Author: Christa Avampato

The short of it: Writer. Health, education, and art advocate. Theater and film producer. Visual artist. Product geek. Proud alumnae of the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia (MBA). Inspired by ancient wisdom & modern tech. Proliferator of goodness. Opener of doors. Friend to animals. Fan of creative work in all its wondrous forms. I use my business skills to create passion projects that build a better world. I’ve been called the happiest New Yorker, and I try hard to live up to that title every day. The long of it: My career has stretched across Capitol Hill, Broadway theatre, education, nonprofit fundraising, health and wellness, and Fortune 500 companies in retail, media, entertainment, technology, and financial services. I’ve been a product developer and product manager, theater manager, strategic consultant, marketer, voice over artist, , teacher, and fundraiser. I use my business and storytelling to support and sustain passion projects that build a better world. In every experience, I’ve used my sense of and respect for elegant design to develop meaningful products, services, programs, and events. While building a business career, I also built a strong portfolio as a journalist, novelist, freelance writer, interviewer, presenter, and public speaker. My writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, PBS.org, Boston.com, Royal Media Partners publications, and The Motley Fool on a wide range of topics including business, technology, science, health, education, culture, and lifestyle. I have also been an invited speaker at SXSW, Teach for America, Avon headquarters, Games for Change, NYU, Columbia University, Hunter College, and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America. The first book in my young adult book series, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, was acquired by a publisher and launched in November 2017. I’m currently working on the second book in the series. A recovering multi-tasker, I’m equally at home in front of my Mac, on my yoga mat, walking my rescue dog, Phineas, traveling with a purpose, or practicing the high-art of people watching. I also cut up small bits of paper and put them back together as a collage artist. My company: I’m bringing together all of my business and creative career paths as the Founder of Double or Nothing Media: • I craft products, programs, and projects that make a difference; • I build the business plans that make what I craft financially sustainable; • I tell the stories that matter about the people, places, and products that inspire me. Follow my adventures on Twitter at https://twitter.com/christanyc and Instagram at https://instagram.com/christarosenyc.
education, learning, teaching, yoga

Beginning: Is It Time for Yoga University?

Christa Avampato

New York is blessed with a lot of wonderful yoga teacher training programs. It’s also home to some yoga teacher training programs that are put in place with the intention of helping studio owners pay the rent. The trouble is that it can be difficult to discern between these two groups. In the past, I’ve posted some advice on how to choose a yoga teacher training program and I think that advice is valid now more than ever.

A hunting we will go…
As I’ve gone hunting for programs to complete my 500-hour certification, I’ve become even more skeptical about the claims made on fancy brochures and websites. I start asking questions of some studio owners and I can literally feel their nervousness rise into their faces. I’m sure that they’d just prefer I choose to pay the fee (or not) and just go with it. This is yoga, right? Aren’t we training to go with the flow and the best of a situation? Well, yes, but this next phase of my teacher training situation is going to cost me something to the tune of $4K. That’s a lot of money and I want to make sure I’m getting as much value as I can and the right value for me. I’m asking as many questions as I’d like to ask. I’ve found two programs that were overjoyed with the number of questions I’ve asked and they’re extremely responsive so they are the ones I’m considering: ISHTA and Yoga Sutra.

What training do I really want?
In the last couple of weeks I’ve been tossing around some ideas of the kind of teacher training program I really want rather than just comparing the options to one another. Truthfully, what I really want is a masters degree in yoga, particularly because my interest is in using yoga in the medical field. I’m not trying to teach at my fancy neighborhood studio; I’m focused on getting yoga to people who aren’t going to walk into studios, people with critical illnesses. And to top it off, I want to be part of a team of healthcare professionals who collaborate and provide a patient / student with a holistic plan that includes yoga. I’m not sure a 500-hour teacher training program can completely prepare me for that kind of work.

LYT (Licensed Yoga Teacher)?
A few years ago there was a push in New York State to license all yoga teachers and studios. Right now, all we have are fairly flimsy certifications from the Yoga Alliance which basically amounts to us sending in a check, Yoga Alliance sending us a cardboard card with our name on it, and then making sure they have our address right so they can mail us a renewal notice a year later. In other words, if you can pay, you can play. (See Yogadork’s excellent article entitled, “Make Up or Break up: Yoga Alliance What Have You Done for Us Lately?” for more info on this subject.)

