The School of Greatness - 315 Kathryn Budig on Aiming True to Yourself, Your Body, & Your Life

Episode Date: April 13, 2016

"I think it would be amazing to live in a world with no cameras and no mirrors." - Kathryn Budig If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes, video, and more at http://lewishowes.com/315

This is episode number 315 with Katherine Budig. Welcome to the School of Greatness. My name is Lewis Howes, former pro athlete turned lifestyle entrepreneur. And each week we bring you an inspiring person or message to help you discover how to unlock your inner greatness. Thanks for spending some time with me today. Now let the class begin. Welcome, everyone, to this incredible episode, number 315.

I'm so blessed and grateful I'm back in L.A. today. I had an incredible trip again back in Vancouver. If you missed the last episode where I talked about, I met so many fascinating people, such warm people in Canada. Man, it just brought me back to feeling like I was back in Ohio, bringing me back to my roots. Love the warmness, the energy, the beauty of the people, the place in Vancouver. Man, it was just a great weekend,

full weekend, lots of great interviews. I got to speak at a great conference called Man Talks to talk about how to be a more vulnerable man and how to be a better husband, father, son, and just a better man in general. We just had a great conversation with about 400 people in the room and a lot of laughter, a lot of tears, all that good stuff wrapped up in one. I've just got a lot going on right now, and we are just starting. We're just getting started still, and I'm so pumped, and you guys inspire me. I was in Vancouver, and I was surprised because more people stopped me on the street in Vancouver than when I'm in New York or in L.A., and I was just so grateful for people's stories and all they shared about how much they love

this podcast. And I don't know who listens to the podcast unless you tell me, unless you tell me when you see me in person or you send a tweet or a Facebook message or you email me. So it's hard to know the impact this is having until, you know, I get to give people a hug and say thank you and hear their stories of transformation in their lives and relationships and their health. And it's just such a blessing. So I want to say thank you, guys. Before we jump into this episode, thank you, thank you, thank you for all that you do and all your incredible support with this movement of the School of Greatness. with this movement of the School of Greatness.

Now, today's episode is with my friend Catherine Budick. And Catherine is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher and author known for her accessibility, humor, and ability to empower her students through her message, which is all about aiming true. With over a decade of experience in her field, she serves as the yoga contributor to Women's Health Magazine for five years and writes weekly for Yoga Journal. She's also a sponsored athlete in Under Armour's I Will What I Want campaign and just released her second book, which is called Aim True. We talk a lot about her process as a yoga teacher and what she really does to navigate people through their own journey, their own journey of discovering what's true for them. So we cover her background,

how she really got started, a little bit about her book, but more about the ways to love your body for who you are, how to practice more self-love, and all the different practices that she's talked about in overcoming the challenges of body image and needing to keep up constantly. So how do we use and apply the principles that she's learned through yoga and apply it for our daily life? I think you guys will enjoy this one, and please let me know what you think back at the blog, lewishouse.com slash 315. Make sure to share this out.

Click on the share button if you're on iTunes right now on your phone and just share it out and tweet it out and let people know what you're listening to. And also, if you have time, go check out the full video interview over on YouTube. You can subscribe at youtube.com slash lewishouse and check out all of our previous interviews there as well. Without further ado, let me introduce you to the one, the only, Katherine Budig. Welcome back to more of the School of Greenness podcast. Very excited about our guest today. Her name is Katherine Budig, and she's got a new book out called Aim True. Make sure to check this out.

We'll have it linked up in the show notes after this podcast or below the YouTube video. It's all about loving your body, eat without fear, nourish your spirit and discover true balance. Thank you so much for being here. It was so good to see you. I appreciate it. This is great. We had a good time. We were at Summit Series doing some acro yoga

together. Yeah, but you have to tell them exactly when this happened. This was like the second step onto the ship after I had eaten this huge meal. And you're like, let's go upside down. I think Michelle was – you were with Michelle Pramaleco, right? Yeah, and I had on jeans and boots. And you're like, you got this. I was like, let's do that right now.

Yeah. I was like, let's go. And then you're like, I'm so full. I'm so sorry. I'm trying to get a handstand on my hands. I vomit all over you right now, but you're really cute. Yeah. But it was fun.

And you've got this book out, and you're a big deal in the yoga world. People love you. People come to all your sessions, and we got a good chance to talk on the ship and kind of connect more, and I'm excited about your book. Awesome. How did you get into yoga in the first place? How did it all start? Oh, gosh. Well, I was an athlete tomboy growing up. So I've always been really active. And when I was at the University of Virginia, I was doing musical theater at this point. And one of my ballet

friends, she went off and did yoga with part of her ballet camp. And so she came back super animated and psyched about it. And it's like like there's this thing called yoga and we have to do it i'm like all right cool so she found what i now know was an astanga studio and we went and took a class in the first class i did not enjoy it all it was a male teacher and i didn't realize they're supposed to touch you and that's okay so i was like it's your first yoga class don't be getting fresh with me you know i was like giving the adjustments and stuff i'm like no no no, no, no, no, no. And he was just, you know, his verbiage was very like, oh, river runs through your soul into the rocks of your death.

