You're a business owner who feels overwhelmed and anxious about how to keep your business growing, especially now that we're in the midst of a global pandemic. Maybe you own a brick and mortar business and are wondering how you can quickly shift your business online and still serve your community. Christa Mastrangelo Joyce has been there and today she's sharing her story with us. Christa is a yoga teacher and entrepreneur, who successfully pivoted her brick and mortar businesses to online within 24 hours. In this episode of She Grows, Christa and I explore the scariest part of transitioning her business during the pandemic and what it brought up for her. Christa also shares the biggest gift she received from the transition. We talk about some tips or lessons for women entrepreneurs who are worried about being in business right now, or who are also pivoting from a brick and mortar business to a virtual space, and are experiencing anxiety. Christa Mastrangelo Joyce is a yoga teacher and entrepreneur. She founded Jala Yoga, with locations in West Virginia and Virginia 11 years ago and has learned how to be a business owner by means of trial by fire. Her passion for teaching and sharing whole health tools and wisdom have inspired her years of work creating a community in which students of all walks of life can come together and learn to thrive.
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Allyson Scammell: Well, hello there. This is Allyson Scammell and today I'm talking to you about a hugely relevant topic that all entrepreneurs face at one time or another in their business. And that is how to keep your business growing during times of personal struggle or a pandemic as the case may be. And today I'm speaking with yoga teacher and entrepreneur, Christa Mastrangelo Joyce, who shares with us her incredible story of how she pivoted her brick and mortar businesses to online and about 24 hours, I end the episode in a challenge that will get you growing right now, no matter what's happening in your outer world.
[00:00:46] So be sure. To listen until the end. Welcome to She Grows a podcast for soul guided women entrepreneurs ready to grow their income, impact, and inspiration. Each week we're going to explore how to align to the soul of your business and grow it from there. I'm your host, Allyson Scammell. Let's get growing.
[00:01:16] Hey there. She grows nation. That is the name of this sisterhood of soul guided entrepreneurs and she grows nation. Your heart is CEO and you're growing wealth to serve more people using your unique genius, intuitive voice and spirit guides. I am so excited to introduce my friend Christa Mastrangelo
[00:01:38] Joyce. Krista is a yoga teacher and entrepreneur. She founded Jola yoga with locations in West Virginia and Virginia. 11 years ago and has learned how to be a business owner by means of trial by fire. Her passion for teaching and sharing whole health tools and wisdom have inspired her years of work creating community in which students of all walks of life come together and learn to thrive.
[00:02:06] We had a spectacular conversation on this topic. May you receive as much from it as I did. I am so excited to have Christa on the show today and I really, really love this topic and I love that Christa is going to share some of her story. Welcome so much, Christa, for making the time to chat with us.
[00:02:27] Christa Mastrangelo: Oh, thank you.
[00:02:29] Thank you, Allyson, for having me. I'm really excited to be here with you and looking forward to our chat together.
[00:02:38] Allyson Scammell: Nice. So I told, I talked to Christa a while ago. I had this idea in January. When I was moving from the United States to Germany in the middle of a launch for my business, something I don't recommend, by the way.
[00:02:52]Um, but I thought, you know what? I was called to launch and to keep the launch on track. So I just did it and I'm really glad I did. But in the middle of like the move and my sales launch and all this stuff going on. I said to myself, I have to do a podcast episode about how to keep your business going when your personal life is on full blast because I think we've all been there, right?
[00:03:16] Christa Mastrangelo: Yes, I know I have.
[00:03:19] Allyson Scammell: And I really thought of you, cause I know 2018 was a big year for year for you and you had a lot happening in your life and you had to keep your business growing. And then. So I thought, Oh, I want to get Christa on the show to talk about this, and we'll, we'll talk about that more in a minute.
[00:03:36] But then the pandemic hit, and you and I were talking and you were telling me about how you had to go, like within the matter of days, you had to go from a brick and mortar presence to an online presence.
[00:03:52] Christa Mastrangelo: Yeah,
[00:03:53] Allyson Scammell: yeah. Christa, let's start with you telling us a little bit about your business.
[00:03:57] Christa Mastrangelo: Okay. Absolutely.
