Aug 25, 2020
This week, Olivia Young, founder of Box + Flow, the first fitness studio focusing on fight + flow, joins me on the podcast. Olivia exuded such passion for life, movement, and flow during our conversation. One of the topics we discussed was the notion of the constant fight we find within ourselves; and how Olivia invites us all to drop the fight and find the flow, instead. I personally talk a lot about flow yet Olivia activates flow. She shares what flow means to her and what it can mean to your life, as well. She also offers some other insightful ideas for you to ponder like, how to ease up on resistance in order to find success, her favorite mantra, “Everything you need is inside…,” and how to practice self-awareness. In fact, Olivia leaves us with a self-awareness exercise that is fantastic. I hope you enjoy our conversation!
Olivia ‘Liv’ Young grew up in Miami Beach among a family committed to daily exercise and congregating around the kitchen. She began practicing yoga at age 15 and discovered boxing after college, craving some fight for her flow. Olivia’s daily focus on a balanced lifestyle through food + fitness is her lifelong passion and much of which inspired her to open box + flow in NYC, the first fitness studio focusing on the integration of fight + flow.
In 2009, Young moved to New York City to attend French Culinary Institute and began an internship at Food & Wine. Despite her food focused career filled with Michelin starred feasts, Young was committed to her daily 5am wake-up and fitness regimen at local studios. She began more intense boxing training and completed her 200 HR yoga teaching certification. As a daily practitioner of intense cardio boxing followed by fast power flow, Olivia realized that the combination of both exercises brought her a leveled empowerment, channeling her confidence as well as her softness. It was this balance, physical + mental that led her to seek more in her professional life. This is such a great conversation for you especially if you need a pep talk to love yourself, to listen to your gut, and to decide to flow rather than fight through this thing we call life.
After many years in the hospitality industry, Young realized that she wanted to recreate the feeling she had gotten for so long, through her daily commitment and finally chose to pursue her passion of fitness with box + flow®.
Young practices a ‘LIVYOUNG lifestyle’ inspiring those to embrace both sides of themselves and all aspects of life. She is developing a balanced brand for everyone and encourages enjoyment without limitation - committed to bringing forth a lifestyle that speaks to all things. work hard, LIVYOUNG. after livyoung, to add "love yourself" it’s really about putting in the effort in YOU to find the ease THRU you. after livyoung, to add "love yourself" it’s really about putting in the effort in YOU to find the ease THRU you.
Highlights
- How Olivia started Box + Flow and how it’s up to each one of us to ease through resistance to be successful in your everyday life. (7:13)
- When Olivia realized her name is Liv Young - you work hard to live young. (8:50)
- How flow makes things possible and what flow actually means to Olivia. (10:20)
- Olivia describes the mantra, “Everything you need is inside...” (13:00)
- Life and the direction it’s going has always been overwhelming, it’s just heightened right now because of COVID. (17:00)
- Music is emotive and what music means to Olivia and her work. (19:00)
- Olivia speaks on food to fitness and how she sees herself. (21:00)
- Being very present with what you are doing and asking yourself, “Is this fueling myself or filling my time?” (26:00)
- We discuss numbing our feelings and how Olivia gained so much self-awareness. (28:00)
- How to be alone but not so lonely. (45:08)
- Olivia shares an exercise to help you discover your own level of self-awareness. Do this exercise! (45:33)
I invite you to do Olivia’s self-awareness exercise.
Step 1:
- Find quiet. Be in a safe place and be extra honest. Then ask yourself:
- Where do you want to go or where do you want to be? Think of this in a way that makes you feel free.
- Start to connect the dots. Who are you beyond societal indicators?
Step 2:
- If you feel resistance during this step, you are already on step two.
- Now go back to the quiet space and decipher where your feelings are stemming from.
- That is when you can start to grow your self-awareness. [Text Wrapping Break]
Links to quench your curiosity
- Follow Olivia on Instagram
- Learn more about Box + Flow