barbie that does the business side, and she is like so creative and so amazing and such an great leader. But I would say like, make sure you know what your skillset is and if you don't know what your skillset is, ask your friends, what do you think I'm really good at?

What do you think? Like or ask people that you work with. Getting feedback and listening to feedback is really important. But it, once you know what you are really good at, then find someone, even if it's not a partner, but fi, hire someone that can help you or put tools in place. Say you're bad at organizing.

Like get things in, get a calendar, going, do those things that will help you with the places where you're the weakest because it's really hard to do it all on your own. Absolutely, and that's something that I'm learning with running the podcast even that you try and have your hand in all these things, and even if you have an idea, you are at some point setting yourself up for that failure.

And maybe you need to go to that place to then understand that you do need help or that you can outsource things or delegate things, but. If you've never done something before, it's hard to know that skillset. So I love that you brought up asking people that you currently work with cuz they have an idea of how you operate when you're really thriving.

Mm-hmm. Where sometimes you like naturally ask for help and sometimes it's hard to even realize those moments within ourselves. We can have a really. Biased or blurry vision of how we operate. So it's great to get an outside opinion and to be open to that feedback I think is another clear thing. If you're asking for it, you're wanting to receive.

You're not just wanting something to bump up your ego, that's not gonna help you in the long run at all. Yeah, it's really listen, like listen. And it's also interesting cuz you might hear two completely different things from two completely different people. And it also gives you that understanding that like, not everyone's gonna see you the same way.

Not everyone's gonna like what you do. And I would say like mm-hmm definitely as an entrepreneur, like really knowing what you are, selling what you are and not wavering and trying to make everybody happy is so important. So like, For me, when we and I created Jaybird, we're like, this is what Jaybird is.

If someone asks us to turn the music down or turn the lights on, it's not gonna happen. It's just like you have to accept Jaybird might not be for you, and that is okay. It's not gonna be everybody. And if you start to kind of give to everybody, you start to be kind of nothing. For everyone instead of something for the people that really, I would say, kind of like attract to what you're doing.

So having a really clear understanding of what you're offering and how you're different from people around you, that is a really important thing as well when you're starting up a business.  You can't cater to everyone, and that if you have this clear idea of what you're promoting, what your business is, you have to stick with that.

 In the early days of Jaybird, when you were conceptualizing the brand, the company, the workouts, what did that look like?  

It's a great question. I had been living in LA at the time and there was a studio in LA that was like a dark studio like not as dark as Jaybird. And there was, I know it's really loud outside. We live in a city.

So when we started thinking about. Jaybird, I was living in la I brought Barbie to a studio down there that was like an infrared candle at studio. It wasn't as dark as Jaybird and it was more of a yoga style class. And great. Really for us like. We both had seen that there was something missing within the fitness or like community  and we both were really work looking at mindfulness and we really wanted to create this kind of like intersection between movement and mindfulness.

And so we realized the dark room's a great thing for that. No mirrors is a great thing because you're taking away. You know, looking outside of yourself, judgment you're also taking away the phones. You have to be with yourself. Music is so super immersive. So we put everyone on mics and turned the music up loud.

And then really when we were coming up with the workouts, I really just created the workouts that like I, what I loved the most and I took different things from different places and kind of blended it all together. And it's been a work in progress. Like we're still learning things change, like. After Covid, we added in the dance party.

Cause I felt people wanted to move and so I was like, how can we continue to evolve as well? So yeah, I mean really I had to just trust myself that what I was putting on and the classes I was creating within the studio, other people would like, because I would like, so to be honest, I really just created the classes that I wanted to take.

That's the truth. I love hearing the behind the scenes though, because especially I personally bring on brands and companies that I use and I love. So knowing the background of how this idea became a reality is so interesting to me and it's really inspiring knowing that you can go from something that you love and that you take and then turn it into your very own thing and present it to the world and.

I don't wanna say simple as that cuz there are a million steps from beginning to start. But I think sometimes we overcomplicate things in our head and. If you have an idea and you're like, I really love this product, but what if it was like this and like this and presented in this way? I think people sometimes think it can't be that easy.

You have to add more to it, or a ha you have to reinvent the wheel in a million different ways. And it's like, no, you just have to make it your own and love and be passionate about what you're presenting and a community and a following will come from that. Yeah, absolutely. I think you got it. Like sometimes reinventing the wheel is, I mean, people feel like, oh, you're copying this, but everything technically is coming from somebody else's inspiration.

And it goes back into like the dawn of time. I mean, obviously there aren't things that suddenly pop up that are brand new. I'm not saying like a hundred percent of the time, but especially in the movement space, in the wellness space. You are getting inspired by other people and then you are bringing it on.

Or the same thing as you're saying like, you know, maybe you try some drink that you really like, but you're like, oh, if I can only do it like this, yeah, go do it. There'll be somebody else that will like or be wanting the same thing that you are wanting. Right. So I totally agree, and it doesn't have to always be as complicated, but it's just really knowing what you're creating and how it differs from the other things that are already out there.

Exactly. Having that clear vision, I think is what sets you apart. Then trying to just put something out of the blue just because it doesn't exist yet, but maybe you're not passionate about it, there might not be an audience. You have to be really clear on your vision and your why, like why are you doing it so that when you go and explain it to somebody, it's like, You know, I believe in this and this and this, and this is what we wanna create because of this.

So you really have like a strong idea of why you're doing it and because it's just kinda like, oh, like, and I mean it, I mean maybe their why is just like, I, I really think it's gonna be, tastes better this way or whatever. But finding out deep down, like what is the why for your company and like what do you have to offer the world?

Before we get more into branding and business questions, I wanna flip the script a little bit on you. So, running all these businesses, Jaybird alone, you have locations in Vancouver and Toronto across the country. That alone is so busy and hectic. I can't imagine what your schedule looks like. But being in the wellness and fitness industry, I don't think people always understand that you're spending so much time giving others that time for wellness and fitness, that sometimes your own can go to the wayside.

So how do you manage meeting your own needs in terms of physical, emotional wellness and fitness? Yeah, no, that's, it's still a work in progress. I would love to say that I have, I'm a person that I get up at 6:00 AM and I do this and that and that, and like, to be honest, I'm not, I love sleeping. But I, I mean, I would say one thing is lucky.

I don't need to really, like, my workouts are jaybird. I just do jaybird when I teach. That's pretty much what I do for my body. I'm in the studio a lot. So for me it's finding obviously moments to rest that are really important because. That is like, I don't need much more working out per se. Mm-hmm. When it comes to like what I can do to refill my own cup, like I'm still really working on this.

I try every morning and every night before I wake up and when I go to bed, it's sometimes it's only like a three minutes of just like lying in bed and just like, Breathing and like taking a moment to set myself right before I start the day. As I said, I know some people come on podcasts. It's like I do my 15 minute meditation and then I get my matcha and then I stretch like this.

I mean, maybe if I woke up earlier and I had like, More disciplined to do that, I could, but for me, I just do my very best to kind of slip those moments in when possible. So a little meditation at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day I find is like really helpful. And then also just like trying to weave it in, like if you're driving kind of what you're saying, like find some moments to breathe, some moments to rest.

And obviously like eating well, drinking lots of water, all those things are really important when you're using your body a lot. So, But then also like, I think you have to have times like, I'm an extrovert. I need to go out, I need to have times where I, you know, go and see my friends or go for a dinner, go see a concert.

Like those things fill my cup, they inspire me. So it can be hard, I think, sometimes where like, I'm tired, like but like, Actually getting out and like being social is so important. There's just like these new studies coming out about like loneliness and it's almost as hard on our health as it is like smoking.

