MOVEJOY, The Loving Movement with Lavinia Errico

Foreign. I'm so passionate and I've watched so many women now feel better. Like I have one woman on, she's 75 and she said she went in for her physical and the doctor said your blood work hasn't looked this good since you're in your 50s.

Nice.

And then we have other people who lost £20, who lost £30. So it's really been very interesting. But the thing that makes me the most happy on every level is that we've become a real online community and friendships are really being made.

Girl, you've got questions. Questions about your body and how to feel good in it. About your hormones and how to keep them in check. Questions about your sex life and your whole health. Can you imagine having a best girlfriend who was also a triple board certified OB gyn? A girlfriend doctor you could call and ask or tell her anything. Someone who could show you how to live any stage of life before, during or after menopause in a big, bold and beautiful way. Well, friends, I'm your girlfriend doctor. I believe you are meant to flourish and shine, to embrace life and awaken to all its possibilities. Let's get there together. Welcome to our show,

You guys. I have been on a trend of interviewing some of my best friends and most amazing, inspiring women in the world. And so today is no exception. And on this field, as we're kicking off the new year, heading into February or early in February, talking about how we maintain that motivation, how we maintain that self care, how we help support each other so we're all succeeding together. Like letting go of the competitiveness, letting go of the survival instincts, so to speak, that only one is going to make it to the top, whereas all of us can join hands and link and help each other. So today who I'm interviewing, my dear friend and amazing, inspiring female, just incredible woman, Lavinia Erico. She is a leader and innovator. She was a co founder of Equinox with her brothers and that revolutionized the fitness industry. So you think about what she brought together in the Equinox gym. You've seen them in New York, in la, in Dallas, there's a couple here, I mean all over the world, in some of these major cities that it really revolutionized the fitness industry. And Lavinia was a key aspect to that, to really help support women in this fitness movement. And she does it in a beautiful and graceful and feminine and powerful and, you know, trailblazing way. So currently she has a new, new project and a new company and it's called Move Joy Move Joy, and I love the name of it, and I think it just says what it is and how she shows up in the world and shows up for others. But Move Joy is a movement practice that combines ancient wisdom with modern science, blending mindfulness and movement to help people connect with their true selves. Now, when you put movement and mindfulness and that spiritual connection together, I mean, that's powerful, really leads into accelerating your life force and expanding that so that we're vibrating at a higher level with freedom, vitality. And just as Lavinia does Joy every day, so. Joy every day. So welcome, Lavinia, to the girlfriend Dr. Shel.

Thank you so much, Anna. It's really an honor to be here. You make the phone call. I'll go anywhere with you. Good.

I'm going to hold you to that. We've got a lot of places to go, and so I want you to just tell a little bit about your backstory and that what's led you to bring Move Joy? I mean, like, you sold Equinox, you know, and millions you could be sailing through, coasting through life, and yet you're creating a whole nother movement, right?

Well, first of all, I am a person that if I retired and I did nothing, I would be bored out of my mind. That's just not. That's not my DNA. And I have been working, you know, I've been working with other people and helping people strap brands and scale brands and women brands is. That's kind of where my energy is and my heart is. So really with this is. I never really got out of the fitness industry. You know, I've kind of always have been involved in fitness and beauty and wellness, spirituality. It's sort of like my happy place. It's what I love. It's how. I don't know how I would exist without that, you know, so. And I am avid, consistent learner. Like, I just love to learn. That's another happy place I have. So with Move Joy, this came at a time where I'm in all these different entrepreneur groups, and it was right during COVID and we were doing. We were changing our meetings, obviously, to online. And it was really interesting because in March, when we got on for our first one, like, everybody was like, had a glass of wine, and they're like, this is so nice. I'm getting time to relax. And there was, like, this uplifted feeling a little bit. And then the next month, the end of April, I get on and I'm looking at everyone, and I mean, their energy was just it just looks like they had everything sucked out of them. Their life force just looked completely demolished. And, yeah, I'm looking and I'm like, all right, ladies, come on. Like, we've got to shift this energy here. Like, let's move it. And we did, like, I just took over the meeting. We did a little breath work, and we did stuff standing, and people were like, I feel better. And I was like, guys, you got to work out. Like, you know, you got to start moving your body. I kept sending Everybody on different WhatsApp groups, all these different trainers that were going online. I said, I think you'll like this. I think you'll like this. And the next month, I come back and I'm like, all right, guys, who's doing what? I could still see there's that cloud, there's this grayness around them, and it's like, oh, I tried that a few times. I didn't really like it. And I tried that a few times, and I didn't really like it. And that wasn't like. There was all this kind of complaining, because these are not. Also not like hardcore workout women. You know, in the past, they go to the gym, they do a little Zumba, they take a knee, a class, they do body sculpting. But these are not like, you know, women that are like, I have to work out every day. Right. But they were doing enough for their health. Now you take that away, and it's going to affect their health.