I was like, I'm not resonating with this at all. So I left thinking yoga was not my thing. She's like, no, please, please, please, please try again. So we went back and I took this amazing classroom of women named Jennifer Elliott. And she was just this vision, you know, long, gray braids, stunning, beautiful, ageless. And I fell in love with her in the practice. Oh, just stunning. I was like, I want to be like you.

What are you doing? Sign me up. I'm on. So I started practicing Nishtanga every week and then, you know, gathered enough money to do two classes a week. And by the time I graduated, I wanted to go to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and thought maybe I should learn how to teach yoga and that'll feed me and pay the bills until I make a big time in Hollywood. Sure. So you moved to LA after Virginia. And you were trying to be an actress.

I did. Or I guess you called it actor. And the first meeting that I had with a manager, keep in mind i was 21 years old like fresh out of college all sparkly and shiny and and the first manager i sat down with her she's like you know i really hate to be the one to tell you this but at the weight that you're at right now you could be the funny best friend i know it's horrible and i mean i was tiny i was 21 and tiny and i just was like okay wow and you know so mind screw right away right off the bat sure sure and so as that was happening to me i was simultaneously training and getting into yoga in a world where it's like hey you're perfect the way

you are and and you should love yourself right now. So it was this really interesting correlation going on where I was like, I want this. I want to feel good about myself every day and I don't need people tearing me apart. So I took my theatrical training and put it into my teaching to be a dynamic teacher. A yoga teacher? Yes.

You took teacher training out here? I did. I trained at Yoga Works in Santa Monica with Chuck Miller and Matias Roddy. How long ago was this? This was 2004. Wow. Yeah. Before yoga was like a thing. Yeah. Before, I mean, this is way before the age of social media. Right. I remember when someone pressured me into joining Facebook. I was like, what is this thing? Wow. I don't want to. But 2004, was yoga even popular then? I mean, maybe in LA it was. That was, you know, like Sean Korn

and Shiva Ray and Baron Baptiste and Brian Kast was, you know, like Sean Korn and Shiva Ray and Baron Baptiste and Brian Kast and, you know, the people who are still huge today but it was a very small pool. Rodney. Rodney who's been around.

I saw him in New York about a few weeks ago and I love that guy. I took athletes for yoga. Oh, no way. I took athletes like the DVD back when I was in college.

Uh-huh. And I was like, who is this like long-haired dude? The ponytail. Yeah, exactly. I was like, who's this guy? But I bought it in a store and I was like, anything to give me the edge. That's so funny. I was like, who is this long-haired dude? The ponytail. Yeah, exactly. I was like, who's this guy? But I bought it in a store and I was like, anything to give me the edge.

That's so funny. I was just teaching at their studio in New York for my book launch with Colleen, his wife. I met her too, yeah. And she was so funny. She's like, Rodney always threatens to shave his ponytail off. No way. That's his threat, that he's just going to shave it off. That's hilarious.

Oh my gosh. Yeah. off. Um, yeah, so it was a land before handstands, you know, when yoga was a really physical activity that it is now much less acrobatic and showy. Um, and I certainly didn't get into it because I thought I was going to be some big rockstar yoga teacher. I just loved yoga and thought it would be, I was a kid. I was like, this is- Make some money on the side. Yeah, and it's fun. And I get to do something physical with my body all the time. Right, right.

And I just didn't really know where I was going with my life yet. And it turned into this accidental career as I started teaching more and more and realized, oh, I could actually make a living doing this. Wow. And it continued to evolve into where I am now.

How long were you in LA for then? I was here for eight years. Eight years teaching? Yes. At Yoga Works more, did you have your own practice or? I primarily taught at YogaWorks. I dabbled at a couple other studios and then had a bunch of private clientele as well. Wow. Okay. Cool.

Yeah. And why'd you decide to move? Because it's LA is rough, man. How long have you been here? It's going to be four years in July. Okay. So it's still okay. Check in with me in a couple of years. Yeah, right, right. You know, I think especially as a woman, not to leave out men, I think as a human, living

in LA, being a yogi in the health world, it's incredibly draining. And I just reached a point where it was so cutthroat and so competitive. And I just started to feel really bad about my body. And I was in good shape. You're teaching every day. Yeah. And you're in stretchy, stretchy, stretchy pants. You know, there's like, no, you don't teach yoga in a muumuu, right?

Like you got to suck it up and put that stuff on. And, and it was just the kind of thing where I would see people who were, you know, on the cover of magazines in DVDs and they were applauded for being the epitome of health. Like, oh my gosh, look at them. They're so beautiful. They're so healthy. And then behind the scenes, I saw what they were actually doing to look that way. And it was just juicing all week, which to me is like, oh, so you're not eating.