So remembering that like we still need to be out. We still need personal and connection, human connection. Is important. And sometimes that little extra effort is actually can fill my cup more than like staying at home and you know, resting per se. But everyone is different. So I think it's knowing the type of person you are and doing the things that light you up.

Is really important to like stay a happy like human being cause it's not easy. That was so refreshing. I know personally, I go in seasons of my life where I, I am up at five 30 and I love my morning routine and I have the energy to work out and do all these things in the morning. And then sometimes, and right now I'm in a season where I'm struggling just to get up early enough to get ready to go to work in the morning and just put on a little bit of makeup and make a cup of coffee.

But knowing, I think the basis of it is, Knowing what works for your body in that season, and I so appreciate you saying that because I know myself, my audience looks up to you. Looks up to you, the businesses that you've created. So we probably had this preconceived idea in our head that you are, that person that gets up at five in the morning, makes a matcha, meditates journals, goes on a walk and does yoga before the very first meeting of your day.

Yeah. And knowing that you don't need to do all those things to be successful and reach your. Fitness, personal and career goals. You just have to listen to your body and have a little bit of discipline and then fill up the other areas of your life. I love what you mentioned about going to a concert and being social concerts.

Fill my soul. I literally just went to Shania Twain last night with some of my girlfriends. Yeah, and if you don't make time for those things, I think you're gonna burn out one way or another. Yeah, exactly. And I just try to be as honest as I can, cuz I do think there's a lot of people out there that are like, Showing what they're doing and it's just like I'm doing it because like that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

And you know, don't get me wrong, maybe I would be more productive if I did all those things. But it's also just looking at the capacity of what you have and knowing the type of person you are. I'm not a morning person. I'm way more creative at Night. Barbie sends me emails at 7:00 AM and I reply at 9:00 PM So you know, it's who you are, what works for you, and not judging yourself against the person next to you.

But doesn't mean that if you know that like I. Give, giving yourself an out to just be like, oh, I'm just not gonna do it because like, I'm just ti I'm just not that kind of person. It's like, well, you still can take in the like those little steps. Mm-hmm. But I think the comparison piece, especially now with like TikTok and Instagram, you're constantly seeing like, oh, this person got up at five and did all these things and it's become a trend, like the morning routine and I think.

 You have to honestly ask yourself what is working best for me? Is sleeping for a few more moments and a quick meditation and breath work, is that, is that actually going to help me more? Or am I a person that needs to get up and do all these things? And just really honoring yourself is so important.  The social media TikTok thing is huge.

I just had this realization, I feel like a couple weeks ago, or even a month ago, that I'm seeing all these day in the life on my feed and getting into this comparison trap, and then it took me a moment to realize how curated this is. Mm-hmm. So this might have been someone's day. But it could have been a day where they planned, okay, I'm gonna make a TikTok on my routine.

It has to be on trend. It has to be perfect. But then as a consumer, we think, oh my God, they're doing this all the time. I am not, I, it doesn't work for my body. Like you mentioned, we, we need discipline. We have to do things that we don't always wanna do in order to push ourselves and be the best version of ourselves.

But I think there is an element where you kind of need to ignore what's going on in so social media and really focus in on what works best for you. A hundred percent. And I think like,  definitely like one of the things you can do of getting up is just like, not go on your phone, take the first hour of the day without looking at social media.

You know, take, put your phone away. Don't look at your phone for the last hour before you go to sleep. Like those things can end read a book. Like even if the book is like a trash novel, who cares? You know, like it's little things like that that can make massive differences in your own mental health and also just in the way you sleep.

 Like all like it's. Sometimes we think we have to do like everything, but the simp, like sometimes the small little things are the things that actually can be the most impactful. Absolutely. And you're totally right. Like most of the time if someone's doing that, TikTok, they've planned it and they don't do it every day, but they're pre like, it's still a pre pretend.

Some people do, but you know, it's, you gotta take everything with a grain of salt in a way.  I wanna talk a little bit more about business before I let you go. So this might be a strange question, but I would be so remiss if I didn't bring it up. And in my research I saw that you were featured in an article all about sense as well.

 And one of the things that first stood out to me about Jaybird and to my friends is the scent. It has this iconic, beautiful, luxurious. Scent. And whenever me and my girlfriends are out somewhere or we're at each other's apartments or homes, we have a candle going and we're always like, what is the jaybird scent?

I want my home to smell like Jaybird. So what was that thought process? Was that really intentional of the element of creating this sanctuary, the safe space using all of our senses? Or was that something that you really enjoyed the scent and wanted to bring into the studio? I love that you have this iconic scent.

 Yeah. That gets that one, that one goes completely to Barbie. She is like a huge scent person. I can't tell you what it is. It is our secret sauce. Yes. We don't let it out. But she wanted to find something that was like a blend between a La Labo scent and the proper hotel scent. So it was one of those things that like finding when you walk into a place scent is so, like when you smell something, you reminds you of that.

So it's like someone's perfume or whatever. So if you can find the scent, That every time you do it, as you say, you think about Jaybird. That's what we wanted. So it was very intentional to create a scent, to have something that really reminded people of Jaybird and also like lit up all of your senses. So yeah, really like it was, that one was all on Barbie.

She like wanted to do something that sort of. Kind of finished the senses and also she just like loves good smells. So I was like one on that one Barbie. Like, you crushed that. I love the smell. We have candles and incense now, so that's the best way to get the smell. But unfortunately it's the one thing that we don't tell people.

Cause it's our secret, it's our special sauce. You can't give out all your secrets. No, absolutely. You gotta keep some things close to the chest. But I. Thought that was just so brilliant in terms of a branding perspective, in terms of a customer experience perspective. I personally don't think if I had my own location or when I have my own podcast studio, we're shopping around studios right now, I wanna bring in my own signature, all the things sent because of that connection I have with Jaybird.

I love that. Yeah. And it's definitely like, and this goes back to what we were talking about before, like. Some people will come to Jaybird and just be like, oh, like this should be a scent free environment. Mm-hmm. And you can't make those people happy. You have to choose. Right. And so, you know, you don't just make the scent less because then you're gonna like lose it.

It's kind of like, I'm so sorry, we're not a SC free place. If that's something that you need, like you're just gonna have to go to somewhere else. It's very clear on our website that we have sent and all that. So really same thing for you. Like do it if it's something that works for you. It does work for us.

And I feel the same way. Every time I walk in, I'm like, oh. I'm back. So, yeah, exactly. So with piggybacking off this, do you have other tips in terms of branding for young entrepreneurs, whether they're looking for something in the fitness wellness space or starting their own brand, things like this that can help them stand out and really create their own signature look and community that follows with them.

I mean, I'm not a, I'm not in branding. Yeah. But I would say like a very intentional. Decision that Barbie and I made was about the design element of Jaybird. So we really wanted to design a space that looked and felt very different than any other yoga fitness studio that you walk into. A lot of the time you'd walk into yoga or Pilates or even like any sort of fitness studio.

If you even think about a soul cycle, everything's very white. It's very clean, it's very bright. And so we really wanted to. Find something that made it feel different and set ourselves kind of at a level that would be hard for people to, you know, kind of like come up and meet us at. So I would say like looking at ways that you can stand out.

So for us it was design. We had St. Marie design the place, which is obviously we spent a lot of money to do that, but it also really set the tone of what we were trying to bring into the space. So I think like, Really trying to set yourself apart. Finding one element that sets yourself apart. Is it, if it's like, if you can do all elements, great, but if it's just like a product, maybe you change the shape of the bottle to something that's different that people haven't seen that they'd remember.