Yeah.

You know, but it was. You know, the thing on it was so. I don't know if I ever saw it so clearly, like, whoa. You know, it was intense to watch people that, you know, with this level of energy and vitality and excitement for life and projects that they're doing to like, literally be like. I was like, whoa, there is a shift here. So a couple months later, one of the women. And at that time, I was actually hosting a dance class. I was hosting one month, the same dance teacher and invited. I paid for it, and I invited anyone who wanted to come and dance. And I said, whoever wants to come, it's for free. I'm just putting this on so we can dance and be happy. And a lot of these women aren't dancers. So they popped on once, and it was hard. It was. If you weren't a dancer, it wasn't jam. Like, if you had two left feet, you weren't going to be on this. This was really a dancers, and it was super fun. And they were watching me. I posting little tidbits of It. And they're like, you look like you're having so much fun. I'm like, I am having fun. It's great. So one of them's like, why don't you teach us a class? And honestly, Anna, I'm thinking to myself, girls, like, I have hung up those leg warmers a long time ago. Teach you a class anyway. And that's like, you don't know. The next morning, I'll be honest, it like it was if the way they said it, they planted a seed. And I was really trying to not have them plant a seed. I kept thinking, no, that's ridiculous. Like I'm going to change my cloud like that. Like, everything about it, like in my ego and in my head felt so wrong. But my heart was going, yes. But my head was going, oh no. Yes. Yeah. Like, it really was like, I was like, wow, I know I could teach them an amazing class. Like, I know that I could give them stuff for them because I'm one of them in their age bracket and I know I could give them a really great class. So I started to kind of get like thrilled and excited about it. So the next thing I know, I found myself in my garage because my gym is in my garage. And I started like putting stuff together and seeing how it flowed and putting it together. And then about two weeks later, I sent everybody a WhatsApp and I was like, hey, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to start giving you a class. And they were really. And I sent the zoom link and it just happened like that. And I think it was going to be twice a week. And we started doing it. And then one person was saying, oh my God. I was telling my girlfriend, can I invite her? Sure, anybody. Invite whoever my mother in law wants to do it. My this wants to do it. And it just kept growing. And then I'm like, okay, now I'm growing, learning how to learning more things, putting more stuff together. And of course. But I am, you know, I have been dancing my whole life. I'm sorry. I was, you know, I've gotten my certifications along the way many years ago. So it wasn't like I didn't know what I was doing. Right? Yeah. And everybody kept saying it's so much fun because I really brought like the fun to it, you know. And then one day like a couple of entrepreneur women like pull me aside and they're like, why are you not making this a real business? And I was like, no, I'm just doing this to serve, to do and also, I have to tell you, I really loved it because it went to three days a week and I was in better shape because I was staying so consistent, you know, whereas my two days a week with my trainer were always consistent. But my two other days were, you know, sometimes I would just get so busy, you know, life would get busy and you were doing this and the next thing you know, it's like everybody else. 4 o' clock in the afternoon, I'm still in my workout clothes and I didn't work out. So it was like I was loving this too because it was like, wow, I'm getting my workout in every morning at 7:30 and I'm consistent and I'm feeling good. I have so much energy, my vitality. So it really kind of started that way, you know, to really just serve and be there for your.

So your garage classes. That's what morphed into Lovejoy. Oh my gosh. I love your garage classes.

Right? Everybody loves my garage glasses. Cause they're, they're fun, intense and motivating.

I mean, you are motivating.

Thank you. And you know why I'm motivating? Because I love it. Like, I really like. Movement really is my medicine. You know, movement is really my happy place. Like, I love moving. Like, I just love the way my body feels. I also, I'm somebody that dealt with a little bit of anxiety in my life and a little bit of low grade depression in my life. So movement always was the medicine for that. You know, as soon as I would move and dance, I felt instantaneously better. So I've always pretty much moved. You know, even if it wasn't for my physical body, like I don't feel, I mean, yeah, a little bit when I was dancing because I feel like when you dance professionally, you're never skinny enough. But for the most part, I've really been a person. From the day I stopped dancing professionally, I've always been a person that's moved more from my mind than I've moved for my, you know, for being in a bikini or, you know, a mini dress. You know, like that's never been. And I, what I realized is when you take care of the inside, the outside takes care of itself.