You're just drinking juice. Slow starvation, binging on the weekend, just basically doing all these really, and by the way, I love juice, but i like it with food um you know and it just saw people making these really unhealthy choices only to step in front of a camera to praise me look how healthy i am when they were working so hard and an unhealthy way to look that way right and i'm i just it's like i want to see people who eat well who work out who rest who who balance their lives and show me that body and show me that there's no one body.

Show me that this comes in all different shapes and sizes. And I feel like this is how we're going to make dramatic change in people's lives and their neuroses and how they view themselves. It's not one body type. It's not one age. It's not one skin color that is what looks good. And I just reached a point in LA where like that's what was happening. I was like, I can't.

I just, I'm exhausted by this. I'm so tired. And so you ended up to move. Where did you move? I did. I live in Charleston, South Carolina now. Okay. And oh, I love it.

I love it so much. Okay. Yeah. They like their food there. Of course. Yeah, of course. So do you think right now is the most pressure for, I guess, men and women to look a certain way?

Or do you think it's been worse in the thousands of years? I think it's absolutely the worst right now because of social media. Because there's a platform where… Instagram has ruined it for people. And it's so sad because I think the concept of Instagram is so genius. Like an online photo album of all of your memories. And I love going back and looking at everything that I've done. It's exciting. But the problem is, and all these filters, I think the filter was a major problem. And now we have like Photoshop apps where you can

shrink your waist and like basically remove your nose if you want to. Be a different person. It's insane. It's absolutely insane. And so people are putting up these candid photos of like, oh, look at me. Airbrushed, everything, yeah. Everything. But that's what we're seeing as normal. So that's not relatable. That's not inspiring. It's just you look at this person, oh, I guess I should be looking like that. And I don't. But that's just them hanging out on a Sunday. In their PJs. Right? Making up in bed. on a Sunday.

And they're PJs. Right? You know, so. Make it up in bed. And then I think about the younger generation too. And, you know, I grew up in Kansas without cell phones or social media. And I didn't think about my body when I was young. That just, and I was an athlete, you know, I wanted my body to be more muscular. Like I wanted soccer thighs.

I loved Kobe Jones growing up. I was like, I want to look like Kobe Jones. That would not have been a good look for me. But so, and I see all these little boys and little girls with this pressure now to be adults so soon and to look a certain way. And I do think that social media is a horrible byproduct of that. It can be used for good or for evil, I guess, right? You can manipulate in any way.

Well, and I think people, like in our roles, we have the power to take this kind of platform and ideally take some of that negativity and flip it back into a place of positivity to help people out. Like we're in such amazing, amazing, powerful places to put some goodness back out there. Yeah. Okay. So after eight years, you realized that your health, your body, things weren't working, the energy, something was off for you, right? Right. Yeah. It just.

So you decided to move. I did. And did you have, was your career already set up then where you're like, I'm already making good money. No matter where I go, I'm going to be fine. It was terrifying. I'm not going to lie, you know, because LA and I still believe it to be the Mecca of yoga basically.

So I talked to Sean Korn, who's an amazing yoga teacher, if you don't know who she is, and she's my mentor. And I was like, Hey, I think I want to leave LA. I don't know what the hell I'm doing. But I think I want to get out of here. And I hope it doesn't ruin my career. And she said, you know, if anything, it's actually going to make you do way better. It's going to make you harder to find. Like it's going to blow things up. And you, if anything, the way to really succeed in life, you need to find balance. So you need that home. You need a place where you can go and you can recharge. And that's clearly not happening for you in Los Angeles.

So it was- Practicing what you preach every day in yoga class. Yeah. You need to find balance. And a massive leap of faith, right? You know, just, and I did have enough finances coming in that I could make the move happen. Sure.

But it was just, okay, I'm going to summon in something that I deeply want, even though it may not necessarily be quote unquote associated with success in my career. And it did end up making my career so much stronger than when I lived here. Wow, really? So now you get more private events that people are flying you out for? What's that? Yeah, workshops, conferences, talks.

You know, I'm constantly traveling, doing some kind of yoga or speaking event right you're more exclusive because you're not as accessible yeah and then a place to write a book too you know where i can actually have a moment to to step away from everything and and do my articles and write my books and and not feel like my hair is being pulled out at the same time constantly need like to show up to all the different events all the time yeah like in la that's always happening yeah yeah i'm always getting asked to go to something, three things a night. Right. And how do you say no?

You're like, I'm not here. Don't look at my Instagram page. I'm totally here. No, Snapchat. I'm constantly posting all day long. So why did you decide to do this book? And what's the biggest lesson you learned about yourself in writing Aim True? Oh, gosh.

Well, you know what's funny about this book is that I was talking with my literary agent about my next book. My first one was The Women's Health Big Book of Yoga. We were both, I was Rodale for that. And so I went to her. I was like,

hey, I've got three books I want to write. I could easily write another yoga book. No big deal. I really want to write a cookbook, but I'm not a chef. And then I want to write a book about Aim True because I've been teaching that for so long. And she was like,

Oh, you're not really famous enough to do anything but yoga. So you should write another yoga book. So I was like, okay. So I put together, you know, a 30 page proposal for this yoga book.

