(All Photos via Jacquelyn Drayton)
I met Meaghan when I first moved here to LA, and was struck by how happy she seemed about life and what she did for a living. She had the “I’m living my life’s purpose glow.” A the time, she was teaching yoga classes all across LA at various yoga studios and fitness clubs, but she always seemed to have a bigger plan in mind. And so it became her own yoga/spinning studio called UpDog Fitness and Cycling, located in the heart of West Hollywood, which is gaining quite a celeb following as well as mentions in VOGUE magazine and more. I spoke with my good friend/yoga guru/CEO and founder of Updog Fitness and Cycling, Meaghan Townsend, about yoga, fitness, and going for what you want in life. Check out the interview:

Meaghan, you’re not from LA, are you? And how did you get started teaching yoga??
Well, I’m from up on the Massachusetts, and grew up playing a bunch of sports from lacrosse, tennis, softball,basketball, and sailing. I’m also a runner and have always had good endurance. I went to undergrad at Harvard and was visiting my cousin in California which is where I went to my first yoga class. All I remember was how good I felt afterward, and then I went back to Cambridge and did yoga there. Soon after graduating, I became a Business Analyst and it didn’t feel right. So, I started taking yoga teacher training, and it felt organic because every time I practiced, I loved it. I knew what I wanted to do.

Was your family supportive of your decision to be a yoga teacher?
My grandfather was Robert Kennedy and I obviously come from a very political, blue-blooded family, so I thought I had to be a doctor, lawyer, or business analyst. In the beginning, the fact that I was teaching yoga wasn’t really accepted by my family. But I just kept teaching classes and people asked me to sub classes. One thing lead to another, and I realized I loved teaching. My parents were like, “When are you going to business school?”

So, what inspires you in your work?
1) The fact that I’m doing something that is healthy and good for my body
2) Helping people and teaching them. When you help someone get over a fear, you’re helping them connect with their weaknesses. I’ve met so many people that tell me, “You changed my life. You bring me peace. You’ve helped me find joy.” It was such a change in my life from being sad at work to being joyful all the time. 98% of my life is happy and I didn’t ever think this would occur. I feel really lucky that I love my job, because I know 80% of America hates their job.

You have a big following with yoga classes here in LA. How do you keep it fresh for each class?
I take classes myself and have always hated when people did the same thing again. For me, as a teacher, I don’t want to be a robot. I need to shake it up which reflects in my classes, so I always want to keep students challenged and thinking of new things. Its important because your body gets used to certain yoga positions, so its also about getting into the same pose from a different angle. It changes your perspective. It reflects life… A lot of students tell me that their focus increases from regular yoga practice and affects how they are in daily life. So, how you are on your mat is how you are in life. For example, if you’re holding warrior 2 (a yoga pose) for a minute, then you can do it in life. Its funny that there are people who don’t use their bodies all day long but in yoga, you’re doing hundreds of things at one time. Your attitude toward yourself will change because of how you approach your practice.

You teach a tough class, but the music mixes that you make are pretty awesome and really add to the challenging classes. Hip-hop, classic rock, contemporary and the latest pop. How do you come up with the mixes?
I DJ during class with my ipod. I don’t know what I’m going to play in class because my class is based on whose in class. I have a hundred different playlists on my ipod for class. I spend five hours a day reading online about music because I have poor hearing and can’t really make out the music. So I created a system for understanding it with websites, charts, creating a matrix. Twenty different categories of music for each pose. I group songs based on the poses and the flow. Also, if I know some of my regular students like a certain type of song, I make sure its in my playlist. Its so complicated and crazy. People work really hard, have stressful lives, and this is an hour when they can learn and feel good in their bodies, and have a good time. I don’t want you to feel bad after practice. Music has an amazing effect on your practice itself and I try to make it as dynamic as possible.

