Today we’d like to introduce you to Karolina.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I started practicing yoga regularly while I was still in undergrad. At that time I lived in an apartment in Malibu with my best friend Brittany from school. I was interested in yoga for as long as I can remember, but I never really got to it until I was living just over fifteen miles away from the first yoga centers in the nation. Several times a week after my classes I would drive along the coast all the way to Venice to learn from the greatest teachers of our time. It was the time when Saul David Raye, Annie Carpenter, Seane Corn, Shiva Rea, Erich Schiffmann and even Mark Whitwell all taught under the same roof. To me it was more than a yoga studio, it was a sanctuary, rightly called, Center for Sacred Movement. Some classes were dynamic vinyasa, other classes–more meditative and restorative, but every time I walked through those doors, I gained such profound sense of peace, I could see the world with such clarity, there was no doubt in my mind that that’s what I wanted to share.
Years went by, my practice deepened, I completed yoga teacher trainings and apprenticeships and read classical texts, but still I felt my training was not complete. So I went to massage school, studied anatomy and physiology, got certified by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, by Pilates institute and started an apprenticeship in physical therapy at Xcelerate to learn how clinicians use therapeutic exercise and other modalities to help people overcome injuries and return to health and balance.
Being in mind body environment, I loved connecting movement and breath in dreamy yoga sequences and the sense of spaciousness and bliss that it brings. Yoga takes us from stress to relaxation in which we restore. Yoga is transformative for the body, as it is transformative to the mind. However, there is a lot of confusion about what we work towards when it comes to physical practice or asana practice. Advanced poses are not the goal, approaching advanced poses, we learn how to approach difficult life situations. Yoga teaches us to find perfect balance of effort and ease and to always live from the heart and not ego-mind. It teaches us to stay calm, honor our limitations, honor our breath and move forward towards health and strength, so that we can better support each other on our life journey.
To this day many believe that yoga is meant to enable us to contort into pretzel pose, or get into an elaborate inversion. Somehow there is an assumption that once you can perform all the advanced arm balances and twists your overall physical health and wellbeing magically transform. I wish it was that simple. I have learned that there is much more to it.
Yoga teaches us to be mindful and it is essential to the process, but it is not enough. In order for us to bring efficiency and balance to the body, in order for the body to align, we have to know where we are starting from and where we are going. For example when it comes to lower back health, it is essential for us to understand our spinal curves and how our own tight or weak muscles affect those curves. We have to know if there is excessive arching or flattening of our own lumbar spine. Most people have one or the other, and it changes the way to be in a pose in order to work towards balance, it also changes the poses, the sequences and the exercises to do in order to correct the imbalance. The same applies to our whole spine, shoulders, wrists, hips, knees, ankles and other joints.
It may sound overwhelming to learn, but it is actually not that complicated. Once you have someone point it out to you, it becomes obvious, once you try a new movement pattern–it feels much more efficient and balanced. Once there is an awareness, it’s much easier to move in a better way. Understanding our own tendencies is necessary for health. Because we like using our stronger muscles and our stronger sides, without awareness, the stronger muscles get stronger and weaker–get weaker. Even as we do the exercises, and yoga classes, if the alignment is incorrect, without awareness, the imbalance does not improve. Instead, there needs to be a conscious effort. I wanted to bring that awareness to my students. And as we focused on everyone’s particular alignment, improving circulation, opening prana (life energy) channels, amazing transformations started to happen, my students’ physical health as well as overall wellbeing started to dramatically improve. In just a few sessions, we were able to unlock new levels of strength and reduce or completely eliminate common aches and pains.
While still at school, I started teaching my friends, then classmates, soon I was at local studios in Malibu and then at big corporations. In 2014 I finally opened my own practice. Last year we started partnering with other locations and created weekend programs to make our signature class available to more people. Once we started to expand, more people did find out about us, including world renowned musicians, artists, executives and their families. Now in addition to our original building in Calabasas, I also teach at private studios in Calabasas and Malibu, and public classes all over the city.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting my own practice seemed easy at first, or at least I had all the time in the world for it. About a month into it though, my husband and I found out that we will be dividing our time between the studio and raising a baby. Not knowing much about being pregnant, giving birth or taking care of a newborn, besides my training in pre- and postnatal fitness, it was overwhelming. At least I knew how to keep my body and mind healthy throughout this time and so my pregnancy went well. Each day, I could feel that the exercises and especially yoga were helpful. But I was still worried about my career, I was afraid that no one would want to work with a pregnant woman. To my surprise, my clients treated me during pregnancy the same as before, other than dropping by once in a while in between their sessions to bring me tangerines, almonds, chocolate covered strawberries and other snacks. I worked until two weeks before childbirth and two weeks after, I was already back at the studio.
Around that time a few of my clients also had newborns, and I started to allow kids at the studio. Then a nationally recognized pediatrician, Dr. Tanya Altmann moved in next door. Our kids were born about two weeks apart. We started a mom’s club. Going through this experience myself allowed me to put all that I have learned to the test. Physical demands, sleepless night and constant concern for the newborn, you have to experience it to understand it, there is no way to explain it. Finding balance in work and family in my own life helps me understand what many of my clients are going through. It was definitely a challenge, it still is, but also an incredible blessing that taught me how to better serve others.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Fit Core Smart Moves story. Tell us more about the business.
Over the years I have developed our signature program that integrates the best of both worlds. We use ancient principles from yoga and current research from sports medicine to bring body, mind and spirit to vibrant health.
– We use yoga stretching, sequencing and breathing techniques to calm the mind, improve flexibility and facilitate body’s natural relaxation response in which we heal.
– The insight from sports medicine helps create better alignment, muscle balance, body composition and overall strength to enable efficient movement and reduce unnecessary wear and tear on the joints.
It is personalized to address the whole person with our particular alignment, tendencies, preferences and intentions.
It typically takes about 5 weeks to complete, with 2 sessions each week, or it can be completed over a weekend as a transformative emersion, all programs are available as privates, semi-privates and small groups.
The integration of disciplines brings about dramatic improvement in health and wellbeing, which translates into how we look, how we feel and how we live.
We have students who travel from East Coast and Canada to participate in our programs and we are working on creating new formats so that more people can benefit from what we do.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
The greatest lesson that I am still learning is to not worry so much and to relax more into the flow of life, to feel the support of the earth and universe and to enjoy the beauty and mystery of it all.
Contact Info:
- Address: 8161 Calabasas, CA 91302
- Website: Fitcoresmartmoves.com
- Phone: 805.469.2020
- Email: [email protected]
Pepperdine Bring Your Child To Work 2016
Image Credit:
Marvin Steindler Photography
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