Native Yoga Toddcast

Christina D'Arrigo - Making Mind, Body & Spirit Yoga Accessible

April 06, 2023 Todd Mclaughlin / Christina D'Arrigo Season 1 Episode 110
Native Yoga Toddcast
Christina D'Arrigo - Making Mind, Body & Spirit Yoga Accessible
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Show Notes Transcript

Join in listening to this wonderful conversation I had the pleasure of  having with Christina D'Arrigo. Christina is a Mom and a Yoga Teacher from New York.

You can connect with Christina at the links below.
30 Days of Mind, Body, and Spirit Yoga: https://chriskayogamember.com/orders/customer_info?o=96615
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/chriskayoga
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriskayoga/

During this episode we discuss topics like:

  • How she got started in yoga?
  • Advice for youtube yoga teachers.
  • About her Yoga and dance training.
  • Advice for pregnant yogis.
  • Christina’s thoughts on short practices.

About Christina
My name is Christina, I'm a native New Yorker, and I'm the yoga teacher over here at ChriskaYoga. I have a background in dance having studied movement all my life, and along with my 500 hour Yoga Teaching certification in the YogaWorks Method, I also have a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in dance and choreography.

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LinkedIn: Todd McLaughlin

Todd McLaughlin:

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage bodywork and beyond. Follow us @nativeyoga, and check us out at Nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Well, welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. I'm so excited that you're here. Today I have a special guest, Christina D'Arrigo. Christina is well known on YouTube with her channel Yoga with Christina. And you can also find her on Instagram at @Chriskayoga. And you can check her out on our website, Chriskayoga.com. She also has a free 30 day yoga challenge this month in April, you can join anytime you want here https://chriskayogamember.com/orders/customer_info?o=96615. I have two free offers for you if you'd like to try two weeks free, unlimited live stream yoga with us here at Native Yoga Center. https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/livestream/ And also every Thursday at 12pm. I do a grow your yoga live tutorial on YouTube, https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/grow-your-yoga-practice-free-webinar/, All right. Now that we got the administrative duties out of the way, let's go ahead and welcome Christina. I'm so excited to have Christina D'Arrigo here today with me on the podcast. And Christina, how are you doing today?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Good. Thank you for having me.

Todd McLaughlin:

This is a real pleasure. I enjoy your YouTube channel. I think you do an incredible job there. And you're welcome. And I'm excited to I love this opportunity to speak with other yoga practitioners and yoga teachers and find out what gets you excited about yoga and also your mom and you have two young children. And so I'm excited to ask you questions about prenatal yoga and postpartum yoga. And but before we get into all of that, can you give me a little bit of a snapshot or insight into how you got started practicing yoga or what your first introduction into yoga was.

Christina D'Arrigo:

I have a background in dance. I have a bachelor's degree in a master's degree in dance. I started practicing yoga during my dance training. When I was in college, so my undergraduate degree. And then after I did my master's degree, I did my yoga teacher training. So I was just a yoga student, not just a yoga student, but I was practicing yoga as a student and became a teacher. Maybe about four or five years after I started practicing.

Todd McLaughlin:

Sodid you dance professionally post school?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I danced professionally as a child, actually. And I did competitive dance. And I danced in school. Wow.

Todd McLaughlin:

Wow. And are you in New York City?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Now at the moment, that's where I'm from. I'm from I was born in Queens. I went to school in Manhattan. Since I was very young since maybe like age nine. And then I my family. I got married and kids moved upstate. So it's still in New York, but I'm not in the city anymore.

Todd McLaughlin:

Gotcha. Is it still cold up there right now? It's April. What's the weather like up there right now?

Christina D'Arrigo:

In upstate New York. We are starting to kind of get into that spring weather which is nice. So it's getting a bit warmer, thankfully, but it's been cold for a while. You're ready in Florida now.

Todd McLaughlin:

It's beautiful. It's warm. It's in the 80s Almost 90 So people are already complaining down here that's too hot. So yeah, yeah, we should be careful we complain about Yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

yeah, I mean, I don't enjoy our humidity that's for sure.

Todd McLaughlin:

It does get warm and humid here for certain when what type of school did you do your yoga teacher training in?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Um, I did my teacher training at Yoga works. I'm not sure if you've heard of your horse I have kind of all over the country now I think.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, now not open anymore, right? Like all are physical

Christina D'Arrigo:

locations lately closed? I'm not sure. I actually I haven't been keeping up with them at all. So I don't know about the physical location. I know in New York, there were a few of them that closed.

Todd McLaughlin:

So I believe so I have also have a friend that teaches out in California or was with Yoga works for a long time. And I just saw she sent in emails, and I need to, I shouldn't say anything before I say, Okay, I think yeah, they're officially closed down in the in studio space. And I think there's some big changes that have happened recently in their online space as well, interestingly enough, but um, yeah, that's cool. Well, I heard YogaWorks has a really well rounded yoga teacher training program. Did you enjoy it? Yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

I did. It was I anger based. So I really liked their preparation with the use of props and how they it was just kind of it wasn't the very forceful approach. It was gentle. And the use of props helped people kind of get into the poses a little bit more gentle in a more gentle way. So that's, I like that.

