Ep 2: Lavinia Errico | From Equinox to Move Joy - Revolutionizing Fitness Through Joy and Movement

I just always am so curious to just continuously learn more about the mind, the body, the soul, how our spirit affects our body, how our thoughts affect our body. You know, all of that, like, all of those connective tissues and embodiment of things, like, that's what gets me so excited. This podcast is for informational purposes only. We are not medical professionals and do not provide medical advice. Consult a healthcare provider for any health concerns. Opinions expressed are not a substitute for professional medical guidance.

Welcome to the Optimize we podcast. I'm your host, Lindsay o', Neill, and

I'm super excited to kick off a

series of interviews and biohacking truths without the BS with you. Hello and welcome to the Optimize we podcast. I'm Lindsay o', Neill, your host, and today I am joined by one of my favorite humans making huge waves in the fitness and wellness and spiritual realm, my dear friend, Lavinia Erico. Welcome so much to our podcast today. Thank you so much for joining.

Thank you. Lindsay, congratulations on these podcasts you're doing. It's amazing.

It's been so wonderful to hear people's stories about how they are optimizing their own health, but you have a unique perspective because you've helped millions of people optimize their health throughout your career. So I wanted to interview you today because you're such an influential person, but you've had so many different facets of your life and career that have led you to something that I think is really, really fun.

Thank you. I love what I do. I love what I do. I. It fills my heart. And I think that's the most important thing is that at some point, like, you have to know, like, what is it that makes you feel so alive? Like, what makes you get so excited to jump out of bed every morning and just share, you know? So for me, it's always about sharing what I do with other people. And that's why I think I've stayed this person who's, like, continuously curious. You know, I'm like, the person, like, I want more. I want more. I want more. I want more. But, like, in a good way, not in a greedy way. Like, I want more knowledge. I want to learn more. I want to understand how my body moves. I want to understand, you know, when I get in a funk, like, how. How can I get out of it? Like, I just always am so curious to just continuously learn more about the mind, the body, the soul, how our spirit affects our body, how our thoughts affect our body. You know, all of that, like, all of those Connective tissues and embodiment of things. Like, that's what gets me so excited.

That's, you know, that is the true definition of optimization. It's being a truth seeker. It's being a sponge that's never full. And I think that's how we originally first connected. Now, a lot of people who are listening might know you as the woman who helped to create Equinox, which is a huge business, right? So you created this gym. You made it sexy for people to get out of their homes and to go to a gym. Equinox was like, kind of like the first cool place to go and work out, right?

Well, I have to tell you something. We didn't get them out of their home at that time. We had to get them out of happy hour. In that year, people went from work to happy hour. So I always say, like, our biggest competition was, like, two for one drinks and. And little hot dogs, you know, like, because that's what people did, you know, they would literally go work happy hour and then out to dinner, and then they would be, like, completely wasted and go home. Like, that's what New York City was about, you know, so we had to make it sexy. Like, we had to make it a place where people wanted to go. You know, like I said, we're competing with the bar, we're going with, like, pickup places, and we're picking up with that energy and that vibe. And so it was like. So we had to make it fun. Like, we had to make the classes so much fun. Like, every single detail we had, like, we had to make sure that when they were in the room, the lighting made them look good, you know, that the music felt like they were just in a nightclub dancing. And that the teachers that we put on weren't just wonderful technicians, but that they knew how to bring the party. You know, they had to. They knew how to bring the party. And. And then also I had to stack the room. You know, I had to make that I had the right front line, you know, Like, I would be calling people, hey, are you going to come tonight? It didn't just happen organically. Like, you had to work it. Like, you had to constantly work to make sure you had all the right people. You knew, you had the ones that were yelling in the front. And, you know, it's just. It took something. But, I mean, thankfully, I love, love, love, love, love what I did, and my brothers love what they did, and we just love what we did. So it helps. It just helps when you feel it in your heart that you just love it and never, it never felt like work for me. Like, even though I was, you know, pretty much, you know, in the gym every morning by like 7 o' clock and if till about, you know, 9 o' clock and. But you loved it and you were, you know, it's at 5:30. We'd say, Showtime. All hands on deck. We're ready to. That was our peak hours, you know, from 5:30 to about 8:00. And all hands on deck. And we were in there to greet the members and, and create, create the energy vibe, you know, make sure that it stayed because if not, you would have these lulls that would kind of happen. And we, you know, wanted to make sure it was, it was constant.

It was pumping.

Yeah, pumping. Pumping, baby.

Yeah. And so during this time, this is like the mid-90s. Later, later 90s when you guys.

It was actually in the early 90s. We opened our first, you know, we opened up our first facility outside in New York City, I guess. You know, some people might say that was our, you know, that was the one that we kind of had our test, our little run and that really well, honestly. And then we opened up our. The Equinox. I always get confused. It was 1990, 91, like around.

And that was the one on Lexington Avenue.

No, our first one on 76 in Amsterdam.

