Joanne

1. What song would you sing at karaoke?

Honestly I have a few go-to tracks - but a real crowd favourite is always “Me and Bobby McGee” by Janis Joplin as it speeds up and everyone goes crazy when I hit those high notes.

2. If you had a warning label, what would it say?

There should be many for me, but maybe most important is that I will always be upfront and honest - you will always know exactly how I feel about something. Someone once called me passive-aggressive and I chuckled, “there is nothing passive about me.”

3. What was your first job?

I was a dishwasher at a staple restaurant in Hamilton that is now closed, “Your Place Restaurant” on Main St. near Dundurn. I learned so much at that job about hard work and effort.

4. What was the last thing you recorded on your TV?

The 11pm News so that I could watch it with my coffee in the morning.

5. What is your proudest accomplishment?

Each time that I go to do something new I hear the voices in my head from people in my past telling me that I can’t or shouldn’t do it, that I won’t succeed or that I shouldn’t try. I am most proud that I, often, do it anyway. I shut off the voices, I tune out the haters and I go and try it anyway. There have been many things I was afraid of and did them anyway: military basic training in the army in 1993, moving to BC in 1998, travelling Europe and India in 2006, opening Bend in 2011, moving back to Hamilton and opening a second location in 2017 - heck even buying more bikes for the studio in the middle of a pandemic so that I had more to rent out to people. I was afraid of all of those things, I had people warn me not to do them - I did them all and don’t regret any single decision.

6. What is your favourite song to play in your spin and/or yoga class and why?

My favourite song in spin, currently, is “Get Low” by Dillon Francis - it has a great beat and a sound that makes me smile.

My favourite yoga song to play is “Mysore/Los Angeles 5pm” by the Dharma Gypsys. When I was in Mysore, the guitar player that had the room next to me would play these sounds beside me. So this song is an exact memory of what I would hear while meditating or reading - the sound of the city with him playing.

7. What do you love about teaching classes?

When I teach there is a deeper connection to a higher power that I cannot really explain because it is a feeling. I am able to feel the feelings of the participants, I get visions of what poses would be good for them and their body pain - even warnings that they could be hurting themselves - I moved to an experience that I have never felt doing anything else. While I surrender to each class - that it is for the people there and not for “my body” or “my mind” - I always end up getting so much out of it. I feel so connected to the group, to myself and to something bigger.

8. How do you want people to feel taking your classes?

YOGA - I know that yoga classes should be about the mind, more so than the body, and I while I do believe this - I also have learned over the years that when we suffer physically - whether from pain or illness - our ability to look inward is thwarted and it is harder to have wonderful experiences. Therefore, I want my classes to be opportunities to help heal the pain we experience in our bodies (I mean seriously - why not? We are moving - why can’t those movements help to heal the pain?) while simultaneously getting into a deeper understanding of who we are through the meditation side of the practice.

SPIN/HIIT - I believe that all movement can still have an element of yoga to it - even when fast paced and lively. Physically in these classes I want to push people out of their comfort zones so that they have maximum benefit of lifting weights or cycling because that is how we grow stronger and maintain healthy muscles, joints, connective tissues and organs. Mentally, I want to push people - but to love themselves and believe in their abilities. We are so much stronger than we think.

9. Why would you take your own class?

GRIT - I love to be pushed further than I can go. I am not someone who will yell at you and belittle you. I will do, in front of you, what I want you to do for yourself and my hope is that you will work hard along side of me. That’s what pushes me - not someone telling me what to do - but watching as they push, grunt, struggle, and try harder.

EDUCATION - I will not tell you a made up fact that is based on pseudo-science, like “oh this forward fold is great for back pain”. Instead, I have evidence based knowledge that I can back-up and will help you achieve your goals. I also believe that each person is different, so I will ask you about yourself personally and do my best to instruct you based on your individual needs.

10. What is a fun fact about you?

I am completely obsessed with reading murder mysteries, watching British Crime shows and true crime podcasts. This love has created a new hobby for me and for the past few years I have been, slowly, working on my own yoga-murder-mystery novel.