Todd McLaughlin:

Nice. When you graduated from that, did you start teaching right away?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I pretty much did. Yeah. I was teaching live classes in actually in the Poconos of Pennsylvania, because that's where my parents live. So I was doing some some in New York, some in the Poconos. And then I basically started the YouTube channel at that point, that that year, kind of just as like a portfolio to showcase my teaching style to get more live teaching jobs, but then it kind of just took off and the YouTube channels been great.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's so cool. I just got started with YouTube. And I'm fascinated by it. So congratulations on figuring out how to get it to work. Do you have any advice for myself and or any other beginning your YouTube yoga teachers keep

Christina D'Arrigo:

going keep posting consistently is the key. Consistent posting, is what YouTube really likes. They they show your videos, I guess, more frequently to people who are looking for those type of videos, if you are an active poster, so if you just keep posting regularly got it?

Todd McLaughlin:

Are you still doing that? I think you are right, you're still publishing videos on a weekly basis.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Big Break. I took a big break two years to have my children. I just started posting again recently.

Todd McLaughlin:

Nice. That's cool. And our I hope you don't mind me asking, but how old are your children?

Christina D'Arrigo:

So I have a two year old. And I have an eight and a half month old. So yeah, they're Yeah, they're babies.

Todd McLaughlin:

I saw a post that you did on Instagram recently, where you were showing how to like after I've got my kids to bed. This is what my life looks like. After that, and you like to do this classic like cleaning up putting toys away. And kind of highlighting how busy mom lifestyle is.

Christina D'Arrigo:

It is it's it's a it's been an adjustment. For sure.

Todd McLaughlin:

Are you getting any sleep? Are you sleeping? Oh, no.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Definitely not. My son's still eight and a half months old. So yeah, feeding him and it's just yeah, yeah, it's that time.

Todd McLaughlin:

Well, thank you so much for taking time to speak with me because I do know how busy that that can be. So I really do appreciate this. I also noticed that you wrote a book about chakras. Can you tell me a little bit about what the motivation behind that was and what the creation process was like putting that together?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Sure. That was my first book. It basically kind of was meant to demystify the chakras. I feel like for many, it's sort of unclear. So I, I basically just broke everything down in the most simple way I possibly could, and a lot of people to understand what where each one was located and how they you know, affect the body and mind and everything and the exercises that kind of went along with each one. And sequences, specific poses and then sequences as well. So

Todd McLaughlin:

nice. That's cool. When did you first start to learn about and or read about the chakra system?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Um, I mean, they kind of touched upon it in my teacher training, but I kind of did my own research afterwards. So

Todd McLaughlin:

nice. I just read a book by Judith on odia Have you heard of her? I think of It's called the wheel wheels of should I should have that off the top of my head. Sounds familiar? Yeah. Okay. Apart from your book, do you have a favorite book about chakras that you'd recommend?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I don't. I don't really. I don't really because I kind of was just taking bits off online, and then my own personal practice and reading bits here and there. So I didn't like take one Pacific textbook or book on the truck roads and study that. And they did not really focused on it in my teaching, I did the 200 hour training and the 300 hour training, teacher trainings, and then they didn't really focus on the chakras at all. So,

Todd McLaughlin:

yes, that's cool. You said you published three books, what are the other two that you wrote?

Christina D'Arrigo:

So the second book was a chair yoga book. So basically yoga in a chair all sequences that take place, seated in or be seated in a chair, or, you know, standing next to a chair and things like that, using the chair as an aide to get into the poses, basically, for anybody with mobility issues, or any any injuries. Yeah, things like that. And then the third book was a pelvic floor book. So basically all about pelvic floor yoga, and how to strengthen your pelvic floor how to release if it's too, you know, tense, any? Yeah, recovery from pelvic floor trauma, injury to the area, things like that.

Todd McLaughlin:

With your dance background, is that something that was taught to you when you were going through dance training? Or is that something that you became more aware of in your yoga practice and training?

Christina D'Arrigo:

It definitely was a part of the dance training. For sure. Actually, along with yoga, dance training, we also do a lot of Pilates. So it was actually more strongly emphasized in our Pilates kind of supplementation to the dance training. So I do have that as a, I had that in the back of my head as well. But the poses are fairly similar. It's just a different. Yeah, totally different thing. Got it. Yeah. The dance training helped a lot.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's cool. Did you said you dance professionally, when you were a child? I'm just trying to imagine. Does that mean like in plays, or for television, and TV? Or movies? Or?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I was a part of a dance of ballet company as a child. So we did stage work.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. Do do any work currently with dancers outside of the yoga realm? Or have you have you transitioned fully from the dance world?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I'm no longer involved with dance. Which I mean, in a sense of staff, but you know, that was one part of my life. And then I moved on.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Did Did you ever injuries in the dance world? Had you ever sustained in your or suffered any?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, dance is intense. Being a dancer is very difficult on the body, especially ballet. So when I was young, I think I was in high school. I had my first kind of real injury, where I had a knee issue. It was tendinitis in the than the kneecap. So yeah, it was tough. And you have to do a lot of physical therapy around that. And then I had some hip injuries and things like that. So yeah, that being a dancer is tough on the body. But then in college, I discovered yoga and it definitely helped. And the yoga and pilates also really helped with keeping my body injury free.

