What is your favorite way to get some exercise? Are you a member of a gym or a fitness boutique or perhaps enjoy exercise training at home on your TV. Perhaps you are a runner or a power walker. Fitness is not only good for our bodies and health, but our minds as well. On today's podcast, I had the pleasure of my favorite fitness instructor joining me on the show. Laura, Donna telly is an amazing woman who's teaching skills and own fitness journey inspires. Let me tell you a bit more about Laura. My guest, Laura, creative by nature, received her bachelor of fine arts in 2005, concentrating on oil painting from Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the arts. She then continued on to receive her associate degree in graphic design from Katharine Gibbs School in 2007. After a few years as a freelancer and both graphic design and fine art, Laura began working in customer service in banking for a steadier source of income after her first child, she began her career as a fitness professional by teaching Barr and Mat pilates in the evenings while maintaining her day job. After the birth of her second child, she was afforded the opportunity to stay at home and pursue her interest in fitness. Laura became an ace certified group fitness instructor and continued her polities training through balanced body. She added reformer and apparatus training to her repertoire. Laura is also an fai functional aging specialist and has completed her role the form of foam rolling certification. Laura's passion is bodies. She loves challenging the body in new innovative ways while incorporating a mind body connection. She strives to integrate mind, body, and breath in an effort to strengthen the muscles as well as the spirit. She feels that plays is one of the best forms of exercise to create a lean, long, strong, and balanced body without unneeded force or injury. When Laura is not instructing or doing pilates, you can find her spending time with her family, which include her husband and two young children. Laura's other interest include hiking, drawing, sewing, and baking. Laura, thank you so much for joining me today on the art of connection. Thank you for having me. Well, let's just jump right in. I would like you, if you would please tell me about your fitness journey, how you got started and how it got you are where you are today. eah, I think that, um, my first introduction to fitness was when I was quite young, probably, I don't know, 12 or 13 or so, um, and my sister who is older than me and myself, we used to do aerobics videos in our living room. Um, we would do buns of steel was one of our favorite, which is a well known one. Um, and also, you know, other aerobics videos, Leslie Chasen was another one, um, um, and we would do yoga and so on and so forth. So after, um, all of that, I just continued on doing fitness throughout high school. Um, my sister and I were both involved in horseback riding a lot. I spend a lot of my time as a, a young person working at Barnes in order to afford horseback riding lessons. So I was active in that, in that way. Um, and also did karate as a younger, as a younger person as well. So, um, I had a nice introduction to fitness, a lot of it was based on just what was fun and what was enjoyable without too much pressure as to the results of whatever I was doing, which was nice. Um, as I got older I became more serious as far as trying to make my body look a certain way. There was all the pressures of high school and what everybody should look at look like. And um, so I put a lot of self pressure on myself to, to look the way I expected myself to. So that was a little foray into the negative aspects of, um, body image, um, which, you know, as I've gotten older I've worked through quite a lot to get back to the point where fitness is more fun and enjoyable for myself. That's, that's terrific. And I like how you talked about the body image thing, which is so huge and that you're aware of that and have overcome that. Um, so my next question is why is fitness so important? Oh, it's so important in so many ways. Um, for myself, after I had my son, my first, my first child, I used fitness as an outlet of a way to get into the house and let some energy out and move around and be completely myself without being a mom, a wife, a worker, a, um, any and all of the above. So fitness was definitely just kind of like a release for me and I think that it could be that way for a lot of people that it just feels great. Whatever you're doing, whether it's going out for a run or going dancing or hiking or walking or whatever you might be doing, um, that it's, uh, a release from your everyday life. Um, but then on top of that, it's so good for your body to exercise. Strength Training, especially for women can really alleviate the, um, lesson, the ability to get osteoporosis and Osteopenia as you get older. Um, anything impactful on your joints is, is good to build bone density, um, and prevention of disease. If you want a lower health bill, as you get older, you might as well start exercising now to keep your heart healthy. Your lungs happy, your joints in order and so forth. Um, and then on another completely different note, it depending on what type of exercise you like to do, it can be a way to be social. So if you enjoy going to a gym, you might meet friends there or if you are part of a studio, you might meet New People. I'm just feel a sense of belonging, um, that you might not get in other areas of your life. So all over. It's just a great thing to, to, um, to do. Yeah. You made some really great points. Of course we know the physical aspect of it, but as you said, just mentally, emotionally and socially, it's so beneficial to. That's awesome. Well, what are some common myths about fitness or working out that maybe you've run into yourself or with some of the clients you work with? Yeah, uh, there's so many. Um, I think one that I've run into is when I started working out, I thought, oh, I'm going to do cardio. I'm going to go running. I'm going to get my heart rate up super high all the time for