[00:03:59] So my business, I've run three yoga studios and my business ownership life happened very accidentally. I am intended to be a yoga teacher. I was a yoga teacher. I had made a shift in my life. I was teaching English for many years. I've taught college English and then had kids. And yeah. Pivoted into this new life as a, as a yoga teacher, and I was teaching in a little tiny studio in my town in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, and I wanted to be able to offer some more vigorous classes in this town.
[00:04:36] There was nowhere that was offering a sort of more vigorous level of yoga. Um, at the time, my brother had a juice bar and cafe and he had a room in the upstairs at that cafe and he offered to let me teach a class up there. So I, I started with this one class, me offering this one class, and, um, it, it felt sort of like a fluke.
[00:04:55] I thought, well, a couple of my friends show up. I'll be lucky. And right away it. Actually, it was overflowing where we had to, we had to put people out into what I called the shoe room at the time where people left their shoes. People were throwing their mats out there, and I was incredibly surprised and very excited.
[00:05:16] And then within a year I had. Suddenly without intending to, um, or trying, I had several other teachers show up and ask if they too could teach there. And then little by little, um, I arrived where I am now 11 years later. And I have now three locations, one in Virginia and two in West Virginia. And I have sort of learned very accidentally.
[00:05:43] And, uh, also I would say organically how to be a business owner and a yoga teacher.
[00:05:50] Allyson Scammell: Oh my gosh. I love that story. I love it when it happens so organic and then accidentally, and I think it's always feels accidentally, but I think it sounds very, very much on purpose for you on your path. And I think it's so beautiful.
[00:06:04] So tell us, take it. Take us to that moment, Christa, when you realize that this pandemic thing was real and it was going to impact your business.
[00:06:13] Christa Mastrangelo: Hmm. Well, that was quite a moment. So I, we had decided at the beginning of March, we started, you know, watching the news and watching and waiting. And at that point we made a couple of little shifts.
[00:06:29] We. Limited our class sizes and started cleaning the props. That additional additional cleaning to the props into the studio, and then at some point then we made the decision to just pull all the props. And so my whole going into the pandemic, initially, West Virginia had no cases at all. And then even in Virginia, where we're located, there were no cases at that point, so I felt very safe and very protected and thought, okay, well, it's just really, my job right now is just to keep everyone safe and keep everything going.
[00:07:07] And, um, then quite suddenly on a Tuesday night, I think it was maybe March 14th ish, I, uh, had just finished teaching my class and I was on my ride home and heard the news, got the news that Shepherd's town West Virginia had. Suddenly had its first case and it was in Shepherdstown so quite quickly, that was a Tuesday night.
[00:07:34]Um, I came home, my heart sank. I had a moment of just absolute fear where I thought, okay, this is either going to be the end of us. Or I figure out how to keep the balls in the air somehow and see what happens. So I pretty quickly, um, then made the shift called my managers told them it is time. We have to make the shift to.
[00:08:00] To shut things down. And we had already been talking about that. The what if? What if we have to shut things down? What will we do? So I already had all of this sort of conversations going about this thinking ahead. And then on Wednesday, we, I pivoted to my teachers, let them know what was going on. Told them, you know, got everybody on board who was willing to be on board, how to hold a meeting, uh, with all of them.
[00:08:29] Then sent them a message to our, our students and closed for most of the day on Wednesday. Took all of that day to get myself really oriented, better oriented with zoom and getting, starting to get my teachers oriented with zoom. And then by that night I offered my very first online class on that Wednesday, and it really, it was so funny because in a matter of hours, I went from being a yoga teacher and a business owner to also then becoming the IT department of Jala yoga online studios.
[00:09:12] Because it was, you know, it was either, it was either do that or do nothing, and at that moment do nothing, was not an option. Hmm.
[00:09:22] Allyson Scammell: That is so amazing. So that all happened with them within like 24 hours.
[00:09:27] Christa Mastrangelo: Yeah. Literally 24 hours. Within 24 hours. We had our first offering online. Um, and then on Thursday, several of our teachers were then offering their first classes.
[00:09:36] So it was a really sort of intense few days of, of getting, I have, when I say that I'm an IT, it was, became the it department. It's hysterical to think about because I am very un-tech savvy and I, so for me. I had to make up. That was a pretty big pivot for me. And then to top that off, I had to get some teachers who are even less tech savvy than I onboard for this.
