Fitness, Fear and Community with Jourdan Baldwin

[00:00:00] Ali: Welcome back folks. Today I have a fellow Coloradoan, Ms. Jordan Baldwin. Jordan and I know each other by way of doing a little bit of work in the digital space. My other company helped her KALO Fitness get online, uh, a few years ago now it's interesting. And, if there's anything I'd share about what I know of Jordan, it's that you've always brought this positive, warm presence.

So with the few interactions we've had on Zoom or phone calls, I've always left those conversations, Jordan being like, wow, she was just there and happy and optimistic. And that's not always the case, especially in the world of technology and online things, which even for me can be inundating. So, Thank you for that.

Thank you for being here. How would you like to introduce yourself today?

[00:00:55] Jourdan: Thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting and it's been super fun to grow with the digital side of what you've brought to our company, and I just so appreciate the intro. Um, but my name's Jordan Baldwin.

I am the co-owner of KALO Fitness. We specialize in women's strength training and really just trying to create a community of women that truly support each other in ways that maybe are a little unconventional. So everything behind KALO is always designed to connect women on a much deeper level than just the surface.

And even our name KALO, it's a Greek derivative of Kalon. It means beauty. That's more than skin deep. So everything we do is really just trying to go inside first so that the outside can really shine.

[00:01:41] Ali: Hmm. That's beautiful. I didn't know that. Yeah. I always, in some ways, Jordan, I always appreciated how simple and nice it was to say KALO. And I've also appreciated the way that you all show up in, I'd suppose like the branding. I always felt inspired, even though I'm a man. I'm like, wow, they are doing cool things there. And so I think you represent that brand well.

And as it relates to some of the curiosity I have about your story and you sharing your sort of identity, your role in KALO, tell me a little bit about fitness. What does that mean to you? You, as you said, you go far deeper than just like, exercise. Is this wellness? Is this health, what's underneath all of this that inspired it?

[00:02:30] Jourdan: Oh my goodness. Yes. Well, I've been in the fitness industry my whole career, I should say.

I wasn't into it as a child, but that's all I've ever known in my career path and fitness has taken on so many transformations for me, especially as a woman. And in a nutshell though, when I met my business partner Nicole a few years ago, I finally was like, oh my gosh, like we have the same vision of what we want to do to the fitness industry, and it's just, it's hard.

It's hard being anyone in the fitness industry as far as how we view it here in America. It's really, really superficial and I don't think we realize sometimes like I how much that actually affects us and how we view ourselves. If we're always just viewing fitness as how much weight can I lose, you know, it's always like coming from this place of lack.

And so our vision is really about transforming that and instead like, yes, you can. You can eat your greens every day and you can work out every day and you can check all of the boxes and none of it will ever matter if you don't deal with the stuff inside, if you're not actually doing the work on yourself.

And so we're we're really trying to find new ways to regulate the nervous system, to help people go inside, you know, and do the work so that fitness can then be something that is really up-leveling life and is something that's coming from a place of not lack, but truly like gaining a sense of confidence from the inside out, you know?

And that really changes how people show up to their workout when it's coming from that place versus let's just get this done, or I wanna lose weight. You know, nothing wrong with those. And it's a different way of viewing life and fitness.

[00:04:15] Ali: Mm. Such a great word. Such a great way to describe that.

Do you, and I'm gonna project here for a bit out of curiosity, have you wrestled with the whole, I need to do this, which maybe comes from the ego verse, I'm doing this outta self-love?

[00:04:33] Jourdan: Oh my gosh, yes. And I still wrestle with it. Um, I still wrestle with it, you know, and. Like I said, I've gone through all different sorts of stages in fitness, so I used to do fitness shows and was really obsessive with that path.

Right. Which is a whole nother nother world. Right, right. I've done, I've been an athlete, you know, which is also a whole nother world. And I've also been working with women for a long time and, like I said, in the fitness industry, especially as a professional, there is this "unspoken" like you wanna look the part, you know?

Mm-hmm. So there is always that, like we have photo shoots all the time. It's, it's a different life you're living when you're always in front of a camera, in a sports bra, in tight clothes, and you are marketing your body in many ways. So that you can sell a product. Sure.

Um, so there's always been this, yes, like, of course I'm gonna get up and work out every single day so I can maintain this image. And recently though, especially since Covid happened and that whole transition, it became really clear that that is not a really fulfilling way to live. And I think we're all kind of in our own ways in our own industries after that event happened, we're all like, whoa. Okay. Mm-hmm.

We got a pause. We got to see what's really important and is this how I wanna keep showing up? Because if I keep showing up that way where it's just a check on the box, or I'm doing this just to look a certain way, that energy is getting put out onto the people that I'm around, and that's not what we want to build.

So it's really right now about courageously embodying, right? The yes, I, I wanna be healthy, I wanna be proud of my body. It's not about just you know, radical, like whatever. I, I don't need to do anything every day or any time. But yeah, it's just embodying, like doing it for different reasons other than just the way it makes us look.