And then we started shopping it to all the different publishers and it was going over really well. But several of the publishers were like, Hey, cool. But what's this whole aim true thing? That's interesting. Tell us more.

So next thing you know, they're like whip together two pages, just a tiny proposal for it, which I did. And then that's what I ended up going with. That's cool. And it was that moment in time where I was like, okay, so this is the universe being like, do it now, don't wait.

Like just, you need to put it out there. So it was a really interesting writing process because I didn't have a huge proposal. I didn't have an amazing table of contents. I just had my experiences and it's, it's my heart. So I know I could write about it, but I'm sitting there like, oh my gosh, wait, this is actually happening. I'm putting this pen to paper right now. So it was phenomenal. And I have an unbelievable editor and it was really special because it felt organic and magical, like really coming together and not, this is what you're going to write. It's like, let's, what feels good? What, what is going to make sense?

So it kind of turned into this, you know, explain the aim true philosophy and then how does it apply to all different aspects of my life and the reader's life? And I think the hardest part was, you know, I thought it would just pour out of me like blood because it's so important to me. But I think because it was so important to me, I was like, don't mess up. Don't screw it up. Don't screw it up. Don't screw it up. You know, it's so important to me. So, um, I was very meticulous with my words and, and, and how I wanted to present this because I wanted to give it the best life possible. Right, right.

And to reach as many people. You know, I obviously want the people who know me to read this book, but what would make me thrilled is for people who've never heard of me, don't know anything about the health world or yoga to pick up this book and be really drawn to it and have it affect them. I like it. Who was the most influential person in your life growing up? Growing up?

Oh, my gosh. You know, I mean, I know this is such a generic answer, but I've got to say my dad because my dad is such a phenomenal human being. He grew up in a little tiny town in Nebraska, came from absolutely nothing, and he ended up running four different universities. He ran the American League for Major League Baseball for years. He taught at Princeton University. He's a three-star general in the Air Force. Dude is amazing. So I grew up looking at him being like, okay, so if I want to do something, you just do it. There's no question. You just do it. He wanted to become the president of the American League of Baseball. So he did it. do it. He wanted to become the president of the American League of Baseball. So he did it.

And it was just such an unbelievable role model to have because there was never, no, you can't. That wasn't a vocabulary that was in my household growing up. And my parents supported every whim. You want to be a lawyer? Great. You want to be a naturalist? Great. You want to be a yoga teacher? Okay. And so they always gave me that foundation of like, I succeed whatever i put my mind to that's cool yeah um you ask this in your book you ask people what makes them come alive so i'm gonna ask you i'm sure people have been asking you this for a while now but what makes you come alive a lot a lot um i think especially when i'm on the road and i'm around people seeing people let me put it this way. What breaks my heart is seeing people act small. And so what really makes me come alive is seeing people that spark, that

ember being lit inside of them and that little flicker of recognition that they can do what they actually want to do with their lives. Because I see so many people who sit on their talents or have no concept whatsoever of what they might be good at or what they're excited about. And to me, I feel like a big purpose in life is knowing what you're passionate about, knowing what you're really good at, and then offering it to the world. Those are our gifts. So I think it's our duty to go out into the world and to own it and to be confident with it and to share that. Because when we can act that way, then we're encouraging other people to do the same.

And that creates a more connected, stronger, unified world. So I like being a unifier. I like being a connector. I love... I talk about finding your tribe in the book. And I don't like being competitive with other people. I like competitiveness in the sense that I'll be like, oh, so you're on the New York Times bestselling list. I want to do that too. But not a competitiveness.

It's like, okay, that's going to amp me up. That's going to get me excited. And so I really like helping people that I feel like they deserve that lift and they don't know how to get it on their own. So like, what can I do to support you? It's such a good feeling. And then to see those people succeed, it's just, it's really, really special. That's cool. Yeah. What do you think is missing from your life right now? Missing from my life? Sleep.

You know, routine. I think that's the biggest thing that I miss right now. And I'm in the middle of promoting the book, which I knew was going to be crazy. So I'm trying to find, I had beautiful advice given to me for something like this. When you go on the road to always bring a piece of home with you. And that's what helps you stay focused when you're amongst all this chaos. So I brought my best friend with me and my best friend, no, um, my friend, Caroline, Caroline Shea. Uh, and she's, uh, she's just, Caroline Shea. And she's just amazing. And she's a bulldog.

That's nice though. You have someone who's a friendly face, someone who feels like home. Yeah, exactly. And she's basically turned into my tour manager. She'll be in the crowd being like, time to wrap it up. We need to get to book signing. Go, go. Sure, sure, sure.