So I, I grew up in New York City and I'm, you know, I was in high school in the 90s. And I remember, actually, because I remember I lived on Roosevelt island and I would take the tram over and then get on the bus and go to high school. And I remember when the first Equinox opened. Yeah, it was like 70 something, right?

76 in Amsterdam.

Yeah, yeah, right by my high school. So I went to school on, on 67th in Amsterdam. Crazy. So fun. But so you're, you're launching this, this brand. What brought you and your brothers together to come up with the whole concept of Equinox?

You know, first of all, we all lived on the Upper west side and we all were doing our own. We were doing businesses. I was working with Longcombe and I was started kind of in their executive program and things like that. And I did a little bit of everything. I, I don't know, I was always the girl that could wear a lot of different hats, you know. And then my brothers were doing construction and things like that. They were really entrepreneurs. They had a couple little businesses and, and they were doing it. We were living on 69th and Broadway and we were like, complaining like, oh, My God. Like, there's no gym around here. Like, oh, my God, it's awesome. So I was literally going over to the Vertical Club, and then sometimes I would go down to. To a Gold's Gym. Like, when I. I would go into these times where I wanted to, like, bodybuild really hard, you know, like, that was part of my shtick. And then we were taking classes at Jeff Martin Studio, but there was nothing that had it all. And we complained a lot. You know, at first, someone. Someone needs to open a great facility so people like us. And then we would be with all of our friends and everybody would be saying that, like, someone needs to open up a great, like, place. Someone needs to open a great gym. Like, we didn't even have to do any market testing because we were it, you know, us and our friends already. We knew what we wanted. Anyway. We had an opportunity to open up our first gym outside of New York, and we did that, and that went well. And then, you know, Equinox came about a year and a half after that. It took us about, you know, a year and a half to get the whole concept, because it was a much different concept. Yeah. And then, you know,

and then there you are. You're competing with. There's a million bars on the Upper west side, but there were no gyms, so that's.

There were no gems. There were no gyms, but there wasn't. There wasn't a whole thing. Like, we had, like, wasn't a place that. That looked good and felt good and had the right vibe and had classes and had had a great weight area and had personal trainers and, you know, had massage and just had everything. Like, there wasn't anything like that up on the Upper west side at all. And then it was also cool. Like, some of the places that were at the time were like, you'd walk in and they were brown and they had thing. And men were walking around with, like, their. Their socks that they wear with their suits with barefoot or sneakers. Like, it just was vibeless. I'm not going to name the. But there was a place that I would go to when I was working on, you know, at Saks and some of the other stores. And you would go in there and it was just like, oh, this is not motivating. This is not inspiring to watch, like, these people walking around in socks. And just the. The music that you would hear in

a dentist's office, you know, it was just elevator music.

Elevator. It was just awful. It was like, no, this can't be.

Like, you know, got to create a different vibe. And honestly, the. The single thread through all of these podcast interviews so far has been that people will optimize their health when they're either forced to or they want to. And so you created a vibe to make people want to leave the bar and go to the gym instead, focus on their health, optimize their health through exercise, through movement, and also through community. Because you didn't just create a place to go and optimize your physical body. You created a community, which is so important for. For your emotional optimization.

I love that you're pointing that out, because we didn't do that. Like, it wasn't like today, like, community, belonging, all of that is very intentional. People are. Are doing that. They're. They're. They're baking that into their branding, which is amazing, because we need it. We didn't do that at that time, but maybe the fact that we were siblings, so we already had that feeling of family, and our sisters were. Worked with us as well. So if you went into the pro shop, you had the two sisters, and they were so outgoing and so friendly, so you automatically had this feeling of like, oh, I'm part of the family. Especially the people that first. Like the first couple hundred that signed up, they're like, oh, I'm in the inn with the. I'm in the family. You know, so it was just this feeling of, like, being comfortable and belonging and being part of community. But the thing that was really amazing was a couple years later, people said, you know what? I love that Equinox did. It transformed our neighborhood. Because before people said, you know, the thing that was always amazing about the Upper west side is they had these. These little wonderful, like, grocery stores. You had Citarella that you would to. For all your fish and things like that. And then you would go to Fairway and get all your produce and things like that. And then people would go to, like, Isabella's and eat at Isabella's, and they would go to some of these other places. They said, but we never knew each other. Like, you would never. And that. And they said, once Equinox opened, all of a sudden you go into Citadellas and you would. You would start talking to people. It's like, because you knew them from Equinox, and then you'd be at Fairway, and then you would be walking in the neighborhood. It was like, all of a sudden, I live in a real neighborhood. I live in a neighborhood that knows each other. And it was all from Equinox. And I remember when People told me that story. I was like, oh my God, I love this because I know how alone you could feel in New York. Unlike you, most people are not born and raised in New York City. They come here after college and they leaving their families and they're leaving all their best friends and you're leaving. And then it's not always easy to, To. To feel like you're in a neighborhood and in a community where you really know people. So that, you know, really always touched my heart. I mean, today it's a little different because we have these. You know, years ago we used to buy our coffee at a deli. You know, so you coffee and you were out of there like it was two minutes. Like nobody was hanging out in the deli to start talking to each other. But you know, today it's different because you go, you know, to Blue Bottle or you go to Phil's Coffee and you hang out and everybody in your neighborhood goes, right, right. So I think we were the first, like, we were really the first to really kind of help transform a community and that I always love too.