[00:10:09] And then some students who, we have a, we have a large body of of older, older population folks, and we have a large body of older population folks who. They too, were sort of in the dark about all of this. Many of them had never even heard of zoom. Um, so I spent. The first week really, but really an intense couple of days, just I, it feels like I was online 24 hours a day for those first couple of days, getting everybody trained up on how to, how to make it all work.
[00:10:42] And, um. I just, you know, it just didn't even have, I didn't give myself even a minute to think about doing anything else. I knew that our population of students, that community, I, you know, I just made this big shift where we changed our whole slogan or logo to say, Jala yoga space for community with the unity in that highlighted and a space for you.
[00:11:11] And so for me, I had no understanding or idea of how it could be possible to still have this space for community and a space for you individually in this online world. But I knew that it was either figure that out or have no space at all, and our community and the the, the. What that represents and what it offers to people is so important that it never even crossed my mind to not figure it all out.
[00:11:48] Allyson Scammell: Can I just say, Krista, I freaking love your tagline. A space for community with unity, like big, we're going to have to put your logo somewhere in the show notes so people can say
[00:12:00] Christa Mastrangelo: thank you. Yeah. That was a. It was a very interesting 2019 as you mentioned at the beginning of the podcast together. Our conversation together was such a crazy year and I knew that our, the business was going to be moving in another direction.
[00:12:18] It had evolved and I could feel that, but I wasn't quite sure of exactly what that meant, and so I took on a bigger, bigger space. Our one of our spaces in, in Shepherdstown expanded and. That was the impetus to start, to want to think about what, what it meant to have this bigger space. What was I going to do with it?
[00:12:41]Um, how was that going? How we were, how we were going to, as a business, embody that space and who we want it to be. And so I spent some time really ruminating on that. And then very suddenly, uh, right in the midst of that, at the beginning of the year, I. We had three very sudden, very, uh, overwhelming deaths happen.
[00:13:03] So my life shifted. My intent, my attention shifted to that, to just being in a place of grief and really having to kind of walk through some heavy, heavy waves for a little while. And in all of that, I kept thinking in the back of my mind, well, um, I'm failing. I'm not, I'm not. Getting this business going, I'm not getting this expansion going.
[00:13:28] I have this bigger space and nothing's in it, and I'm, you know, I'm supposed to be figuring this whole business thing out. And then, you know, it just, this is the way the business arrived in the first place. And this last year was such a reminder that when. When things are supposed to be they are and, and all the weight in the world won't keep them from rising and growing.
[00:14:01] And, and so, you know, I spent all of the summer and part of the fall really sitting in the place of grief and then quite naturally. Out of the blue organically, accidentally, the tagline arrived and as soon as that arrived, as soon as that new slogan arrived, everything else fell into place and it was just the right time and it's really beautiful.
[00:14:30] The space is really beautiful. It was, it came together with the help of, of literally of the community showed up. And dug in and helped us paint and move things and create this bigger space for community. So the tagline happened first, and then the energy of it grew up around it. It was like magic.
[00:14:53] Allyson Scammell: Oh my gosh.
[00:14:53] It sounds incredible. And as I listened to you, Krista, I think, yeah, she was getting called to create this bigger space, which you did, but what you were really creating, I think you were starting to create this big virtual space. Hmm. That people I think are going to be really plugging into as they really need.
[00:15:13] We all need a container to plug into right now that's
[00:15:15] Christa Mastrangelo: outside
[00:15:17] Allyson Scammell: of our home space that we're all confined in right now. And to me, this space for community is that big virtual space that you're now in the process of, of expanding to.
[00:15:31] Christa Mastrangelo: Yeah. It's, it's amazing actually that you say that because that is how it, it feels, it feels that somehow we are still holding that same space and even though we're not physically together.
[00:15:47] I can feel that connection. And my teachers and I, we've been meeting really regularly to stay connected to one another and keep each other inspired him. He just met, uh, yesterday, actually, and had this whole gathering and each of us said the same thing, that even though it's an online presence that we still feel deeply connected to the, to our students, both the students that we had before we went online and some new students as well, and really feeling that there is room for unity and for containment still has been.
[00:16:26] Such a surprise, and it's such an incredible surprise in this whole pivot, uh, because my, my biggest worry was that somehow it would sort of unravel that, that unity that we had worked so hard over the 11 years of this. Business to create, and it hasn't, in fact, it's in some ways even deepened the intimacy where people are now not only coming to us, but inviting us into their world.