Todd McLaughlin:

Nice. Nice. How has your yoga practice when you were pregnant with your first child? Did you practice yoga throughout your pregnancy?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I did. Not as much as I normally would have. I was a bit I was nervous the whole pregnancy so I didn't want to do anything that was going to the second time around. Obviously, I was more comfortable with things. I'm more familiar with how it was gonna go. So I did a bit more. But then I had to because I also had a toddler running. I just did things with my body and I just had to be okay with it. Yeah, so yeah, during the first pregnancy, just gentle, very gentle stretching. And that was it. I didn't do any flowy any Ignacia flow classes or anything like that. I just basically just stretching Tada and Hey, restorative stuff. So

Todd McLaughlin:

nice. Did you take classes in that? Or do you feel like at that point, you'd already had a fairly established yoga practice. So it was easy for you to figure it out.

Christina D'Arrigo:

I didn't Well, I it was COVID it was. So I was basically home. I didn't go out, I was afraid to go out because I was pregnant. I didn't want to get sick. So I did a lot of stuff at home on my own. And some things with the, you know, the internet, youtube?

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. You know, I'll be really honest, I, when COVID was happening, I thought, ooh, that would be scary. Having a baby right now, not just more the actual act of going into the hospital and having like the delivery process, like, because leading up to actually the day of birth, just obviously, I'm, you know, from the experience of watching my wife and being there. There's just it's so intense. It's like, it's it's nerve racking, it's, there's so many things to think about, and things that we never even thought we're gonna have to think about. And, and then to add that other element of the fear surrounding that whole thing. I'm curious. How have you managed? Are you Are you do you feel like you came through? Okay. Yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

I mean, it, I got lucky, because when I actually had my daughter, they had lessened kind of the restrictions. Yeah. But I know a lot of people who had very strict code COVID restrictions during their labor. So they, their either their partner or husband could not be there at all, or they had only restricted time where they could be there. Whereas my husband was allowed to come in and be there the whole time. But we don't want to allow visitors not that we really needed any visitors. It was fine to just be Yeah, the three of us at that point. But yeah, and we had to wear masks. I luckily didn't have to wear a mask during the delivery. But my husband had to wear masks the whole time. And yeah, I had to put it on before and after the delivery. So they were they allowed me to take it off during the whole pushing situation.

Todd McLaughlin:

And this is your this is with your first one. And obviously your second who is just over eight months, all that was pretty much cleared up. And

Christina D'Arrigo:

yeah, they still made me wear a mask after the delivery. But other than that, we could visitors it was just a totally different. I still had to get a COVID test when I got to the hospital, which you know, I'm already having contractions having a swab of your nose. best scenario, but actually the first time they made me my self and my husband test, and then this time they only made me

Todd McLaughlin:

and I fear positive you would have been brought to another section of the hospital and guests are like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. We made it. Christina. We made it we survived. Yeah.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Totally different now. It's great.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yes, yes. Yeah. Well, that's cool. Um, what sort of advice would you give somebody who is either wanting to have a baby and or is currently pregnant and wanting to practice yoga? And or currently has a yoga practice? Do you have any life lessons you learned or advice that you would like to share?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, um, I mean, I always say, when you're pregnant, to not start anything new, that's particularly strenuous in terms of physical activity. So if you already have a fairly established yoga practice, I, I say, just keep going, if it feels okay, if it, if anything doesn't feel okay, then definitely stop what you're doing. And find something else that feels better. Your baby and your body will tell you, you know, if you're doing something that is not good, it will, you'll feel it. But basically, if you're feeling good, then just keep going. But if you want to, you know, take up a very strong, you know, hot yoga practice while you're pregnant. I don't recommend doing that. But, yeah, Yoga also is great to just prepare you for, for labor and delivery. So it definitely is a good thing to do. And it will prepare your body and your mind and your mindset for that tough period of, of, you know, going into labor. So

Todd McLaughlin:

what about in relation to recovery? And like the slow and or what type of pace? Did you reintegrate yoga practice back into your life post delivery?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Well, Both times I followed the the advice of the doctors basically, to not do anything for six weeks, until that six week postpartum visit. And then then they clear you for exercise. And then I did whatever I wanted basically, within reason you still are, you're still recovering. You're not fully sorry if you could hear my, my kids. I'm not sure if you can hear

