Notes
Kevin M.: Mixing
It Up With The Fitness Community is a podcast created by Fit Mix that
introduces you to local health and fitness individuals along with their
stories.
Kevin M.: Episode
four. Sean and Lisa Kehoe with Vivify Hot Yoga. On today's episode, Sara talks
with the owners of Vivify. Sean and Lisa Kehoe. They talk about how they got
into Yoga, what made them decide to open up the studio, their work with first
responders, and more.
Sara Y.: Hi,
Lisa. Hi, Sean. How are you guys doing today?
Sean K.: Doing
pretty good, Sara. How are you?
Sara Y.: Good
thanks. Thanks for being on this podcast with us. We appreciate it.
Sean K.: Well,
thank you, guys.
Sara Y.: All
right. So give us a little bit of introduction about you and talk about your
yoga studio.
Lisa K.: My
husband and I started Yoga some time ago, about five years ago when we opened
up to the public here in Rio Rancho and kind of an interesting little back
story without getting into too much of a deep story, is that we actually
started as students and became teachers later. We wanted to open something from
a student perspective and bring it to Rio Rancho. Yoga did a lot of change for
us both. Sean can attest to that. We want to be able to have a place that would
be able to provide the same opportunities for people like ourselves.
Sara Y.: Wonderful.
Are you able to talk about maybe what got you into Yoga in the first place?
Lisa K.: Yes,
I'll start with myself. I have been a dispatcher for police, Fire, and EMS for
quite some time, and it was actually another dispatcher that got me to go. It
was basically work-related stress. I didn't really have much of an interest in
it, to be completely honest, at first. And she coerced me into it with the hope
that it would help fix my hip issues. I learned real quick that it was a
massive stress reliever since we were both police dispatchers. This was
something that pulled me in pretty fast. Then I kind of drug Sean into it and
he figured it out for himself, too.
Sean K.: So I'm a
construction worker guy. And Lisa had taken that class and drug me with her. I
had always been looking for something to help ease my stresses as well and find
something that helped me with my lifting too. My flexibility was always real
tight. My hips were always real bad. I went to that class with her and I just took
a liking to it. It was something different. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and
the people and everything about it. I instantly became attracted to it and I
didn't want to stop doing it. So that's how I got into it too; it was really
because of that. It's become a lifelong thing now, I really enjoy doing it.
Sara Y.: So Lisa,
I want to go back to the dispatcher thing. You do a lot of work with the
community, right? Like with helping other kind of like first responders and
people in that kind of position where they're faced with a lot of stress. Is
that correct?
Lisa K.: That has
been a very, very passionate thing about getting involved. It first started
this for myself and then I realize that so many people need it. The first
responders, especially, have been amazing to work with; from firefighters to
law enforcement. And just the stress. The job related stress. I can't emphasize
that enough. So it's been fantastic to work with cadets that are brand new and
getting into the field and giving them wonderful coping mechanisms to get
through their jobs. And for the veterans that have been doing everything they
can to put everyone else first and forgetting to put themselves as a priority
as well and helping them to reconnect to that so they can relieve the stress
and do not just good at their jobs but to be able to go back home to their
families and leave work at work, which is really hard for first responders.
Sara Y.: Yeah,
definitely. And Sean, you said you did this to help with pain. Has it made your
job easier, including Yoga, into your life?
Sean K.: Absolutely.
You can try plenty of other options, chiropractors, you know, shots, things,
all of that stuff I've tried. To be honest, the only thing that really ever has
worked now up until this point is keeping up with my practice. So back issues,
plantar fasciitis. I just got over some of that just by doing some yoga. And
amazingly enough, it helps your insides as well. I had really high cholesterol
and my levels are down after taking Yoga for the last five years. It's just
happened naturally. It's pretty amazing stuff. Your body knows how to fix
itself. It just needs a route to get there. So, yeah, it's worked really well
for me as well.
Sara Y.: So what
is something unique about Vivify that people don't know?
Sean K.: Well, I
guess I'll hop in on this one first. A lot of people really thought that Lisa I
we're already instructors, but just maybe had been laying low in the scene.
But, no, we were both students. I didn't finish my yoga training until after we
had opened. And then Lisa just recently finished hers not too long ago as well.
The fact that we did open it from a student's perspective was really different
from everything else that we had encountered thus far.
Sara Y.: Lisa, do
you want to add anything?
Lisa K.: Yeah,
just kind of reiterating what he said. Teachers have inspired us to what really
got us moving in that direction. We had all these wonderful teachers getting it
going and then we became teachers after the fact. So it was just kind of a
backwards way of going about it. But I think it's also giving it a unique
flair.
Sean K.: One
other thing, Vivify originally was going to be a tanning salon.
Sara Y.: Oh,
really!?
Sean K.: Yeah! We
were trying to branch out and we've always wanted to open our own business in
something that helped people. Amazingly enough, it was originally going to be a
tanning salon. We went for a hike and came down from the hike with a totally
different view and came up with the name on the way down and said, we're going
to do Yoga instead. And here we are five years later.
Sean K.: Speaking
of a name, what does Vivify means to you guys?
Lisa K.: Vivify
means to make something better. It's enlightened. So literally, it's what Yoga
has done for ourselves and our life. We want to try to summarize that in a
quick, simple word, that just summarize it.
