Today we’d like to introduce you to Dalton Grant.
Hi Dalton, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started, sparsely, practicing yoga in 2008. You know, like take a class on a Friday, do some arm balances and stuff and call it “yoga”. I then found Modo Yoga LA in 2011 and realized it was way more than a physical practice. It was mental, emotional, spiritual as well as physical. I was sold, and shortly after my arrival at Modo, I was on my way to their teacher training in late 2012. I’ve also been a professional songwriter/producer for over 10 years and was in a rock band for 15 years before that. I did all the rock and roll things;) As my music career “matured”, I began writing music for other people and staying behind the scenes instead of on stage. I wrote “For You” by Demi Lovato and received a gold record for it last year. Pretty cool. While I was still writing music and teaching full time, I found myself being drawn to “non yoga” music while I practiced at home. I soon began to incorporate it into the playlists in my classes. The music I loved was the music I wanted to hear while I practiced. It didn’t have to be slow or calm, it just had to connect. One of the translations of “yoga” in Sanskrit is “to join or unite”. So if you dig it, play it. As far as I’m concerned, Led Zeppelin is one of the most yogic bands of all time! So I ran with that. I started doing a workshop called “Church of Zeppelin”. It was on a Sunday morning and it was Zeppelin from start to finish the whole class. It’s still one of our most popular classes today. We also give 20% of the gross proceeds to Little Kids Rock. It’s a charity that helps music programs all over the country. They provide kids instruments and music education where the school program has been defunded or is hurting. So far, we’ve donated enough money to give over 150 kids music education and instruments for over a year. Music is obviously incredibly important to me. So, once Covid hit and all the shutdowns happened, I started doing my “churches” on Zoom and The Light Orchard grew out of that. From a Sunday online workshop to an entire online yoga platform. Over 200 classes on demand and 4 “live” zoom classes a week.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s been fairly smooth creating The Light Orchard because it came from the heart. I put together the things that I loved and from it this awesome TLO community was born. I would say the first real struggles were technical. I had no idea about digital video photography, editing, lighting, sound or any of it. I had to learn quick in order to stay moving forward. Also, getting the word out there about what we were doing was a bit of a struggle at first. Neither my wife or I were necessarily great with social media. I actually erased my Facebook account about a year ago. I couldn’t handle it anymore. My wife is now our master Instagram marketer. She runs the virtual show and is great at it.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
The more I practiced yoga, the more I wanted to have an “experience” while I did it. I sometimes found myself just going through the motions. All about the asana (the physical practice) and not much else. I began reading and listening to Alan Watts a lot and what struck me about him was not only his take on philosophy, religion and life in general but how he conveyed it to others. He was speaking about existentially mind-blowing theories or concepts but in a very conversational way. I wasn’t running for the exit when he spoke of ancient philosophy or religious doctrines and how they came to be. Whereas before, I would “change the channel” immediately. Before I started yoga, I was kind of turned off by the ultra orthodox or dogmatic yoga styles and disciplines. The hippy dippy yoga scene wasn’t my bag if that makes sense? I liked certain parts of it but not the “musts” and “must nots”. Not that there’s anything wrong with it but it didn’t speak to me. So, how Alan Watts spoke and taught inspired me to bring yoga into the same “conversational” light. You can laugh your ass off, listen to Zeppelin, chew on some philosophy all at once and still find the yoga. Whatever gets you present to right now. In your body. Whatever works to bring you to the place where you meet yourself. It may be listening to the sitar for an hour while doing alternate nostril breathing but it may also be sweating your ass off in Surya B, turning up Dr Dre “The Chronic 2001” and meeting yourself in a deeper place than you ever have. Different paths, same outcome. Yoga is “connection”. I connect with music. I connect with yoga. I connect with philosophy. I connect with laughter. And I try to bring all those things to The Light Orchard.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Do it your way. If a bunch of people are teaching a certain way or building their online platform a certain way and you feel you should do it like them because they’re succeeding, make sure it makes you happy and it feels right to you. It has to come from your heart. When it does people feel it and they’ll want to be part of your scene. Enjoy what you do and what makes you feel good and build from there. There’s no one way to anything.
Pricing:
- $49 a month “All Access Pass”
- $499 annual “All Access Pass”
Contact Info:
- Email: info@thelightorchard.com
- Website: thelightorchard.com
- Instagram: @thelightorchard
