IAM2857 – Master Yogi Helps Others Rediscover Their Power

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Transcription:

Katie B Happyy 00:00
A CEO to me means trusting the transitions that like only thing that's constant is change and who I am in the transitions, who I am every time I fail, which is a lot. The grace in which I can offer my employees and my students and my participants, my clients.

Gresham Harkless 00:45
Hello, hello, hello, this is Gretch from the I Am CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Katie. Be happy of Be Inspired. Katie. It's awesome to have you on the show.

Katie B Happyy 00:52
Thank you so much for having me.

Gresham Harkless 00:54
No problem. Super excited to have you on. And what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Katie so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And Katie is a world renowned master yogi. Katie has appeared on NBC, cbs, featured in Shape magazine, in addition to being an international Lululemon model and ambassador, and has taught at festivals including Wanderlust International Yoga Festival in India and the One Love Movement. Through Be Inspired courses hosted in India, Mexico, Costa Rica, Cuba, Italy, Spain, China, Colombia and beyond. KDB challenges thousands to awaken a deepened part of their spirit. Katie's 5013c nonprofit Be Inspired has changed thousands of lives and helps you rediscover your power. From life changing self venture, intentional retreats to online classes, the Be Inspired team helps you to align up to your clarity and your calling. Katie, are you ready to speak to the I Am CEO community?

Katie B Happyy 01:39
Oh yeah.

Gresham Harkless 01:40
Awesome. Let's make it happen. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about your background and your CEO story and what led you to get started with your organization.

Katie B Happyy 01:47
Initially I always wanted to. I had a craving to give back, but I didn't really know how and so I adventured into a major called International Security and Conflict Resolution which I thought I was gonna go into humanitarian aid like working for the UN or some sort of making change on that grander scale. And what initiated the spark or initiated my joy or love of, of intentionally giving back? My mom passed away of breast cancer when I was 14 and I had the unique opportunity and the beautiful opportunity to be with her in her last breath and something kind of clicked with me. Like when you see someone's chest rise and fall and then the moment that they just exhale and there's nothing after that, I. I realize that this life is just a game and, and literally every inhale is a gift. So I had this fire under my butt to figure out why we get this opportunity to breathe in. Like, why do we get an inhale every second? 1.8 people die. 4 people are born, which is promising, but 1.8 pass away from their bodies. And I just had this spark. Like, life's too short to not go deeper or figure out why we got the breath. So ventured through the. The giving back world. I went into nonprofits after I left school and eventually started to realize that the change I was trying to make. Selfishly, I love the fact that from minute one to minute 60 in a yoga class, I could watch someone come in and literally leave feeling like, better after they're done. It's a. I was selling change on a. On a grander scale when I was working in the nonprofits and more political stuff. And I was selling a dream, which is still needed and, and awesome. But me personally, I found a lot more opportunity and a lot more gratification instantaneous. Just to see that the ripple effect I can make by changing someone's day in that little fitness class could really make a ripple effect outward. And they're nicer to people, and then those people are nicer to other people. I just felt more validation from it. So the. My company's called Be Inspired because the Latin root of the word inspiration is to inspira, to inhale. And I'm figuring out, like, why? How do we live every inhale? How do we live inspired? And yes, we're going to go through ruts and be super stuck, and we're going to fail more times than we succeed, honestly. So I'm trying to figure out, even in those places where we fail and even in the places where it doesn't feel good and we have a broken heart or we have to transition into a new job, how do we find inspiration to keep moving forward, to trust the transition, and to really just dive a little bit deeper into the little time that we have in this world together. So that's where it was born. I started teaching yoga and it started snowballing where it wasn't just yoga, but now I was making change on a small level. How do we make it bigger and organically? It started to grow into workshops that are three hours, then weekend seminars, then even bigger into retreats. And now we host six international. I call Them self ventures that are basically retreats with a lot of self development aspects in it because we're a self development company that's trying to help you figure out your transition, help you get reinspired after what's, you know, what's inevitable is that the only thing that's inevitable is change. So how do we in this life continue moving forward? And then the retreats are a mixture of mantras, exercises, eye staring, dancing, sweating, like having a lot of fun. We value fun too at night. And so it helps us, it helps people move forward in a really productive way. And it's organically kind of grown from me just wanting to help people in figuring that out and using yoga and fitness as an outlet to get there. And now it's like the onion layers, right? You start with fitness, that's the outer layer. And then it gets a little bit deeper. Then we go into the mind and the heart and then even deeper into like clarity and purpose and, and these trips are just, they're really fun.

Gresham Harkless 05:08
No, I, I definitely appreciate that. I'm obviously sorry to, you know, hear about your mom and everything that happened, but just that clarity that you, you talked about is something that I think a lot of us sometimes forget. You know, just every, like you said, every gift is, every breath is a gift. And a lot of times we, I don't know if you find this as well, but I kind of feel like you don't really have that set time where you should figure out what those breaths in life are supposed to be going towards until you actually take time to, to kind of look and search a lot of times within yourself and do different, you know, ways, as you mentioned, dancing and yoga and all those things to figure out who you are, why you were putting your on this earth and what you're kind of in here to do. I feel like there's not enough kind of time set aside for us to do that. You have to kind of just figure that out or you, you know, run into people like you, of course.