[00:16:54] And so we're seeing their pets and their spouses and their, you know, their roommates and their, their children and all of their life as now part of their practice, which is what it's supposed to be anyway, is that it's all supposed to move together. In some way and be able to, you know, have a yoga practice that can become part of the world.
[00:17:17] So it's, it's really, that's been an exciting and exciting surprise.
[00:17:23] Allyson Scammell: That is amazing. I love it so much. So I want to go back to those frenzy days of when you were, you were thrust into being the head of your, the IT department for your business. Um, what was, what like. Tell us about like the scariest part of it or the most uncomfortable thing that, that that brought up?
[00:17:46] Christa Mastrangelo: Well, the, the scariest thing that happened was that initial moment of discovery and that, that, that there had been, we were no longer, I guess I put in quotation marks, the word safe. We were no longer safe and. I would imagine. I don't want to guess it was everyone in the world felt in those moments too, but yeah.
[00:18:17] Well, when those first cases hit here, feeling like we had been in this sort of bubble of, Oh, well, you know, it's just, it's not here. It's not here. We're okay. And you know, there was this underlying anxiety of that during those whole weeks leading up to the first cases of what if it comes here, but still, you know, balanced by this.
[00:18:44]Uh, this sort of sense, false sense of safety and I, and I say false sense because I think what this has really reminded me of is that I never actually have control over anything. And all of that work I was doing to keep control in those first couple of weeks of the pandemic before. There are cases here, but all of my attempts at control then suddenly unraveled.
[00:19:12] And fell apart and, and, and that's what, that's what 2019 was for me too. A reminder of how little control I have and that my reaction is the only thing I can really ever. Try to control. So in that moment of realizing that it was here, that the pandemic was here, the Corona virus was here, and I had to make a shift.
[00:19:38] I had already been sitting in that sort of, um, fear place, I guess, or, or underlying simmering anxiety that everyone else in the world was feeling. And I felt. This panic of knowing that the business could end for, for just really a minute. And then I shifted to how do I take back control of this? So then the, the frustration was just, you know, trying to, to hold a space of real patients for everyone who was learning this new technology.
[00:20:21] And having to. Work on my reaction again. And so I, I don't know that I got to feel a lot of fear or panic in that moment because I had to be the person who was present and patient and willing to show everyone of curious side, a creative side rather than a panic to side. Um. Yeah.
[00:20:52] Allyson Scammell: Wow. Wow. That is amazing.
[00:20:54]Um, but
[00:20:55] Christa Mastrangelo: definitely if, I'm sorry, Allyson, I don't mean to interrupt, but I don't mean that to sound like I was so in control of myself. It really was that, it was just that I was running on momentum and, and again, it was this, I have, I didn't give myself the time to think about it. I just did it. And. Yeah.
[00:21:19] Allyson Scammell: Yeah. No, it's great. I love it. Um, so you kind of answered this a little bit already, but can you tell us what the biggest gift has been, the biggest gift you've received from all of this happening.
[00:21:33] Christa Mastrangelo: Well, you know that what I said before about the, the surprise and creating connection or that the connection lives on no matter where we are, I do think is probably the biggest gift of all the, and one of the biggest gifts.
[00:21:49] I would say that's one of the biggest gifts because it reminds me that it does not matter where we are or who we are. We are all connected always. So this has been a huge reminder of that. And I feel it, um, on an, on an even bigger global level now. But the other gift has been. Of, of getting to see my teachers in this new, in an in another way of how much we all depend on each other too, and how much we all need.
[00:22:24] The support of the community as well. And that what I keep hearing from them again and again is, thank you, thank you so much for pivoting and keeping this going. Because I was, one of our teachers said I was doing nothing but drinking Coca Cola and eating cheese. So you saved me from my Coca-Cola and she's eating by getting us back on, you know, getting me back to teaching and, and the other teachers had similar, thank you.
[00:22:53] So this is keeping me going, seeing my students. Being able to reach out is keeping me going. So it's the reminder of, you know, we are as teachers creating a space and holding that space for our students to come to, but our students are holding the same space for us to arrive in and be held in. So it, it's, it really is, um, a, a very, that the energy is a conduit between both teacher and student.
[00:23:23] And that's been a gift to remember too. Hmm.
[00:23:27] Allyson Scammell: Yes, yes, yes, yes. So good. So I want to talk about some tips or lessons that we could offer other women entrepreneurs who are worried about being in business right now. Or who are also pivoting from maybe a brick and mortar to a virtual space, and they have anxiety about that.