That's great. And so it's great because at the end of the day, it's like we go into the hotel room and I've got my best friend there and I can just exhale and talk about whatever I need to. So that's been amazing because I miss waking up in my bed with my dogs. I miss going to my favorite coffee shop in Charleston and getting my avocado toast and getting my almond milk latte and walking outside and just, you know, those things. It's like I miss my martial arts. I miss my regular yoga practice. Right, right, right. But I you know, those things. It's like I miss my martial arts. I miss my regular yoga practice. Right, right, right. But I also know nothing's permanent.

Like this is just a time and place and it's crazy but it's magical right now. And so I don't want to be like, oh, I can't wait to get back to routine because I'm going to miss it. Sure, sure. So I don't know. I don't know if I feel like I really have anything missing in my life because I think it's all here. That's good. It's just attitude, right? Okay, yeah.

What about practicing self-love? There's a lot of people I think, a lot of women, men do this too, but I think more so right now women, at least in my experience, are doubting themselves a lot. I feel like doubt themselves, don't love themselves enough. Sure. And again, maybe it's just my own opinion. No, yeah. That's what I'm feeling in the world is happening. Yeah. What would you say to women and men about how to practice self-love and the importance of it? Why should they be doing it as opposed to putting themselves down?

As someone who's totally been there before, there's this concept of attitude. Circumstance is a very real thing. The 90-10 theory, that 10% is what is legitimately happening.'s fact you can't fight it yeah and then the rest of the pie is your perspective and how you decide yeah right so

we've got this massive story that we're trying to get past and the problem is if you're like constantly whipping out your little mini violin and talking about how bad your life is you are perpetually putting yourself into a place of unhappiness. It's like you dig that hole deeper and deeper and you just keep on jumping in. You're like, oh, it's so cozy at the bottom of the hole down here. Love it.

So it's, for me, at the end of the day, it's like, do you want to be happy? Such a simple question. Do you want to be happy? And I would dare say that most people would answer, yes, please. I would love to be happy. And obviously it's not as simple as just, I'm going to be happy today.

But it kind of is too. Why do most people choose not to be happy then? Because it's habitual. It's totally habitual. And I think, like you said, there's a lot of insecurity. A lot of people don't think they're good enough to be happy. Like this weird, and maybe that's an experience. Maybe it's what their,

the parents or their upbringing, what they've been told is they're not good enough. So it's coming back to the talents again, regardless of what your upbringing is, like, how can you realize, okay, this is what I've been given. This is my tool. This is something that no one can take away from me. This is what makes me uniquely me. And how can I use that? And it doesn't mean it needs to be fancy. It doesn't mean like you need to be an author selling a lot of books. It doesn't mean you need to have a phenomenal podcast. It can be something like, I am an unbelievable mother. I'm an unbelievable father.

I am such a good listener, and my friends always call me, and I'm that person that can bring them back to a place of peace. So once you understand, it's not flashy. It's not like put on your sparkly unitard and go out into the world to get noticed. It's just understand what makes you really unique. And I think that's the path to getting back to a place that's happy. And especially if it's something like body image issues, like that's so gnarly. You know, and I think if you have a body, you've got issues at some point, right?

Man, woman, everything. If you're alive, you've got issues. This is just going to happen. We're human beings, yeah. So you have to allow yourself to have these emotions, right? Man, woman, everything. If you're alive, you've got issues. This is just going to happen. We're human beings, yeah. So you have to allow yourself to have these emotions, right? Like give your emotions permission to live. You can't stifle them

because that's going to get really scary and create resentment and cuckoo-ness. But, you know, like, okay, I don't feel good about the way I look today. Cool. I'm just going to acknowledge that. But I talk about this in the book. Like this is my meat suit.

And so this is a really fancy vessel that I've got that encompasses my soul. And like, if you look at the people who love me, my friends, they don't love me because they think I'm ridiculously good looking, right? They love me because I give them something as a friend that they can't get from someone else. And yet it's so easy to get caught up in, I don't look good today. Oh, I look bad in this outfit. I look fat. I look too thin.

I look whatever it is. And that's just such a superficial part of who we are. And I think it would be amazing if we could live in a world with no cameras and no mirrors. Can you imagine that? No selfies? No selfies. I know. That'd be tough.

Snapchat would be gone. But think about it. No mirrors, no reflective Snapchat would be gone. But think about it. No mirrors, no reflective surfaces, no cameras. Because think about it. Okay, so have you ever had one of those days where you get dressed and you're like, yes, I'm looking good. This is fresh. And then you see yourself tagged in a photo later that day and you're like, holy crap. Why didn't someone tell me that's what I look like?

But meanwhile, you're like, yeah, oh, looking good. But so that's your attitude. So it's not until the moment you see it. Right. Where you're like start self-doubting or start. Exactly. Where it's like, how do you feel? And that's something that I teach in the yoga room all the time.

It's not about how you look. How do you feel? Like that's why I don't want mirrors in a yoga room. I don't want you looking at yourself. How does it feel? It doesn't matter if you can touch your toes. It doesn't matter if you can do the full wrap. How does it feel? And if we can get back to a place like that, then aesthetics aren't important anymore. But that's a daily practice.