[00:06:29] Ali: That's so good. Yep. That lands. So I'll, I'm gonna share, reflect back to you a little bit of my story with fitness because I think it relates to this and I also love your feedback or insights around wrestling with my, like self-love, self-worth versus the image that we project into the world.

And what I've really paid attention to recently, Jordan, is letting go of this like powerful ego, mind centered, " you gotta work out." Because I've been running on that treadmill for years, decades, in fact. And my roots go way back. Like you very involved in sports, athletics, hyper competitive. And part of that is my soul.

Like I love to compete. I love to play. I was just coaching my kids' soccer last night and it was just great. Two practices in the rain, but I came home just feeling fulfilled. I was tired, but in a beautiful way being like, yes, that's where I want to be. I wanna be with these children. I wanna play, I wanna run, et cetera.

But where it's been unhealthy is that even as an adult and then being a dad, my children are five and seven now. I've still maintained a fairly unhealthy relationship with feeling the need to work out instead of doing it, because that's just how I wanna show up. And I can't even fully empathize with what you've had to navigate because, as you said, your work in the world is a reflection of fitness and there's all these biases, dogmas, the stereotypes where people like, well, they've gotta be in great shape if I'm gonna follow them right.

And then there's this conflict. So I have what I would call a microdose of it and I have some ideas on what, where that comes from. But I just wanna honor you for sharing that because I think that's real, especially in the world you live in. And there's some instances I look at with social media where I'm like, this is toxic.

You know? Go ahead.

[00:08:30] Jourdan: Oh my gosh, yes. Social media has been in fitness like the number one biggest contributor to lack of self-confidence. Mm-hmm. Out of everything in my entire life. Especially how we portray fitness. And if you think about fitness, even I was joking with someone the other day about how 10 years ago, you know, everyone was just posting their butts.

Like that was just what fitness was. Yeah. Like, it really was, you know, and, and that's what you did. And I just, I have to laugh at it and we're, it is slowly transforming. But I mean, most people, yeah are not putting anything but really good flattering photos on their social media accounts and mm-hmm.

It's rough. Even though we know it's not real life, I don't know how you ever get over that. You know? It gets into your brain in a deep way and it definitely influences how we view ourselves.

[00:09:24] Ali: It really does. And I noticed as I was sharing you before we hit record, that you've been, at least for my quick research on Instagram, you've been fairly open about some of your challenges. And as it relates to social media, as it relates to leading a business, a fitness business, and just how you're showing up today.

How have you balanced that?

Like, do you take breaks? Do you wrestle with how and when to post? By the way, I'm in the depths of that right now of like reestablishing, how do I even wanna be with social media? Because there's this like conundrum of not feeling authentic sometimes.

[00:10:04] Jourdan: Yes. Who, yes. I will go back to 2020 because that's when, for me personally, a lot of things changed, as in my eyes were really open to how I'm spending my time and what's taking my brain power. Mm-hmm. And social media, I mean, to build my following, it was really important to have social media, so I am, I'm really grateful for it for that, you know?

Mm-hmm. When I first became a trainer, I got a lot of clients from social media. And I would post every day. And it just became a part of who I was. Tried to always be as authentic as possible, although nowadays I do feel like Instagram might just not be the place. Mm-hmm. To go super deep. It's not that we can't be authentic, it's just not a place to go super deep.

Sure. And that's kinda how I've started to view it. It helps me at least. Yeah. But in 2020, it just hit me. It was like, okay. As a business owner, you know, we only have so... as a human in general, but especially as a business owner, we only have so much brain power. And if that brain power is not being devoted to the right things, we're missing out.

And that's a waste of our time. And so it really hit me that I cannot just keep worrying so much about what I'm gonna put on social media at the expense of growing a business. And I think the last three years have really been kind of a shift in how I view it. And I always, I think it's important to have a presence.

And when I do put something out there, I want it to be something from my heart. So I always wait for those like heart things to come up. Mm-hmm. And even they come up like on a trail run, and I'll always try to voice memo them, you know, so I can get 'em out online later.

But otherwise it's kind of like, all right, right now the goal is building the business on the back end because you've got a team, right? You've got a lead, you've got a community, you've got values you have to uphold, and all of those are so much more important, in my opinion, than just worrying about social media. Mm-hmm. So I think the priorities just shift, and I personally am still trying to figure out that sweet balance between social media and running an actual business.

[00:12:03] Ali: Yes. Wow. I really align with how you shared allowing things to come through the heart. I'll literally be on a run sometimes where I can have more space and, and especially a longer run, and then things will hit me and I have this almost fun, healthy debate. Like, "do I stop and record this?" To your point, or do I just run and let it flow through me? And then maybe it'll come back.

And most of the time I do that and then I get to my computer, I'm like, it's gone. It's just gone. I can't get that back. It was in the moment, but I love that... I love the idea and that inspires me, so thank you. Of being on social media when we feel called to be there instead of the like robotic, I gotta post this because of this.