Maybe it's changing a different color or like, For us, we use Brown. I'll tell you, I honestly never thought I would own a brown studio. When St. Marie said Brown, I was like, no, no, I don't like brown. And now when they showed us, I was like, okay, this is also like so beautiful and it gives you that like earthy feel.

So I. Yeah. I would say also we had some really bad names when we started that we thought were excellent. Make sure you're googling your names, figuring out what they would like bring up in Google searches. It sounds so silly, but like, make sure that they're easy to remember. Sometimes when you get too fancy with names you can, like, you, it just, some people will be like, I don't remember, like, what's it called again?

Yeah, so just making sure that like for us, we wanted to choose a name that was, could be used across lifestyle. So Jaybird isn't necessarily, you know, Female or male centric. It could also be a yoga class, it could be a Pilates class, it could be worn on your sweatshirt. It could be a lot of different things.

So kind of thinking about that when you're creating a brand, when you choose a name, can it do all of the different things that you want, and then having a reason for your name. So for instance, we got Jaybird from like free as a jailbird. So that idea of like that staying back in the day. So when people would like go to jail, they'd like have.

Take all their clothes off and like walk into jail, they took off. So it sounds really weird, but it was the idea of going into Jaybird, taking off your layers and coming back to yourself. So it's kind of the same and different. Some people have been like, did you know this? We're like, yeah, we chose it for that reason.

So, It's so it kind of can have a fun story behind it. But yeah, to be honest, I'm not a, I'm, I'm, we had a lot of help with our marketing. We had a good branding people that helped us do it. So if you have the money to do it, I would recommend like Glassberg and Walker did ours and they did an incredible job helping us with the look and the feel, the colors, all that.

But again, you gotta listen to your gut too. There's a lot of things that people brought to Barbie and I and we're like, Nope, we don't like that. Like, so, you know, deep down what your brand is. But sometimes again, like going back to asking your friends, like we would have two names, which one do you like?

So you don't have to take it personally, but outside opinion is so important. Oh, 100%. What you mentioned about your first idea, you can think it's like this great idea in your head and then give it, it's kind of like a tattoo. Like I'm so glad I didn't get the tattoos on my Pinterest board at 14 because at the time I thought they were unreal and I'm like, if I was walking around with this on my body as an adult, I would be saving money to get laser removal.

Absolutely. And your brand is an extension of you. Yeah. No, that's a good for someone who says that they're not really strong in branding. You gave us a ton of wonderful ideas and insights, so thank you for that. I really am gonna take home with me the letting go portion and being open to things with my own brand.

I was so into pink, and now with our rebrand, we still have that element in it. But being open to other ideas, I think you can be your own worst enemy at times and pigeon yourself into this hole of what you see. But sometimes it's important to look beyond that and trust the process as well. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So going back a couple quick questions about yourself for our listeners. Ariel, do you have any non-negotiables in your daily routine?

I mean, I feel like I, I've been trying to get off coffee, but I still love matcha. So yes, I'm a person that like, I'm sorry, like the no caffeine thing in the morning for me is. It's, I just don't wake up. As I said earlier, like I love nighttime, so I definitely need that coffee. And I think like I'm, or a matcha, I've trained, I've changed over to matcha cuz I find it's a little easier on my nervous system.

I don't get like as much peaks and valleys, so I. Finding something. It's also like for me, like especially being in Toronto or here, it's warm. It's something in the morning that I love, like a little like moment for me. So that would probably be like a non-negotiable of something that I have to have every day.

But yeah, I mean, I think I. That's probably the one thing that I really do do every single day. I feel you try. I do try to drink a glass of water like with lemon before I do it, so trying to like have water and lemon before I have my coffee or my matcha. It's really good for your body, especially if you're sweating a lot.

So that's another one. I feel you on that though. I love caffeine. I don't really look like it, but I am Italian and I started drinking black coffee at way too early of an age. Yeah, so something that's helped me is trying to delay my caffeine consumption and wait at least 45 minutes in the morning before I have my cup of coffee.

But I don't know if I'll ever be able to get rid of that entirely. So thank you for bringing that up too, because I, I simply could not go without that either. You don't have to, you know what I mean? You don't have to if it's not affecting you. Like I know some people that they just feel crazy and they just like, Can't, or they crash really hard.

And so, you know, I think like we all do the best we can. Just do the best you can. You know, that's the theme. It's not easy. Sometimes you just gotta give yourself that nice cup of coffee in the morning to set yourself up for the rest of the day and don't feel guilty about it because you know, that's, I think we have these such high standards of ourselves, and as the same thing goes back to what we were talking about before.

Oh, well these people aren't doing it, but not everyone is you. Mm-hmm. What works for you? What doesn't work for you? And if something's not feeling right in your body, then it might be some, like that's when you need to look at the change. But if you're feeling great, Why change if you like it, right? We're all doing our best here.

Exactly. Yeah. My final question for you, and I love asking all my guests this question, so that is, do you have an item, a book, a TV show, literally anything that you're loving right now that you wanna share and recommend to the listeners? So I would say like, going back to taking care of your body, and I'm absolutely like, not sponsored by this, but I started taking like athletic greens in the morning and it's like, honestly, I got Barbie on it too, and it's like really helped me, like it's really helped with my hormones and my stomach.

So like for instance, I would get like both Barbie and I would get like so down before our periods and we would just be feeling like you could tell it was coming. I was like so moody, like. And since I've been taking them and I usually take 'em in the morning on an empty stomach or after my matcha, depending on like what I'm doing.

I've noticed that I have a lot more energy. My skin's been better and I don't notice when my period's coming as much. So you don't have to take that. But sometimes finding like a way of getting the vitamins that you need in your body, especially. If you are like me, like really pushing your body hard, it's really an important thing to do.

Another thing I do because I sweat so much is sometimes buying electrolytes are really, really expensive. You can almost like, there's two different ways, but another way to really help get the hydration into your cell is I have like a it's just like, You just need like a ti. It's like Celtic salt.

It sounds crazy. It has to be like Celtic salt. And you take like a tiny little piece, like really small and just put it on your tongue before you drink your water and then drink your water after. And it actually allows the hydration to penetrate through the cell membrane and it hydrates your body better than if you just drink your water straight.

So for me, if you're sweating a lot, if you're feeling like. You're a lot, you're tired. Also, if you drink a lot of water and you are peeing like constantly, that's a good indication that you're not actually absorbing the hydration into the cells. So that's like a, such a simple trick. And it's not as expensive as buying like a ton of electrolytes.

Don't get me wrong. Electrolytes are great, but trying to find new way of finding hydration because a lot of the times when we think we're hi tired and we reach for coffee, We're actually dehydrated and we just need to like rehydrate the body. So those are like two simple things that I've been really like working on.

They're not really I guess like a book or a TV show, but some two things that are really simple and relatively affordable to help yourself every single day. I love how tangible those are. My mom actually got me on Celtic Salt when I was visiting my parents. She had it and for so long I feel like there's this fitness trend that salt and sodium was bad.

Yeah. But as someone who does work out a lot, who sweats a lot, that's so key in replenishing your body. So I love that you are talking about this as well. Cuz I feel like I only had this realization maybe a year ago that in order to be an equilibria. Equilibrium and be actually hydrated. You need that in your body.

And I've been on the fence about trying athletic greens for a while. I get ads for them all the time. I've heard so much about them. But I think you convinced me I need to put in an order. Yeah, just try it. I mean it's, it's like doesn't taste the best, but it works. And I've tried a lot of different things in my life.