Todd McLaughlin:

just a tiny, tiny bit and any problem at all, I think it's great. Flavor. Yes. there with my husband and my parents, so they're not by themselves. Bad mom, bad mom. No kidding, right?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, just just be kind to yourself after I would say just after you've been through a lot, and it's just ease yourself into it as much as possible, you're gonna make things worse, if you just jump right back into something very strenuous, or very physically challenging. It just depends. Some, some women have pelvic floor damage some, some go through? The fastest. I don't know if I'm pronouncing it even. Right. Correct. I wear the abdominal separate from each other. Yes, you have to work towards bringing them back. So it just depends. Definitely. I didn't personally do this. But a physical pelvic floor physical therapist is a great thing to do to just to kind of get yourself back to a good a good place physically. So yeah,

Todd McLaughlin:

that's cool, interesting. winded in relation to the timeline of when you excuse me, had your children when did you write the pelvic floor book? Was that before? Or during? Or just recently?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I wrote that when I was pregnant with my son. Got it? Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

What type of? I'm curious what type of exercises are involved? Or did you kind of put into the book? If you were, were you teaching pelvic floor exercises in the book? Or explaining?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I am sorry. So you're you're asking if I put in things that were good for pregnancy? Or

Todd McLaughlin:

yeah, I'm just kind of imagining I know, from the stronger world, and we have Mula Bandha, or the yoga world will abandon this idea of Yeah. And engaging the pelvic floor while practicing and having some awareness of pelvic floor control or contraction. And I'm curious, in relation to pregnancy, is that something that you're encouraged to do as well, while you're pregnant is to do like Kegel exercises, which I hear is kind of the equivalent of the mula bandha technique.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah. Yes, and no, it's always good to keep the pelvic floor strong. However, it's also good to do kind of the opposite. to strengthening, it's also good to practice the release, because you're preparing your body to, you know, get the baby out. And those muscles need to release it's, it's would be quite painful if they're just overly tense. So your body was, is going to do what it's going to do naturally. But basically, both both are important. So the strengthening for for afterwards is good to help with recovery, but then also the stretching and the release. So a lot of the I do quite a bit of the restorative poses in that pelvic floor book. And they're just as important, if not more important to just like work on releasing that. So

Todd McLaughlin:

nice. Yeah, that does. That's really interesting. I was speaking with mom recently. And she made mention that the sometimes we overemphasize strengthening the pelvic floor, and in the case of childbirth, if it's too strong, that can actually be a problem.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, yeah, it needs to definitely. When you're trying to push the baby out, you need to release it needs to be relaxed, in a sense. So

Todd McLaughlin:

my wife continuously reminds me on a regular basis, how intense childbirth is, just to remind me that I really, like when I'm complaining about like, I just don't feel really good or like, Oh, my, my knees a little sore. She's like, wow, childbirth is like a whole nother level that no man can ever understand. Would you mind? Yeah, okay, good. All right.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, yeah, my husband is in the same boat. Do you know what I did for you?

Todd McLaughlin:

Do you have any idea? There's no way you could have any idea? I agree. It sounds pretty intense.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, yeah. It's the most physically challenging thing I've ever done in my life.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, yes. Do you want to have more kids? Are you are you happy? Are you content

Christina D'Arrigo:

that's up for debate at this point? Fair enough. My husband wants another but we'll see about that. I'm, I'm still recovering. For sure. Definitely.

Todd McLaughlin:

Sorry, enough. No, hurry. That's cool. Christina, I noticed on your YouTube channel that you create a lot of videos of like, short practices, like a 10 minute practice or a 15 minute practice. And I'm curious what your thoughts are regarding the idea or the like the, the balance between this idea that maybe you need to do like an hour or a 90 minute yoga practice versus this concept of doing short practices? What are your thoughts and feelings on that?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I feel like, especially in my yoga teacher training, I it was just frowned upon to do anything shorter than a full an hour and a half long class. So that's not really practical. For a lot of people these days. Everyone, everyone is busy. Everyone I talked to is just so busy. And I think doing a little bit of yoga is so much better than doing nothing at all. Even just a 10 minute class or a five minute meditation is going to help anybody reap the benefits of yoga, and there's just so many benefits that yoga has to offer. As you know, it's just, I just it's, it's, it's so much better to do something rather than just say, I'm just too busy. So

Todd McLaughlin:

agreed. Do you when you create these routines? Can you explain like, what's the most recent shorter like 10 or 15 minute routine that you've done?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Well, I posted a few weeks ago now on the channel. I was just basically I titled it yoga for burnout. Any yoga is great for burnout. Ever, it's just, I feel like that's just a hot topic. Now burnout. People are just burnt out from life. It's just a lot going on. And everybody's just, it's just tiring. So it's just a very slow, slow paced class. That one just takes place entirely lying down, or seated, seated or lying down. And it's just a moment for people to just quiet down and, and focus internally and focus on themselves for a little while.

Todd McLaughlin:

What's one of the nicest comments or endorsements you've received? Via, say YouTube comments in relation to people showing appreciation for the work that you put forward there?