That's not like you're going to think about it once and be cured. This is something you have to want to feel better. Don't people feel better also when they know they look better too? Oh, for sure. And I mean, I'm in the health world, so I totally believe in, you know, physically taking care of yourself, eating well, exercising. And yeah, like we all want to look good. But what's the definition of looking good? Yeah. I'm never going to have the long legs that I want to have it ain't going to happen my torso is super duper duper short never going to stretch out that's what I would love so I have to make peace with my shorter package

and be like this is pretty good I have a short girlfriend she's 5'2 oh you're all about it then I'm all about the 5'2 so girls who are short have it made in my mind nice she'd be excited about that it would love the five foot two

bond exactly there you go um okay cool now how many classes do you think you've done you've taught in yoga oh my gosh oh my gosh thousands thousands hundreds of thousands i mean so many classes what's the average size would you say? 20, 30, 50, 10? When I was teaching in Los Angeles, classes would range from 15 to 60 for public classes. You're doing multiple a day.

Yeah. So it depended on what time of day you were teaching. And it's so easy to fall into the number game and feel like, oh, I'm more important if I have a lot of people in my class. Sure, sure, sure. When it's just like, teach a good class.

Well, I'm curious, what's the common theme that you always see no matter what city you're in, how many people are in the class? What's the common theme that you see the biggest obstacle people face? When they come into the yoga room? You know, I think if people don't know me well, they don't know what they're walking into and what to expect. And I think there's this

preconceived notion with yoga that it's really serious and a lot of teachers behave that way. So I think like fun and yeah, and no, and I try to make people laugh immediately so they understand what they're getting into because I personally think that people succeed so much faster when they're laughing so much faster because if you're not taking yourself so seriously, it allows you to be more open to falling down to experiencing. Yeah. And when you have a teacher hovering over you with their hot breath on top of you, like cracking the whip, it's a lot of pressure.

Yeah, it is. It's a lot of pressure. And I've had teachers be very mean. Yeah. Holding your breath. Yeah. And I don't respond well to people being mean to me. I don't like that.

And you know, to each their own. Some of us want the whip. Some of us want someone to, like, hold us like a puppy dog. We all have our different needs. But I just find that people really enjoy when they realize, wait, this is a safe place. Like, this is a place where I can laugh. And I get that compliment all the time. People come up and they're like, this is the most fun I've ever had in a yoga class.

Thank you so much. Like, I didn't know that it's okay to laugh like this in a room. So that to me almost is more important than the actual physical posture is just giving people permission to enjoy themselves. Walk me through a 45 or 60-minute process in 60 seconds. Okay. Tell me the journey that people go through in one class in less than 60 seconds. Okay. You know, at the beginning of the class for me, it's all about formulating intention for

them. So stopping before you begin, like get into the room, let go of everything that's been going on. And then that's like the formulation of aim true, right? This is what I want. Unabashedly ask for what you want. And then you're going to take that request, that verbal tattoo that you want to put onto yourself and apply it to the physical asana. So we're going to move, we're going to breathe. And every single

movement and breath that we take is going to be this reverberation of the intention that's been set. And ideally you're going to fall on your butt. You're going to laugh. You're going to have moments of success. You're going to moments of like, oh my gosh, I'm such a beginner. And all of that's going to formulate to the end where you get to lie down and just go, I let go. I surrender. I've done my best. I've shown up. I've set my intention.

Not only have I set my intention, it is in me now. It's part of who I am. And that way, when they leave the room, it's like, game on. I love it. What do you think is the biggest challenge people face? Is it the fear of looking bad or not doing it the right way? I think there's a lot. For some people, it's ego. Embarrassed.

They don't want to fall in front of people. I've experienced that too where I've unrolled my mat next to some Amazonian beautiful hand-standing princess where I'm like, for real. Perfect alignment. Oh, for real. I pride myself on being a teacher. I'm just going to lie here in child's pose and cry

about my lack of goodness today. So comparison is a beast. That's always really, really tricky. And you get the overachievers. You get the type A personalities who don't know how to relax. And my duty as a teacher is to work people hard, but also get them to calm down. Get people to be okay with closing their eyes.

Recognize that these five minutes of your life, you're not losing them. The best thing that you can do to go back and be powerful in whatever it is you're doing is to turn off for five minutes. Don't think. Don't try to understand. Don't try to remember. Just cleanse yourself for a moment. Be vulnerable. Yeah. And that's really hard for a lot of people. And I see people leave before Shavasana

and that kills me. It breaks my heart. Is that the end where you lay down? Yeah. And that's just two two to five minutes where i'm like there's no way you don't have those five minutes that you can hang with me a little bit longer that could dramatically change the rest of your day how much of a comparison is yoga to real life um very you know it's even if you look at the cycle of it so you often start in a pose like child's's pose, right? So here you are, your little embryo on your mat, like I've been born, I'm on a yoga mat. And then you go through this cycle with these intentions and you have beautiful moments in the practice and you have moments where you're like, this is heartbreaking. This is so frustrating. And then it cycles to Shavasana, which means corpse. So the last pose is...