I've taken so many green drinks and this and that and like it is pricey. But it does work. It gives you a lot of the nutrients. And I would say about the salt thing, the type of salt that you use is so important. So like table salt is actually like, I understand why there's like a negative connotation towards like certain table salt, but like if you can use Himalayan salt or if you can like use like different, like I would say just like salt that isn't as kind of broken down and processed, it is definitely like better for you.

And you do need salt, especially if you're sweating. Like I, I mean, I, I'm a huge salt person. It's bad I put salt on everything, but you know, sometimes you said, just gotta do your best. Exactly. No, and I feel that, and when I come outta Jaybird, I look like I've just showered most of the time. So adding a little bit of salt back into your food, I think is a great way to balance out those hydration levels again too.

Exactly. Ariel, thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast. You are absolutely welcome back anytime, and I can't wait to see you in person and get into your classes again. Thank you so much for having me It's such a pleasure. And yeah, I hope to come back again soon. Have a great rest of your day.

You too. very first question with you, I. Relate to your background that you had a lot of different interests and you've spoken a lot about that you've had different interests, different avenues, and that you were a professional dancer for a long time. So when you decided to put your efforts outside of your professional dance career, how did you learn to embrace failure in business and have clarity in pursuing these industries like music, charitable work, Pilates, yoga.

You do so much. It's a good question. I think the answer to that question is the failure came in not necessarily getting to where I wanted to get as a professional dancer. Mm-hmm. So I had some injuries. There was some things that I wanted kind of had seen my life get to that didn't end up happening.

So you have these like hopes and dreams, like maybe I'll make it to LA and make it on this. And you kind of have to embrace failure when that just doesn't happen and it doesn't matter. How hard you work. Mm-hmm. I think the world was saying no to me, but I kept pushing Yes. Over and over again. And then finally I just had to be like, This is not working.

And it was an acceptance of looking at the way the world was reflecting back at me, what was happening in my life. And when I got to that place where I was like, you no longer have the tools to do what you want to be doing, AK dancing at the level that you wanna be dancing at. What's next? And it was a hard, hard time in my life to accept that I wasn't going to be able to get to this idea of who or where I wanted to be as a dancer.

And I kind of just had to step back and say, You know, like what's next? And movement was always medicine for me. Music was always something that I loved. And giving back is something that I feel is kind of a way that we just can exist in the world to better the world. So I kind of in decided just to cha have to completely change.

And the day that I quit dancing, I actually like haven't been in a dance studio and taken a class since I did that, which is so crazy. Oh wow. So it was kind of just like that. I'm done. I still dance in the club and dance in Jaybird, but I haven't taken an actual class or done anything since then.

So, yeah, I guess that, if that answers your question, it was kind of like an acceptance of failure and looking at what the world is offering you and being like, okay, this is no longer working, so. Instead of fighting an uphill battle to, of an idea of what I think I want, why don't I look at what life is offering me and start to make changes that way?

So yeah, moving forward, it's a kind of that exact lesson. You're like, okay, what is working in my life? What is not working in le in my life? And sometimes a letting go or you see it as a failure as actually opening something up for something new to happen that you never knew EXI would exist. There's quite a few things in that that I wanna unpack a little bit.

One you just mentioned, letting go. That's something that I think we all struggle with at times. No matter how much you're open to the universe, how much you're open to receiving. I think we all had this idea in our heads of a one year, three year, five year plan and the outcome we'd like to see, and it's hard not to be attached to that, but.

Again, and I see this a lot with dancers. I love talking with dancers. Growing up as a competitive dancer for a long time I thought professional would be my career path as well, and had to have that realization on my own too. But hindsight is 2020, and there are so many things growing up as dancers that were able to take into the world, into the workforce.

But in that moment, It really seems like your life is over, that your career's over everything. You've worked so hard. Literally since you were a kid, you danced like 20 hours a week. You're dedicated your whole life to it, and then it just comes to this crashing halt. So on the other side of things, you can now see how you can apply your dance and all these skills into it.

And like you mentioned Jaybird, I absolutely love our dance springs. I feel like that is, So freeing and my inner dancer can truly come out. But for you, how do you think your dance background helped you as an entrepreneur? Well, as a dancer, you are like, you're kind of always an entrepreneur because you don't have a set job that you're always gonna get.

So you are self-employed, you're constantly looking for how you're going to make money. So you're constantly looking to like what you can do next, what job you're gonna get. So you definitely have this like kind of a fire under your ass. All the time to continue to put yourself out there, to continue to take risks.

So I think for me, you're kind of used to hustling in a way that you can't just kind of sit back and be like, oh, well, you know, getting a paycheck. So I think as an entrepreneur, just that idea of like, knowing that the work doesn't end, you can get, you can always get better. You can always look for something else.

So I feel like that kind of. Prepared me for knowing like the amount of work it takes to start your own business and to really like excel at that. So I would say that's one thing. Discipline is a huge thing as well. Like dance teaches a lot of discipline. Dance teaches I think that. You know what, like really like just putting your mind to something and like being able to really work at something, you will see results.

Mm-hmm. May not always be as we just talked about exactly where you think you're gonna go, but I definitely think it teaches discipline of mind, body. And then finally, like for me, like I just. Realized that I took a lot of my dance and brought it into Jaybird because I missed dancing, I missed moving.

And the funny thing was, is it actually like dancing, like a free person? Like when we're in Jaybird and I'm like, just go crazy. That was really hard for me at first because I was so used to dancing in a way that I thought would make other people happy. And what I would be dancing for another person not dancing for me.

So how does this look cool? Am I hitting all the right accents? Am I doing it right? And now, I really feel like to have that ex expression and freedom in movement, you have to let all that go and get silly and get weird and just like, Move your body and whatever would feel good for you. So there's a lot of things that it helped me with, but also, you know, I had to unpack later when I was like, oh whoa, I still wanna do it right.

And movement has no right or wrong. So I think that that's something that I've learned a lot in the dark space in Jaybird. And I also just love seeing people dance cuz I think dancing is like, it's such a communal, every culture in the world dances. So it's something I believe we're meant to be doing. It can be a bit of a double-edged sword, what you men mentioned with discipline, cuz there's a quote, I love that discipline creates freedom and I really believe in that.

And when you have structures put in place, then you're able to enjoy the fruits of your labor. But I can totally relate because even at a wedding, at a party, people are like, oh, you were a dancer. Like start dancing. Like I can dance un choreographed. Like you have to gimme a 5, 6, 7, 8. I can't just like whip something out here.

Yeah. But. There's a lot of power when you're able to not care about that and not care about how you look, and really just be present, be in the moment, do what feels right for your body. I wanna talk a little bit about though I really liked what you mentioned of being an entrepreneur as a dancer. I don't know if everyone always sees that or thinks about it, cuz you have to be your own promoter, your own marketer.

Keep yourself in classes to stay on top of trends. Be relevant in the dance space. Do you think dance helped you be able to take a risk? When I talked to a lot of entrepreneurs, they, the biggest thing for them was taking on a risk, and it was something they've never done before. But being a dancer, I feel like you're always have a bit of air of risk because there's that uncertainty.

Do you connect with that at all? Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I had a massive fear of failure, don't get me wrong, when I started tapered. But you're used to hearing, no, so it's like actors, dancers, singers, people that put themselves out there constantly. There's. Maybe one job or five jobs and you're, you might just, it doesn't mean that you're not good.

It just might not be that you're the right fit. So you keep putting yourself out there and you keep, you're gonna hear no a lot, and so you have to continue to pick yourself back up and continue to know that like maybe this isn't a representation of you as a dancer, you as a human, it's just you in that role.