And you did it at exactly the right time. Transforming a community and creating a community in New York City is almost an impossible feat. And you did it right before 9 11.

And I know we did it, but a year before 9 11?

Yeah, year before 9 11.

A decade before 9 11.

Yeah, a while before 9 11. And. And what I've heard about New Yorkers, and I lived through it too, but as a younger person. The perspective of New Yorkers Pre and post 911 is that we were these kind of like hard jerks that didn't want to talk to each other and just walk by each other, you know, on the street and not even look up from our shoes to say like a quick hello or flash someone a smile or, you know, anything friendly. And then after 9 11, you know, I feel like New Yorkers really came together and. And I actually joined equinox gym after 9 11. And. And I went to the one on. On the Upper east side because that was the closest one to me.

63rd or 80 on 63rd?

63rd, yeah. Right by the tram. And. And my mom and I would go there and we had such an amazing community of people and the, the vibe kept shifting. You know, it was like you created this vibe and it was just so attractive and it was so magnetic that anyone that we met was like this high energy, high frequency being. And so you created that, which is such an incredible feat.

We definitely trailblaze things. Like, I remember Bringing in this guru. At the time, I had a guru, and I went to India with him, and I brought him in. And in those days, we didn't have social media, so we would put signs up all over, come and be in the presence of the guru and have darshan, which is like, good energy brought to you. And I remember people, people thinking I was crazy. Like, she's easy. And you know, but you know what? They came. Like, I'll never forget that room was packed, just totally packed with about 200 people all sitting on the floor. They didn't even know where. What they were coming to. But they trusted, right? There was a trust, a trust in us that it might be a little bit out there, but you know what? I'm gonna go. And that, like, that's another part of building community, is bringing people on a journey that they would have never maybe gone on before. And so you expose them, you expand. Like I always say, expand your heart, expand your soul, you know, but you need to be around people and brands and things like that that help guide you to expand your soul, to expand your spirit, to expand your thinking, right? Because, you know, wasn't all about working out. It wasn't just exercise, exercise, exercise. It was so much more, like I used to say, to be healthy. I mean, healthy, not fit. You can be incredibly fit and not be healthy. And I see that more and more, by the way, in the world today. I see it even worse today because now that social media has everybody posting these hard workouts and everybody just wanting to be ripped and put corsets on, they're going to be so tight that we're going to literally strangle your organs, you know, like, so there's like this mentality. But, you know, I always would say you have to be spiritually healthy, mentally healthy, emotionally healthy, energetically healthy, and physically healthy. That is where health lives. That is where being spirit full, being soulful lives. Like, you know, and that's when you're like, I'm alive. Like, I alive. Like when you're just feeling so alive and full of enthusiasm. And I love the word enthusiasm, Lindsay. Unlike passion means with suffering, the root of the word. But the ASM means with spirit. So when living in enthusiasm, you're living with spirit. Like, that's what I like to teach people. Like, to me, that is my biggest biohack. My biggest biohack is how I have access to being full of spirit and joy every day, you know, because that's how I stay healthy. Because as soon as that starts dimming, I Don't care how much keto you're eating. I don't care how many, you know, infrared saunas, how many plunge, how much red therapy you're doing. At the end of the day, if you're not filled with joy and enthusiasm and spirit, your body is not. Your mind, your soul is not gonna. It's not going to be at its best.

I love that.

The access that I want people to understand is how to have access to your joy, your joy, your real. And the last week, I was out in. Out in bachelor golf, and I love it. I went snowboarding with my sister. It was amazing. And I say, I'm a professional beginner. I've been snowboarding for 19 years. I love. I love the greens and the blues. And I'm like. My sister's like, you're doing. You're so good. And I'm like, yeah, I'm a professional beginner. Don't put me on the blocks. Just let up there and feel so good. And I was, like, feeling so good. And I went afterwards and I sat at the fire, and my sister was running an error or something. I was with my little dog, and I was sitting there, and there was men on one side and women on the other, and they were all together. And I'm listening because I eavesdrop all the time. I was listening to the conversations, and I'm just sitting there. And the men are sitting there talking about their business, the fishing trips that they're going to be going on next week or within a couple weeks, and basically just talking about that. And I'm like, cool. The women are sitting there and lamenting and complaining about. I haven't been able to take off any of this weight since I. Since the holidays. And, oh, my God, my circles are getting so bad and my hair is getting so thin and just sitting there complaining and complaining about their physical bodies. And by the way, all of these women look pretty damn good, I'm sure. And to be honest, they look better than the Met, right? Why women? Why are we so conditioned to make our worth, to make everything? Like, our worth is our beauty, is our. Is our waist size, is our jean size. Like, we have to change this conversation. Absolutely have to change it. Like, we're amazing. We have to love ourselves. We have to love our body. Hey, look, it's going to change a little. Theirs is changing, too. Trust me, it's going to change a little. And it's okay, like, celebrate it. Like, it's, you know, like, it's okay to desire to be fitter to be leaner, to be stronger, like. But first, start with, like, loving. Loving. I love my body. I'm so grateful for this body. Like, when we live in that level and that frequency and that vibration, man, like, we're unstoppable.

