Today we’d like to introduce you to Szilvia Campbell.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I attended a vocational high school in Hungary (where I’m from) and received a degree on ‘How to Run and Operate Small and Medium size Businesses’. I did not attend collage but after high school I enrolled in a one year program at my alma mater & I got a high level degree in Foreign Trade Dealing. I entered the ‘professional world’ at age 19, working for a giant multinational advertising company in Budapest. For a few years my life was about going from the cubicle to foreign lands, basically making money just to be able to adventure, learn and follow my dreams. I slowly started to transition into working for companies that aligned with my interest, such as the Hungarian Food Science Research company. During my travels I met a crazy wild eyed American boy with whom I developed an excitingly engaging long distance relationship and I started to include USA in my ‘lands to visit’ and eventually made Los Angeles my home and our relationship part of the adventure. Through our common interests to deeply explore the human energetics and potentials we both ended up studying at the Shiatsu Massage School of California & Brian introduced me to Forrest Yoga, a fiercely REAL style of yoga that is about getting into your body WHERE THE WORK NEEDS TO BE DONE. We were super young and funds were low. To be able to finish the program at the massage school, I received a work trade opportunity to organize a fundraising anniversary event for the school while I was 4 months pregnant with our first child! Then I entered a time period to fully blossom into motherhood, something I deeply love! 2 babies later, I volunteered at our kids schools as Fundraising Chair, class aide, volunteer coordinator. All of these experiences prepared me to step into a leadership role and bring me back to full circle in a way ending up doing my degree, running our yoga business! When our younger child turned 5 it was my time to accept an invitation from our teacher, Ana Forrest, enroll and complete the 200 hour Forrest Yoga foundational teacher training 7 years ago. Disappointed in the outdated business model of the yoga world (where teachers tend to burn out and barely make enough money to come by), I started to teach out of our home studio where quality therapeutic yoga, affordable classes and community are the center piece! I have also been managing my teacher’s worldwide assisting teams and program. I now not only teach live classes but offer online classes too (a vision I want to expand on).
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Taking risks. It has all been about taking risks. It is not comfortable to grow but so rewarding and worth it! You just have to constantly try and see what lands, what fruits and what feels like ‘truth’.
Yoga with Szilvia – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
We run a referral and donation based studio (workshops and trainings exempt). We have a community of people who are REAL and genuinely seek to heal, open and evolve. Our students receive a lot of attention from us. We take time to check in and create sequences that fit the needs of who show up. I seek to find the highest potential in everyone and support my students to go in their own speed but to also go steady in their evolution. I’m also a dreamer. I dream to reach thousands of people and make yoga (therapeutic and life changing movements) accessible for their conditions. My style of teaching is always evolving, currently exploring how IAP (Intra-Abdominal Pressure) breath can be used in a therapeutic way; accessing and healing ‘hard to reach’ areas in the body (possibly due to old injuries and scar tissue) and in the psyche (possibly due to old coping mechanism, belief systems or life experiences) through the body. I’m also developing a ‘Pelvic Floor Balancing’ program with a French teacher colleague of mine, where we offer tools on how to modify yoga poses to bring healing and liberation to the pelvic floor. Both my husband and I are working on finding new ways to record our classes and lectures in order to provide a quality experience to our viewers. Right now my Wednesday morning classes are being live streamed through a private Facebook group.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
Success is when at the end of the day you sit and reflect back and you feel that you had done well, that you had touched at least one person’s life in a positive way, and not only on the yoga mat but out there in the World. Success is when you ask yourself ‘Did I connect, did I notice beauty today?’ and the answer inside is a resounding ‘YES’.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yogawithszilvia.com/studio-schedule/
- Email: szilviaforrestyoga@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/szilviaforrestyoga/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SzilviaForrestYoga/
Image Credit:
GoSesh, Connie Lynch
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