So I definitely think that. You start to understand, you can't really look at it as failure. You have to look at it as learning or just accepting like, okay, I didn't get that one onto the next one. And like that can be really hard. It can be really, really hard to continue to pick yourself up and time and time again, go out and try.

But I do think like, You're kind of used to putting yourself out there and hearing No, or putting yourself out there and maybe you hear Yes. So I, yeah. I do think it does help you with failure in a way, or help you helping, excuse me, with accepting if maybe the outcome isn't exactly the way that you wanted it to be, because that's just life, right.

It is, and I think it's such a skill and I'm really thankful for having that rejection. Now when I go out and reach out to people for the podcast or things in general, I'm not scared of rejection and I really chalk that up to dance. But one thing I'm personally working on, and I love Jaybird for this, I think it's helped me, is my ability to practice being present in the moment.

That's something that. I am not great at naturally. I really get ahead of myself. I have to remind myself if I'm in an amazing moment, to not just try and get content to post on Instagram or post for the podcast to just be with whoever I'm with. And in Jaybird, it's a dark room. You can't have a phone. You can't be videotaping while you're in the class.

So I wanna get more about. That. So a lot of my audience lives in Vancouver or Toronto. They love Jaybird as well. I know all my friends come to classes with me. But for those who can't outside of Jaybird's physical benefits, its mission during class is to be present and reflect inwardly. So for people that also struggle with this, or maybe they're not able to go to a Jaybird class if they live in a different city, do you have any tips to have these moments?

Outside of class, so breath work that you really love to do, little mantras that you say to yourself or anything like that. Yeah, of course. I mean, I think to be honest, it's a mission for everybody. So I don't think that like, you know, maybe you can practice and it gets better, but it's still like every day I have to work on this.

Like for me, it's easier when I'm in Jaybird to find it. But outside of life, when your mind is going and you got tons of different things going on, it's really hard to be present. And society constantly is pushing you into the future, into the past, and we end up missing the present moment and then our life just kind of like, Flies by and we're like, where are we?

Where of our lives go? So I think really simple tips, like things that I use a lot is just like feeling your feet, like on the ground, being present with something that is grounding you into this moment or grounding you into your body. So the reason that we use our body in Jaybird is, is that like your physical form can only exist in this moment.

So your mind can live in the past or in the future. But your body only exists right here. So when you bring your attention back to what's happening in your body, you're bringing yourself back into the present moment. So a simple thing, if you're feeling nervous or you're feeling like scattered, just feeling your feet on the ground and just taking a couple breaths just to like anchor yourself down into this moment.

Another thing I find really helpful is just noticing your breath. So, A breath is a really good representation of how we're showing up in each moment. So for instance, if your breath is like short and tight and restricted, you're probably slightly short and tight and restricted. If you're relaxed and deep taking full breaths, you're probably feeling quite relaxed.

You're feeling a lot more chill. Maybe you're not having like, Anxiety or all those things in the moment. So knowing that you have the tools to kind of help change your state by using breath. So if you wanna slow yourself down, start to take deeper, fuller breaths, usually in through the nose, out through the nose.

Help settle the nervous system. So, Even if you're coming up, someone said something to you, you're feeling like it's a hard moment, just pause and take like three deep breaths. Feel your feet on the ground. It's okay. And then choose to make your next step from there instead of just reacting. So those are really simple, but they're so impactful and it's even just checking in with your breath.

Am I breathing? How am I breathing? Can I feel my feet on the ground or am I just living up in my head with things like racing constantly? So those are simple tools, but very, very impactful tools. I would just, you know, and also if you like mantras, sometimes just like a simple mantra as you breathe in, like, I'm here.

And then exhale like I relax. That's it. So simple. Or I let go or I surrender, or whatever words you like. But just that recognition. Like in inhale, I'm right here, exhale to soften. Cuz we're so constricted, we're so tight, we're so wound. And then we are constantly. Bumping around in our heads between what's gonna happen and what someone said.

And so those are some simple tools I'd say just like play around with. But breath is one of the best tools to really anchor you back into the present moment. I love utilizing breath work, and I think if people don't have a practice of yoga or Pilates, it's easy to be disconnected, but it's something you can literally do everywhere.

I know for me, I do it when I'm driving a lot. I've been in Vancouver for three years and I still get stressed out finding parking, so doing a double inhale, long exhale box. Breathing while I'm in my car helps me so much. But you can do it in public settings as well if you are. Going to an interview or you're meeting someone and preparing for a difficult conversation.

It can be really discreet. It can be to yourself. You can have those mantras going in your head and it makes such a difference. I think people underestimate the value as well and think, oh, well, I'm always breathing, but there's a difference between automatic breathing and active breathing and I, I'm so glad you brought that up, and hoping my audience will have more awareness of this tool as well.

Absolutely. Yeah, no, really, it's so true. And the thing is, is that most of us aren't really breathing. We breathe at like 30% of our lung capacity. And if you think about that, you're really only bringing in like 30% of the oxygen, 30% of like that newness of what you need in your body. So I think breath is something that is definitely like when you start with trends of like new wellness trends, breath is on the forefront and it's there for a reason.

And it is, as you said, one of the simplest ways. To really change state, to really become present and to, you know, honestly, just actually make your fellow self feel a lot better. So we're highly recommend breathing. Speaking of tools that we have in our back pocket for whether it's business, lifestyle, wellness, I wanna get more into the business side of things.

So in another podcast you talked about how beneficial your partnership with Barbie Ben is. We love Barbie here, and that the two of you really compliment each other with your skills on the business. Creative movement side, they all blend together really well. But do you have any advice or tips for young entrepreneurs out there or people listening that wanna take the next step and they need some motivation or tools to either find that business partner or take things on themselves?

You just gotta do it. Yes. It's like the hardest thing to say, but you have to be willing to fail and you have to be willing to know that like, If you don't try, it will never happen. I was terrified. I, I think I said no the first time we were talking about it, like about Jaybird and. It's just like, I talked about this on another podcast.

I was at a place in my life and I was saying yes to everything that made me the most afraid. So my like work at that time was, is that anything that made me afraid? I would say yes to do it. So if I was, didn't want, if I was like feeling afraid to have a conversation or walk up to someone, I was like, you have to go do that if I, whatever.

So I just kept challenge myself. To walk towards uncomfortability because in that is where the growth happens. So when it came to Jaybird, I was almost too afraid, and then I had to really look at myself and instead of making excuses, Take that step. When it comes to advice, I mean, everyone has different advice.

I never went to business school, so I'm so lucky that I have Barbie that does the business side, and she is like so creative and so amazing and such an great leader. But I would say like, make sure you know what your skillset is and if you don't know what your skillset is, ask your friends, what do you think I'm really good at?

What do you think? Like or ask people that you work with. Getting feedback and listening to feedback is really important. But it, once you know what you are really good at, then find someone, even if it's not a partner, but fi, hire someone that can help you or put tools in place. Say you're bad at organizing.

Like get things in, get a calendar, going, do those things that will help you with the places where you're the weakest because it's really hard to do it all on your own. Absolutely, and that's something that I'm learning with running the podcast even that you try and have your hand in all these things, and even if you have an idea, you are at some point setting yourself up for that failure.

And maybe you need to go to that place to then understand that you do need help or that you can outsource things or delegate things, but. If you've never done something before, it's hard to know that skillset. So I love that you brought up asking people that you currently work with cuz they have an idea of how you operate when you're really thriving.

Mm-hmm. Where sometimes you like naturally ask for help and sometimes it's hard to even realize those moments within ourselves. We can have a really. Biased or blurry vision of how we operate. So it's great to get an outside opinion and to be open to that feedback I think is another clear thing. If you're asking for it, you're wanting to receive.