Christina D'Arrigo:

See, I get a lot of nice comments. I'm very lucky with the people that watch my videos, I get a lot of not nice comments, but you do get nice ones outweigh the main ones. Yeah. Yeah, they're just, they're just very nice about how their classes really have helped them just in so many ways, like recover from injuries, or just kind of get away from the busy ness of their lives, the stress of their lives. And it's just yeah, they're all really nice. I have some nice students for sure.

Todd McLaughlin:

Good. Do you have any advice for how to navigate the not nice ones?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I kind of I just started reading comments again, it can take a toll on you. And even the not nice ones are not as bad for me. I feel like I get I'm I have it easy in that sense. Whereas they're not like insulting me personally, but they're insulting the class or the video or something. So, but even that I take it a bit personally as well. It's hard not to So sometimes just separate yourself from it. If you're in a good mood, you can just take it with a grain of salt and say, Oh, that person has is having a bad day or is going through a rough time. It's more reflection on them than it is on yourself as so. Yeah, it's just it is what it is people can be can be as mean as they want behind a computer screen.

Todd McLaughlin:

Good point the feeling of being removed. Yeah, yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

it's a lot easier to say mean things When you're not looking at someone in the face,

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, true. Yeah. Well, I'm happy to hear that you have majority, the majority role is positivity. Yes. So it's there. Yeah. Yeah. Do you know I noticed, like, I think you do an amazing job. I'm curious. Did you have somebody coach you along in relation to figuring out the whole, like, marketing element, the internet marketing element, or is that something that you just like little by little just kind of figured it out as you went?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, little by little. Course here. Of course, they're online. Just research. Yeah. Yeah, everything was basically self taught. So I taught myself how to edit the videos. I taught myself how to market the videos, build the websites, all the things.

Todd McLaughlin:

So cool, Christina. Well done.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Thank you. It's been a long, it's been a long journey. That's for sure.

Todd McLaughlin:

I hear Yeah. 2014. Where are we now? 23. Nine years ago? That's you can learn a lot in nine years, right?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yes. And everything is constantly changing on social media. So you have to just constantly keep relearning things.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. Keep studying, keep relearning? That's cool. I'm curious when? Well, actually, I should maybe start the question like this. Do you have free time to practice yoga? without, like, say, working currently with with your family life and everything that you're doing professionally? Do you have to carve out five minutes, 10 minutes a day where you just try to get on your mat and do your own thing.

Christina D'Arrigo:

To be honest, not as much as I used to. But even just like a five minute meditation is, is beneficial or just like, while I'm nursing my son to sleep, just putting my headphones in and just doing just like quieting down and just being with my thoughts. And anything is, is like I said better than nothing. At this point. It's just Yeah, it's tough with the two kids, they're really young. So I'm hoping in the future when they get older, I could go back to you know, doing longer practices and incorporating my own self practice. But for now, that is what it is fitted in where I can.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, I appreciate your honesty. Because that's, it's so hard to like hard, like on top of everything to carve out like, hey, now I'm just gonna do yoga. Because I'm guessing even right now, like even if you do get on your yoga mat, and your down dog, your two year old wants to climb on top of your back. And yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

she's starting to like, like to do yoga as well. She's cool doing downward dog. And like she just like, oh, let's you know, she likes to do the little poses that we teach her here and there. She liked it when Elmo did yoga on Sesame Street. So that was that was fun. But yeah, she's getting into it. Which is cute to see. Yeah, it'll be nice to incorporate that with them as they get older too. So

Todd McLaughlin:

do you ever have people come up to you and say, oh my gosh, enjoy it. They grow up so fast. And and think to yourself? Oh my god, enjoy this. This is so challenging. And grow up. It's never gonna happen. Do you ever have those thoughts or feelings?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I do. Every turn to yesterday.

Todd McLaughlin:

Oh, congratulations. Happy birthday. That's awesome. Yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

I just she's I just was looking at baby photos of her. I know. It's it's such a tough time. But I add specially you know, on birthdays and things like that just hits me that they are growing ridiculously fast. Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. It's tough as a mom to to look back at her baby photos and be like, she's never going to be that little again. So yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

I saw a five day old baby the other day. And my son is 16 and daughter 10. So you kind of forget Yeah, how tiny. How tiny. I was just like, oh my gosh, I can't believe so. It's It's so amazing. I mean, and oh my gosh, that's cool.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I will even bring my son home. My daughter. There's a 15 month age gap. 15 and a half month age gap. Bringing my son home my daughter looked gigantic. Yeah. I hadn't seen her in a few days because we're in the hospital and whatnot. And then I just came back. How are you? So

Todd McLaughlin:

that's class. Right? Yeah, definitely forget. All right. That's funny. I know. Yeah. And a few days they really do expand. I'm All right. What I know you don't have probably a lot of a lot of time to think about this right now. But you've already composed three books, which is fairly ambitious. If you were to go down a new project path, what is really calling your name? Or what are you most interested on right now?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Well, yeah, I'm focusing a lot of my attention right now on my relaunch of my membership site. So.