Katie B Happyy 05:49
Thanks. I, I stoke the fire. I, you know, I'm not, I don't promise any results. Besides the fact that you'll be beautifully motivated and re inspired after we spend a little bit of time together. Whether that's a 60 minute fitness class, because that's perfect and that's awesome, or if it goes a little bit deeper into some of the online courses that we offer or the retreats where you actually take the big jump and go to an international space where your body and your mind, you're in A totally different world. There's a molecular change that happens when you've been. When you're in a new place with new sounds and smells and sensations, with brand new people, Something gets to shift in you. And so that when you come back home, nothing really, nothing has to change in your world besides the way that you look at it. And so we help you shift your perspective in ways that keep you propelling forward in the direction that you want to go.

Gresham Harkless 06:31
Yeah, that makes so much sense. And I've definitely found that from. And I don't know if this is kind of speaking to what you were talking about as well too, but a lot of times, I think even on a smaller level, some people get ideas. I've got an idea sometimes being in the shower just because you're changing your environment. But obviously I've been able to do it as well on vacations. I don't know why, but I guess it's speaking to what you were talking about where you're in a different environment, you're thinking about things differently, you're doing things different than norm. A lot of times when you come back and you start to look at a problem in a different way or come up with a different, you know, products or whatever it might be, just look at things differently, you start to appreciate things a little bit more. If I want to, yeah.

Katie B Happyy 07:01
You know, that exact notion is what kind of got me started on the International Retreats in 2013. We did do some. We did them up in Ojai or different areas of America. And personally, I even thought, okay, let's just start small because I'm located in San Diego. So small for me is driving across the border down to Mexico. And I still do that many times a year. And on that very first trip, 20 minutes across the border, the world is completely different in all these beautiful ways. And your heart is just tugged in places where you come home grateful at the end of it. And we teamed up with a local orphanage. That was 2014. And now every year, every trip I go on, we do some sort of karma or give back component, because I think it's one of the hugest components of feeling good and happy in your life is being able to give back and contribute to something. That contribution is critical. There's three things from happiness is what I say. There's growth, gratitude, and giving. And if you believe that you're giving back to something even small in your life, I think that it contributes a lot deeper to your day to day happiness. And so you add that to a retreat where you're already getting away and we go volunteer at an orphanage or even just raise money for them as part of the proceeds goes to that from the retreats. Then you feel like you're not just doing something for you, you're doing something for a little bit bigger purpose.

Gresham Harkless 08:08
Yeah, that makes so much sense. It's definitely powerful. And just as you kind of spoke to, I feel like it starts to create that energy and that energy starts to propel itself, as you mentioned, you know, whether it be just, you know, a fitness class that you do, you feel like from the first minute to the 60th minute you see that energy and then you start to see it and see that change and it starts to manifest how people are looking at their lives, maybe interacting with, you know, their loved ones and their job and so on and so forth. It creates that energy that makes the world an overall better place. So I definitely appreciate that. So I know you touched on a little bit about, you know, some of the things that, you know you're doing. Is there anything additional you didn't really touch on that? You know, people that are listening, that want to get involved, not sure bestly how, what would be the best step for them as far as being inspired?

Katie B Happyy 08:45
There's some big things in the works for 2020 where you can virtually get a little bit more involved to be announced because it's, it's kind of rolling up soon. But I would say as of right now, the biggest way to be involved is show up to any of the big events that we host. So we host bicoastally New York or San Diego, a big event on the flight deck of the Intrepid or the Midway where there's like 500 people and we get out there and we sweat. We have a good time. I always say we get a workout and a work in because you, you're able to definitely feel good. That's a component. You need those natural drugs, adrenaline, endorphin, dopamine, you need those to pump a little bit. But then you get to connect with people. We do some weird eye staring stuff in a great way. You just get out on the sunshine and it's for a good cause. You can get involved in the fundraising component. Be Inspired is also a 501C3. There's a component where you can get involved in that way and even just fundraising in your community because we give back to people that are trying to transition out of a space of loss. And so whether that's the orphans that we raise money for in Mexico, And India or I run a free retreat for cancer survivors every twice a year. So April and October, I sponsor 40 cancer survivors to go on a free retreat to figure out what's next after their loss. And it was loss of an identity in addition of this, you know, this survivor cancer identity. And of course, it's in my mom's memory, but that's another way to get involved. And there will be some online components dropping if you're not able to come to an event on the east coast or the west coast or an international trip, which is obviously the Maha. The. If you can get on a trip, you'll come back insanely reinspired in a way that you'll just be infectious to everything in your life. Yet I understand that sometimes the time and the financials don't align. So that would be something to look forward to.