I was just, yeah, connected with our, fellow friend Kyle Weiger the other day cuz he's very skilled in this area and he's given me some tips. And while I'm grateful for those, I'm also really honoring my integrity of being like, I gotta do this my way, because even as a technologist who's been working with code and tools for almost two decades, some of this stuff scares me.

I'm just like, ah, the, the status, the popularity games, like, ah. That's why I used the word toxic. It lends into something else I wanted to talk to you about, which is fear. I noticed something really cool you posted about fear. So tell me about your relationship with fear these days.

[00:13:31] Jourdan: Just opening up the can of worms.

[00:13:34] Ali: Yeah. We're not gonna talk about the weather today.

[00:13:39] Jourdan: Oh yeah. I, that's so funny you brought this up though, because I actually was sitting writing about fear just last night. I, I wrote something along the lines of, it's wild to me how even after all of these years, the fear is still so real. Just like it was from day one of starting. Hmm. Here going out on my own.

It just transforms in different ways because there's more at stake. And so I was just reflecting, you know, on a lot of the things underneath fear for me that have kept me back, like held myself back because of the things that we tell ourselves that aren't even true. And one of the main ones that kept me in fear at the very beginning was I worked for another gym.

And I had a, a hit like, it's time to do your own thing a year before I actually did it. And it's funny because just on this path that we're on, we get those hits and we can either take them courageously, take them, or we can make it like a slow death.

[00:14:37] Ali: Mm-hmm. Yep. Yep.

[00:14:40] Jourdan: Still gonna, you're still gonna be pushed to do it. It's just more of like, how much can you tolerate at one time and how slow do you want that process to be? And sometimes we actually need it to be slower. I'm not really upset with myself for making it like that, but it's harder sometimes.

And so I remember just being like, well, no one's gonna follow me if I leave this gym cuz it's a really nice gym. And I would have to go to a gym that's not that great. And when I finally did it, you know, a year later after a ton of stuff just was pushing me out, basically. I had like 40 clients, you know, no problem. Like, they're like, yeah, we go, we'll go. And that's what held me back is the lie and the fear that they wouldn't.

And I always like to come back to that because it really did keep me so stagnant and that wasn't even true. And so as, yeah, as like this company has grown, the fear is still so real. And even at this where with this new space, there's so many fears at this next level of. Oh my goodness. Like, will we be able to pay everyone? Will we be able to pay ourselves?

[00:15:42] Ali: Sure, yeah.

[00:15:43] Jourdan: Will this last, you know, like, will this continue to grow? And there's all these things that can keep us up at night and ultimately it's like, well, that's always gonna be there and we're just gonna keep showing up and doing our best and navigating it as it comes up, because that's all we can do.

But I do think it is wild how the stories come up. And being an entrepreneur, there's nothing else I think we could do in life to grow as quickly as what an entrepreneur's job will allow us to do. Like it is every single fear or insecurity that you have is going to come straight up to the surface in this kind of career path.

And I'm grateful for it. And I'm also everyday like, "Well, I thought that one was gone, but here we are again."

[00:16:33] Ali: Oh my gosh, that's so real. That is so real. And you nailed so many things. So now I'm gonna just like openly confess, I'm gonna be a little paralyzed in where to go.

What wants to come through me though? I can feel it. Is that you started to talk about the role or, or some of the things that we carry as entrepreneurs. And I heard something the other day where, the reason that people don't step into being an entrepreneur or start things on their own, like businesses, passion projects, is the fear of responsibility.

Mm-hmm. And just the way that that was said, I hadn't really processed it that way, and I was like, oh my gosh, that is so true for me. It's like I love being creative, I love building things. I love collaborating, but then there's this, what you just described it really well, there's this heavy responsibility of that... But yeah, I gotta do this, I gotta lead this, I gotta take care of payroll. And the thing starts stacking up quickly.

So as you were sharing that, the question I wanted to ask you about is, and I feel like you use a little bit of like, yeah, the, the fear can transform, it can evolve, but do you feel like you're getting more comfortable with fear?

[00:17:47] Jourdan: Hmm.

Yes, definitely. It, yeah, it's almost like, uh, I'm trying to think of a metaphor, but it's almost like a friend in a way where you don't really like the friend, but you're like, okay, I'm comfortable enough with you now that I know what you are and I know that I can speak back to you in a way that doesn't keep me paralyzed.

And though I'm still paralyzed in many ways, there's still goals that I have that feel very out of reach because of fear, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it definitely feels like something that you start to be able to have a conversation with even though it can be a hard conversation and fear can be very convincing at times.

It's like a really good lawyer.

[00:18:27] Ali: Totally. Wow. I love that metaphor. It's this friend. We learned to be with it more. We learned to talk with it. And you're, you're spotting cuz I've... I've been pushing myself to have more conversations and sit with fear from a place of peace. Because I used to sit from a place of anger or frustration and be like, no, I don't wanna deal with you right now.