Explain that some more.

So, you know, I mean, look, I think that health really is an inside job. I mean, it's an inside job and I don't care how many steps you do. I don't care if you're paleo or vegan or vegetarian or primal. At the end of the day, it's like it's your thoughts, it's your words, it's your action, it's your behavior, you know, it's your attitude that really creates your life. Right? You know, I watch people all the time who are so stringent about their workouts and what they eat, and they're just angry people. And I'm telling you, not being that, you know, intense about it and you're happy, those are happier people. Those happier people, I believe, are healthier people. You know, when you're happy and you're living in happiness and joy, you know, the neurochemicals in your brain that get released, the serotonin, the endorphins, oxytocin, all of that makes you feel good. I mean, it brings pleasure, it brings, well, being. I mean, it really makes a difference, you know, and then, I mean, just like the emotional, you know, it's contagious, actually, a thing called emotional contagion that when you're with other people that are uplifted and happy, it's like it gets contagious, and before you know it, you are feeling better, you know, but the same goes for when you're with people who are Debbie Downers and are always complaining, you know, always say, like, I'm not about complaining. I'm about creating. Let's not complain, but let's create solutions, right? And when you have a different kind of mindset, and for me, movement has always been my foundation. It's like, for me, it would be like building a house without a foundation. You know, one little thing in life, one little storm comes in, your house falls apart. You have to know what your foundation is like, what is the foundation that really keeps me grounded, keeps me solid, keeps me that. When storms come in, and every day storms come in, the phone rings, you're hearing bad news, this thing happens. There's always something, right? You know, for us to, like, completely lose it. But when you start. And that's why I really love doing Move Joy in the Morning, because it's like you're. Every day we're starting off new, it's like a new canvas. It's like a white canvas every day, you know, and the way you start your day very often is creating the structure for the rest of the day. I just. I'm so passionate, and I've watched so many women now feel better. Like, I have one woman on, she's 75, and she said she went in for her physical, and the doctor said your blood work hasn't looked this good since you're in your 50s.

Nice.

And then we have other people who lost £20, who lost £30. So it's really been very interesting. But the thing that makes me the most happy on every level is that we have become a real online community and friendships are really being made and people are like, they get on 10, 15 minutes early and they're all talking to each other and they're all sharing everything. Like now when people travel to New York, the move joyers all get together and have dinner together. And you know, I also believe community and belonging is another amazing biohack. Right? It's a biohack. And you know, I mean, we did a huge survey and we asked women from the age of 72 to 88, if you could go back and talk to your 50 year old self, what would you tell her? And the three main things was first they said I would tell her to move more just because going up and down stairs, in and out of cars and all that is just, it's more challenging in your late 70s. And then they said number two was make more girlfriends. Because a lot of these women became widowers in their, you know, 70s and they didn't have, you know, they were mothers, they the matriarch of the family. They were some, you know, some of them were working too and they didn't have time to really cultivate those girlfriends. So I feel really, because that's my other happy place is in community with my girls. You know, I'm all about sistership. Like when I'm with my sisters, I mean, that just makes me feel so blessed. I feel so good and so happy. And interesting enough, the third thing was finances, that a lot of them said that they wish they would have learned more about finances because, you know, they didn't. And when their husbands passed, the message always was, there's plenty of money, there's plenty of money, you're going to be fine. And many of them were finding it quite the opposite. So we were even going to be offering all kinds of workshops on this. And I hope you'll come on and share your genius with our community because, you know, we really want to speak to women in a way that they can really understand and get excited, you know, about being whole. You know, I love it. Yeah, the whole woman. It's, you know, being able to understand. It's like having agency. Like to have agency, you have to know you have to be responsible even for your money. Like I say now, years ago I said in order to be healthy, you had to be spiritually healthy, mentally healthy, emotionally healthy. And physically healthy. And today I add on fiscally healthy, you have to understand that because if you don't have agency, and if you don't have agency, you know, I think you get. You're very wobbly. And when you're wobbly, you're never going to feel good and confident in who you are and how you do life.

Let's talk about some tips, Lavinia. And you know, first of all, second, the part about girlfriend and sister time and, you know, having had two brothers growing up with. And you had two brothers, right? And you also have sisters.

I have three sisters.