You're not just wanting something to bump up your ego, that's not gonna help you in the long run at all. Yeah, it's really listen, like listen. And it's also interesting cuz you might hear two completely different things from two completely different people. And it also gives you that understanding that like, not everyone's gonna see you the same way.

Not everyone's gonna like what you do. And I would say like mm-hmm definitely as an entrepreneur, like really knowing what you are, selling what you are and not wavering and trying to make everybody happy is so important. So like, For me, when we and I created Jaybird, we're like, this is what Jaybird is.

If someone asks us to turn the music down or turn the lights on, it's not gonna happen. It's just like you have to accept Jaybird might not be for you, and that is okay. It's not gonna be everybody. And if you start to kind of give to everybody, you start to be kind of nothing. For everyone instead of something for the people that really, I would say, kind of like attract to what you're doing.

So having a really clear understanding of what you're offering and how you're different from people around you, that is a really important thing as well when you're starting up a business. This wasn't a prep question, so we can skip, skip. You can't cater to everyone, and that if you have this clear idea of what you're promoting, what your business is, you have to stick with that.

In the early days of Jaybird, when you were conceptualizing the brand, the company, the workouts, what did that look like? What was that process?

It's a great question. I had been living in LA at the time and there was a studio in LA that was like a dark studio like not as dark as Jaybird. And there was, I know it's really loud outside. I feel like we just go out the time when everyone's like but that always happens. We live in a city.

So when we started thinking about. Jaybird, I was living in la I brought Barbie to a studio down there that was like an infrared candle at studio. It wasn't as dark as Jaybird and it was more of a yoga style class. And great. Really for us like. We both had seen that there was something missing within the fitness or like community or kind of, and we both were really work looking at mindfulness and we really wanted to create this kind of like intersection between movement and mindfulness.

And so we realized the dark room's a great thing for that. No mirrors is a great thing because you're taking away. You know, looking outside of yourself, judgment you're also taking away the phones. You have to be with yourself. Music is so super immersive. So we put everyone on mics and turned the music up loud.

And then really when we were coming up with the workouts, I really just created the workouts that like I, what I loved the most and I took different things from different places and kind of blended it all together. And it's been a work in progress. Like we're still learning things change, like. After Covid, we added in the dance party.

Cause I felt people wanted to move and so I was like, how can we continue to evolve as well? So yeah, I mean really I had to just trust myself that what I was putting on and the classes I was creating within the studio, other people would like, because I would like, so to be honest, I really just created the classes that I wanted to take.

That's the truth. I love hearing the behind the scenes though, because especially I personally bring on brands and companies that I use and I love. So knowing the background of how this idea became a reality is so interesting to me and it's really inspiring knowing that you can go from something that you love and that you take and then turn it into your very own thing and present it to the world and.

I don't wanna say simple as that cuz there are a million steps from beginning to start. But I think sometimes we overcomplicate things in our head and. If you have an idea and you're like, I really love this product, but what if it was like this and like this and presented in this way? I think people sometimes think it can't be that easy.

You have to add more to it, or a ha you have to reinvent the wheel in a million different ways. And it's like, no, you just have to make it your own and love and be passionate about what you're presenting and a community and a following will come from that. Yeah, absolutely. I think you got it. Like sometimes reinventing the wheel is, I mean, people feel like, oh, you're copying this, but everything technically is coming from somebody else's inspiration.

And it goes back into like the dawn of time. I mean, obviously there aren't things that suddenly pop up that are brand new. I'm not saying like a hundred percent of the time, but especially in the movement space, in the wellness space. You are getting inspired by other people and then you are bringing it on.

Or the same thing as you're saying like, you know, maybe you try some drink that you really like, but you're like, oh, if I can only do it like this, yeah, go do it. There'll be somebody else that will like or be wanting the same thing that you are wanting. Right. So I totally agree, and it doesn't have to always be as complicated, but it's just really knowing what you're creating and how it differs from the other things that are already out there.

Exactly. Having that clear vision, I think is what sets you apart. Then trying to just put something out of the blue just because it doesn't exist yet, but maybe you're not passionate about it, there might not be an audience. You have to be really clear on your vision and your why, like why are you doing it so that when you go and explain it to somebody, it's like, You know, I believe in this and this and this, and this is what we wanna create because of this.

So you really have like a strong idea of why you're doing it and because it's just kinda like, oh, like, and I mean it, I mean maybe their why is just like, I, I really think it's gonna be, tastes better this way or whatever. But finding out deep down, like what is the why for your company and like what do you have to offer the world?

Before we get more into branding and business questions, I wanna flip the script a little bit on you. So, running all these businesses, Jaybird alone, you have locations in Vancouver and Toronto across the country. That alone is so busy and hectic. I can't imagine what your schedule looks like. But being in the wellness and fitness industry, I don't think people always understand that you're spending so much time giving others that time for wellness and fitness, that sometimes your own can go to the wayside.

So how do you manage meeting your own needs in terms of physical, emotional wellness and fitness? Yeah, no, that's, it's still a work in progress. I would love to say that I have, I'm a person that I get up at 6:00 AM and I do this and that and that, and like, to be honest, I'm not, I love sleeping. But I, I mean, I would say one thing is lucky.

I don't need to really, like, my workouts are jaybird. I just do jaybird when I teach. That's pretty much what I do for my body. I'm in the studio a lot. So for me it's finding obviously moments to rest that are really important because. That is like, I don't need much more working out per se. Mm-hmm. When it comes to like what I can do to refill my own cup, like I'm still really working on this.

I try every morning and every night before I wake up and when I go to bed, it's sometimes it's only like a three minutes of just like lying in bed and just like, Breathing and like taking a moment to set myself right before I start the day. As I said, I know some people come on podcasts. It's like I do my 15 minute meditation and then I get my matcha and then I stretch like this.

I mean, maybe if I woke up earlier and I had like, More disciplined to do that, I could, but for me, I just do my very best to kind of slip those moments in when possible. So a little meditation at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day I find is like really helpful. And then also just like trying to weave it in, like if you're driving kind of what you're saying, like find some moments to breathe, some moments to rest.

And obviously like eating well, drinking lots of water, all those things are really important when you're using your body a lot. So, But then also like, I think you have to have times like, I'm an extrovert. I need to go out, I need to have times where I, you know, go and see my friends or go for a dinner, go see a concert.

Like those things fill my cup, they inspire me. So it can be hard, I think, sometimes where like, I'm tired, like but like, Actually getting out and like being social is so important. There's just like these new studies coming out about like loneliness and it's almost as hard on our health as it is like smoking.

So remembering that like we still need to be out. We still need personal and connection, human connection. Is important. And sometimes that little extra effort is actually can fill my cup more than like staying at home and you know, resting per se. But everyone is different. So I think it's knowing the type of person you are and doing the things that light you up.

Is really important to like stay a happy like human being cause it's not easy. That was so refreshing. I know personally, I go in seasons of my life where I, I am up at five 30 and I love my morning routine and I have the energy to work out and do all these things in the morning. And then sometimes, and right now I'm in a season where I'm struggling just to get up early enough to get ready to go to work in the morning and just put on a little bit of makeup and make a cup of coffee.

But knowing, I think the basis of it is, Knowing what works for your body in that season, and I so appreciate you saying that because I know myself, my audience looks up to you. Looks up to you, the businesses that you've created. So we probably had this preconceived idea in our head that you are, that person that gets up at five in the morning, makes a matcha, meditates journals, goes on a walk and does yoga before the very first meeting of your day.