And then like you said, we can find ourselves in these really long, drawn out processes where we just hide, hide, hide until fear literally like pushes us out of the rooms. Like you gotta go now. So it's such a fun way to play with that. And yeah, you're right. I could totally hold space for it being this like lawyer persona that's just really good at convincing you, right?

You're like, ah, shit. It's right again. Right again. And then we do these cycles. So, ah, that's so good. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Good.

[00:19:21] Jourdan: Yeah, well, no, I was just gonna say too, and also like something that I always feel like is good is like that my lawyer compared to like the fear lawyer is meeting it with like kindness and compassion, which sounds kind of, I don't know.

But that really helps because many times the lawyer is just freaking scared and it just needs a little comfort of, hey, like we got this and we're gonna do it, you know. And kindness and compassion has been kind of a superpower recently that I've developed with fear, because otherwise it can just be, it can be really degrading.

[00:19:54] Ali: Yeah. It, it reminds me too of the way that I have internal dialogues, and you mentioned stories, which has been a powerful tool for me in recent years. Like validating what are these are just stories versus actual evidence. And a lot of times when we step out of our mind and share and start to bring these stories into a, a real conversation, we get all this feedback, like it's just completely fear talking. It was the lawyer making a case.

And even as I've held space for my children and other young kids. It is funny that they at some point start to develop their own little lawyer that has some fear mechanisms. Right? And back to your point, self-compassion, love, kindness. These are the tools that always just level set the discussion, the dialogue.

Cuz as you were sharing, that what I was thinking, for those that will watch this video, when we have a conversation with ourself or even with others, it's very easy for it to escalate when fear and anger come in. And then it's just this game until someone just falls out. It's like, ah, I'm tired.

But, compassion, kindness, love, often quickly deescalate the conversation with ourselves, like you said, or with others. We're like, oh, he's, he's at peace. He's, he doesn't wanna fight. He doesn't want to have this debate. So...

So much good stuff in there. I wanted switch back over to transformation cuz you mentioned it.

It's a big focal point of this podcast. It's a big focus for me and sort of the journey I've been on these last few years and now how I'm helping others and stepping into coaching, transformation, guidance.

Where have you seen the most profound transformation? This could either be in KALO, it could be a story from yourself. But again, I feel like as I, I've gotten to experience you that there has to be some transformation in here somewhere.

[00:21:55] Jourdan: What a brutal process, sometimes transformation is. Yes, I will go back to 2020. That is when I can think of the biggest transformation that happened for me.

And it was because my identity was so wrapped up in being a trainer. And I think this is really important to highlight. I've tried to talk a little bit about this on Instagram, and again, it needs like a book, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. To talk about really what transformation can do and the process it can take for a lot of us, especially when we're so tied to certain identities.

But I really felt like, okay, it is time to start a business, and if I'm going to start a business, I can't be tied to this identity of just being a trainer because that's gonna hold me back. Mm-hmm. And I didn't realize that to shift that identity, it would take a full on grieving process.

And I had never been through grief like that, where it was brutal. It was so many days where I felt completely lost. Mm-hmm. Like, who am I? And then I would take a couple steps forward of like, okay, like I'm stepping into this new person, and then I would just like fall back. Like, no, I'm gonna take on two clients because I'm feeling so uncomfortable and I don't trust myself in this new role yet.

And so it was consistently like one step forward, two steps back for a while as I went through that grieving process of shifting. And it's really cool now to look at that and say like, wow, it's been cool to empower other people to step into the role of a trainer and now get to empower them to do that.

Mm-hmm. And, and really watch my role change and be excited about the newness and excited about being a beginner again. And that also, that mindset really helped me of, it's actually so awesome to be a beginner. Mm-hmm. Cause you don't have as much pressure in many ways. Like you're, you're new, you're like, well, if I suck at this, you know? Yep. I, that's okay. Versus being like the best at something.

[00:23:54] Ali: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Right.

[00:23:55] Jourdan: So the beginner's mindset has really helped me to step into these transitions. But I always wanna highlight that and we try to really teach this now at KALO because with fitness, a lot of the times we get wrapped into, well, this is what I've always done and so this works for me. And so this is what I'm gonna continually try to do no matter what chapter of life I'm in.

And that also doesn't work, right, because we're different people. We're changing all the time. So if we can give ourselves permission in transitions to also transition, like what our health and wellness routines look like, that's also so freeing. And it allows us to continually up-level ourselves in the process and love our process versus trying to fit into these old boxes that we've clearly, that clearly life is pushing us out of.

And so that transition was the biggest for me of really just being a trainer and impacting people's lives like that, to stepping into an actual business owner and impacting lives at a different level. So that's been my biggest one as of late, and it still is transitioning.

I am. Mm-hmm. Even now, it's like where do I fit in? You know, where is my new calling? Is it to be a leader? Is it to add some more certifications to what I do? So I'm still always in. We're still always in the process of transforming all the time. I don't think it ever stops.

[00:25:19] Ali: Hmm. I love that answer. I also love that you used an example of grief that was experienced in this transition with an identity.