Three sisters. And so I have, you know, middle of two brothers. And so having girlfriend time and sister time has been really fun. And I love spending time with you. And I think that's really important to cultivate, like you said, spending time with friends, girlfriends, and making that time to be able to relate and to catch up and to just be silly and to be authentic. And so with move Joy, like, walk us through a class. Walk us through a movejet. What can our listeners do now and what should they be conscious of? You know, as far as, like, okay, I haven't been working out in a while. You know, what do I need to do to get started? How can I Then the concept of motivation, like, so, you know, movement's been a discipline your whole life. And so for someone who it's not a discipline, how to create it into a discipline, because you're right, it's one of those key foundational pieces.

Well, I love that question because people always ask me that when I'm on something like, Lavinia, what's the best workout I could be doing? You know, and. Or people ask me to design a workout, and I say, the best workout is the one you're going to do. The best workout is the one you're going to get in. So, like, anyone, any fitness person can design a really great workout for you. But at the end of the day, if it takes too much, like, that's why I'm choosing, you know, people will say, why are you doing this online now? After Covid, everybody wants to be together. I said, because we surveyed people, especially women, and the number one reason they don't do it is they say, because I don't have time. It's not enough time. It's not enough time of the day. I'm working, I'm doing, I'm going, I have taking my kids, or if they're a little bit older, I'm taking my grandkids. So that's why? It's like, I'm doing this online so you could literally live, so you're part of a community. But, like, I would say to really be realistic, like, look at it and say, I mean, and if you really haven't worked out, just go out and walk. And the other thing it is, you have to put it in your calendar. It has to make 4:00 clock walking, you know, like, put it in your calendar and say where? Like, if you're still working, you know, make sure you have, like, I always had sneakers in my car so that if a meeting got canceled or something happened, I could always throw my sneakers on and just go for a walk. You know, that would be the other thing I would say is, like, when you are meeting friends, you know, friends always want to say, oh, let's get lunch or let's get coffee. I always say, let's go for a walk. You know, we walk on the beach. Like, start seeing if you can't train yourself to not always have all your social events around food. Yeah. Because that's a tough one, you know, And I know that right now because I just traveled, you know, I was in Japan and Korea and Tanzania, and then I got home the week before Christmas, and it was, I mean, the week before Thanksgiving, and then I'm sitting there going like, wow. Everything was around food, you know, and I'm like, I want to shift that. Like, I'm at that same place where some of these people are. Right. I mean, even though I had my workouts, it's pretty consistent, but, like, I'm like, have to be really conscious right now to shift not doing everything around a meal or food. And I'm being really mindful and aware of it. Yeah, I would say that. And also, I think the biggest thing is that to just really love yourself and love where you are and find a way to be like, all right, I may have £20 on me, but it's. I'm alive. Like, I woke up this morning, like, amazing. Like, 150,000 people aren't going to wake up this morning. And I don't know, I always hear numbers. Like 75,000 of them didn't know that they were sick or they weren't going to wake up. And so, like, find the things to be so, like, over the top, grateful for that. That vibration gets you excited, gets you, like, all right, I woke up. I've got this. I can walk, you know, and if you can't walk, like, there's amazing sit and fit exercises that people can do.

Yeah, no I love it. So, Lavinia, how about, like, so during your. When you went through your menopausal journey, how did you maintain your energy, your disciplines? Excited? Will you share a little bit about that? Many of my audience are perimenopause and menopause going through that experience right now,

you know, if I'm going to be completely honest, and I'll tell you what I did do in my mid-40s, I started getting very emotional. Like, I was just, like, very emotional. And a friend of mine who's a therapist said, levain, go and have your hormones checked. And I'm like, why? I'm 45 years old. What are you talking about? He's like, go, have them checked. Like, why do you say that? He goes, because you're never like this. You're never so emotional. You're never. I could think it's your hormones. So I was like, all right. So I went and had my hormones checked, and sure enough, I started going on the bioidentical hormones. So I did that for many years. I stayed on those bioidentical hormones. And I do think it helped me get over, like, the big hump. And, you know, for me, it was like, the only area that I found challenging was sleep. And I didn't have the sweats. I didn't have. I wasn't irritable. My sleeping was off.

And that is so difficult for so many people. That's probably one of the top three complaints is the insomnia, difficulty sleeping, waking up at 3am, not getting good rest.