Todd McLaughlin:

So basically, launch relaunch, meaning you had to go in, you took a break, and your relaunch

Christina D'Arrigo:

going, I, yeah, I have my children and the membership site, I was unhappy with the platform I was hosting it on anyway. So I got a new hosting platform. And I've just been basically focusing all of my attention that I can obviously, my main gig is parent mom right now. But all the attention that I can focus on work on focusing towards relaunching the membership site, making it the best that could possibly be, for anybody who wanted to join, and for all the people that are on there, now is a trial period. They're liking it so far. So

Todd McLaughlin:

yes. Can you tell us a little bit more about like, what type of trial you have going on? In case any listeners want to join over there? Or just or see what you have going? Can you explain a little bit?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I have a 30 day yoga challenge. It's 30 days of mind, body and spirit yoga. It's all as we spoke about before a short, little 10 minute, 15 minute sequences that people can do when they're busy. I also have a calendar. So we started at the beginning, you could start at the beginning of a month, or whatever, but you could start anytime, but we started on April 1, and I have the calendar basically mapping out each sequence for each day. But you don't have to, you could start whenever it's just a 30 day challenge. So

Todd McLaughlin:

yeah, very nice. And what sort of time commitment do I need to put in for that? Like, how long are you session per day, on average?

Christina D'Arrigo:

It's the longest session in there is 18 minutes long. So they're mainly 10 minutes and 15 minutes. Cool.

Todd McLaughlin:

So you have to be kind of organized to plan 30 days worth of content? Is that Is that easy for you? Are you like naturally sort of organized in that way? That's something I

Christina D'Arrigo:

have a lot of classes filmed already. On the YouTube channel, I have over 400 videos on there. And then on the membership site on the previous one, I had about 150, maybe 175? And I don't know. So there's a lot of content. And and yoga sequences are evergreen. So yes, if you're getting into that I did back and all my teaching style may evolve and change throughout the years, my yoga sequences that I did back in 2014 is still a yoga sequence that anybody can do if they enjoy it, and want to keep going back to it. So

Todd McLaughlin:

can you explain so if any listeners are not digital marketers, can you? Can you explain the difference between like, Evergreen, viral and like personal or I don't know what what would be the term that you would use for that other sort of classification of like, where you get really like personal like, this is something about me so people can get to know you? I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not the best shot.

Christina D'Arrigo:

But evergreen just basically is exactly how it sounds. It just it lasts forever. It can just be any season anytime. It's just always always good. So got

Todd McLaughlin:

it. That's cool. Thank you for doing that. Yeah, I have a ton of like, technical questions, which I you know, I, I figured, well, those of you that are listening that are yoga teachers, I'm thinking you're probably curious, I know some of us fall into this category of like, I really want to engage with technology, because anything that helps me to build my ability to interact with people anywhere in the world, how exciting. And then I see and sometimes personally feel like oh, boy, this is so much work. I just want to go back to the days where I just rolled up to the studio. Yeah, I pardon me, I'd even turn on a computer. I think I'd like note cards and we kept track of like you have a 10 class card. I'm going to cross off one class, and we'd go through the Rolodex system. Yeah, just kind of, you know, romanticizing the old days. So do battle that at all or do you are you seems like he really gotten the ball rolling and probably enjoy the tech side, what are your thoughts?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I think for me, it might be a unique thing to me personally. But I really I enjoy that I started out with a blog. And I just kind of the blog wasn't about yoga. It was just kind of like about lifestyle stuff. And then I started the yoga YouTube channel in the yoga blog. And that kind of just translated all the skills from the original blog to the yoga blog. And I enjoy that stuff. So I think that's just Yeah, some people don't. But I like that stuff.

Todd McLaughlin:

It's obvious because you're, you've been at it, you've been steady. What what is your organizational process for, say, when you have an idea, from the time that you have the idea to the production to the editing to the publishing? Do? What is your creative process for getting from that idea stage to when you actually go to film?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Um, well, to create the content, I kind of do a mix of basically what I feel like doing in the moment, and then what people are telling me they need or just kind of, yeah, both are what I'm seeing that I feel like people might need or want in the moment. Yeah, and then just creating the sequences based on that, and filming and editing, you kind of have to, if you're editing, and posting that often, you kind of have to get into a rhythm of how you're editing your videos, your yoga classes, and it becomes kind of a formula. So basically, you just like, it becomes more second nature this way you're able to post and not take forever at one particular stage.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah, that makes sense. Do you ever get tripped up on it tripped up on a particular stage? Like for me editing? Oh, my gosh, like I can. I love doing it. And I feel like I could spend days on it. And I have to be like, this doesn't need to take 10 days like this could be done in one hour? You know what I mean? Like, do you have? Do you have any advice for that? Just do it? Yeah.