The reason I say that is I've learned a lot about grief. In fact, I just published a recent podcast with another guy named Joshua, who is extraordinary in this world. And it's so easy to use grief or assimilate it with, oh, I lost someone, or these tragic experiences. Whereas to your point, you had some awareness of grieving this identity.

So I have to ask, since you have that awareness, where did you acquire tools to know that? Because most people don't even see that.

[00:26:02] Jourdan: Hmm. Well, I had never seen myself in states like that. Let's start there. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I had never broken down in that type of a way.

I was crying just so much. There were a lot of tears and there was a lot of just walking around in the world and not knowing my place. Mm-hmm. And I just felt so out of sorts. And so in my head I was like, "This has to be something that I haven't dealt with before." Like, I don't know what emotion this is, but I remember just one day I was on a trail run and it came, I was like, this is grief.

Like this has to be what grief feels like. You know, when it's almost like you're just taken over by these tidal waves, you know? And sometimes things feel good, and then other times you're just like, oh my God, what happened?

And so, I think it came to me just from never having experienced anything like that in life. It wasn't comparable to anything I had been through. And it did feel like a stripping, like a stripping of sorts of who I thought that I was, and then now being kind of in a free fall of, I, I don't have anything to grab onto.

[00:27:14] Ali: That is powerful. Wow. I appreciate you being vulnerable with that and sharing.

I'll reciprocate it. Earlier last year, I was at one of my Front Row Dad retreat experiences, we have retreats, and we did some somatic breath work. Hmm. And this is my first interaction with it, and it was guided by this phenomenal instructor. She held the room and she allowed most of us to really get to this new state as you're describing.

And, the very short version I'll share is that during that 90 minute experience, at the height of it, I found myself in a very visual experience, grieving a previous identity. And to to share or, you know, honor your words, I felt some things I hadn't felt before and really tasted grief beyond grief of like loss of death.

Cuz grief with death is a powerful thing that a lot of us can relate to once you've experienced that. But grief of letting go of an identity was a whole different thing and like, I couldn't agree with you more. I was like, where is this coming from? There were, it was the waterworks, it was like something left me.

And so that was one of the first times where I really appreciated like, holy cow is carrying all this. It's out of me now. I'm liberated. I'm still scared, you know? And, and back to your other point, like I'm still kind of navigating some new fear and, and getting more comfortable with it. But yes, that, that is so cool that you had a similar experience of just letting that float through you.

And so now segueing into some of the awesome stuff you're doing at KALO.

You just launched a new, you just went through a new launch we were talking about. I wanna know a little bit about how you see your role of coaching others. So you've been training and coaching people for years. What does that look like now, like as you step into more of this coaching and leadership role?

Like, how do you see yourself? What's exciting about that for you?

[00:29:22] Jourdan: Hmm. I journal a lot and it's just so awesome you're asking these questions cuz I, I think it was just last night, I wrote in my journal, you know, like, "what are you scared of right now?" Mm. And writing down just kind of some straight up fears.

And one of them came up about just my new role and how I'm showing up and, and being scared, you know, of stepping into like fully being a leader and what that means. And am I capable of that? And it's a big responsibility. And then with the journal entry, I wrote like a little arrow and I put, how do I speak back to that?

You know, and how can I come from that part of me that is a leader, and speak back to that fear. And so something I was thinking as far as my new role is just continually, every single day, number one, switching it from me to service. So that is huge for me. There's no pressure when we're trying to serve and when we make service the first priority.

So that is really every single day, it's like, okay, how can I use my gifts to serve others? And that helps me tremendously as I'm stepping into this new role.

And so I guess to get back to your question, the biggest thing right now that I'm focusing on is our team. Because, with a team, if everyone is on the same page and everyone understands the mission clearly, then it's super easy to step back to see the bigger picture, to see the bird's eye view because the team is running smoothly.

And I never realized until we had a team how important it is to invest in that team first. So that has to come first. Like our clients, yes, oh my gosh. Like they are the, you know, the heart and soul of KALO and everything we do as a team is meant to serve them, and the team comes first now as far as where my energy goes. Mm-hmm. Because, It just, it has to be. If there is something wrong in the team, then every single person at our space feels that now. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

And then it's interesting, you know, you talked about the somatic breath work, and that's also been an insanely transformational tool for me as far as working through the things that come up and believing fully that the body can move through things. It wants to move through things on its own. And you can do that completely sober with something like breath work. And it is wild, the places that somatic breath work can take you.

[00:31:49] Ali: Yes.

[00:31:50] Jourdan: And and so when I told you at the beginning with KALO, what we've really seen is the missing link in fitness is actually being able to understand how to go to those depths with ourselves so that we can understand where are our paths? Like where are our individual paths leading us, and how do we step into that courageously and have the tools to do that?

And if we have the tools and we can start going to those depths, then fitness can take on a new role in our lives. Because it can really be in alignment with our values and we can use it as a tool to continue to grow.