Sara Y.: What
kind of classes do you all offer up by?
Lisa K.: A little
of everything. It started off as being a just hot. So we are for everything
from heat to no heat to room temperature just because there's all walks of life
and as all walks of Yoga as well. So there's something literally for everybody.
Sara Y.: And how
long have you guys been open again?
Lisa K.: Five
years. We just hit our five year mark. To the public on March 23rd.
Sara Y.: Wow.
Congrats!
Lisa K.: Thank
you.
Sara Y.: What
were some of the growing pains or hurdles that you guys had to get over along
the way to reach that five year mark?
Sean K.: Oh my
goodness. What did we not go through? Anywhere from, you know, the typical
running out of capital to building a studio from scratch. You know, building
your own brand from the bottom up is extremely hard to do. Especially in, 1)
Rio Rancho and, 2) the yoga industry, which is pretty niche. The whole process
has just been learning and growing from day one. Plus, not to mention, like
Lisa and I had said earlier that we weren't Yogis. We were just taking classes
before this. We jumped into this not really having a tremendous background in Yoga
or anything else like that. It was just strictly from the love of how it made
us feel. So we know with riding on that if we stay true to that, you know,
something would come of it. And here we are.
Sara Y.: Any
advice for people getting into this? I mean, I guess it's kind of just like
sticking through the rough spots, because in the end, hopefully, it'll turn out
to be like what you wanted it to be.
Lisa K.: Let's
say trust in the process is the biggest thing and to not be intimidated. Just
one step at a time, really, that's the biggest thing.
Sean K.: And then
there's a lot of those motivational videos out there. You know? People hear a
lot of stuff, but really, you have to jump in with both feet. You have to give
it your all. There's no going halfway in and halfway out. And tenacity. When
things get tough you can't give in. You have to keep going through it. There's
always some better on the other side. A lot of people tend to give up way too
early when there's always something good on the other end. You just got to have
that perseverance to continue moving forward even when things are bad.
Sara Y.: Yea.
That's a great mindset going forward, what does the future look like for
Vivify? I know we're in a little bit of a tough patch right now, but let's
pretend that that's not happening and that life is going on as usual. Do you
guys see yourself expanding, adding more classes, anything along those lines?
Sean K.: Like a
lot of other businesses right now, we are building our online platform as we
speak. That's going to be an option now from here on out. Which is pretty cool
because we didn't have that before. So the circumstances have led us to coming
up with something. We had to come up with something to continue to give our
clients some, I don't know,
Lisa K.: Peace of
mind.
Sean K.: I
wouldn't say peace of mind, but a piece of us. Right? Because everybody's
fiending for the hot room. So we may not know to give them the heat, but we can
still give them some classes. And then there's a few other pretty cool things
in the works that we can't really talk about yet. Hopefully when all this stuff
boils down, there'll be some really cool things that vivify is going to be
pushing through here in the next two months. But the online thing is really is
our biggest change right now.
Sara Y.: It just
seems that what's going on now has been a blessing in disguise in some way,
because, I mean, we've talked to a few other yoga studio owners who are talking
about how they've had to adapt. And, add these online classes or Facebook live
classes. Members are loving it and wanting more of it. So as tough as this is,
it seems like it's almost, adding to their business in a way or making it more
multifaceted.
Sean K.: For
those of us that, especially like Lisa here, who has a lot of friends and
family in other countries and anyone who has a lot of reach on their social media
accounts. Now with our online option, those people can now chime in and they
can start taking classes. It's really good. I agree with you, Sara, that the
necessity of having to go to online has actually been a blessing. It's just
gonna be another outlet for us to be able to reach as many people as possible
which is one of our goals.
Sara Y.: Yeah.
OK, last question. Favorite yoga pose or class.
Lisa K.: His and
mine are very different. My favorite yoga pose is going to be Sirsasana, a
headstand.
Sara Y.: Nice.
Lisa K.: Probably
because it was the one I swore I'd never do. It was one that my sister actually
taught me. She's also a yoga instructor. It's just for me personally that poses
is an ultimate way of relieving stress and anxiety. It's a complete flip upside
down, quite literally. That's got you my favorite one to be able to find calm
and balance when you feel completely out of your comfort zone.
Sara Y.: Yeah, I
love that.
Lisa K.: Sean?
Sean K.: I'm
going to have to say for me, it's Savasana because that means I'm done.
Sara Y.: Is that
the one where you just lay down the ground?
Sean K.: Yea.
Ahhh, the jobs done. I can relax now.
Sara Y.: That's
funny. Do you guys have anything else you'd like to add?
Sean K.: No, not
really. We definitely want to think thank Kevin and Fit Mix and you Sara for
giving us the opportunity to speak on this podcast. So we're truly grateful
that we're part of such an amazing community of individuals that all really
like to work together. Thank you very much for allotting us the opportunity.
Sara Y.: Awesome.
Thanks for joining us.
Lisa K.: Thank
you so much.
Sara Y.: Thank
you.
Kevin M.: Thanks
for listening. If you enjoyed the Mixing It Up With the Fitness Community
podcast, we'd love for you to subscribe, rate, and leave a review. On the next
episode. Sara talks with one of the owners of the Performance Ranch, Lawrence
Herrera. Lawrence has trained some of the best fighters in UFC history. He
talks a bit about that, the move to training non-professional athletes, and more.