[00:23:45]Um, this is what I've noticed as you talk, as you spoke, like this is what you did, and I'm sure you weren't even like thinking about it. You were just in the flow of it. But first of all, you have the right mindset. You said, I'm going to make this work, and you put all of your energy into that. You had a slight moment, a little bit, a moment of panic a slight
[00:24:04] Second of like, maybe this isn't going to happen, but then it just seemed like that was a fleeting second. Then you shifted back into this gonna make it work. Mindset. You had a willingness to be uncomfortable, which I think is so important during these times when we're asked to Uplevel, and you were the IT department of your business, um, when you're not a tech savvy person, when it was basically a big technology question, um, you had a willingness to lead others and show them how to do it and be patient and hold the space for them so they could learn the technology as way as well.
[00:24:40] You were in service. You are in service to your community, you are in service to something larger. So you use, like you had the support of the universe. Abs was kind of preparing you for this for some time. And it seemed to me you were really in the flow of, of to what I'm meant to be, am that idea that there's so much in our outer world we can't control.
[00:25:05]Um, and let's just surrender to that and then focus on what we can control. And that's our response. So those are the things that I was admiring as I was listening to you and things that I think other, um, I think are great lessons learned for other women who, who, uh, may have worries about their business right now.
[00:25:25] But I wondered if there was anything else you wanted to offer on a tip or a lesson learned for other women entrepreneurs right now.
[00:25:32] Christa Mastrangelo: Hmm. Well. It's funny that you said that. I had been preparing for this for some time because that is exactly how I felt during those, the most challenging weeks. And by challenging, it wasn't a fear challenge.
[00:25:52] It was just, you know, the, the, the keeping it all going challenges, uh, the, the busy-ness challenges. Um, so during those periods, what I kept thinking was, I've been in a training ground for exactly this for a while, and that was last year. All of the surprises of last year were part of that, but my practice really, and my practice of, of yoga and of consistency has been.
[00:26:27] I think I've been preparing for being able to hold uncertainty for a really long time, and so I have worked really hard to, I've, I've worked with dedication, I should say, not really hard, but I've worked with dedication to create consistency in my practice to show up whether I want to or not, to find.
[00:26:54] Meditative silence, to find periods of deep contemplation and reflection both on the mat and off the mat. And that work has allowed me to be able to do what you said, which is to hold, hold, discomfort, to be willing to be uncomfortable and to breathe with that discomfort. And I think that's a huge part of it.
[00:27:23] And something that I would encourage every woman in the world to do, every human in the world to do is to have a. It's a routine, a practice, whether it's yoga and meditation or whatever that practice is. Prayer, going to out in the woods for long walks, whatever your practice is, where you show up for yourself regularly and know that yourself is worth showing up for, and that that consistency for me has reminded me, has taught me.
[00:28:03] That what is true in the light is true in the darkness. And you know, truth is truth across the board. And so I have learned that through through great periods of practice and, and showing up in the darkness. As well as in the light times. But the second thing I would say that I think is incredibly important and can't be forgotten, is that I have a hugely rich, hugely rich, not as in the number of people, but as in the vast amount of support of, of a support system.
[00:28:38] I have incredible friends, but also people who are invested in the business that I can turn to and that I trust. Trusted advisors, trusted team members who I know I can speak to honestly, and who will speak to me honestly and without them. There are moments when I, I. No, I would go off the path a bit or go astray.
[00:29:10] So taking care of the self, taking care of the self needs, and then having that support system are two things that I just can't emphasize enough how important they are in my wellbeing. Mm.
[00:29:27] Allyson Scammell: So beautiful. Oh my gosh. I love that so much. Um, and, and I truly believe that, you know, getting back to what you were saying, you know, showing up for your business every day, even the days you don't want to.
[00:29:38]Um, I think that, and the fact that, you know, you've been in business for 11 years, you said nine years,
[00:29:44] Christa Mastrangelo: 11 years,
[00:29:45] Allyson Scammell: 11 years. There's a momentum that's created and, and you've created this incredible community as well. That is unity. Um, but you've created the momentum. And when that momentum is going, something like a pandemic is not going to stop it.