And so with the breath work, I'm really, actually, I'm doing a whole apprenticeship with Somatic Breath work right now because I believe it's that powerful of a tool to, in their bodies, and again, help bridge that gap to "Okay, here we are, like we're moving through this stuff. How does fitness now play a role in your life." And how can we view it differently as a tool to up level and what does that need to look like?

What does it look like to not have to do a certain type of workout every single day and instead to say, what do I need? Like, what does my body need and can that workout be good enough? Can I unprogram all the stuff we've thought about fitness for so long and make movements something that is really, really empowering from the insight out.

So that's where I also see my new role is a lot of that deeper inner work with clients. Mm-hmm. And finding new ways to bridge the gap that's not just... I, I get like a little bit annoyed. Not annoyed, but it's just like the word healing has been mm-hmm. So used these days. And so yeah, it's more just about deep empowerment, like how can we truly empower ourselves and take responsibility that we're always co-creating our lives.

Fitness is just one of those aspects.

[00:33:42] Ali: Oh, yes, a hundred percent. So to kind of filter what you just said in a simplified way. It sounds very holistic. It sounds like as you're leading and coaching in this new role, you have the awareness. You see like, hey, it's way more than just looking good and feeling good.

Like there's the inner work, which is powerful. There's tools like somatic breath work, so props to you for going into that world. I also love what you shared earlier about like the beginner's mindset. Because , I feel like it's fun. It's a little bit more fun, at least for me, than having this like persona where people are like, well, you're the expert. You know all the things. So, so lead and do that. That comes with its own weight.

It's so cool though. As I learned about this, I was just thinking like, holy cow, I need some of this in my life to get off of some of the stigmas that that have to work out every day like we talked about earlier.

I also wanna ask you how community blends into this. So as we were talking before we hit record, you just did this cool launch, which sounds like it was amazing and exhausting at the same time. And then from what you shared, I have to imagine there is community rooted in this.

[00:34:52] Jourdan: Yes, yes. It's our top value.

And I love, I didn't ever realize how important values are until you, again, you have to live by your values, right? As a company or else you don't have any structure. That's an incredibly important part of structure. And how you know how to say yes or say no in a situation, right? Because there's so many options that come up in our lives, and so we put community as our top value.

And so everything is built around community, and there's a few ways that we do that. We only have four people in our small group classes so that every single person will get to know each other. It's really important that everyone is known by name, that there's some sort of interaction at the beginning of class, right? Where we do have maybe a vulnerable question and we're having some authentic things that we're talking about.

And we love that smaller group environment. So that's the kind of our every day as far as how we're building community. And then we are really big on community events where we're we're doing hard things together.

And so we're really big into heat and ice, you know, contrast therapy. That's something that's been really fun to add into our community events because it is really hard and it also teaches us how to co-regulate. So it teaches us that when there are others around us that we can help each other co-regulate. It's not all up to us to regulate our nervous systems all the time.

Mm-hmm. Right, right. We need each other. And so that's been a wonderful thing. And then so many things getting outdoors. We always try to plan a lot of the community events around things in the world that are good for us and that get us into our bodies in different ways. And that again, always coming back to that nervous system regulation.

A lot of times too, when I say like, connect to the deeper part of the self. A scientific way we can talk about that is nervous system regulation. Is understanding how big of a role that our nervous system plays in our ability to deal with fear. And our ability to show up every single day.

And so we really like to plan everything in community around co-regulation and then also understanding how to regulate our own nervous systems. So that's what we're kind of trying to, to do. So we, even tonight we have like a somatic breathwork class, you know, that we're hosting at KALO. Nice. Yeah. And, and I think, yeah, that's, that's how we kind of come about it.

But community is so important. It's hard these days to find community. Yes. And it, you know, we have to take ownership of that too. Just in our society, how we operate. We have to actually be willing to, to open ourselves up and to go to the places that fit in alignment with our own values and then open up.

I think that so many times I join groups and I'm like, oh, this feels really good, and then I don't participate, and it's like, well, yeah. We have to openly engage, you know, to create that community for ourselves. So any chance that we can get to make people get a little uncomfortable, we take it.

[00:37:49] Ali: Absolutely. That sounds so cool. I, I was just envisioning like working out with three other people where, like you said, there's already this kind of prealignment based on the culture you're creating. And then having that more intimate experience because big box gyms can be scary. They can be lonely.

And then even I had a, a whole... Six, seven year season of CrossFit when I was younger, which was cool because it really served the ego and my competitive drive, but there were also some unhealthy parts of it that weren't grounded in community. At least I can see that now. And so I love that you start with community. That that's sort of your foundational value.

[00:38:28] Jourdan: Yes.

[00:38:28] Ali: What are some of the other values, just outta curiosity?

[00:38:31] Jourdan: Yeah. Empowerment. Mm-hmm. And empowerment of each other and of ourselves, right? Because when we're coming from an empowered place, fear doesn't have a place there. Mm-hmm. And we really can show up in our lives differently. I always like to say, what's the best that could happen? Right? Versus like, what's the worst that could happen? Which is so often the script that we're living by, right?

So it opens up opportunity to be empowered, and when we're empowered, we empower others.