Yeah.

Stoppable, you know, and it's infectious.

Everybody around us feels the energy. They feel the joy. Our children pick up on it because they're little sponges. I. I always. I remember thinking, like, when I'm going through my divorce, you know, I have these highs and these lows, and I'm not always the happiest mommy. And I'm. You know, some days I'm super cranky. And then I was also going through. Through a lot of health transitions. You know, double diagnosed with autoimmune condition, taking care of a chronically ill child, trying to continue to work in tech, which wasn't working, and doing all of these things. And I forgot about one really important thing, which is faith. I forgot about faith. I was so consumed by my fear. My fear that I was going to be sick, and that just wore on my body, and then it created this negative downward spiral. And I always talked about, well, I'm passionate about this, and I'm passionate about that, but that was such a great distinction that you shared, because I never really felt that true joy until recently. I never felt the true joy until I really let go of all of the fear and I replaced it with my faith with. With prayer and meditation every morning with, you know, ecstatic dance and exercise. Like, we're gonna get to. And have a little taste of. With move Joy, which is your new endeavor. And it's absol. Absolutely freaking amazing. I absolutely love it. But when you are filled with joy and you're filled with faith, you radiate it out to everyone. Like, I'm just watching you, like, doing all of these movements, and I'm feeling your energy, and I'm. I'm so grateful for people like you in the world who are not just keeping it to yourself. Thank you for sharing it with everyone else in the form of these businesses that are intended to create that kind of, like, drop in the. Drop in the water. You're creating like a. You're almost like tossing a boulder into a lake and creating this amazing ripple effect of beautiful energy and joy that is going to elevate all of us to be better, to optimize our everything.

You know, it's interesting that you say that, because I was, like, a little apprehensive about starting my own brand. I was Really, I don't know. Do I really want to do that over again? I know what it takes. And I'm getting older. Let one of the younger people do this. And. And. But then I was kind of like, waiting. I'm like, you know, there's a little white space here. Like, you know, there's a little white space of even. Like, the other day I did an interview, and the woman said to me, you know, the video, you're the bridge. You're like a really amazing bridge to a lot of things. And I really, when I sat and I thought about it, I was like, she's really right. Because even when I offered that at Equinox so many years ago, the guru coming in, that was. I was planting a seed and exposing people to something that they'd never seen before. Most of them have never experienced that before. And many of them went on to then to just, you know, have a more spiritual life like that. To. To understand what the law of attraction was like, to understand what manifestation looked like, to understand that your thoughts, your words, your feelings, your actions create your life. Like, all of a sudden, like, I bridge them into some personal development. I bridge them into spirituality. And even with movement now, you know, my movement isn't about exercising. It's really about releasing the energy. You know, we're just made up of these molecules of energy, of energy, of energy. Right. And. And so in the course of a day, on any given day, we have about 2000 different emotions that hit us. 2000 different emotions. You feel you're this, you're that, you're. And from. From what I understand through the research is that 80% of those are negative,

I think, at least.

Right.

Especially these days.

I think it's actually more like 80. But.

Yeah, no, I think it's. I think it's much higher than that. Yeah. And it's. It's too bad. Yeah.

Because it's like shame, wary, fear. All the things you talk about, all the not enoughs, not being pretty enough, not young enough, not rich enough, not beautiful enough, whatever it is, all the not enoughs that we're constantly being hit with, not smart enough. So all those. All of those emotions have an energy attack, have an energy attached to it. And, you know, we have to know how to release that energy because all of that lives on our body. And before you know it, you have a stiff neck and you have a pain in your lower back and you have intestinal issues, and then you're having constipation or you're having the run, like all these stuff is happening and it's all emotional, you know, and Also, you know, 75% of all autoimmune is women. 75% of all autoimmune diseases, women. And a lot of the research is showing that the root cause of that is emotional.

Right.

There's emotional disturbances. Right. So, you know, more than ever we have to know how to be mindful to release this. You know, we could call it stress, but the stress is usually some kind of an emotion that causes the stress. Right. So when you can start releasing that energy. Releasing the energy, that doesn't mean you're going to release the trauma. I'm not here to release trauma. I'm not a trauma therapist. But you can release the energy of the trauma for sure, right?

And make yourself feel better in that moment.

Exactly.

It's all about the moment to moment choice. It's like going to the ice cream shop. Would you like chocolate or vanilla? Would you like sad or would you like joyful? Right. You get to choose. We have the. We have the. We have free will. God gave us free will. And we have the right to choose how we want to feel.