For the yoga instructor who wants to teach students who are in relatively good mental and physical health and who go to traditional shiny studios, licensing seems a bit excessive. Does NYS license sports coaches or personal trainers? No. The State’s argument is that yoga borders on physical therapy and physical therapists are most certainly licensed. I sort of understand that argument, but I question their ability to put true standards in place at shiny yoga studios. The state can barely attend to the workload they have now. And to be honest, I think it was just a play by the state to get more tax money rather than a real concern for people practicing yoga.

The State Has a Case In Me
Here’s where I think the state has a very strong case for licensing: instructors like me who want to be part of the healthcare network of providers. I would be more than happy, thrilled actually, to sit for a licensing exam if it meant that my students’ yoga classes would be covered by their insurance. I’ll prepare reports, stay in touch with their PCP, and secure their personal info in my systems. That’s the trade-off I’m willing to make. Give my students a way to be covered and I’ll do whatever I have to do on my end to make that coverage possible.

Insurance Is Going to Have Its Say
This leads me to my next conundrum – now insurance companies are going to weigh in on the kind of training that a teacher needs to have to legitimately qualify as a healthcare provider just as they do with therapists, acupuncturists, etc. Now things get really interesting. They don’t cover doctors, nurse practitioners, therapists, or social workers who get a few months of training and a flimsy certification. Licenses are the result of rigorous, multi-year study at accredited schools and then the students sit for licensing exams (often a series of them). If yoga teachers like me want to play in the healthcare space, why would they let us lower those standards? And if they did lower the standards for us, why would medical professionals see us as equals?

MY (Masters of Yoga)?
Maybe what some brave university needs to do is create a yoga curriculum within their existing graduate school structure. Some of you might cringe reading that. There’s been a lot of talk about the traditional education system going by the wayside in favor of more innovative forms of learning made possible by better technology. I don’t agree with that line of argument for medical professionals. I can’t yet imagine a world where a doctor does all of his or her learning remotely from an iPad. I feel the same way about learning to be a yoga instructor. It’s important to be in a class and working with students face-to-face because so much of yoga teaching is about a one-on-one connection. It can’t be engineered; it needs to be fully experienced.

There are so many pros and cons of this formal education in yoga; many times they’re one and the same. The oversight from a university could be both a blessing and a curse. Yoga programs may become even more expensive at a university, though there would be the opportunity of financial aid. A university could put the muscle behind more robust yoga research, perhaps heightening the controversy over its benefits and perhaps legitimizing it as a viable form of treatment.

Still, I think this idea has potential for teachers like me. I’m going to kick the tires a bit and reach out to my own alma maters to see if there’s interest in exploring the topic. The time and effort it would take would be  worth it if I could be a part of building the kind of program I’d like to have and if more people (teachers and students) would benefit.

animals, dogs

Beginning: Phineas and I Share Our Adoption Story with “From Alone to Home”

Christa Avampato

My mom snapped this picture of Phin & I about 10 minutes after we met. It was our first picture together.
From Alone to Home is a site lovingly curated by Kate Antoniades that promote pet adoption. Kate reached out to me last week after reading about Phineas and asked if I’d share our adoption story. Of course I jumped at the chance and the post is now up on Kate’s site. Click here to read our story.

Also, if you have adopted a pet and would like to share your story on From Alone to Home, please email Kate.

encouragement, yoga

Beginning: The Human Factor of Yoga

Christa Avampato

I’ve been known to have a fiery side of my personality. I’m a deeply passionate, committed person, I don’t take no for answer (or at least I don’t take it well), and I fully believe in the way of the will. Wherever I go, I go with all my heart. No one who has ever met me would describe me as passive. Couple this with a petite frame, and some people walk away from a first meeting with me completely perplexed, or if I’m lucky, intrigued. “How does so much fire live in one small body?” they might ask themselves. “And wait, she practices yoga? How can THAT be?” My answer, as it is so often: my yoga is the reason.

Too often yoga is equated with peace and love and butterflies. It is all of those things, and it’s something more, too. Yoga is about authenticity. Yoga is about feeling everything, even the things that don’t feel so great. As practitioners, and particularly as yoga teachers, we sit with a lot of suffering, anguish, fear, and anxiety. We feel envy, jealousy, anger, disappointment, sadness, loneliness, isolation, fear, and betrayal. All of the ugly emotions of life that we wish there were less of. Yoga doesn’t eradicate those emotions from our lives. If anything, it heightens them. We free them more profoundly than many other people.