In addition, mindfulness is, is huge. Actually, so many times we can get into our workout and just go on autopilot and be thinking of 20 other things, right?

And so we really use fitness as a chance to practice mindfulness. Like when you are in your workout, be in your workout. Yes. Use it as your training ground to practice being all in, in whatever you're doing because that leads to a good quality of life, right? When we're just mindful and we're present and we're not scattered in 80 other directions.

Cuz people can feel that. Right? And then we're ultimately like, why at the end of the day am I not fulfilled at all? It's like, well we haven't been mindful in anything we've done. We haven't been present in our lives.

And then authenticity. And so authenticity is another buzzword. You know, social media does that with words. It's like, we, we have these amazing words and they can just feel a little bit diluted over time. Yes. But really being true to ourselves. Instead of trying to just go with whatever social media or the trend is actually really asking, "is that true for me?" And learning how to be courageous enough to say yes or no and move forward in life knowing that.

[00:40:06] Ali: Wow, those are powerful, Jordan.

Thank you for sharing those. Yeah, I think I agree with you wholeheartedly, which is why I sighed around like the way that social media can twist strong words. So I appreciate that you're trying to honor them.

I also think that fitness is such a beautiful opportunity to be in something, be present. In fact, as you were saying that my mind was quickly racing to like, yes, when I play sports, even when I was coaching, when I'm coaching my kiddos, like I'm not thinking about the other stuff. Like I'm just in it.

What's fascinating though, and this is our, our buddy fear talking again. I also realized that sometimes when I run, for whatever reason, that activity allows me to get distracted. Like I can still maintain running, but that's where I can be more active and I've been trying to like actually run just in nature and not even listen to podcasts and able to to music so I can receive those natural stimuli.

But tennis, basketball, soccer, even when I was CrossFitting or doing like HIIT style workouts, generally my mind just calms down to your point, and I'm just in it. And I believe that's why I feel so refreshed, so recharged, and why I place such a high value on fitness.

[00:41:29] Jourdan: Yes. And to your point, this is something I've tried to... This isn't scientific. Mm-hmm. So to speak. I guess a little bit of it is, but when we do cardiovascular activities like running, our brain produces B D N F, so brain derived neurotropic factor. And it's literally molecule that helps our brain create new pathways.

And so when I was in college and we were learning about this process, I was like, well, let me see if I can use this to my advantage. And so I would actually learn like a, a subject. And then as I was trying to remember it, I would be running. Mm-hmm. And I would be going through that, right? Mm-hmm.

And it, it worked incredible. I mean, I crushed physiology. Like that was just, oh, yes. And so I always like to think too, you can, you can use different forms of exercise and movement to achieve different results as far as what you're looking for.

And, and this is what I say, like if you wake up and you are just an anxious mess, right? A run could actually be a way to process some of that. Mm-hmm. And let your mind kind of run with it and, it will, it'll work itself out. So same thing when I go running, I actually use that many times too, as like a creative outlet.

Mm-hmm. And I stop all the time on my runs now. I used to cover, but I will stop and I'll pull up my phone and I have so many voice memos of like barely breathing and like, yes. So, and some of them sound ridiculous when I go back and listen to 'em, but some of them are like, yeah, like that, that's awesome. And they come to me on a run.

And to your point too, sports, like that's a different type of our brain that we're using of coordination and proprioception and things like that. So, and yoga can be a different type of right where we really need to just be in our bodies in a different way and get that parasympathetic nervous system activated.

And so I think it's really exciting to just wake up and if we have a practice of being like, "Hey, all right, sitting down, taking a quick check like, how am I doing today? What kind of movement do I need today?" And making a decision based off of that too. It's so empowering and it really, it creates such a fun way to look at exercise.

[00:43:36] Ali: Hmm. Spot on. And thank you for that because I'm learning with you now about, this was B D M S, correct.

[00:43:43] Jourdan: B D N F.

[00:43:44] Ali: B D N F. Yes. That is fascinating because now I have a new way to think and completely agree. Is that running while I've, I've had different thought experiments, I always come back from a run with more clarity than I started. Especially if I'm using it in that therapeutic sense, which is so powerful for.

Oh, that's awesome. Well, I know that I have to pause myself because of time. Otherwise, we'll go all up into a whole new podcast episode. So thank you for that. Thank you for just all this amazing stuff.

I'd love to end with a few rapid fire fun questions. Does that sound good?

[00:44:24] Jourdan: Okay. Bring it.

[00:44:26] Ali: Sweet! Okay, so first one, what is your favorite outdoor activity?

[00:44:34] Jourdan: Oh, gosh. Just one?

[00:44:35] Ali: Yes. Just one... or no? Yeah, you have several, but yeah. What comes to mind? Like what lights you up when you're outdoors?

[00:44:45] Jourdan: Hmm. I'll have to give it to... mm, mountain biking. Mountain biking is like, trail running is a close second. I trail run way more than I mountain bike just because of the access to the trails. I don't like to be on busy trails when I'm mountain bike.

