Daily Inspiration: Meet Rachel Deutsch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Deutsch.

Rachel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I am an actor and yoga instructor currently living in Silverlake, my dream place to be! I had been teaching at yoga studios all around LA prior to Covid 19 – such as Y7 Studio, Shorty Yoga, and Hot 8 Yoga. I teach adult, teen, and children yoga, as well as act for commercials and TV. It is a busy schedule, but I feel like I thrive in chaos. Then came the pandemic and I was forced to reevaluate my usual running around town. I had to adjust to how to continue to teach and connect with others, now through Zoom. I quite literally had to slow down since I couldn’t leave my home, and learn new skills as a yoga instructor and go back to being a student of creativity. I had never been a teacher who demonstrates while practicing yoga. I had never promoted myself as a teacher on social media. I had never taught classes online. All of these were new and uncomfortable to me. In order to survive, and continue doing what I love, teaching and practicing yoga, I had to learn to live in the uncomfortable. I started my yoga Instagram, “@RachelDeutschYoga” and began to host donation-based Zoom classes.

It was an adjustment but I began to love working for myself and teaching a new range of diverse classes and embracing new students! I began to create my own types of classes from slow stretching restorative classes to high-intensity fast flow classes. I am now able to connect with students not only in LA but all over the country and in some cases the world (I had a friend quarantining in London who would log on!) It felt like an exciting way to still be together even though we were isolating in our own homes. I am a person who likes to collaborate and work with others. (Very group project-oriented.) So the fact that I could teach students, friends and family all over the country was really exciting. It kept me going through tough times of not being able to go into the studios where I normally work. I also had the opportunity to expand my student base through Instagram by promoting my classes. Teaching yoga on Zoom gave me new confidence as a teacher. I now run my own online yoga business which you can find at: RachelDeutsch.com/Yoga and you can take my pre-recorded classes at my Patreon: patreon.com/racheldeutschyoga.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
I did not set out to run my own yoga business. As many things in 2020, it happened unexpectedly. A figure-it-out-as-you-go-and-try-your-best-process. Which is what I always try to bring to my classes as a teacher – you might fall out of the pose but that’s okay, you learned something and you can try again tomorrow. Tomorrow the pose might feel better! It’s all about checking in and noticing how you feel. How you respond when something is hard or uncomfortable. “The wobbles and shakes are okay, it means you’re growing” is what I’ve tried to apply to myself in balancing half moon and when promoting my yoga classes. I am not the best at marketing, but I try to promote my classes authentically. I create “mood boards” on my Instagram to share how the class is going to feel that day. I figured out to just keep putting myself out there again and again. Ultimately you are not going to connect with everyone but you will connect with someone and that’s what’s important.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
When introducing myself, I say I am an actor and yoga instructor. But in reality, I just like to do creative things. My journey has taken me in many directions. (Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of imposter syndrome along the way.) But I try to put the logical side of my brain away and focus on making things and collaborating with others as best I can. My love language is “Quality Time” which ultimately bleeds into my creative work. I attended New York University Tisch School of the Arts and got a degree in Drama. After college, I did the NYC thing – act and produced in Shakespeare productions in a garage in Brooklyn. I put my creative mind wherever I could. Directing silly improv musicals and serious musicals off Broadway. I created an artists exhibition I appropriately called “Art Night” which featured many artists of all backgrounds (visual, poetry, music, dance, performance, etc.) performing in all over the city, from music schools in the west village to backyards in Soho. Once I took a step back from producing, I knew I wanted to get back to my own roots. I studied yoga training in college and I love performing. So it felt right to make the move to LA to work in the TV industry and teach yoga. (I heard they have both of those things in Los Angeles.)

It was scary to suddenly be creating for myself. Putting myself out there as an actor and trying to get a foot in the door in a competitive yoga industry. I just started knocking on any door I could find. Emailing, auditioning, showing up for both – at yoga studios, improv rooms, and audition rooms. I do feel there is still a lot of room for me to grow, but I am proud to be putting myself out there in so many ways. LA has given me the space (quite literally) to check in with myself everyday and say, “How am I going to contribute as a creative today.” I am very grateful to Los Angeles. I love that everyone is working on their own thing here and finding different passions. From my experience, people seem really kind and willing to help out or just be your friend. (Perhaps this is because I have an adorable husky.) Not to be too cheesy but it does feel like a city of possibilities for young creatives. There is certainly work to be done, nothing is just handed over, but it’s a pretty beautiful place to do the work.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
This is very yoga of me: positivity. I’ve learned a “glass half full” attitude from my mom. It really really really is how you respond to it. As well as putting in the work to be positive. It does not come natural to me at all. But if you want a better outlook, you have to practice it. My yoga helps with this so much. It’s a practice of checking and being aware of how you feel. It doesn’t mean you automatically feel “good” from doing yoga, or even “bad” for that matter but you are becoming aware of yourself – your body, breath, and attitude in any given moment. Beyond yoga to work for my positivity, I do many things. I’m in therapy, I take anxiety meds, I journal, I read, I have sad days. I believe all of this helps majorly to my success as a person.

Contact Info:

• Email: RachelEDEutsch@gmail.com
• Website: RachelDeutsch.com
• Instagram: @RachelDeutsch / @RachelDeutschYoga
• Other: patreon.com/racheldeutschyoga

Image Credits
Mathew Fisher Daniel Mudliar