Love it. So, how do you keep a healthy mindset about mind/body?
Yoga is the key for me. I was a girl who didn’t think she was pretty growing up and in my family, there was pressure to be amazing. I never felt like I could live up to it. Yoga took that out of me. I just wanted to do crow. Whatever. In the end, it has totally made me think of the positives about myself. It’s totally flip-flopped. I don’t think about that stuff because yoga takes the focus away from what you look like. I feel so good in my body doing yoga and it never accomplishes anything by being negative to yourself. It’s like… its pointless. When you become happier, your inner being becomes happier. There is something about feeling good within your body that makes you look better. The best beauty secret is doing yoga.

You recently fulfilled a dream to open Updog Fitness Yoga/Cycling studio here in West Hollywood. What’s it like to accomplish a dream?
Absolutely. I never knew that I’d open my own studio, let alone that it would be this beautiful. It has amazing energy and when people come in here, they always say the studio is beautiful. We have amazing teachers, great location, amazing students and we’re really lucky. This was my dream. I’ve always wanted to run my own business that helps people and makes people happier. When I was a business analyst, I loved going to yoga and the times I was most happy was during those times I was in class. Now, if people want to practice yoga during the day, they can come here and not just on the weekends. Accessibility.

You taught the aspiring stars in Hulu’s “If I Can Dream,” series. What was that like?
A student of a friend of mine got me connected with them. I taught them and they haven’t done yoga before. I was like their 1st or 2nd teacher and its great to watch beginners because the rate of growth is so quick. Its less translating what the teacher says to what their bodies feel. For an hour, you can teach them something that affect their sleep in a good way and that’s pretty impressive.

What else inspires you in life and how do you stay motivated and positive?
I think its rare that I found a job I love to do. I LOVE my job and am excited to go to work. That won’t happen for everybody. Some people teach and they don’t like it. For me, it works. In anything, you can be in a yoga pose and think, this pose sucks, why is she making me hold my arms like this. I’m tired. Then, you go into pigeon pose and you’re not happy. So understand that it’s your choice to be happy. It’s what’s going on inside. Your mindset. Choose to be happy and find one thing to be happy about.

For more about Meaghan and UPDOG FITNESS AND CYCLING, CLICK HERE.

I have a love/hate relationship with my hometown of Philly, PA. You might think of Philadelphia as the home of the Liberty Bell, the place where Gino’s and Pat’s duke it out for title of the “Best Cheesesteak,” where Will Smith spent his youth, or where Rocky Balboa ran up the stairs of the Philadelphia Art Museum. But I think of it as a place that I’ve tried to escape since I was 10.

Why?

I think a big part was seeing my parents work really hard and see how they were treated by customers at their store on Germantown Ave. People would constantly make fun of their accents, threaten to rob our store, and I could see how they became hardened by their experiences. Also, when you’re 10 and you worry about armed robberies…that’s just therapy waiting to happen. I vowed to myself that I’d never own a store or work in any sort of retail establishment and thus began my pursuit of “success.”

What the hell is success anyway?

According to Korean folk, success is having lots of money, going to an Ivy League school, being a lawyer/doctor/financial person/investment person/owning luxury vehicles/owning designer clothes and purses, being a size 0, and of course, achieving enough worldly success for your parents to brag about when they attend church. People always make fun of the Asian kids because they’re the ones who excel in Academics, but they don’t know the whole story. A lot of times they are pushed so hard by their parents who are trying to ensure that their kids don’t have to own a convenience store, liquor store, or another store that might get robbed or something.

I definitely know what its like to have this huge burden of expectation on your shoulders. Even now, it is really hard for me to relax and enjoy life which is probably why I am who I am. Actress. Writer. Blogger. Comedienne. Freak. Nerd. Thank God for humor though. That’s how I’ve managed to get through life so far. I can easily make fun of myself or life situations. Is this good? Sort of.