extended periods of time, and that's the best way to maintain fitness and lose weight and be healthy. Um, and there's no saying that it is not a great form of fitness. I, I do it. I enjoy it. It's a great way to get your endorphins flowing. But it's a myth that it's the only good form of exercise. Um, you know, as I've progressed through my fitness journey, I've come to realize the strength training is so great for your body, for your mind to feel so strong too. And to, um, to feel like you can accomplish these, these strength goals is very important as well. Um, it also is a weight way to great way to boost your metabolism and maintain muscle strength as well as bone strength, bone density, and gives you an all over type of like a balanced body, not just being strong from a cardio aspect but all, all the way around. So that's one big one. Um, the other one that goes to hand in hand with that is that strength training as a woman will make you get big and bulky. And I'm, look manish, which is just basically impossible. Those women you see in magazines or around that do look bulky or more like have a manual or more manly physique, have been strength training for hours at a time, perhaps taking supplements. And their goal is to look like that. So they've really pushed their body to the extreme. Um, but it's a myth that just doing strength training three or four times a week is going to get you that bulky for seek. Okay. Um, let's see. Another big one is that not everybody can exercise. Everybody can exercise. I see a lot in my studio, the studio that I work at, um, of people ranging from somebody who's in incredible shape already to somebody who can't walk, who is a paraplegic, um, being able to complete beautiful exercises. And I think that a lot of times people will stop themselves before they get out of the gate because they are, they feel weak or they're too heavy. They're out of shape, they're uncoordinated, um, you know, name a thousand different excuses because they don't feel that they can get to the point where they can begin exercising, but it's just not true. Anybody can do it. Well, those are, those are some big things. I think about that one. That's so much of a, again, a mindset of what we are and the things we tell ourselves that we can't do these things. And, and listers, I've had the pleasure of taking classes from Laura and know what an encourager she is. No matter what level you start at, you got to start somewhere and she works with everybody on their different levels. I love that. So that's a great myth to bust. And the other one that you brought up, Laura, was the strength training because I've heard that too. Well, I don't want to get bulky, but strength training, as you said, it's benefits, uh, for, for physical health as well as the mental part of it too is important. Now, would you consider polities, which I know is your, your favorite area? If I used that word that would palladio's be considered a strength training as well or not necessarily? It is, Yes. Most definitely. It's a different type of strength training. Like, um, I might have a bodybuilder come into the studio and they are so strong, but they're not physically able to do moves that you would see in a Palati studio because the polities it's like strength from the inside out. It starts deep in your core and then it radiates to all of the other areas of your body and its muscles that you might not look work in your traditional strength training atmosphere, um, these tiny intrinsic muscles that really support your system, um, that support your skeletal system and keep you, you know, tall and straight and strong from the inside out. Um, so yes, definitely a strength training system, but it's also, you know, mind body connection, flexibility. Um, it can be cardio depending what type of pyladies you're doing. If you're doing, um, you know, a reformer class with an added jump board, you can get the cardio aspect in. So yeah, it's all an all around beautiful fitness regime. Oh, I like that description to from the inside out that um, whereas the strength printing, I mean we want to see immediate results and how much we're lifting and how many reps you do plays is building it from the inside out. What? Uh, that's what, that's terrific. Well, what are some roadblocks you hit on your fitness journey? Oh, well there's been some, some, um, let's see. One is just time. Time is difficult to come by, especially as a mom, especially when I was working full time and trying to uh, teach classes at night or exercise myself. Um, you know, that just becomes an obstacle that you have to work around. There were times when my son was very little that I would wake up at five in the morning and go running as soon as the light would. There would be enough light that I could see my feet. I would get out the door because otherwise there was no time then, you know, I wouldn't stop until 9:00 PM at night. Um, and uh, yeah, it's definitely a commitment, um, to, to find time to exercise and for yourself. Um, and then also sometimes the financial aspect of it, some studios are expensive, you know, if you want to be a part of a studio, so you might have to get creative with what you do. Um, you know, exercising from home, finding videos on youtube, just going outside and, and, and working out outside if the weather is nice enough to go out. Um, so yeah, so financially there's been some setbacks too. Um, I've wanted to finish my padi certification much sooner than I than I have or that I am than I am and you know, that's partially because of financial setbacks where I have to pace myself. Um, and so they're just obstacles that you have to work through a nothing that can't be, nothing that can't be accomplished. And I think the biggest setback has been mom guilt of taking the time. I'm taking the time to do these things for myself because I know I'm setting a good example for my children by pursuing my dreams, um, and what I want to do as a, as a woman and as a person. Um, and knowing that sometimes that means that I'm not going to be there every second, um, but that the positives outweigh the negatives for sure. Oh, definitely. Yeah. No, I think that's a really wise Advice for young moms who would be listening to you because you're, you're a young mom too, and have young ones. I how, what are the ages of your children again? I'm almost six and almost. Well, two and a half ish. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, young children that um, it's important for that self care and doing things that are good for yourself and pursuing your dreams, not sacrificing your children, but balancing it and what a model that is. That's so awesome. So I know that moms need to hear that, that it's okay. You know, the mom guilt is always going to be there, but you just shove it aside and do what you know is right. Sometimes you have to. So you mentioned that your certification and your credentials, and I know our listeners would love to hear them because your credentials are pretty amazing. Um, so could you tell us what your next steps, your next goals? Our next certification, The certification is quite an extensive one, um, and it can be achieved in steps. So I started, I think back in 2004, five, maybe no, 2007. I'm starting to learn mat pilates and um, so I took that certification which was like a 16 hour certification and then took some time off and then took my second mat pilates session, which was another 16 hours and then took some time off and you know, about every six months or so I've completed another certification. Um, so to be fully certified and polities I think there's about 12 sessions and then on top of that there's studio hours and practice hours and so forth, kind of similar to how you would get certified in Yoga that you can have like in a thousand hours certification or 800 hour, $600 or 400 or 200 or so forth. Um, so when I'm all said and done in another, the goal is a year and a half when everything is complete, I think I'll have about a thousand hours. Um, and which includes everything. Um, and in includes times that I'm physically working in a studio, so I'm getting paid for some of those hours. Um, yeah, and then we'll be fully certified through balanced body as a mat apparatus and reformer instructor. Um, and as an ase certified fitness instructor, you do have to do a certain number of CCS CCS a year education credits to continue to be certified. So there's a lot of things that, you know, we'll just kind of happened as I go, um, to, to keep up with those certifications as well. Um, and CPR asserts and, and all those little ones, but um, yeah, so the certification is a big one but it's so rewarding. Um, and every time I go to a, to a class or a workshop I feel so, you know, kind of revived in, in what I'm doing and more, I'm more excited for teaching. So it's a nice process. It's a long process, but it's also a very nice and rewarding process. Oh, absolutely. And as I'm listening to you and hearing about your credentials and your certification and the amount of hours that you've had behind those, um, I think one, it's incredible just to know the sheer amount of time you spent. And I also like how you said that you wanted to get your certification done much quicker than it's happening, but there were certain obstacles and instead of getting frustrated or throwing in the towel and saying, I'll just have to wait. You just said, okay, I'm going to set a different goal to achieve what I ultimately want is my full certification. And so every six months you're doing something and I think that's so great that you've got that vision and you've got that goal and you're operating in the thing that you love, your, your gifting and that is plays and instructing and employees and, and, and different forms of exercise that you're setting those goals and you're still moving forward. So I think that's just really inspiring to hear that, hey, there some life obstacles, you know, financial time, those things. And you just said, hey, I'll just. Okay, every six months this is what I'm going to do. And you're just moving forward still. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, it's actually very good for me because of the type of learner I am, that I like to take a piece and then really dive into that piece. Um, so the break in between sessions is kind of a good way for me to take what I've learned and apply it and practice and then by the time I get to that next certification, I'm ready to receive more information and then apply that and um, you know, it's a nice little pattern. Absolutely. It sounds awesome. And, and again, that you've just said, all right, I'm going to make this adjustment. It hasn't changed the fact that you want the certification, right? The to maybe use a map metaphor or driving metaphor going on a trip, you're still in the car and you're still heading towards that. You just might've taken a little side route or taken a little bit longer getting straight to your destination. So that's awesome. And that's encouraging. Well, Laura, do you have a favorite tip or two for people on their fitness journey? Oh, um, well, let's see. I think one is treat yourself carefully and lovingly. Um, that's a big one because I think that people and myself included a lot of times want to see progress and goals reached immediately and it is hard to step back and sit back and say, oh, this might take a long time. Um, you know, there might be setbacks along the way, just like we were just saying. Um, so I think, you know, that self care and that ability to treat yourself like you would treat your best friend is super important. Um, that way you won't get bogged down by tiny setbacks. Um, and that positivity will just lead to more positivity and more change and the ability to achieve whatever goal you might be setting for yourself. Um, I think when we limit ourselves because of negative self talk or self image or whatever, then it makes it much harder. It's like we're putting our own stumbling blocks in front of us, um, instead of just allowing ourselves to, to proceed. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. So that's one big tip, um, easier said than done, but I'm a good, a good tip nonetheless. Something to keep in the back of your mind all the time. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Well, and I was just, as you were saying that again, I thought that is just so wise that the way we speak to ourselves, our inner dialogue or monologue, whatever you want to call it, in our heads. Wow. If we wrote it down or recorded what we were saying to ourselves, I think we be appalled with like, we would never say that as you point out. How would you speak to your best friend? It wouldn't be the way you're speaking to your, your head or your mirror image self. So that's, that's awesome. That's awesome. Yeah. Well let me ask you, what do you do for relaxation and then what do you do for entertainment? Um, relaxation. Well, one is exercise. Pilates is incredibly relaxing. If I want to, you know, if I really want to relax, I'll go take a, a polity session from one of my favorite instructors because it's like this. Somebody else is telling me what to do for an hour. I don't have to think, I don't have to, you know, I do have to think a little bit, but I, but I just, you know, I get to let them guide me so that super relaxing so that I'm being in nature also can bring me right back down. Um, you know, into focus pretty quickly. So if I, if the weather's great, if the weather's semigration just getting outside either gardening or hiking or going for a walk, um, can, can bring me back down to earth. Um, know sometimes, like everybody, I think I get caught up in things that don't matter so much. And so just kind of refocusing, um, by relaxing is, is helpful. Um, and then as far as entertainment kind of similar, I, you know, going hiking is one of the big ones. Um, my husband and I love to go hiking. We have yet to take our children because we feel like we would only get maybe 15 minutes in and we'd have to turn around because they're a little to release my, my daughter who's two is a little too young to take long, long hikes, um, and hanging out with friends, going out, having a good dinner somewhere. I'm going and seeing, you know, a show, a comedy show, a music show. Um, that type of thing. Um, is great as well. That's great. Well, and I mean I'm here in your heart and I'm hearing your voice and your excitement about Pilati. So this next question I'm going to ask it anyway, um, other than your very full life as a wife and mom and pilates trainer, what profession profession might you like to attempt to? You know, what I've thought about that a lot and I think It would still be in the realm of polities and fitness instructing, but, um, as a super goal probably to have my own studio, um, that would incorporate all the types of exercise that I enjoy doing, which would be palase and bar and, uh, you know, strength training, maybe body weight, strength training, um, and uh, yeah, and, and all sorts of different types of mind body exercise and that, you know, that's an internal goal maybe for somewhere in the next 10 years, um, as my kids get older and in school full time and I can focus on it more, um, you know, and be fully certified and then pursue that. Um, so yeah, I'm still on the right path, which it took me awhile to get here. Um, but, uh, yeah, I just think thank delving deeper into it would be my, my, um, passion. Well, it's certainly something that from what you described about your journey, you started as a, as a, as a kid, as a teenager. So it's, it's neat to see you operating and watching and knowing of women operating in their passion area. Right. So the thing that they love. That's awesome. Well, you had mentioned hiking and hiking with little ones. Forget it. She ended up carrying. Do you have a favorite hike that you especially enjoy? One place are you, that you've went to was outstanding? Well, I mean around here around where we live in New Jersey. Um, we go up to the Delaware water water gap quite often. Um, Mt. Tammany is our favorite hike around here. Intense, intense. Yeah, an intense hike. But the views from the top are so beautiful once you get there and then the climb down is quite treacherous. But, um, another reason not to bring the kids, but that's probably the one we do most around here. Um, as a kid I had family in California and we would go out, um, you know, into the, into the redwoods and, and hike. So that at West would probably be my absolute favorite. Obviously I don't get to do it as often as I, we did when we had family out there. Um, but you know, any hike is a good hike being out there. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, Laura, I really thank you for your time, but before we sign off for today, I would like to know where can, and I'm sure people would like to know where can they find you? Maybe to watch your exercise. Um, I know you post some these exercises. Where can people find you? Physically, you can find me at two studios in Flemington, New Jersey. I'm a, one is called sphere a calorie and the other is health quest. Um, and then online, I'm on instagram. I'm, my instagram tag is at happy Laura d, so you can find me on there and I do post some short videos, some tutorial videos, um, polities and Inbar instruction. And I'm on facebook under Donna Telly, which is my last name, creative. Um, so yeah, either of those places. And um, I'd love to, to hear from, from everybody. Um, if you happen to see a video that you like, if you wanted to comment on what you like about that so that I can post more of those things, that would be great. That's great. Laura. Thank you and thank you for your time. I appreciate you joining me today on the podcast and all the information you shared and I'm just really appreciate that you gave us your time. Yeah. Thank you for having me. It's been fun and everyone. Thank you so much for joining Laura and I today. I'm please consider subscribing to the art of connection and if you take some time also and even rate it, I would appreciate that too. This is Sandra Vernon with the art of connection and you can also find me. I face society on either facebook or face society on instagram.