On your back. Yeah. Your corpse pose, which is the most natural cycle right what are we promised as soon as we're born eventually we'll die so it's not morose it's just this is the cycle of life so we get this little lifetime every single time we decide to practice yoga and i particularly like teaching challenging poses not because i want to see people sweat but because how do you react to it and that is so indicative of how you react to the challenges off the mat, right? Do you take a moment to figure it out? Are you kind of step back and observe?

Or do you freak out and you get really rash and, you know, pout and pound your fists? And so, which I've done all of the above. But it's really helpful to go, okay, this is where I'm at today. Maybe I shouldn't go talk to that person that I'm pissed off with because I'm just going to blow the lid and this is not going to go over very well. Or if I've had a really solid practice, I'm like, all right, I'm ready to talk to that person. Like my mind is clear. I'm going to say exactly what I want to say. No regrets. And so in that sense, I do think yoga should be for everyone because it's just, and I'm not talking fancy poses, but just if you can apply your intention and real life scenarios to these poses, it's amazing training wheels to get

you to where you need to be. Why do you think yoga has taken off so much in the last five, 10 years? There's studios everywhere now. Yeah. You know, it's fascinating because it's so trendy now and you can get yoga anywhere and you can get it online and which is great my concern is just that it's growing so rapidly that i don't feel like the quality is where i want it to be um but i think you know as social media expands and what we talked about earlier today this idea of like people are getting more and more insecure they need a venue to feel better and i'm an athlete like i love sports any kind of sport makes me feel better. But yoga is especially amazing because like it's about intention setting and it's about

staying true to what that intention is. And you know, like I feel that way about martial arts too, where it's like constantly I have to be thinking, I'm always connecting everything together. It's a puzzle, it's a game. And it just, yoga is one of those athletic endeavors that really connects the mind, body, and spirit. And you don't get that with everything. Like I love basketball or playing soccer, but I wouldn't necessarily say it's spiritual for me. It's like I'm going to check you. It might be for someone else though. Totally.

Totally. This is just more written out boldly that you're going to get that. What's your biggest fear in your life? Biggest fear in my life? Losing people I love. I know I'll see them again, but my dog is turning 10. She's 10 going on too. She's very hardy.

She's amazing. But the concept of her not being in my life, I'm like, I'm going to go with you. Wow. Take me with you. That's tough. Yeah. Why does she bring you so much joy? She's my little tiny guardian angel.

I got her when I was in la and she pulled me through some really dark dark hours of my life and she has this unbelievable ability when i'm stressed it used to be like if i was just start using profanity she would do this and she would you know beeline to me immediately with her head round and be like it's okay it's okay it's okay and now we're so connected that I won't even say anything. It's just my heart rate will pick up. And she climbs on, and she's not a snuggly dog. And she'll climb on top of my chest.

And to me, it's just like, this is not worth your time. That's what she's saying. Like, this stress is not worth your time. Let it go, let it go, let it go. It's unbelievable. That's pretty powerful. She's a very powerful little pup. But if I'm in a good mood, she's like, don't touch.

I join my own thing. No, no, no. Just look. Wow. So she's my angel. Amazing. Yeah. That's pretty cool.

Little ashi. What's something you've done that you're really proud of that not many people know about? I'm really proud of my martial arts practice right now. And some people know that I'm doing it. I'm doing Brazilian jiu-jitsu and karate. And I'm especially proud of the jiu-jitsu because it's such a male-dominated world. And it's pretty much every class I take is me and a bunch of big men. And I like knowing that I have what it takes to walk into that room and be like, bring it on.

That's cool. I don't mind. That's cool. You know, and it's this really, it's empowering. It's something that I'd love to see more women doing. I also feel like really confident in a dark alley now. Like I feel like I could defend my friend's honor if I needed to or something like that. And it's just, you know, knowing your own strengths and knowing how to use your body.

And yoga, same thing. Like it really teaches you how to use your own body. But knowing, like, I've got this. I understand how it works. I can protect myself. That's cool. Yeah. I like that.

And give me some tips or some strategies for practicing self-love. Like, what's a ritual that someone could do if they're like, I'm always doubting myself. I don't have any confidence. Sure. I'm never able to get over the hump. I've got two. And they're both in the book. One, I learned from my friend Ash Saboka and she said in the same way that when we do yoga,

you start at the beginning of the mat, you normally join your hands together like namaste, it's called Anjali Mudra and you set intention. And so by the end of the practice, no matter how good or bad the practice was, you feel better. You just feel better. And so she said in the same way, we should be setting that intention as soon as we wake up. So she's like, where do you go first thing in the morning? Like go to the bathroom. She's like, yes, exactly. And you normally pass through a reflection, a mirror. And she said, it's very common first thing in the morning to look in the mirror and have this conversation with yourself of like, whoa, oh, I need to fix this. Oh, that's going to take a lot of work. So you're basically saying something. I'm exhausted. Like, oh, my eyes are so