Right. And the truth of it is we don't need to justify it, right?

Absolutely.

Why do you want vanilla? Well, I want vanilla because it tastes good. Why do you want chocolate? I'm. I want chocolate because I want chocolate. Like you don't to justify.

I feel happy.

And you know, sometimes we have to fake it to make it, you know, sometimes we have to, you know. Yeah, just be like I'm, you know, you have to immerse yourself, you have to embody. That's why I love movement, because we can move the energy, right? You know, like, we can move the energy. Like movement. I always say movement is life and life is movement. You know, one thing I know for sure, when we're dead, we're not going to be breathing, we're not going to be moving. But until then, learn to move your body. Like every single organ in our body is connected to our spine, every organ. So we have to learn how to move our spine. You have to love your spine. That spine is magic. That cerebral fluid that runs in our spine, it is, it does so much for us, you know, it nourishes all of our discs. We have to learn how to do, how to move our spine in a way that feels good, you know, so everything I do feels good. You know, I've studied the meridians for a very long time on the body. So what all the exercises I do, it's about opening up the meridians. So people. I don't even explain this. We just do it. And they go, I feel so good. I feel so good. Because the way this is built is to actually feel good. It's to open up, to get the qi moving in the body, to get the lymphatic, to get the heart moving, to get the blood pumping, to get the circulatory system working, you know, to get the organs starting. You know, we talk.

Yeah, you're getting your digestive function moving. Everything is lighting up with move joy. And I. I did my first move joy session on Thanksgiving morning. Do you remember seeing that one? Right? Yep. Exactly. And I had my three daughters behind me, like, mom, what the heck are you doing? Who is that lady on camera? And then all of a sudden, I look behind me and I'm like, oh, I've got. I've got a couple of them doing it with me because it was so infectious in my household. And, you know, I didn't have to have coffee that whole day. I hosted my family for Thanksgiving dinner, and I had energy left over at the end of the night. I couldn't believe it. Just from doing one move joy class. I felt so good and so happy all day. It was the best way to start my day. And you taught me some new moves all the time.

Yeah, all the time. What do you want? Like, l. What? Like, you have so much energy. You have so. And I'm like, I don't do caffeine at all. You don't do any? I haven't taken so much as an Advil in 15 years.

Wow.

You know, I really every. I do homeopathy. I do supplementation. I actually even do a lot less than I was doing. I used to, like, be the person that was going and getting vitamin drips every, you know, every week. And I was getting all these different B12 shots and stuff. I don't even need it now.

Wow.

You know, I'm on a good program. I mean, look, I'm an amazing program. I love my homeopathist. I mean, she's the person I call us when anything happens. But the truth of it is, is I. I, like, even last week, I took a pretty wicked fall on the mountain, and I literally. I pulled over to the side and I started doing breath work and shaking to get the energy off my body because I didn't want that fall to be in my nervous system.

Right.

And afterwards, I did a little research, and I was like. I mean, that was my instincts to do that. And then When I started doing some research, I realized that all animals do that some kind of an incident happen, an attack or something that's. They shake. And one of the reasons that they shake, if they don't shake, 80% of the animals, if they don't do some kind of shaking within three days, they'll actually die.

Wow.

So I thought when. When I saw that after I took that fall and I had a helmet on and had protection gear on, but still, it was like I felt my insides getting jolted. Yeah, I could feel it. And I thought, no, I got to shake this off. I got to shake this off. And I pulled over to the side and I started doing the breath work. And I'm shaking it off, and I'm, you know, releasing the energy of the fall. Right. And these are the kind of tools we want to teach people.

Now, I know that it's kind of hard to teach on. On a podcast. We are going to release the video of this, too. But do you mind spending, like, a couple of minutes kind of just showing us how you. How you do some of these movements? Because I. I know that. That I was super interested when I first heard about it, and I would love to do it along with you, because I need to get my energy up today, too.

Keep my little shoes up here. Okay. So the first thing we're going to do, first thing we would always do is we always do a grateful. And we say, I am grateful for. And we inhale, take a big, deep breath, and we exhale. And you really use your voice, like, ha. Let it go. A lot of energy in our throat chakra. Right. So our thyroid is. And then we do another. I am so grateful for it. And really, I always say you want to feel it, like, visceralize the gratefulness in every cell in your body. I am grateful for. Inhale.

And so you're sweeping your arms up, you're sweeping them down.

Ah. And then when you cut, you just let it.

And then you're shaking your arms.

Exactly. And then we would just sort of. I'd like to go like this. Inhale. And we open the hands all the way in. The webs are our fingers. We hold a lot of trauma in there. So you go inhale. Big inhale through the nose. And then you. And then you go, inhale. Inhale more. Inhale more. Then we hold our breath.

Pushing your arms up, reaching towards the sky. And then exhaling and bringing your arms.