But mountain biking is again one of those where you're getting the cardio, so you're getting all of that amazing brain activity, but you are laser focused, you know, on the next thing ahead. And if you look at the rock in front of you, you're gonna hit it. And I always feel like it's such a perfect metaphor for life of like, keep looking where you wanna go. Don't look where you don't wanna go. And yeah, mountain biking is like when I, my little kid comes out and I can be like, Woohoo.

Like that's, that's what I do the whole time I'm on that bike.

[00:45:31] Ali: Totally. Have you biked since a child?

[00:45:35] Jourdan: Um, I have, yes. And I didn't start mountain biking until I was in college.

[00:45:41] Ali: Oh, okay. Very cool. Yeah, a really funny short story, which my wife, Gabrielle, I know, she wouldn't mind me sharing is when we first moved here, Jourdan, 12 years ago, we were a little naive to like what mountain biking really meant.

So, we got some bikes from R E I and we went right out west to Keystone and rode the gondola up and rode these ski trails down in the summer. And here comes our buddy fear again. Like I was cool with it because I'd kind of been on a bike before and I was like, oh, just like you. The inner kid came out and was just like screaming.

But my wife had a different experience with that. She was not as, uh, let's say joyful and because it can be intense, but it is such an awesome activity. Because you're like, you just, like you said, you've got this laser focus on kind of the mission, and then you've got nature, you've got this bike that you're with.

Ah, I love that. Well, do you mo bike regularly now?

[00:46:38] Jourdan: Yes. Yes, for sure. And I always like to joke like in regards to your wife as well. It was not always like that, that, okay, cool, cool experience. And I went through a few summers where I would put on a bathing suit and be just covered in bruises and people are like, um, I'm like, I'm learning how to mountain bike. I swear.

[00:46:58] Ali: That is cool. Oh, that's real. Yes. I love that because that's the other thing, I had a, a whole different experience where I fell off a bike and the skin came right off my hands and that was a bit scary, but that is super cool.

Next question, Jordan, what animal are you most scared of?

[00:47:17] Jourdan: Ooh, animal mis most scared of probably a lion, some sort of cat. Hmm. They're sneaky man. I, uh, I, I don't know. And I, I never feel like I can relate to those cats, you know, even when I'm around house cats, I'm just like, I don't know. Like, I don't, I don't feel like we're seeing eye to eye. And so if I was in a, some sort of situation in a safari, I would be pretty scared of those big old cats.

[00:47:43] Ali: Yeah, I agree. In fact, my wife also just had an experience. She was on a retreat in Africa and they got quite close to big cats. And even as she was showing me some videos, I was like, wow, like. Being close. I, I think the zoo gives us a certain degree of false safety just because we know this powerful technology blocks us.

But like being with a cat of presence in real time would be something else. Cuz I agree. I grew up with cats and even though I can, I, I love them to a certain degree. I'm also like, you're all about yourself. And you're primal and I have to respect that.

[00:48:27] Jourdan: Yes, exactly.

[00:48:30] Ali: Very cool. Yeah. Cause dogs aren't the same.

I've be dogs later in life and I'm like, they've got this big heart. They just wanna be with us. Wanna please us? But cats are like, yo, is dinner ready?

[00:48:39] Jourdan: Exactly. Yeah. Are you dead yet?

[00:48:43] Ali: Yeah. Right. Oh, that's cool. That's funny. Alright, last question. Jordan, what is one of your fondest childhood memories?

[00:48:54] Jourdan: Hmm. Oh man.

You know my, I always, when I think of childhood, one of my favorite things about childhood was my grandparents. They had this camp in like, they called it the deep, deep woods of Louisiana. And you'd have to, you know, go down miles in the woods and it was just this big old camp and a huge swing in a river.

And I feel like as a kid, that's what I think of when I'm like, wow, that was when I was at my absolute happiest, where you can just run around in nature with no restrictions and let your imagination run wild and play right with all of the elements. And so I would have to say just since it's a rapid fire, and I'm sure I'll think of a really great one after this podcast, right.

Shoot. I should have shared that one. But, when I think when I was the happiest, it was like every year when we'd go to that camp, and it's something that hopefully if I ever have children one day, they'll get to experience something like that too.

[00:49:55] Ali: Ah, that lands. That lands in so many ways, just the childlike wonder.

Yes. I have had similar experiences, not as cool as what you shared, but where these camps that I was a part of, it's like they're core memories just cuz of all the reasons you described. So I think that's a beautiful answer.

Jourdan, thank you. This has been a pleasure. I learned some new things about you. I'm inspired by your courage and just the way that you're leading. Is there anything left unsaid today?

[00:50:29] Jourdan: Oh, I think that was an incredibly uplifting conversation, and thank you so much for having me. What a pleasure.

[00:50:35] Ali: Oh, likewise. I know you just set the tone for my day. I'm about to go run now with a new source of energy. So thank you, Jourdan, for creating space for this.

[00:50:45] Jourdan: Thanks, Ali.