Interview with Stephanie Smith

Stephanie is originally from NYC. While in the States, she worked in New York media for 20 years. Professionally, she’s a writer,  journalist, and an author. In 2019, she moved to the Dominican Republic (DR) full-time with her family after previous visits, and because they wanted to live somewhere warmer with a community that would allow them to immerse themselves in a different culture.

She has been a practising yogi for 15 years or so. Her yoga journey began when a former roommate invited her to a yoga class at Equinox Fitness in New York. She thought the yoga class was great, funny, and deeply informative, and continued with it. Practising yoga helped her to handle stress. Fast forward to 2019, when she became a certified yoga instructor after completing her 200-hour YTT with Chrissy Lefavor at the Yoga Loft in Cabarete. Presently, she teaches yoga for children. She’s also working on children’s books that incorporate yoga in the stories.

Yoga helped her to navigate her new life in the DR and deal with anxiety and sadness that arose from leaving her family and friends back in the States. The yoga teacher training helped to deepen her practice. Following her completion of the teacher training, teaching opportunities arose. The more she taught, the better she felt. Teaching yoga to her daughter taught her patience and how to be a better mom. This experience inspired her to write children’s books that would feature yoga.

Stephanie believes that being yourself is key, whether in yoga or life in general. Her students who are moms can relate to her being a mom, as well as immigrants, because of her experience. “Listening is also as important as the telling,” she said. Her background in journalism has equipped her to be an active listener, especially in her yoga classes, where people share their stories.

With kids, it’s a different ball game because of their short attention spans. That’s why she tells stories with the yoga, which sets up her young students up for an adventure. She packages the poses in a way that’s relatable to children. “They don’t want yoga to feel like it’s medicine,” she said. “They want it to be cool and fun.”

Concerning storytelling with yoga, Stephanie sets the stage for what students want to search for in class. She added that being yourself can go a long way. So sharing things about your day like waking up late and how the cat knocked over your breakfast adds levity to the class and that yoga doesn’t have to be so serious. It gives them a sense that obstacles will arise, but then they go away. Life happens to everyone, and your story doesn’t have to be big and dramatic. Humour can help people to go deeper into poses that are especially difficult. She’s a huge fan of humour and likes to crack jokes in class to help her students relax.

Stephanie has gone on to connect storytelling with yoga on her budding website, Salt Sand Yoga. Letting her personality shine through on her website was important to Stephanie. The photos show approachability, and feature poses that people can attain. In time, she intends to add other content, such as a blog with helpful articles, even for those who don’t have children. She believes that everyone can learn life lessons from content about her kids yoga classes.

Once again, she reiterated that being herself is her secret sauce. When people attend her classes they’ll get her story. 

Her tips:

• Don’t feel pressured to be a yoga/spiritual guru. 
• You just need a personal connection.
• Ask questions about other people. It’s not all about you.

Where her journey has led her is a surprise to Stephanie. She never imagined the impact yoga has made on her life. She shared a few recommendations: Stay open and hopeful. You never know where this journey will take you and what you can learn from people or certain classes or approaches. Don’t undervalue your place in all that growth. You’ll be surprised at where you’ll end up or the growth you’ll experience. Try something new. Put yourself out there. Be vulnerable.

We closed the interview by showing you our beautiful yoga space, The Yoga Loft in Cabarete, Dominican Republic!

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