Hold your breath. Then we do a big exhale. We hold the breath out for 10 seconds. Then we hold our breath. You get a little high when you hold your breath. And then you go. So that's like our opening, right? And then do something that we call hops. Okay. So we just. We hop up and down and you. We do this for a minute and you just really let everything go, right? You let. You let your traps go, you open your jaw.

Yeah. A lot of us keep tension in our jaw. We wear our shoulders as earrings, kind of let those shoulders fall, and you

just let everything really go. Ah. Make sound. Release your wrists, your fingers. That thumb. That gets a lot of work.

And you're shaking it all out, right? You're shaking everything out. Getting rid of that.

And then energy. We just go like this. And. Ha, ha.

Winging your arms, bending your knees.

Yes. And you take a big inhale, big exhale. Ha. There we go. And you just take a second and you just, like, feel it. Like, I can feel the energy moving already. And then I like to lean over here and come back. And now I twist that waist because the. The spine, six directions, front and back, side and side and twist and twist. So you really want to get that spine moving. So you go here, just inhale, exhale.

And are you bending your knees so that you're protecting your back?

Yeah, of course. We'll do this.

Bending your knees, protecting your lower back, twisting your spine, your abs.

So I always say, put your corset on. So your corset, you bring your rib cage in, you pull your belly button into your spine, you bend your knees and then you lean over. Hands behind your head, if you can do that. And then you just go side to side. Inhale, exhale, Inhale, exhale. You can go faster, House. And the breath work is very, very important. Right?

So breath is helping to stimulate all of the cells in your body.

Right?

It's oxygenating. It's giving your. Your cells fuel.

Yeah. So we do this and then we do a lot of shoulders.

So you're rolling your shoulders, you're clapping your hands, you're moving your spine. Twisting, twist.

Yeah. And then. Then we tap. We do a lot of tapping. We release the energy.

This can help with lymphatic drainage with fascia release.

I like to brush the energy off. Unspoken words, unresolved conflicts. Every time we've suppressed our feelings to someone else. So we release all the energy, right? We release. You know, so it's kind of like that. That whole release section in the class, we do about 15 to 18 minutes. But on my app, I literally have a three minute release. So if you get off the phone with a really uncomfortable conversation. Just put on the app and do three minutes of releasing the energy.

Really?

You can use the release for so many things before getting on a call when, you know, like, I have a call coming after this and it's going to be a. A little bit spicy because the person, I'm not going to be giving them what they want. And so I will literally do three minutes of move joy to get myself calmed down. You know, so I.

Good for arguments with family or, you know, business meetings, like you said, or. Or honestly.

Yeah, no, as soon as you. I mean, I've been in meetings where I've excused myself to go to the restroom and I'm in the restroom doing this, releasing the work. Oh, my God. Because I could literally. I could literally.

Oh, sorry. We're gonna take a quick, quick break. That's okay.

I thought it was unplugged and I'm going to unplug it because, Yeah, you want to have this on your toolbox so that you can. During it's, you know, it's just filling your toolbox up so that when, when something is happening, like I said, like, I will excuse myself when I feel myself getting tense at a meeting to calm myself down. Because when you're in these business meetings, you don't want to lose your cool. You don't want to. You don't want to get your breathing to stop. Then you can't think clearly. So I just say, excuse me, and you choose a restroom. I go in the restroom, I move the energy out, I release the energy. I. And then I go in there and I'm ready to.

And then you come back with clarity and with openness to receive. And you know what? Sometimes I've noticed when I'm able to do that, and it hasn't been often in my career when I was working in tech, you know, it was. It. I never did that because I didn't have that tool in my toolbox at the time. But I noticed when I did write down, you know, my intentions for the meeting before I go into the meeting and I cleared my energy and I felt really good going into a meeting, I could actually feel the shift. So if I went into a meeting with somebody who I knew wasn't ready to buy or it was going to be a much harder sell or a much harder activation or implementation, if I prepared beforehand and was energetically sound and peaceful and ready and open, it would actually shift their energy too. It's not just about me. It's also about what kind of space am I creating for this meeting to be the most productive meeting it could possibly be.

Right.

And to get the outcomes for everyone that they want. And you're creating these outcomes and this energy for people to have that main biohacking tool in their toolbox, which is joy, you know?

Yeah. I mean, I went through. I did go through a little bit of that dark period around Covet for a couple years. And I. I mean, I went through a divorce and I went through like a really very intense family situation. And then I went through. I had a situation with my financial person who I'd been with for many years, and I saw that there were some unscrupulous things happening. So, like, it's just one thing after another. And I just got in a funk. Like, real. I just, I was in a funk. Like, I just felt like I was in a black cloud. And like everything I was normally doing wasn't really getting me out of it. And I remember my internist said, you know, maybe you should think about like a little bit of an anti depressant. And. And I thought, you know, I don't poo poo that. I mean, it's there and it's wonderful. But I just kind of felt like, especially being a person who really doesn't take medicine, I didn't really feel like that was right for me. And I thought, you know what, Let me get, Let me have it a couple more months and let me see if I can't figure this out. The truth of it is, one day I was sitting and I literally heard. I know this sounds crazy, it's going to sound a little woo woo. But I literally heard God say move. And at first I thought he wanted me to move out of my house.