Yeah. And knowing that you don't need to do all those things to be successful and reach your. Fitness, personal and career goals. You just have to listen to your body and have a little bit of discipline and then fill up the other areas of your life. I love what you mentioned about going to a concert and being social concerts.

Fill my soul. I literally just went to Shania Twain last night with some of my girlfriends. Yeah, and if you don't make time for those things, I think you're gonna burn out one way or another. Yeah, exactly. And I just try to be as honest as I can, cuz I do think there's a lot of people out there that are like, Showing what they're doing and it's just like I'm doing it because like that's what I'm supposed to be doing.

And you know, don't get me wrong, maybe I would be more productive if I did all those things. But it's also just looking at the capacity of what you have and knowing the type of person you are. I'm not a morning person. I'm way more creative at Night. Barbie sends me emails at 7:00 AM and I reply at 9:00 PM So you know, it's who you are, what works for you, and not judging yourself against the person next to you.

But doesn't mean that if you know that like I. Give, giving yourself an out to just be like, oh, I'm just not gonna do it because like, I'm just ti I'm just not that kind of person. It's like, well, you still can take in the like those little steps. Mm-hmm. But I think the comparison piece, especially now with like TikTok and Instagram, you're constantly seeing like, oh, this person got up at five and did all these things and it's become a trend, like the morning routine and I think.

You have to honestly ask yourself what is working best for me? Is sleeping for a few more moments and a quick meditation and breath work, is that, is that actually going to help me more? Or am I a person that needs to get up and do all these things? And just really honoring yourself is so important. The social media TikTok thing is huge.

I just had this realization, I feel like a couple weeks ago, or even a month ago, that I'm seeing all these day in the life on my feed and getting into this comparison trap, and then it took me a moment to realize how curated this is. Mm-hmm. So this might have been someone's day. But it could have been a day where they planned, okay, I'm gonna make a TikTok on my routine.

It has to be on trend. It has to be perfect. But then as a consumer, we think, oh my God, they're doing this all the time. I am not, I, it doesn't work for my body. Like you mentioned, we, we need discipline. We have to do things that we don't always wanna do in order to push ourselves and be the best version of ourselves.

But I think there is an element where you kind of need to ignore what's going on in so social media and really focus in on what works best for you. A hundred percent. And I think like, definitely like one of the things you can do of getting up is just like, not go on your phone, take the first hour of the day without looking at social media.

You know, take, put your phone away. Don't look at your phone for the last hour before you go to sleep. Like those things can end read a book. Like even if the book is like a trash novel, who cares? You know, like it's little things like that that can make massive differences in your own mental health and also just in the way you sleep.

Like all like it's. Sometimes we think we have to do like everything, but the simp, like sometimes the small little things are the things that actually can be the most impactful. Absolutely. And you're totally right. Like most of the time if someone's doing that, TikTok, they've planned it and they don't do it every day, but they're pre like, it's still a pre pretend.

Some people do, but you know, it's, you gotta take everything with a grain of salt in a way. Absolutely. I wanna talk a little bit more about business before I let you go. So this might be a strange question, but I would be so remiss if I didn't bring it up. And in my research I saw that you were featured in an article all about sense as well.

And one of the things that first stood out to me about Jaybird and to my friends is the scent. It has this iconic, beautiful, luxurious. Scent. And whenever me and my girlfriends are out somewhere or we're at each other's apartments or homes, we have a candle going and we're always like, what is the jaybird scent?

I want my home to smell like Jaybird. So what was that thought process? Was that really intentional of the element of creating this sanctuary, the sa safe space using all of our senses? Or was that something that you really enjoyed the scent and wanted to bring into the studio? I love that you have this iconic scent.

Yeah. That gets that one, that one goes completely to Barbie. She is like a huge scent person. I can't tell you what it is. It is our secret sauce. Yes. We don't let it out. But she wanted to find something that was like a blend between a La Labo scent and the proper hotel scent. So it was one of those things that like finding when you walk into a place scent is so, like when you smell something, you reminds you of that.

So it's like someone's perfume or whatever. So if you can find the scent, That every time you do it, as you say, you think about Jaybird. That's what we wanted. So it was very intentional to create a scent, to have something that really reminded people of Jaybird and also like lit up all of your senses. So yeah, really like it was, that one was all on Barbie.

She like wanted to do something that sort of. Kind of finished the senses and also she just like loves good smells. So I was like one on that one Barbie. Like, you crushed that. I love the smell. We have candles and incense now, so that's the best way to get the smell. But unfortunately it's the one thing that we don't tell people.

Cause it's our secret, it's our special sauce. You can't give out all your secrets. No, absolutely. You gotta keep some things close to the chest. But I. Thought that was just so brilliant in terms of a branding perspective, in terms of a customer experience perspective. I personally don't think if I had my own location or when I have my own podcast studio, we're shopping around studios right now, I wanna bring in my own signature, all the things sent because of that connection I have with Jaybird.

I love that. Yeah. And it's definitely like, and this goes back to what we were talking about before, like. Some people will come to Jaybird and just be like, oh, like this should be a scent free environment. Mm-hmm. And you can't make those people happy. You have to choose. Right. And so, you know, you don't just make the scent less because then you're gonna like lose it.

It's kind of like, I'm so sorry, we're not a SC free place. If that's something that you need, like you're just gonna have to go to somewhere else. It's very clear on our website that we have sent and all that. So really same thing for you. Like do it if it's something that works for you. It does work for us.

And I feel the same way. Every time I walk in, I'm like, oh. I'm back. So, yeah, exactly. So with piggybacking off this, do you have other tips in terms of branding for young entrepreneurs, whether they're looking for something in the fitness wellness space or starting their own brand, things like this that can help them stand out and really create their own signature look and community that follows with them.

I mean, I'm not a, I'm not in branding. Yeah. But I would say like a very intentional. Decision that Barbie and I made was about the design element of Jaybird. So we really wanted to design a space that looked and felt very different than any other yoga fitness studio that you walk into. A lot of the time you'd walk into yoga or Pilates or even like any sort of fitness studio.

If you even think about a soul cycle, everything's very white. It's very clean, it's very bright. And so we really wanted to. Find something that made it feel different and set ourselves kind of at a level that would be hard for people to, you know, kind of like come up and meet us at. So I would say like looking at ways that you can stand out.

So for us it was design. We had St. Marie design the place, which is obviously we spent a lot of money to do that, but it also really set the tone of what we were trying to bring into the space. So I think like, Really trying to set yourself apart. Finding one element that sets yourself apart. Is it, if it's like, if you can do all elements, great, but if it's just like a product, maybe you change the shape of the bottle to something that's different that people haven't seen that they'd remember.

Maybe it's changing a different color or like, For us, we use Brown. I'll tell you, I honestly never thought I would own a brown studio. When St. Marie said Brown, I was like, no, no, I don't like brown. And now when they showed us, I was like, okay, this is also like so beautiful and it gives you that like earthy feel.

So I. Yeah. I would say also we had some really bad names when we started that we thought were excellent. Make sure you're googling your names, figuring out what they would like bring up in Google searches. It sounds so silly, but like, make sure that they're easy to remember. Sometimes when you get too fancy with names you can, like, you, it just, some people will be like, I don't remember, like, what's it called again?

Yeah, so just making sure that like for us, we wanted to choose a name that was, could be used across lifestyle. So Jaybird isn't necessarily, you know, Female or male centric. It could also be a yoga class, it could be a Pilates class, it could be worn on your sweatshirt. It could be a lot of different things.

So kind of thinking about that when you're creating a brand, when you choose a name, can it do all of the different things that you want, and then having a reason for your name. So for instance, we got Jaybird from like free as a jailbird. So that idea of like that staying back in the day. So when people would like go to jail, they'd like have.