I have a friend from back home who has the “perfect life,” or what society deems “perfect” to be. She’s got the perfect husband, house, job, life situation, and is exactly where her family expects her to be. She was the Homecoming queen/Prom queen/Class President type that I grew up wishing I could be like…because I was awkward and strange looking. (I sort of still am) Oddly enough, my weirdness is my greatest asset now. The fact that I don’t fit into a box is a strength in a way that I never thought possible. Who knew that never becoming what was expected of me could be…well, a positive thing? Maybe I’m not successful in the conventional sense because I’m not rich, don’t have a fancy car or anything with the word “luxury” in it. But I do wake up each morning and look forward to what the day may bring. That never used to be the case…so if that’s success…that works for me.

Freaks rule. Okay, maybe not, but that’s what I tell myself. Ya heard?

Yeah, its a slightly old track, but for some reason it completely resonates with me.  It reminds me of being in NYC, when I used to work as a cocktail waitress at Hiro at the Maritime Hotel after graduating NYU, working other random jobs, and wondering how to get to the next step in my life. When you work that job, you start at 9 PM and leave the club around 4 AM and you look around the Meatpacking district and see the early morning traders rushing off to their jobs. You think to yourself, “Am I a vampire or what?”
Anyway, I freaking love this track. Kid Cudi is a hottie. I like HBO’s “How to Make It In America.” 3 Random thoughts. LOL.

I love inspirational words, youtube videos, or anything else that can make you feel better especially when you feel as though you were in a rut. I used to listen to Steve Jobs’ commencement speech on a constant basis because his honesty really made me realize that you have to be open to life and follow your heart. Here’s my take on being positive while you start that journey

Most of my days and nights for the past 20-some years of my life have been spent struggling whether it was personally or professionally. In the past, I really didn’t have much to say about certain topics because I was so caught up in the difficulty of the situation and also, I was immature. But getting older does have its benefits, like the gaining of wisdom. Here’s my two cents.

Life is Unfair. Deal With It.
I grew up in a working class family in the city of and outskirts of Philadelphia and had to work at my parents’ hip-hop clothing store in the Germantown area on Saturdays. The store was called Street Blue and I hated it. I hated the store. Hated the fact that I had to help my parents, but most of all, I hated the fact that I was never sure if the store would make enough money. These were big thoughts for a 10 year old, and I would compare my parents to the parents of my friends who had more money, stable jobs, and most importantly, didn’t make their kids go work at a store on Saturdays. Looking back, I think about what a huge brat I was. Seriously. I mean, my parents gave up everything for me and my brother, so we could have a better life in America and here I was, complaining because I had to help them out. The point is, when you’re going through a tough or unfair situation, think of it as an exercise in patience-building. Or you could become another Negative Nancy or Norm. The choice is up to you.

Don’t Compare Yourself to Others. It’ll drive you nuts. Trust me.
I believe that competitive juices begin to flow once you’ve achieved the capability to breathe. It might have started in a Little League Teeball game, when your parents would compare your hitting strategy with another player. This would slowly progress to you comparing yourself and your achievements to those of your friends and colleagues. My high school experience was pretty competitive and I remember that the students in my Advanced Placement classes would be ruthless in their quest for the top grades. I’ve never been particularly book smart and had to work twice as hard to maintain my grades because things were harder for me to understand. My AP Calculus teacher would always be patient with me even when I’d stay after school every day because I never seemed to understand anything in this class. In the beginning, I thought he was going to hate me, but he never complained and was always helpful. I’d compare myself to my fellow classmates who never had to study and still managed to Ace the tests and would be really hard on myself. One day after receiving a not-so-great score on an exam, he took me aside and told me that the only person I should ever compete with is myself. It’s something that I have to remind myself of everyday, but it stuck. Thank God.