And here’s the magic of it all: because we feel those emotions so profoundly, we learn lessons on the deepest of levels and then we can move on. Yoga doesn’t prevent discomfort; it gives us tool to confront discomfort head on and work through it with grace and strength. It helps us to hold our heads high during painful moments and appreciate joy, love, gratitude, and all the beautiful emotions of life all the more. Yoga helps us to carry on.

learning, yoga

Beginning: Practice Makes Better

Christa Avampato

“Practice is the best of all instructors.” ~ Publilius Syrus, Roman author, 1st century B.C.

I recently went to Paula Lynch’s class at Yoga Works. The class was beautifully sequenced and I learned so much about alignment in the process. She spent a good deal of time prepping our arms and backs because the class culminated in practicing our form in handstand and headstand, two asanas I very much need to practice and that few classes ever attempt. Some yogis can lift up into these postures with both legs at the same time. I cannot. I need to use one leg to gently kick into the postures, and my right leg is my dominant leg.

Paula asked us to practice with our non-dominant or vacation leg. This was very challenging for me. I could easily get into handstand with my right leg. When I used my left leg I struggled to even been in the posture for a moment. As Paula made her rounds through the class, I flagged her over and asked if she could help me figure out why I had so much trouble using my left leg to kick up.

“Do you practice with your vacation leg?” she asked me.

“Well, no, but I was just…,” I stuttered.

“Then go home and practice with that leg.”

“But I’m thinking maybe it’s my form with that leg…”

“No. You just don’t practice with it.”

“So I should practice with both legs equally?”

Now she was getting annoyed. “No. Practice with your vacation left every day until you get it. It’s kind of like driving a car. When you get in a car for the first time, you aren’t going to be able to drive. You need to practice. Yoga’s no different.“ And she promptly turned around and walked off to the next student.

I left the class a little annoyed with her. She didn’t have to be rude. I was just asking a question. There was a nicer way to say what she was saying, though the lesson was not lost on me. I heard it loud and clear, and it makes perfect sense.

We expect so much from ourselves. In Paula’s curt words, she was telling me to be kinder to myself, to understand that we never learn to do anything without practice. This is particularly important when we are just starting out on the road to a new skill, or in this case a new way of getting into an asana. It takes time, patience, and work. 

career, choices, yoga

Beginning: The Battle Between the Belly and the Eye

Christa Avampato
A quote from my favorite yogi

“The Sage considers the belly, not the eye.” ~ The Way and Its Power

In the past few weeks, I’ve been wrestling through a next step I’d like to take in my life and career. My interest is in building healthy systems, whether those systems are in healthcare settings, work environments, schools, and in the personal lives of people. My conflict has been whether to continue my training in yoga (NYC is home to a few of the top 500 hour training schools), pursue a different path of training through another graduate degree, or start a new adventure in a form of healing other than yoga. I’ve pro/coned and decision-treed my way to bleary eyes on more than one late evening. All these paths seem to be evenly matched.

I revisited my friend, Susan‘s, advice on careers – compare options to what you really want, not to each other. With this particular decision, I had a hard time making that distinction. It seemed that all of these paths could help me down the road toward turning my career toward building healthy systems. No one way seems surer than the others. On top of Susan’s brilliant advice, I had to grab another piece of her advice from her book The Right Job, Right Now: I had to consider my life values outside of just career in order to make this choice. In other words, I need to look in more than look out.

In my gut, I know:
1.) I am so happy to be nearing an end to my student loans. Being free of debt is very important to me.
2.) I truly relish my free time when I can use to pursue my own projects
3.) No matter what I’ve faced in my life, my yoga and my meditation practices have been there for me, available wherever I go. They are critically important to me.

Though all of these options are good options, in my belly, my gut, it seems like the right choice is to continue down the yoga path for now. I am always open to more information and additional insight. In the immediate future, more training in yoga that focuses on anatomy, alignment, and keeping students safe in class feels like the right place for me to be. And I couldn’t know that by looking out into the world. As The Way and Its Power so beautifully conveys, the way forward is in.  

change

Beginning: Rethinking Fire

Christa Avampato

Yesterday Brian coached me to think differently about fire. Yes, it burns things away. It can destroy and can spur beginnings, good and bad. As always, Brian took it one step further. “Why don’t we think about your inner fire, Christa, as something that keeps you in check?”

I looked at him with a puzzled and furrowed brow. He continued, “If your gut, where your fire lives, is getting angry, vindictive, or upset, don’t chide it. Don’t tell it that it needs to calm down. Maybe it’s telling you that the situation that seems intolerable should no longer be tolerated.” This doesn’t mean we should set everything on fire on our way out the door. It just means we need to begin to earnestly seek the direction of the door.