[00:30:01] Like it's there and it's going to keep going. And so if you're new to business and you're like, well, I don't have that momentum yet, and you know, um, I don't have the community yet, I feel like I'm on my own. Well, please know that anybody new to bins business has also been there. I've certainly been there.
[00:30:18] And it's just, you know, staying, you know, keeping that. Hmm. That thing that you know to be true in your heart and that is you have something to offer and there are people out there who need what you have to offer, and just staying committed to that and showing up to that each and every day, that momentum is going to get created.
[00:30:39] Yeah, that's it.
[00:30:41] Christa Mastrangelo: That is exactly it. Showing up. Even, you know, showing up for the business even on, at times when I haven't wanted to has been what's created that momentum. But what's reminded me, even in the early stages of, of the business when things. We're hard. Somebody, uh, I, a teacher, I can't even remember who it was once, had me make a list of every hard thing I had already lived through and had already shown up and continued on from, and then to realize that.
[00:31:18] It is such an empowering gift to give ourselves. So even if you're new to business, you're not new to life.
[00:31:27] Allyson Scammell: Yes. Correct.
[00:31:30] Christa Mastrangelo: What else? What else has been hard that showed up for, and that you have and what, what, how did you show up? What gave you the ability. To walk through. Not to walk around that challenging thing or to hide from that challenging thing, but to rise and meet that challenging thing.
[00:31:50] Allyson Scammell: Yes. Yes. That's such a good point. Cause I think most of the listeners of this podcast are people mid career, um, or even towards the latter part of their career. And they are deciding to open a business and pivot from maybe a nine to five or something. And. Wow. You know? Yeah. When I started my business, I had 17 years of experience in a different career.
[00:32:11] That has nothing to do with anything entrepreneurial, but I still had all that right. And so I wasn't really starting from scratch, even though I had my days where I certainly didn't feel like it was. Um, so those, that experience, that life experience is so valuable. And I do also want to say one thing about that feeling of discomfort.
[00:32:29] Who we, um, I'm feeling it myself. Like, um, this is a time, this is a time on planet where many spiritual entrepreneurs are being tapped on the shoulder to say, Hey, you gotta, you gotta keep going here. You gotta go keep trucking and you even have to go a little bit bigger. And, um, we're calling on you to Uplevel.
[00:32:49] And if you're feeling that, if you're getting that nudge in your heart, it will be exciting and it will be uncomfortable. I was sitting on the couch with my daughter this morning. She's three. We were watching Aladdin for like the fifth time in the last two weeks, and I just had this feeling inside of me and I'm like, what is that?
[00:33:07] But is that like, like a kind of just like off feeling and I realized, Oh, it's discomfort cause I've really been more outspoken than normal. And I've been talking about, you know, getting Rawr towards my truth. And it was like, Oh, this is discomfort. So let me just sit with this feeling and feel this.
[00:33:27] Let me just feel this because you can mistake discomfort too. You're doing the excuse me, cause we can mistake discomfort too, or doing the wrong thing. You know when you're feeling a little off, Ooh, maybe I went too big there. Ooh, maybe I shouldn't take a risk how. Ooh. But if you really get. Honest on it and be like, okay, I feel this discomfort.
[00:33:50] It's just a feeling. It's a growing pain. Breathe in, breathe out, and then go back to your heart space.
[00:33:57] Christa Mastrangelo: What does the heart say?
[00:33:58] Allyson Scammell: And when I did that this morning, I got you are absolutely on track. You were. Yeah. You are 100% in alignment. And Christa, you feel, when I've listened to you, I feel like you are so on track, so in alignment, and there's so much unity in this community you're creating.
[00:34:17] And um, yeah, it's Uplevel time.
[00:34:21] Christa Mastrangelo: Thank you. Thank you, Allson. I am, uh, I am grateful beyond words and it is just a true feeling of thankfulness through my whole body for people's willingness to pivot with us, for my teachers, willingness for our students, willingness for. You know, just watching human beings continue to persevere at a time when no one knows.
[00:34:48] No one's been here before. No one knows what this is. No one knows how long it is and, and that people are just continuing to persevere. So riding that wave. Feels like the right thing to do. It feels like the right wave to be a part of, for sure. Um, that, that discomfort is something that I remind my students of.
[00:35:11] I love the yin practice for that, but also the more vigorous practices, even of the physical yoga. Yeah. The physical yoga practice. I remind my students always and remind myself that the mat is just a little, a laboratory that we go into to play out all of this investigation of how it feels to be in these same kind of weird positions in life.