Accept Yourself For Who You Are. Cheesy as it sounds, it’s the one thing that will keep you sane. And positive.
My whole life, I’ve tried to be someone else. Someone prettier, smarter, better at sports, better at science, a person who not only wanted to be Valedictorian but also aced the AP exams, was captain of all the sports teams, volunteered, was homecoming queen, and oh yeah, had to date the hot jock at school. (None of these things happened) Then I went to college in New York City and was enthralled by the craziness and diversity of the city. There were downtown hipsters, people from the Midwest, the Uptown trust fund kids, the kids from places as far as the United Arab Emirates, China, Brazil, and Denmark. Everyone had their own unique style and life experience that they brought to this hectic city and I thrived on it. As tough as a city New York can be, it’s the place that taught me to accept myself for who I am, the good and the bad. Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone’s going to roll up and be your friend in NYC. They probably won’t but they’ll be honest with you about it. (Hey, it’s a tough city)

Don’t find happiness in material things which break, tear, rip, get old and defunct, stretch out, and fade. Invest in what people can’t take away, your heart and brain.
Maybe its life or circumstance, but very rarely do things always go your way. Life has its ups and downs but one thing is for certain, you can’t predict anything that’s going to happen. I had a co-worker who was the type of girl who had to control EVERYTHING. From the amount of sugar she puts in her coffee to the salary that her prospective boyfriend had to make in order for her to consider going out with him, she was a control freak. She also rang up a $40,000 credit card debt solely for her love of Marc Jacobs and Chloe dresses. Granted, the girl has an amazing wardrobe, but she would tell me that she was constantly unhappy with her life. (Think “Confessions of a Shopaholic”) I’m definitely not perfect but she taught me that you really have to find happiness in things that aren’t so fleeting. That might be love, relationships, reading more books, figuring out your talents, or focusing on helping others through volunteer work. We all have different paths, so the sooner you find yours, the happier you’ll be.

Don’t listen to people who drink Haterade on a daily basis. I prefer sugar-free Red Bull. Seriously.
I used to be that type of person that needed everyone to like me, you know that person that needs constant assurance that they’re doing the right thing or following the right path. All it did though was make me a miserable person and you really can’t make everyone like you. Even Will Smith has a few haters, and why would ANYONE hate on him? Once I started focusing on being a positive person and doing things that made me happy, I started thinking less about what other people thought. It’s the opposite of high school mentality when popularity seemed so important. The point is that if you put good out into the world, it’ll eventually make its way back to you. People who put out negative vibes usually get back the same, so don’t be like them.

Find Your Escape
I love music and singing, ever since I was about 5 years old and wouldn’t stop singing along to anyone and everything on MTV. And that trend hasn’t changed too much as music, singing and karaoke are ways in which I de-stress from realities of life. I’m not the type of person that compares my problems to those of everyone else because at the end of the day, your problems are just that; Your own, and you have to deal with it. But over the years, I’ve learned how to deal with stressful situations and difficulties by having an escape, so that problems can become a slightly more bearable. When I was struggling in NYC, starting my career, there were many days/nights when I felt as though I was completely lost because I had this huge dream, but didn’t know how to get there. My friends from school were in stable careers in the world of Finance, and I was broke, barely able to pay rent and living off of Balance bars and coffee. (I don’t recommend this as it’s not very healthy) But I always had music and at the time, I used a beat-up CD player, and would walk from internship to job to apartment to auditions, listening to Bach, Jay-Z, 2Pac, and whatever else I had. To this day, whenever life throws me a hardball, I don’t freak out. (Usually) Instead, I put on my headphones and zone out. Think. Re-strategize my life. My brain. My sanity. The point of this story is that we all have problems (DUH), but the hard part is learning how to deal with them in a constructive way. Sure you can do a bunch of negative, non-constructive things to yourself, your body, and your brain in order to escape, but one day, you’ll have to wake up and face the world and those pesky problems. You might as well start now, so find an escape that helps you cope. And strangely, you get stronger, so when new issues or problems arise, you become more equipped to deal with them in a more positive manner.