Now I see where he was going. Yes, sometimes our temper needs to be softened and smoothed around the edges, pacified in the way that water pacifies fire. Sometimes, we need to use it as a catalyst for change and movement, two very scary actions. If our body tells us we need to flee, its message at least deserves our consideration. When we can’t free ourselves form our own ways of thinking, that proverbial inner fire can carve the way forward. It gives you a way to walk.

learning, risk, television

Beginning: Finding Comfort Outside Your Comfort Zone

Christa Avampato
From http://gosmellthecoffee.com/

“Your current safe boundaries were once unknown frontiers.” – Unknown via MJ, one of this blog’s readers

MJ, a reader of this blog and constant source of inspiration and ideas for me, sent through this quote in a recent comment on my post about negotiating the balance between fear and boredom as we take on new projects. New beginnings can be frightening; many times we must let go of old conceptions of ourselves, our lives, and the world around us so that we can try something new. This release is a death of sorts that allows for new life.

A few years ago I was recounting the story of my NBC job interview to my friend, Brooke. Many of the people I interviewed with were horrified that I didn’t have any TV experience. I was feeling pretty down about the interview until Brooke said to me, “Well have they known about TV since birth? We all start out not knowing anything!” That idea pops into my head every time I start a new project and have any moments of self-doubt.

We all start somewhere. At some point, everything we now know was uncharted territory. Your new beginnings today are no less scary and no more certain that those you experienced yesterday. Just begin. Life is a lottery – you’ve got to be in it to win it so do the things that light you up!

student, teaching, yoga

Beginning: A Letter to My Yoga Students

Christa Avampato

Yesterday I wrote a post about the importance of figuring out whom your business or organization serves and why you’re the ideal person to fulfill that need for your stakeholders. In it, I partially described the type of yoga student whom we focus our efforts on at Compass Yoga. I got a few emails that asked me to elaborate on that topic so I decided to write an open letter to those students. Letters are a favorite form factor of mine in writing. They are powerful, personal, and heart-felt. Some say we’ve lost the art of letter writing in our society. If that’s the case, then I mean to bring it back. (On this blog, I’ve written letters to President Obama and My Younger Self.) 

Dear Students – past, present, and future,
      I’ve been working on gaining the skills to help you by examining my own life and focusing on my own healing. The healthier I am, the more I have to give to you. It took me a long time to learn that lesson, and for that I apologize. I wish I could have been available to help you sooner though healing happens on its own schedule and of its own accord. In this journey I learned that every moment unfolds exactly as it should, and in that revelation I have been able to find and feel real forgiveness, of myself and others.

      You are at the beginning of a brave and courageous journey that will lead you home to you, to your true essence. Congratulations on your quest for authenticity. Stop for a moment and celebrate that enormous step. It takes a lot of gumption to go in search of you; revel in the fact that you are embarking on a project that everyone should undertake and few ever do. You are to be celebrated for having the strength to even try.

      This road is not easily traveled. There are pitfalls and mountainous climbs. Some days will be smooth sailing, and others will be wrought with difficulty. I will be with you through all of it. I can’t tell you what to do or why or for how long; I can promise you that I will show up every day with everything I have. You will always have my focus and my compassion. We will walk this road together, and we will both be better off for it. I promise you that it will all be okay.  

      You may have some type of illness, mental or physical. You may be dealing with the heaviness of life in its many forms. You may need to find your way after a long period of wandering. Your age, physical or mental condition, race, religion, ethnicity, marital status, and socioeconomic circumstances do not define you in my eyes, nor in my heart. Come as you are and make yourself at home next to me. People have told you to try yoga or meditation or some other kind of mindful practice. You’ve decided it’s time to give it a shot and you are wondering where and how and with whom to begin. You have come to the right person, in the right place, at the right time. I am for you because I have been in your shoes and I know how it feels to begin this journey to healing.

       Take a comfortable seat, close your eyes, and breathe. This is where we begin and end, breathing in and breathing out, respectively. Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here, just as you are.

Love,
Christa

books, business, goals

Beginning: Who Do You Serve?

Christa Avampato

“Who cares most if we succeed or fail?” ~ Jason Saul, author of The End of Fundraising: Raise More Money By Selling Your Impact, on how to build a stakeholder map

My friend and Compass Board Member, Lon, suggested that I read Jason Saul’s book as we begin to put together the financial plan for Compass. I’m actually going to work through the book with the Board because our main financial goal is to be a fully self-sustaining organization – exactly what Jason Saul advocates in his book. We want fundraising to be the gravy of our financial plan, not the main course. Jason Saul gives us a way to do that, and his book is a solid resource for anyone starting or running a business, nonprofit or for-profit.