Gresham Harkless 10:19
There we go. Well, we got to get our popcorn. Cause something's coming up and something's growing, depending on what you're listening to this. So I definitely appreciate that. And you might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for you or your organization, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Katie B Happyy 10:34
I highly value aligning up with the clarity of your calling and your purpose. And I think that your purpose and purpose is a debatable word. Alignment is my favorite word because I'm trying to figure out every day where I'm trying to align in the flow. We are constantly on the receiving end of everything. We've got all these, like, I imagine, these little antennas. And all day we're receiving from outside factors. We're receiving from the red notifications on our phone or our emails. We're receiving from other people. Information to do so many things on a level that we can't understand as well in the vibrations. And being able to just slow down a little bit every day and intentionalize your movement is critical. So whether it's with my team members, my retreat leaders, my trainers, or especially the participants in my courses or retreats, we always start every session every day with an alignment of some sort. What is your optimal state? What is the intention behind what we're doing? Even before I go into a yoga class, I wash my hands. I, like, intend how I want to give out and not take it on myself, but how I can be a receptacle to transfer the energy for other people so that they don't have to hold it all on themselves. And so whatever that looks like in A company or a business, how you can intentionalize and align every single day to that day's purpose or the greater purpose, then if you're paying attention to the large purpose of it, then the smaller stuff, when the red notifications and the emails come in, it doesn't seem so tedious or hard. Yeah, that's, that's exactly it. That's the secret sauce, I think.

Gresham Harkless 11:58
There you go. Absolutely. So I know you gave us the hack and a nugget. Did you have anything additional that you think would be hacks or nuggets that we can kind of take away to be entrepreneurs and business owners?

Katie B Happyy 12:06
I think especially as a business owner, my staff now is about four people depending on. I've got trainers that, that are my teammates that align with me on retreats and then I've got a staff that's more on a weekly basis. So it's not huge by any means, but it's, it's growing. And in my growth patterns thus far in the five, six years I've been doing this business, I think my biggest, my biggest component is always coming back to their personal, what I call like a 3G gangster, like growth, gratitude and giving. Because I want to check in with them at all times. If they're in alignment with. Do they feel like they're being given enough gratitude from me? Are they also expressing, are we expressing enough gratitude to the social media followers, to the people that do our online courses, to the retreaters? Are we, are we spending enough time and gratitude, both me as a boss and them as a staff and amongst each other too? And then also are we giving back enough? Do we feel like there's a purpose in what we're doing? Yeah, the 501C3 is great. We do these things for cancer survivors and the orphanages, but them on a personal level, I'm like, okay, are we doing the three GS because this is important for us as human beings to not just be in this for the business we're not. We've got to be in this for something greater. Because if at any moment we could stop breathing, at any moment we expire. And so if we don't feel like our day to day has those things in it, giving, gratitude and growth, then I know that there's, it's the secret sauce to the component of leadership. Also. I always want my people that are working under me per se to almost be better at what I'm doing than me because that's the only way I can grow forward. That's the only way I can go up or sideways or left or right or whatever. I need them to be better at what I do now than me so that there's more opportunities for me to grow and create and see what's next in the flow.

Gresham Harkless 13:44
Absolutely. I would definitely agree with that. And now you might have already touched on this, but I wanted to ask you my favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote CEOs on this show. So Katie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Katie B Happyy 13:56
A CEO to me means trusting the transitions that like only thing that's constant is change and who I am in the transitions, who I am every time I fail, which is a lot. The grace in which I can offer my employees and my students and my participants, my clients.

Gresham Harkless 14:11
I love that definition. I definitely appreciate it and I appreciate your time even more. And what I wanted to do was pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you can let our readers and listeners know. And then of course have best they can get a hold of you, get in contact with you, find out about all the awesome things you're working on and things to come in the next coming year.

Katie B Happyy 14:26
Be Inspired is a self development company so we do workshops nationally and we do international retreats. So if you're feeling like you want to get out and get re inspired and see the world in a unique way. We do a sweat based in the morning, we adventure in the culture throughout the day and see what the culture has to offer and then we have a really good time at night. I'm all about balance so I love tequila and we have a great time with lots of of fun things at night. So if that's something that people you're specifically interested in. Next year we do India, Italy, Greece, Thailand and Mexico many, many times. And every year we add different tips to the docket. But it's a place for you to just feel safe and loved. And no matter if it's a workshop or if it's international trip or an online course, it should feel like you're coming back home, coming back home to who you are. Because I'm not teaching you something that you don't already know. I'm just reminding you of maybe parts of you you've forgotten, which is really it's the best feeling in the world. And so there's free stuff too online. My YouTube as of right now is where you would access workouts. It's KDB Happy and then the there's free online meditation courses on udemy or my website's BeInspired Life and the Instagram is at Katie B. Happy we're we're building up the business one to launch in Jan. 2020 of a whole big launch of new stuff. So look forward to that.

Gresham Harkless 15:36
Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Well, thank you so much. We will have those links and information in the show notes. And thank you so much for shining light on us as well too to remind us of some of the things that we may not pay attention to. And definitely, you know, it's very important to get those reminders of who we are and what we can be. And I appreciate you obviously for having all those events and everything as well too. So again, we'll have that in the show notes and appreciate you. Appreciate your time. I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.