Take all their clothes off and like walk into jail, they took off. So it sounds really weird, but it was the idea of going into Jaybird, taking off your layers and coming back to yourself. So it's kind of the same and different. Some people have been like, did you know this? We're like, yeah, we chose it for that reason.

So, It's so it kind of can have a fun story behind it. But yeah, to be honest, I'm not a, I'm, I'm, we had a lot of help with our marketing. We had a good branding people that helped us do it. So if you have the money to do it, I would recommend like Glassberg and Walker did ours and they did an incredible job helping us with the look and the feel, the colors, all that.

But again, you gotta listen to your gut too. There's a lot of things that people brought to Barbie and I and we're like, Nope, we don't like that. Like, so, you know, deep down what your brand is. But sometimes again, like going back to asking your friends, like we would have two names, which one do you like?

So you don't have to take it personally, but outside opinion is so important. Oh, 100%. What you mentioned about your first idea, you can think it's like this great idea in your head and then give it, it's kind of like a tattoo. Like I'm so glad I didn't get the tattoos on my Pinterest board at 14 because at the time I thought they were unreal and I'm like, if I was walking around with this on my body as an adult, I would be saving money to get laser removal.

Absolutely. And your brand is an extension of you. Yeah. No, that's a good for someone who says that they're not really strong in branding. You gave us a ton of wonderful ideas and insights, so thank you for that. I really am gonna take home with me the letting go portion and being open to things with my own brand.

I was so into pink, and now with our rebrand, we still have that element in it. But being open to other ideas, I think you can be your own worst enemy at times and pigeon yourself into this hole of what you see. But sometimes it's important to look beyond that and trust the process as well. Absolutely.

Absolutely. So going back a couple quick questions about yourself for our listeners. Ariel, do you have any non-negotiables in your daily routine?

I mean, I feel like I, I've been trying to get off coffee, but I still love matcha. So yes, I'm a person that like, I'm sorry, like the no caffeine thing in the morning for me is. It's, I just don't wake up. As I said earlier, like I love nighttime, so I definitely need that coffee. And I think like I'm, or a matcha, I've trained, I've changed over to matcha cuz I find it's a little easier on my nervous system.

I don't get like as much peaks and valleys, so I. Finding something. It's also like for me, like especially being in Toronto or here, it's warm. It's something in the morning that I love, like a little like moment for me. So that would probably be like a non-negotiable of something that I have to have every day.

But yeah, I mean, I think I. That's probably the one thing that I really do do every single day. I feel you try. I do try to drink a glass of water like with lemon before I do it, so trying to like have water and lemon before I have my coffee or my matcha. It's really good for your body, especially if you're sweating a lot.

So that's another one. I feel you on that though. I love caffeine. I don't really look like it, but I am Italian and I started drinking black coffee at way too early of an age. Yeah, so something that's helped me is trying to delay my caffeine consumption and wait at least 45 minutes in the morning before I have my cup of coffee.

But I don't know if I'll ever be able to get rid of that entirely. So thank you for bringing that up too, because I, I simply could not go without that either. You don't have to, you know what I mean? You don't have to if it's not affecting you. Like I know some people that they just feel crazy and they just like, Can't, or they crash really hard.

And so, you know, I think like we all do the best we can. Just do the best you can. You know, that's the theme. It's not easy. Sometimes you just gotta give yourself that nice cup of coffee in the morning to set yourself up for the rest of the day and don't feel guilty about it because you know, that's, I think we have these such high standards of ourselves, and as the same thing goes back to what we were talking about before.

Oh, well these people aren't doing it, but not everyone is you. Mm-hmm. What works for you? What doesn't work for you? And if something's not feeling right in your body, then it might be some, like that's when you need to look at the change. But if you're feeling great, Why change if you like it, right? We're all doing our best here.

Exactly. Yeah. My final question for you, and I love asking all my guests this question, so that is, do you have an item, a book, a TV show, literally anything that you're loving right now that you wanna share and recommend to the listeners? So I would say like, going back to taking care of your body, and I'm absolutely like, not sponsored by this, but I started taking like athletic greens in the morning and it's like, honestly, I got Barbie on it too, and it's like really helped me, like it's really helped with my hormones and my stomach.

So like for instance, I would get like both Barbie and I would get like so down before our periods and we would just be feeling like you could tell it was coming. I was like so moody, like. And since I've been taking them and I usually take 'em in the morning on an empty stomach or after my matcha, depending on like what I'm doing.

I've noticed that I have a lot more energy. My skin's been better and I don't notice when my period's coming as much. So you don't have to take that. But sometimes finding like a way of getting the vitamins that you need in your body, especially. If you are like me, like really pushing your body hard, it's really an important thing to do.

Another thing I do because I sweat so much is sometimes buying electrolytes are really, really expensive. You can almost like, there's two different ways, but another way to really help get the hydration into your cell is I have like a it's just like, You just need like a ti. It's like Celtic salt.

It sounds crazy. It has to be like Celtic salt. And you take like a tiny little piece, like really small and just put it on your tongue before you drink your water and then drink your water after. And it actually allows the hydration to penetrate through the cell membrane and it hydrates your body better than if you just drink your water straight.

So for me, if you're sweating a lot, if you're feeling like. You're a lot, you're tired. Also, if you drink a lot of water and you are peeing like constantly, that's a good indication that you're not actually absorbing the hydration into the cells. So that's like a, such a simple trick. And it's not as expensive as buying like a ton of electrolytes.

Don't get me wrong. Electrolytes are great, but trying to find new way of finding hydration because a lot of the times when we think we're hi tired and we reach for coffee, We're actually dehydrated and we just need to like rehydrate the body. So those are like two simple things that I've been really like working on.

They're not really I guess like a book or a TV show, but some two things that are really simple and relatively affordable to help yourself every single day. I love how tangible those are. . My mom actually got me on Celtic Salt when I was visiting my parents. She had it and for so long I feel like there's this fitness trend that salt and sodium was bad.

Yeah. But as someone who does work out a lot, who sweats a lot, that's so key in replenishing your body. So I love that you are talking about this as well. Cuz I feel like I only had this realization maybe a year ago that in order to be an equilibria. Equilibrium and be actually hydrated. You need that in your body.

And I've been on the fence about trying athletic greens for a while. I get ads for them all the time. I've heard so much about them. But I think you convinced me I need to put in an order. Yeah, just try it. I mean it's, it's like doesn't taste the best, but it works. And I've tried a lot of different things in my life.

I've taken so many green drinks and this and that and like it is pricey. But it does work. It gives you a lot of the nutrients. And I would say about the salt thing, the type of salt that you use is so important. So like table salt is actually like, I understand why there's like a negative connotation towards like certain table salt, but like if you can use Himalayan salt or if you can like use like different, like I would say just like salt that isn't as kind of broken down and processed, it is definitely like better for you.

And you do need salt, especially if you're sweating. Like I, I mean, I, I'm a huge salt person. It's bad I put salt on everything, but you know, sometimes you said, just gotta do your best. Exactly. No, and I feel that, and when I come outta Jaybird, I look like I've just showered most of the time. So adding a little bit of salt back into your food, I think is a great way to balance out those hydration levels again too.

Exactly. Ariel, thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast. You are absolutely welcome back anytime, and I can't wait to see you in person and get into your classes again. Thank you so much for having me. It's such a pleasure.  I hope to come back again soon. 





 Wait, you cannot go just yet. First off. Thank you. So much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode with Ariel Swan. It was a long. Time coming. Like I mentioned in the beginning