The biggest take-away from the book is something I often heard in business school and the greatest I have learned from yoga – focus is everything. We cannot be all things to all people. If we try to do that, we end up being of very little value to anyone. Does that mean that what we offer is only useful to a handful of select people? Absolutely not. It may well be that everyone who comes into contact with your products and services takes away something positive. The question at hand is one of focus – yours. Where do you put your time and energy, both precious and finite resources? And to answer that question you need to figure out who you serve and why you matter to those customers.

Compass Yoga‘s ideal students are the once who aren’t going to walk into a traditional yoga studio. They’ve never tried yoga or meditation before though they’re curious and want to give it a shot because they want to be happier, healthier, and more at ease in their daily lives. And they have some specific therapeutic reason for seeking out yoga.

Could a long-time practitioner who is happy, healthy, and at ease get something out of a Compass class? Of course. Would I turn these people away from a class? Absolutely not – they will always be welcome. I remain steadfast in my belief that yoga is for every body. I’m just not the right teacher for every body and every student is not right for me. I love people who have the courage to begin from zero; I love to be a guide. My energy is focused on those beginners, and if others get something out of the teaching, then all the better.

The question “Who do you serve?” is fundamentally about finding our place in a crowded field; it’s about defining a way to shine with our gifts in one hand and our passion in the other. It’s about finding our authentic purpose and the people who will benefit most from us fulfilling our destiny. I have tremendous empathy for beginners and for people who are challenged with health issues, be they mental or physical. I was one of them and I will never forget how that felt. I will also never forget how useful yoga and meditation were to me in times of real trouble, and how much comfort they continue to provide on a daily basis. By serving those beginners who are challenged with health issues, I’m paying forward the gifts my teachers (and there were many!) provided to me.

It’s a nice idea to be inclusive and giving to anyone who wants to learn the lessons we have to offer. I recommend it as a way of life; I don’t recommend it when developing a business plan. Figure out exactly who you serve and why you’re the best person to provide that service to those customers. In business, focus is rewarded. Go too broad and you are setting yourself up for irrelevance.

meditation

Beginning: Your Own Enlightenment is Only a Question Away

Christa Avampato
Master Jinje

“Everyone can start a meditation practice by pondering this question every day – what was your original face before your parents gave birth to you?” ~Master Jinje

Last week I went to the historic Riverside Church to hear Seon (Zen) Master Jinje, the 79th Patriarch in the Korean lineage of the Buddha. My friend, John and Justin – the genius duo behind FreshFluff, invited me to the event and given my interest in and dedication to daily meditation, I couldn’t pass it up. To be in the presence of someone like Master Jinje, someone so disciplined and so full of goodness, is an honor. Secluded in Korea, this was his first visit to the U.S. and given the reception he received I’m sure he’ll return. Our society needs his message: meditation is a vital part of a rich and meaningful life and it is available to everyone. It begins by questioning everything. 

Master Jinje took questions from the audience and one member asked how someone who has never mediated before can begin a practice. It’s a common question. The word “meditation” is a loaded term. Many people feel they need to have a religious practice or that they must already have some level of enlightenment in order to meditate.

Master Jinje put that concern to rest. He insisted that meditation is for everyone, and that it should be practiced by everyone. We need to time to sit and tune in to our own inner wisdom, and yes, there is an inner wisdom in every person. You, me, and everyone we come across throughout our daily activities. All you need to do is think about who you are authentically – not in terms of your relationships or your work or where you live. Consider the challenge of considering one simple question – “What was your original face before your parents gave birth to you?” All of a sudden everything you know is shattered. All your preconceived notions of an identity are gone. Now the real work begins. Who are you on a soul level?

For me, this question is scary and exciting, and therefore it warrants some more consideration. There must be something in there for me, and so I sit every day now and think about this question. It becomes an all-consuming question and practice; my troubles fall away as my mind turns this idea over and over again. And that is its magic. All of a sudden I am a part of something much bigger, braver, and wiser just by asking this question and not shrinking away from its answers.

Enlightenment is not so far away; it’s not some mysterious, out-of-reach goal. It’s with us right now. Within you, there exists an enlightened sensibility and it wants its fair share of air time. It doesn’t need a microphone; on the contrary, all it’s asking for is a few moments of quiet time with you and you alone. It has all the answers you seek, and those answers will be revealed one tiny jewel at a time every time you show up to sit and be still and consider who you are at your very essence. Listening will be rewarded.