So basically you're saying something negative to yourself first thing in the morning. And I never even thought about it that way. And she's like, that's a really bad way to start your day. So her advice was to take a Sharpie or a marker and on your bathroom mirror, write some form of positive affirmation. So before you go into the habitual negative self-talk, as soon as you look in the mirror, you're confronted with the statement and, you know, make it personal. And so it's not going to fix all your problems, but it's that split second where you stop and you go, wait a second, that's me. Like that is the real me. And that's who I am. And that's how I want to continue to feel. So when I had body image issues in LA,

I had on my mirror, you were perfect. You were beautiful. You are not your body. And I just needed that constant reminder. Like I am not this meat suit. Like I am so much more than this and I'm not going to be attached to what that means to me. And it was powerful. It was really, really helpful. Um, and then I just switch it up according to, you know, I've got, I'm going through tons of transition in my life right now. And I have on my mirror, you know, every day is a new opportunity to create a new happy ending. And it's just a constant reminder of like nothing set in stone. I've got this, like I can always reshape it.

That's cool. And that's been pretty magical for me. I like that. That's beautiful. Yeah. Uh, final few questions. Oh boy. What are you most grateful for in your life recently?

Um, I'm gosh, that's a long list. Actually. I'm really grateful for my voice. Um, and I'm grateful for the teachers who gave me permission to use it and, and who told me I had one, you know, I, I, I was a shy little girl growing up and, and I had some really impressive, inspiring people tell me, you have a message to share and you need to do it. And so I'm grateful for my confidence. I'm grateful for my voice. I'm grateful for the people who take the time to listen. And it's just anytime I see even people reading the book now and sending me messages saying how the book is helping them, it just my heart bursts a little bit every time I read those messages. Because it's like, okay, my purpose is being served.

You know, like I can go to bed and pat myself and start all over again. That's great. I'm really incredibly grateful for that. That's nice. Yeah. This is a question I asked at the end. It's called the three truths question. Oh, bring it.

So if it's the last day for you, many, many years from now. Oh, my last day ever? Last day ever. Oh, dang. You're about to see your doggie, all your doggies. Wait, she's still with me. She's like the longest living dog ever, you mean? All the doggies you've ever had for years will all be there ready for you.

And all your books and every DVD and thing you've ever created has been erased for whatever reason. Oh, wow. So I'm like gone, gone. Everything's been gone. So all your books and every DVD and thing you've ever created has been erased for whatever reason. Oh, wow. So I'm like gone, gone. Everything's been gone. Everything's been erased from the internet, from time, everything. And it's just you and all your friends and family are there. And it's a joyful moment.

But they say that we don't have this book anymore. We don't have anything that you've ever created to remember you by. So I'm not like doing a book signing on my deathbed? No book signing. No, no. But you have a piece of paper. Okay. And they say, we want you to write down the three things you know to be true about everything you've learned in life.

And this would be the only message that you get to share with us. Three simple truths. What would you write down? Oh, you're going real light with this one, real light. Yeah, go light. The three things I know to be true. You can always recreate yourself. One. Which goes along in line with you can always recreate yourself.

There's always time to recreate your happy ending. Two, you're your own author. You are the storyteller. Create this world. Create this life. You have the power to wield whatever that is for you. And three, never settle. There's so much magic and love and don't settle.

And yeah, yeah, plain and simple. Don't settle. Was there a fourth or something? No, I was just going to elaborate, but I think just don't settle. It's home. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

And before I ask the final question, I want to make sure everyone goes and gets this book. It's called Aim True. You can also follow Catherine everywhere online, CatherineBudig.com, but also CatherineBudig on social media. Right. My handles are at CatherineBudig. Yeah. So make sure to check this out.

We'll have it linked up in the show notes after this as well. Before I ask the final question, Catherine, I want to acknowledge you for being a beautiful voice. Oh, thank you. And for sharing your gift with the world because there's so many people that show up in yoga classes that need to hear the message you're sharing and need to go through that experience and that you continue to show up in a powerful way, the five, two, all the might inside of you to show up and be a stand for people's balance and for their grace and for them finding

their true voice themselves and aiming true, I want to acknowledge you for continually, consistently stepping up and being a stand for others. Thank you. And the final question is what's your definition of greatness? Oh, I was wondering when that was going to come. I'm like, I'm waiting. I'm waiting. to wait. My definition of greatness is owning your power unabashedly and putting it out to the world regardless of the opinions of others. And that is great. Catherine Budick, thanks for being here.

Louis. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Yeah, of course. There you have it, my friends. Thank you so much for joining me today. Such a pleasure connecting with Catherine. Make sure to check out more of her information back at lewishouse.com slash 315. Again, if you're on the iTunes app or the podcast app on your phone,

just click on the little share button with your friends and post it on Facebook and Twitter and let me know what you think. I appreciate you guys. I love you. You know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you. Outro Music you