Make time for love, friends, and family. They’ll be the ones who will be there for you when everything else fades. Your job or your bank account won’t feed you soup when you’re fighting a cold or will pick you up on the side of the road when your car engine breaks down. Just sayin’
I grew up with a loving working-class family that has been fraught with financial problems for most of my adult life which is definitely what has been my driving force in life to succeed. During middle and high school, I wasn’t the smartest, but I tried the hardest, usually putting friends and family after my studies. This trend continued throughout college and my early 20’s as I put career success and work before any other aspect of my life, bypassing friends’ birthdays, weddings, gatherings, sports events, and travel excursions. I basically sacrificed my relationships with others in order to pursue my career goals, and yes there have been benefits, but there are also a ton of drawbacks. I realize that life is all about give or take, not just how much money you have in your money market account or if you booked a guest-star role on that TV show. These days, I’m trying to repair broken relationships and do my best to keep my relationships with others in a positive place because there’s really nothing like being around a bunch of people who care about you. But the only way you’ll have that is if you spend time with others and give OF yourself to them and others around you. With love, you get what you GIVE. Enough said on that topic.

Did you hear the story of how Johnny Depp gave his waiter a $4,000 tip?  I think its sort of fantastic and generous, especially because I waited tables for a LONG TIME during high school, college and after college in that, “Oh snap, I need to supplement by office job income,” period.

I remember how rude people were and also the times when people were quite kind-hearted and generous.  I can’t even imagine what I would’ve done if I’d received such a huge tip.  Freaked out, probably.

You know what they say… for you ladies out there… The way a guy treats a waitress is how he’ll treat you.

I’ve been on dates before with guys who were super rude to the servers and was like…uhh... I’m leaving.

Lesson: Respect everyone from the bus boy to the CEO!  Respect and smiles are free so give them away.

On this beautiful Sunday morning, I am a bit saddened as one of my blog friends, Jenna from Eat Live Run, this adorable food blog about how she strives to stay healthy while working as a baker in Florida, has experienced the tragic loss of her brother.

The blog world is like this vortex where you “meet” people and learn about who they are, what they like in their coffee, what makes them tick. Basically I know more about some of my blog friends than my acquaintances, and I haven’t even actually met some of these people. During my various Office jobs, I’d always look forward to reading the blogs of my friends and feeling nerdy as I left comments or was excited about a new product review.

I guess the point is that she’s receiving this huge outpouring of love and support because of the blog community, and I’m so happy for her. I do believe that when tragedy or hardship does strike, the pain can be softened when you have people to support you or tell you that everything will be okay.

Life is too short to be mad at all the bad things that happen. Trust me. When the Los Angeles Riots happened in 1992, I was only a kid, but the anger between African-Americans and Korean-American merchants was felt even in Philly, where we had a hip hop clothing store. I remember thinking as a child, “Why is there so much hate?” “Why do people say they’re going to shoot my parents?” I used to listen to hip hop music at night and wonder if my parents would come home alive from the store. Sometimes I wished they would buy a gun to protect themselves. They never did and I was only 9 years old when thinking these thoughts.

Philly is a town where people tend to segregate themselves by race, ethnicity and religious beliefs. It may have changed since I lived there, but I have such horrid memories that I hope to make peace with that city one day. The anger I used to feel at the city and some of the people there would be carried on my shoulders and I brought it with me everywhere. Only recently have I let go of it all.

My thought process is that people who have such hate and anger towards others that are different than them, they’re in such pain themselves that that’s all they can spew to others. I no longer feel the need to defend myself, my race, or the fact that I’m a member of American society. If people call out racial slurs to me, I’m not going to say that it doesn’t piss me off. I just know that it doesn’t have a hold on me anymore. I just brush it off, knowing that I’m in a better place.

‘Cause you know, life is too short.

I had never worked at a start-up before starting work at docstoc, and there was a time when I literally was working three jobs at once; Office manager, Community Manager, and Press/Blogger Outreach. It was very stressful because I was pushing myself so hard in the Office and then going home to write at night.  As I’ve noted before, I’m not a web developer and technology used to frighten me, so when I’d attend meetings where all that was discussed was numbers/metrics, I’d promptly shut down.  That’s not how I think.  You see, I tend to connect with people, stories, and how to help people either by making them laugh at my expense or just trying to tell them an inspirational story.

I think that the one aspect of my job that kept me going was that I was able to interact with the Community, you know, actual members of the site who would e-mail me supportive comments about my work on the site, or just how they were helped by the documents on the site.