Christina D'Arrigo:

It's just not not kind of obsessing over being perfect about it, because that's what I used to do for sure. But you can't, you just have to say, you know, Done is better than perfect at this point. And people aren't really going to care. If your lighting is not the best at one particular stage in the video, or if you have like a little bit of a muffled sound for a part like they're not going to really care as long as the sequences good. And they enjoy the class like, it's going to be fine.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yeah. book ideas. Would you do another book?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I have some ideas. I'm not 100%. I mean, anything that I do is more is basically just what's happening in my life at the moment. So a lot of ideas for yoga for moms, or pregnancy or postpartum or just surrounding that area of life. Yeah, so

Todd McLaughlin:

yeah, yeah. I mean, I just don't see how you're doing it. Christina like with with with raising your kids? Are you are sorry, you getting in the bed and then working from like, 11pm to 1am? Um, you can't do that. If you have to get sleep. Like, when are you squeezing this end? How are you?

Christina D'Arrigo:

My parents are very helpful. They watch the kids a lot when my husband's at work during the day. But I mean, some days, I just can't work at all. So it just depends whether I have childcare help, sometimes I do work after I put them to bed. It just depends on the day depends on what I'm working on. And it depends on what deadlines I have coming up and just things like that. So and I create my own deadlines as well. So it's just I can be flexible, which is good.

Todd McLaughlin:

Got it. Cool. What are your thoughts on yoga posturing and trying to keep up with like, looking cool and being fancy on social media? I'm not cool. I guess my thought is don't good answer.

Christina D'Arrigo:

I don't know. I just Yeah, I can't compete with those with those people. And I'm not even going to try so that's great for people if they want to do that. And it has there's a time and a place for it. And that's definitely for certain people. But for me, it's just I don't Yeah, I don't. I'm not cool.

Todd McLaughlin:

I think that is cool. Christina. I think you're absolutely you're actually doing the cool thing because you're you're being true to yourself and that's what I think is gotten you where you are? That's me.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Right? All right. Yeah, it's important. And I definitely would suggest that to anybody looking to get into the, the whole online space is just don't try and be anybody else. Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

Good advice. In relation to say, like, injury, and practice, what have you learned over the years and or in terms of like respecting your body and not attempting to do something that's hurting you? Like, do you have any thoughts about that?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, I just, I always tell my students to just don't do anything that that they feel is going to push too far. That you're listened to your body. And basically, if, I mean, if you want to push yourself, that's great. And you should, but take it. Take it a bit easy. I don't like to push people too far. I think especially coming from the dance background. It's important to not think about oh, the person next to me in class is in a handstand or a headstand. And I I'm not quite ready for that yet. Or the person is in a split, and I'm not quite ready for that yet. I'm not going to just force myself down into the pigeon pose or anything of that nature, just to look like somebody else. So basically, being kind to yourself should be number one, and listening to your body should be your number one priority when practicing

Todd McLaughlin:

for choice. Good advice. What is your favorite chair yoga poses? Like if you're gonna bust out a chair yoga practice right now? Do you have a few that you love?

Christina D'Arrigo:

Right now, I would just sit there. Take it down. But I really liked the, the, I guess, pigeon pose in a chair. So it's basically just crossing your ankle over your thigh and working the IT band and the stretching the outer thigh. So nice. That's Those are great,

Todd McLaughlin:

good answer. Philosophically, in the world of yoga philosophy, is there a certain book or teachings or branch that you gravitate toward and or have pulled a lot of inspiration from over the years?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I have to just go with my yoga teacher training. I think the Iyengar style is probably my favorite. I do I use props, but definitely not as much anymore. But the use of props is very heavy in the high end art style, as you must know, I'm sure and I, I, I like props because it just helps people get into the pose, but in a safer way. So and it also I mean, it also incorporates a lot of flow and the flow, the style of flow makes sense to me, just because it makes sense the way that it goes from one thing into the next and it's not awkward, or you have to stop and then switch and then yeah, it's just it's a it's like a dance almost. So I like that because obviously my dance background and whatnot.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yes, yes. What about the world of breathing exercises in pranayama? Do you have a favorite breath exercise or, or something of that nature that you gravitate toward?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I do like the alternate nostril breathing. I know a lot of people think it's awkward. But I don't know, I find that it really helps you to focus. And it just kind of it's very grounding for me. So that's probably my personal favorite

Todd McLaughlin:

ice. In the world of yoga music. Do you have a favorite artist? If you're gonna put some yoga music on? I guess it doesn't have to necessarily be named.

Christina D'Arrigo:

I do. Yeah, I have one. I would have to look up her name because I just have her. Her song in my head. I could send it to you before the show. I don't remember her name. But she's, she's my probably my favorite. I was listening to this particular artist during labor. So

Todd McLaughlin:

that connection? Yeah, I hear you. My wife used. Do you know that Hawaiian singer, Izzy. He's somewhere over the rainbow and we share my son's favorite song. Oh, yeah. Oh, my favorite. Love is he she had that playing when our daughter was born. And so whenever he's singing, it's like, it takes you back doesn't it? Or like, Oh, for sure. Yeah.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Is it that you listen to definitely.