[00:35:36] So, you know, being able to sit in the place of discomfort. On the mat, not pain, but discomfort where it's not exactly where I might like to be, but being willing to, to breathe through that sensation and get curious about that discomfort on the mat has been the laboratory, the training ground for being in the weird positions that life puts me into and breathe through those two.
[00:36:04] And remember, it's all just, I say to my my students all the time, it's all just a. Weird yoga pose.
[00:36:11] Allyson Scammell: Oh my gosh. What a beautiful metaphor. Yes, yes, yes. And I think the pain when you're feeling pain on the mat or in your business, I think that often, not always, you know, depends on the situation can mean, um, that you are out of alignment.
[00:36:26] Normally pain means, you know. A mindset shift that needs to happen, or you're not showing up as authentically as you'd like to be. Or you've got somebody in your audience who you need to get rid of, or you know, something needs to shift. And that's pain. And I love how you use that metaphor, but the discomfort, that's what you know.
[00:36:47] That's what advances your yoga practice. That's what advances your business and advances your ability to serve more people.
[00:36:54] Christa Mastrangelo: Yeah, 100% I'm just sitting here vigorously shaking my head. That is so
[00:37:00] Allyson Scammell: cool. I love it. Oh my gosh. So Christa, I really think that now we're all in quarantine. It's going to come and go.
[00:37:07] I have a feeling, you know it's going to come and go for a while, right? I think this is like. Something that we're just going to have to live with for a while. So what a beautiful time to get certified as a yoga instructor. I think that is just like the most brilliant idea. So I know that you have a lot of exciting things happening now online, and you're going to be getting even more exciting as we go, that people from all over, anywhere you're listening from can plug into.
[00:37:33] So please, please tell our listeners how they can find you.
[00:37:37] Christa Mastrangelo: Hmm. Thank you, Allyson. Yes. Um, I, my website is Jalayoga flow.com and, uh, Jala is what Jala means is it's the water element, and so it is the element of flow within us and around us. So Jala yoga flow.com is our website. I have a verb, we call it the verbal flow.
[00:37:58] That I post to regularly. That gets posted onto the website, which is my blog in essence. And then I have a YouTube channel as well. It is called Jala yoga, and I have, we have a Facebook presence also, same name, Jala yoga, and a Instagram presence as well, all with the same name. And my intention in social media is to inspire and uplift.
[00:38:27] And so I keep it, you know, non political, non, um, non-reactive and, and the YouTube channel is completely free. So that's an a way for folks to go in and who can't potentially afford to take a class or just want to trial it out and see who I am to go in and check that out. And then the website has our class offerings, our various workshops that are both.
[00:38:52] Sometimes offline, but right now totally online. And then, as I said, my blog post as well.
[00:38:59] Allyson Scammell: Beautiful and Christa's amazing writer. So all of those links are going to be in the show notes, get on Christa's mailing list, follow her on social media. She is such a good a speaker as you like. So inspirational and a beautiful writer.
[00:39:14] And you're going to want to be part of her virtual world cause she is creating an amazing community of unity and a space for you in that community. So check her out, Christa. My gosh, thank you so much. My heart is just open. It's just. Bursting. I loved this connection and like hearing the inspiration of your story and everything you did, truly
[00:39:37] Just a gift for me to be here listening to you. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for listening to your friends, and my challenge for you this week is to get uncomfortable in your business. There are many ways to do that, but start by what is your heart. Calling you to do or be that is bigger than your current circumstances, and how can you lean into that and follow through on that inspired action or that inspired state of being.
[00:40:14] So if you're being called to share a deeper story of your truth. Create a product that is a little bit at the edge of your comfort zone. Launch something new, invest in something new than, and it feels uncomfortable. Then I challenge you to do it and. I would love to offer you three free visioning meditations to help you find that point of discomfort that is related to the growth of your business.
[00:40:49] And in these visioning meditations, we're going to call in divine guidance to help you double your business growth and reach in six months time. You can find a link to get those downloads on my website at Allyson Scammell .com. That's A double, L, Y, S O N S C A M M E L L.com and you can find a link in the show notes, and if you're digging on this content, which I sure hope you are, I would be super grateful for a rating and review wherever it is you listen and don't forget to hit that subscribe button and may you have a blessed day.