Sell your house out of my house.

Like, because, you know, they say when you move, when you move out of. When you move, like out of your house, like, it changes the karma. And I'm like, oh, I'm not really ready to move out. I'm like having a conversation outside. I'm not really ready to move out of my house. Like, I. I love it here. And then the next day I hear move again. And this time I just got up and I started doing the breath work with the movement and affirmations, which at the time really was. I was just praying. I was just like, praying. That's what I was affirming. I was like in prayer. I was in. And then slowly I kept doing that every day. And about within six weeks to two months, I felt like a different person. I felt like the older Vinny I was back, and I really, like, whoa. I got rid of this, like, this layer of emotion, the sadness, this, like, disbelief, this feeling of, like, this is unimaginable. It was just that that energy was just keeping me so heavy, and it was like it lifted. It. It just. The energy lifted. Now, that didn't change the situation, you know, but it certainly. It made me. It was. It was such a big part of my healing. You know, I don't care what anybody says. You have do feel it to heal it, right? Feel it to heal it and then move it. You know, you can still be moving the energy while you're going through the healing process. So that is really how they started. And then I kept. I was already teaching an online course, but it was really very much like a boot camp. It was very, like, boot campy. Like, just move, move, move. And I started incorporating this. And what I was noticing, the women liked it better. They were coming more often. Like, before, they'd be like, whoa, that was really hard. Sometimes I would watch them shut their. Their cameras off, which made me think they were probably going into the kitchen and getting coffee or something. And what I was noticing when I started to do this, nobody turned their camera off. Everybody stayed. They were coming more often, and they liked it. And I was like. And then at a mastermind, one of the women pulled me aside and said, you are really onto something here. Like, you need to build this into a brand. I was like, no, no, no. Not gonna happen. I know what it takes to build a brand. I've been there, I've done it, and I've helped other people do it. I don't know if I'm up for that. And I really kind of walked away with. But thank you. Thank you for believing in that. I created something that was nice, and. And then I couldn't get it out of my mind. You know, it just kept ruminating and

planted the seed in your head.

Really planted a very big seed. And then I started talking to people I know that are strategists, and I had them do some deep diving into the space. And then I realized. So when they came back to me, they're like, wow, you know, like, you. Like, there's white space here that's big, and nobody's really talking. You know, when you think about it, Lindsay, 72% of our country is deconditioned overweight or obese. 72%. And most of the fitness industry, other than little classes here and there. But overall, they all are going after the same 28% like the equinoxes and the soul cycles and the Barry's boot camps and the Orange theory, they're all going into the same 28 that are still working out and working out. But there's really nobody globally really talking to this other group, you know, and they have so much shame. There is so much shame around, you know, research shows this, the, this information that I got shows that any of those people who are overweight, obese, or, you know, you know, really out of shape when they see the word exercise, fitness, workout train, they won't even open up an email.

Wow.

Because they have tried anywhere from four times to six times. They bought programs or did something and failed. So the last thing they want to do is sign up for something else that they're going to fail and make them feel really bad again. Right.

That's what shame is, the lowest vibration of all feelings.

So everybody void that as much as possible. And so I feel like I'm the perfect person because I say, I don't care if you ate a bucket of fried chicken last night. I'm okay with that. I'm not going to. There's no shame that we have. No shame. You're going to still move and you're going to laugh and you're going to move your body and you're still going to celebrate you and celebrate your beauty and celebrate that you, you can move. And we even I have a class that I teach on the chair that we can do this sitting for the people that have a harder time walking. Like I, I feel so passionate about getting everybody to move like that is. I feel like, to move, to feel joy, to access joy. You know, like every different people have their thing, you know, like Ariana is all about like, you have to sleep. Sleep is your key. And that's amazing. And somebody else has about this. Like, for me, it's all about accessing joy into your body. Like that's your superpower, that's your biohack you when you could do it. It actually makes your cells healthier when you're feeling that. And you know, like you said, it's contagious. Everybody wants to be with you. All of a sudden it's like you walk into a room, it's like, who is she? I need to know her. And that feels good. That feels really good to have that connection with humans.

Think about, you know, the percentage of people you talked about. 72% obesity rates, that's just, that's out of control high. But think about the Other statistics. You know, when you think about, like, women, you think about loneliness and, and you, and you think about hormone shifts and going through perimenopause or menopause. And you know, these things feel so out of our control at times, but they're actually well within our control because a lot of times it's just shifting our energy, it's shifting our perspective, and it's getting rid of all of that gunk that's built up time after time. You know, draining your lymphatic system is so important. Like, and getting it going, getting your digestive system going. So this is like the beginning, end and middle for, for you in terms of getting people to move. Like, this is where you dedicated life. God told you to do this.