Yeah, that was definitely one of the things that I had to really work on. Like, I had to really become impeccable with getting off the computer at a certain time and really being mindful. I never really drank a lot of caffeine, but sometimes when I would go out at night, I would have, you know, a decaf cappuccino. I cut that out completely, even though it's decaf. I. You know, so I really even tea, because I used to be a green tea drinker. I would never drink anything like that after, like, two. So I just had to be, you know, you have to make shifts. You know, I always look at everything as a ritual. Like, I'm like, the queen of rituals. I feel like I wake up in the morning and my day is just all these rituals.

Because it's not a chore.

It's not a chore. I'm, like, excited to do it. So I always look at my food in a little bit more ritualistic way. You know, I try to find, instead of finding the deprivation, I try to find, you know, the positive, the joy in it. Oh my God, I'm so excited to be able to eat this food that's fresh and from the earth. And, you know, I kind of put my own spirit spin on it that makes me feel like so good about it, you know. But I did have to change like, you know, in my 20s or 30s or. I mean, look, I was always dieting and not dieting, not dieting. But I definitely had to become more diligent in the way I ate when I hit menopause, you know, I never, I always had like this super flat stomach. I never had, you know, it was just everybody wanted my stomach. It was like a six pack all the time. And then all of a sudden at about 45, I had like, I had stuff here and it was just like I felt like an alien was visiting my body. I was like, what's going on?

So just overcoming that. So the biogenical hormones and then discipline and movement and changing your habits. So recognizing what's not serving you and letting that go. So like the green tea or the cappuccino and making note of that. So checking in with yourself. And I think one of the things that I love about you, you're very aware of your energy, you're very aware of what your needs are, what your non negotiables are as far as movement, etc. Well, I mean, tell our audience, tell everyone, like, where do we get some move joy?

Okay, great. So right now you're going to go on to movejoy life. You sign up. We are starting our formal beta because the garage was just kind of a, I don't know what's before a beta. Pre beta, pre beta. So we start our formal beta on January 19th. I chose that because it's spiritually, it's a very good number. And it's on the day of Venus. So I thought for women, Friday's Venus. So yeah, I'm really excited. And anybody can come on one month for free. They get to do it. And I'm hoping they're going to love it. And I believe they will because I see the women we've had and yeah, and what women say to me is like, I jump out of bed now, so excited. I can't wait to do it. It doesn't feel like working out. It doesn't feel like you're working out.

I love it. I love it. I love that you're doing this because I know I've done your garage workouts. And things that you teach aren't things that I've ever heard in other classes. Like, the whole girdle can think about tightening your muscles as if it's really focusing on your core in that way. I mean, it has just stuck with me to remember that when I'm doing whatever planks or any other movements, that how important it is to really focus on some of those things. Are you teaching, like, the safety aspects and all of that? With Move Joint, we have all of

that and we really are aware of, like, you're only as strong as your weakest ligament or joint, how to really make sure that all of the movement is safe. You know, we'll instruct people on if we're going to go a little move a little faster here, but please stay slower. You know, the breath. We are incorporating movement and breath work because I'm sure all your viewers know now everything is about breath work, breath work. And that's how I was. I mean, I was literally doing breath workshops every month, but then I wasn't integrating it into my. There was just not enough time. And that was another thing. I was like, no, but what if I integrate the breath with the movement? And I think that's why I feel so good, because I'm doing the breath work and the breath work is really important to integrate that.

So, yeah, so that whole concept of breath to decrease cortisol and to invigorate the body and using that piece and to help with movement.

Yes.

I mean, oh, I miss working out with you. I wish I lived closer to you, but now I don't have to. I can be on virtual, and I'm

training some amazing people that are already fitness professionals, and they're kind of ready for the next thing. Like, they're ready to stop making it so grinding. You know, they're getting to an age, you know, 55 plus, where they don't want to grind it out like that. Why? Because it doesn't make them feel good. It builds too much inflammation in the body, you know, and that inflammation is causing stiffness. And we don't recover at the same pace that we recover, you know, and not everyone could do all these biohacks. Like, not everybody could sit in an infrared sauna for an hour a day and do a cold plunge. And, you know, like, we have to be realistic when we see all these biohacks out there. It's like, okay, it's great, but not everybody can do that.

Right, Right. And then just having fun, bring fun into movement and bringing fun into these activities. I think that's where, you know, you've seen these programs like Zumba and Pickleball just flourish because it was just made it fun. It made fun to have community and have movement. So I love that. Thank you, Lavinia. Again, tell our audience where to find you and life.

And hit me up on Instagram as well on MoveJoy Life.

MoveJoy Life. All right. Thank you for being on today, Lavinia.