Today we’d like to introduce you to Kristin Lee Geiger.
Hi Kristin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today.
I’ve always loved exercise. Swimming, dancing, running, biking, you name it…I did it! That is, unless, of course, I was supposed to get some kind of ball into some kind of goal…then, I was out! Regardless, sports and exercise were just a part of my life. When I graduated from college with a design degree and rolled up my sleeves in the fashion industry, the balance of things started to change pretty quickly.
Finding a few minutes to work out began to feel more like a battle. Having enough energy at the end of the workday to tie up my shoes and head out for a run was ever fleeting. Leaving work “early” to make it to an 8:00 pm or 9:00 pm yoga class was oftentimes more miracle than commonplace. What kept me up at night wasn’t the mountain of projects sitting on my desk, the peril of traipsing around the city trying to find the perfect white button or the fruitless pursuit of impossible deadlines. What kept me up a night was wondering: what would become of my life, what would become of me, if I allowed this grind of a routine to be my normal for the next 30 years?
So, after both some careful and admittedly, not-so-careful thought, I jumped. I walked into the CEO’s office on a random Taco Tuesday and, without reservation, quit my job. For good. I left New York, moved across the country, and started my life in Southern California. To do what, exactly? I wasn’t 100% sure. I’d never really had to ask myself that question. Being a designer was my only plan. BUT…I did know one thing: wherever I was headed, yoga was going to be a part of it.
Now, officially 8 years into teaching and new to Minnesota, I can tell you it was absolutely one of the best decisions – if not THE BEST decision – I’ve ever made. A little reckless? Um, yes. Hard? Most definitely. But, worth it? Yes, 100%. Through it all, I’ve vehemently learned two things: 1) the best things in life are always worth the risk, and 2) you’ll never know what you’re capable of unless you give yourself the chance to try.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Ha, heavens no. It’s safe to say that every day of the last 8+ years has been its challenge. The thing about being out on your own, starting your own business, and carving out a path that’s just yours, is that you’re always learning.
Rarely is there ever a day where you can just sit back and coast! There’s always an unforeseen problem to solve or a new barrier to work around because you’re out there, living in uncharted waters. You’re constantly thinking about leveling up and perpetually feeling like you should be getting to wherever “there” is, faster. You start to become hyperaware of every personal shortcoming because your business straight-up stops where you do. So, every single day, you have to make an effort to grow in any way you can.
You have to pick one thing to be just a little bit better at today than you were yesterday. Eventually, you start to realize that your success merely becomes a by-product of how many times you can repeat that process and stay the course. However, the biggest challenge of all might just be remembering to step back, look at the entirety of what you’ve been able to accomplish, and take a moment to appreciate your progress. When you’re in the thick of it all, it’s so easy to miss!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
My focus has certainly shifted over the years. What started for me as strictly an interest in teaching yoga has very much morphed into teaching more from a place of mindful movement, functional strength, and quite honestly, self-discovery. I’ve learned over the years that my job is NOT to teach perfectly precise poses…it’s just about encouraging my clients to notice things as they move and creating the environment that allows them to do that. Maybe it’s them noticing how they breathe at any given moment. Maybe it’s them reconciling with an ache in their lower back. Or, maybe it’s the proverbial light bulb going off as they realize just how strong they are after a long hold in plank. If anything, I’m almost more of a tour guide that periodically pipes up to say, “…and, if you look over here to your left, you just might find something really interesting!” It’s so much fun when that happens!
Once those little discoveries start rolling in, my goal as a teacher is really to help each client or student I work with find their through-thread in terms of movement and learn how to take tangible steps forward that are specific only to them. Each one of us lives in a body that needs very different things. We all have lives with very different demands. I firmly believe that an exercise regimen, yoga or otherwise, should support both…which is exactly why I created my online program, FLOFICIENT! Think of it like a yoga + fitness app with the bonus of expert, step-by-step guidance on how to create a routine that takes you wherever it is you want to go…WITHOUT all the blood, sweat, tears, and time we often associate with exercise.
To me, exercise is about a lot more than a workout. I see it more as a tool we can harness to support all the other amazing things you do. And, why not? It’s so much more fun to work out when it becomes the little cherry on top that’s always building you up, lifting you to new heights, and paving the way for the day when you can look back and say, “Wait a second…I just did THAT?! I just accomplished…WHAT?!” Yep, you sure did! That’s what happens when exercise stops being about fitness and starts being about YOU. I’m merely the tour guide along the way that gently points you in the right direction!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Oh gosh…me as a kid. I was so, painfully shy! I was also very imaginative, always making stuff, and a perfectionist to a fault. If I was even a little bit good at something, I’d go zero to 60 on it, give it everything I had. On the flip side, if I couldn’t perform an Olympic-worthy triple axle with precision in my very first ice-skating lesson, I was completely out.
Undoing that tendency has probably been one of my hardest self-development projects as an adult. Sometimes you have to let yourself be terrible at something to stand a chance at one day being great. As it turns out, failure is as survivable as it is necessary. Of course…I only had to fall on my face 100 times as an entrepreneur to learn that.
Pricing:
- FLOFICIENT Monthly Membership – $25/mo
- FLOFICIENT Annual Membership – $249 (two months free!)
Contact Info:
- Website: www.kristinleegeiger.com
- Instagram: @kristinleegeiger
- Facebook: @floficient
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristin-lee-geiger-56858131/
Image Credits
Cathleen McGrath and Rikki Young