It's getting you to move. Like, it's getting you to move your behavioral patterns.

Right.

It's not just your body. Like, we have to move our limiting beliefs. We have to move our thoughts. We have to, you know, move out

of the bar and get into the gym originally and move out of like

putting your head down and complaining. Move out of complaining, move out of gossiping. Like, move out of doing things that are low vibration. You know, to become conscious, it's really about consciousness and joy. Right. And, and my access to it is through movement, but it's really about consciousness and joy. And like I said, my access is through movement. Like that's, you know what. I've been dancing since I'm 4 years old and dance and movement has saved. Has really been my happy place forever. Like, forever. It's what, it's how I could connect the most intimately to myself. Right. The most intimately to myself. And, and the other thing about it is like, nobody can ever take that from you.

They can't.

Feeling that you get when you're moving your body in a certain way and that you're releasing energy and you're feeling good, like, like there's not a pill for it. Sorry. And nobody can ever take that from you. Yeah.

And, and you're right. You don't have to justify it either. Right. You know, you choose, you choose to feel joy instead of feeling sadness. You let go of the, the yucky stuff and you, you move your body so that you can feel joy. You give your, your cells access to it and you let it in and it, and it takes over in a beautiful attention.

You know, 92% of women over the age of 38 hate their body. Wow. Hate their body. So when they're moving and they're doing that soul cycle class, they're nine times out of ten doing it from a place of, like, not liking their body. I've got to get rid of the cellulite. I got to get rid of these, these thunder. I got to get rid of this back fat. Like, oh, my God, when I just listened to the women, like, I was even sitting outside of Pilates studio a couple weeks ago, and I just had to walk away. I mean, first of all, it again, our beauty, our identity is not our dress size. Like, it was just this feeling of, like, ladies, we gotta change this. Like, I getta change it.

Yeah, we gotta move on. Move on from that, that story. Move on from the story of negative.

Like, we have so much more to offer than if we're a size two. I mean, personally, I don't even want to be a two. I look like a freaking skeleton. And it would age me, you know, like there was anything about that, you know, that feels right. And that's your point.

Earlier, it doesn't actually matter. My dad used to force us to eat because we would get letters home that we were too skinny. I've always been a skinny person. I have tiny little bones. I've been a zero or two my whole life. And I was terribly unhealthy. It didn't matter what I looked like. I was rotten on the inside. I had massive autoimmune disease. My gut was a mess. I was miserable. Taking antidepressants. You know, honestly, it's like, who cares what you look like? Care what you feel like? Care about the people that are inspiring you around you. And yes, you can optimize your physical appearance. You'll actually glow more when you have joy.

I had a spiritual teacher that used to say, a smile is the cheapest way to be cute. So learn, like, smile and love your smile. Like, somebody said to me, they. I sent her a picture because she was doing this funny little thing, and she's like, I need a picture of you without a smile. Say, not gonna happen. It's not gonna happen. I. I like my face better when I smile. So I'm not into that. That thing. I don't. I don't do that.

Like, it's not my lander Blue Steel,

that whole, like, whatever thing. No, my look is my smile. Because when I smile, it sends a message to the brain that says, I'm happy, I'm good. It makes me feel good. And it's a superpower.

It's a superpower, and it makes other people feel good too. You are radiant. You are beautiful. You're magnetic. You're filled with joy and purpose and also generosity. I know that you are offering listeners of this podcast a free trial of Mo Move Joy, which is amazing. So I will provide that link in the notes of this podcast. But they can go to. It's Move Joy is the website.

Move Joy Life.

Move Joy Life. That is so beautiful. Yeah. So if you go to movejoy Life, you can check it out. You can find Follow Move Joy on Instagram and you can follow Lavinia and you can get access to this in three minutes or less from what Lavinia has told us on her. On her amazing app that she's created. And I want to just thank you for not only agreeing to share your story and also share your amazing, positive, beautiful, joyful energy with us today, but I also want to thank you for. I'm sure you wanted to give up many times in your career and then also during the dark period throughout Covid. Thank you for not giving up. A lot of women and a lot of men who are listening to this podcast are probably in a place where they have to make a choice. If they give up on something, maybe it's their purpose, maybe it's their family, maybe it's, you know, themselves. And I'm just so grateful that you didn't give up on your, on yourself or on your vision for your life. And I'm so glad that God talked you into moving.

Thank you. Thank you. I received that. Thank you.

You're such a beautiful human and I'm so grateful for you and I'm so thankful to, for Move Joy and this movement that you're creating. So everybody get on, get on the, get on the bus. Start dancing, start moving.

Yes. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you for joining this week's episode of Optimize. We, we loved having you along for the ride. Now if you want to dive deeper into our guests insights, be sure to follow them on their socials because trust us, it's worth it. And don't forget to connect with us either. We're Elness Eternal Underscore, stay updated, join the conversation and be a part of the growing community. Until next time, stay inspired, stay optimizing, and we'll catch you in the next episode.