Todd McLaughlin:

What are your thoughts about out. So I saw so are you teaching any public classes? Currently? You solely teaching online? So what about using music in your videos? Are you putting like, music in the background? Are you? Are you not including it at all? What are your thoughts there,

Christina D'Arrigo:

um, I like practicing music, but also like it when it's quiet. And I think for years now it's just I've been a no music, kind of strictly no music because I get a lot of mixed reviews about music on the YouTube channel. And then that kind of translated when I was teaching live classes into the way I taught in life scenario as well. So it just find it easier to focus when it's just the teacher and the instructor. Yeah, so but you know, it's, it's good. Sometimes it's more helpful to just be quiet background.

Todd McLaughlin:

So I agree. I hear Yeah, we, we have people of course, we have a yoga studio, and people will, you know, I want music and then other people like, I don't want music. And then when the pandemic hit, I put a camera in the room. So I record all of our classes. And I found that if I have music on in the classroom, that the sound of the music hitting the microphone and us talking created this big, garbled kind of like messy, not fun to listen to from the online side. So we've just stopped using music. And it's almost been kind of nice in a way, because then it's like, I can't use music because it doesn't work for the online element. And it just solved that problem in a way. So yeah, that's what I wanted to ask you that and see what your thoughts were there.

Christina D'Arrigo:

Yeah, a lot of people asked me about the why don't I put music in my videos? Or? Well, first of all, for YouTube, it's just a royalty issue. So it wouldn't be able to have ads if you put on popular music, but then there's the royalty free music, which I could use. So there's that, but I still just found it easier. And just kind of more people were able to focus better, I'm able to focus better if it's just the instruction.

Todd McLaughlin:

Yes. I'm really curious. You have a YouTube channel, people can watch for free. You have a paid site? How do you encourage people to want to go to the one that support you, he knows that you can make a living and generate some revenue. I don't know if you earn money off your YouTube channel. But I've from what I've heard from people that that have ads on their videos, like it's like half a penny per view or saying holy like, like, you'd have to be cranking millions of views before you would actually be generating a decent income on that. So So obviously, you know, you're working so hard. And you thought like, let me now create a paid site. I'm doing well on YouTube, can you just give me a little bit of insight into like, has it been easy? Has it been hard anything you've learned or tips or tricks that is how have helped you?

Christina D'Arrigo:

With the YouTube channel? Well, in terms of ads, yeah, you need quite a bit of views in order to make anything and YouTube only or Google because it's basically Google, Google only pays the Creator once you hit a certain threshold per month. So it took a long time for me to actually get a monthly payment from Google. And now I have over 100,000 subscribers on the channel. So it is a no I get a lot of views, which is great. But then kind of in the terms of converting people over to the paid site is just people, if they if you build a relationship with your students, and I have with quite a few of them. And if they like you and they want to support your work, because they they know that it's work. The people who are paid members, or who are willing to become paid members know that it is work, posting any kind of content, any kind of classes, teaching classes in general is work. So you have to pay to kind of be able to take advantage of that service. So they are willing to support the work. Yeah, yeah.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's good to hear. Yes, yes. That's encouraging. Yeah.

Christina D'Arrigo:

It's not gonna be all 100,000 people that are subscribed to the channel, but it's gonna be you know, the people who build the connection with and who really like your classes and who connects with you as a teacher. So,

Todd McLaughlin:

yeah. I think what's really neat is that you make Yoga very accessible. Your practices are accessible for a wide range. range of ability level. What are your thoughts about spreading yoga globally and trying to make it accessible so that more people can practice?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I think it's important. Yeah. I think that just Yeah, even if you have an injury or mobility issue or anything, that you would think, Oh, I can't practice yoga, there's always a way. There's the chair yoga or modifications or working with somebody who knows your specific issue to help you kind of figure out what practices and what poses are right for you. I think just just doing yoga in general is important. So spreading that message is, is really, it's a important thing for me for sure.

Todd McLaughlin:

That's cool, Christina. Well, please thank your family, for helping child's mind and make this make this possible. So thank you so much, again, I'm in the efforts of being respectful of your time and not holding you longer than the time we planned. In closing, do you have any words of wisdom or advice or anything that we have not already spoke about that you'd like to share before we close?

Christina D'Arrigo:

I mean, I've said this recently, actually, in another interview that I did, and I just think it's, it's just important, especially for anyone listening who has kids and and, you know, it's, it's just important to acknowledge that you are important, and making yourself a priority and making your yoga practice a priority is making your yoga practice a priority is making yourself a priority. So yeah, just knowing that yes, taking care of everybody else is, is important, but you taking care of you is also taking care of them. So you're you're important, basically, is what I'm trying to say.

Todd McLaughlin:

You said it well. Well, thank you, Christina. So much. I really appreciate it. And I will stay in touch. And yeah,

Christina D'Arrigo:

thank you so much for having me. It's nice to talk to you.

Todd McLaughlin:

Thank you. I'll catch up with you soon. All right, bye. Native yoga podcast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you liked this show, let me know if there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com. And hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends, rate it and review and join us next time