If you told me at age 10 that I would be work as a Community Manager, I probably would’ve given you a weird look.  Anyway, there was this huge community of people from across the world that would e-mail me on a daily basis with comments/feedback, supportive words, weird comments, and of course people who just needed an answer to a quick question.

I actually thrived on this because I enjoy helping others. It makes me really happy to see that I can do something to help someone out or make their lives easier.

Last summer, one particular user, an American soldier stationed in Iraq named Scott Darley, reached out to me and told me that the site helped him create his own business in the Iraqi desert. This was his exact quote,

“I’m in the middle of the desert in Iraq and ended up starting a company because of Docstoc.”
I had been doing press outreach for a while and was searching for a compelling story when I got his e-mail in my in-box. We kept correspondence for the months that followed and he let me know about his dreams in Iraq, how he wanted to come back to the States and start a business, and also about how he stays positive in Iraq. The thing that struck me the most about Scott is that he was so POSITIVE!!!

I would look forward to each e-mail that I would receive from him because it made me see that even amidst a situation where a soldier is far away, ready to fight, he was still thinking about positive thoughts and how he was planning his future when returning to the States.

I think that people across this nation could learn a lot from Scott because you should always live in the moment, smile, be positive, but also have a set plan for the future.  The key is to move forward, even if it is just one step.  Again, even though I’m no longer at Docstoc, I’d have to say that the Community of users that have e-mailed me, sent me humorous and positive words, and even the ones who would e-mail me everyday with an inappropriate comment (Umm.. yeah, I should’ve kept a record of these) really just made my experience as a Community Manager, one that I’ll always remember.

Oh, and last but not least, Serena Ehrlich, who actually was the last piece of the puzzle for getting this story out there, has gotten Scott’s story on CNBC. I believe that it airs tonight. Or here’s his website where you can watch his interview.
Or you can watch the story on the CNBC Website.

Scott’s time in Iraq inspired him to start a lingerie store. Hey he says, “Make love, not war.” Holla.

As I write this, there are people around this country and world that are going through some difficult times. I can definitely relate, but I read this quote from Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer who writes,
” If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else’s we’d grab ours back.”

A true statement, though it seems like a pile of BS at times, especially when you’re faced with a wall of problems and you don’t know how to get past them.  Life isn’t supposed to be easy or perfect, but you do have the choice of how you’ll deal with situations.

The choice is up to you. And here is a letter that I like to re-read on a regular basis when it seems as though life would be a bowl of peaches if only I was a baller. This is the Farewell letter that Andrew Lahde of Lahde Capital Management gave before he left the business. Thoughtful and honest. Check it out:

Farewell Letter to the Public from Andrew Lahde of Lahde Capital Management – Free Legal Forms

I usually keep my blog pretty light, but you know, once in a while, I get all emotional and want to write about life. Or life lessons. And you know, it’s my blog so I can. No editors. No Network heads or people to tell me what to do. Absolutely fab.

Anyway, as most of the country and the World are looking to Washington D.C. right now, as President Elect Obama becomes President Obama, the first African-American President of the United States, I’m still in awe of how far we’ve come as a nation.

But you know, we still have a ways to go, and racism and prejudice still exist, though not everyone has experienced this. For me, I saw a ton of racist insults hurled at my parents growing up, and didn’t really get it when people would say such things to me.

I thought, “But I was born here, so why are you calling me a chink? Oh, and Helloooo, I’m not Chinese. I’m Korean-American. Get it straight.”
Anyway, it was in 6th grade, after lunch period and CJ Carson (haha. Sad that I remember this so clearly) said a bunch of really racist comments to me, and I didn’t know how to react. So, I ran to the bathroom and cried. Then… once I left the bathroom, the hall monitor attacked me and gave me a detention for trying to skip class. Ugh. Middle school drama.

The point is that it was at that moment that I thought that people who look different just have to accept that they’ll be treated unfairly. I mean, that’s life right? It took a while for me to learn that you shouldn’t EVER accept that from anyone, your boss, your friends, your family, or anyone. We should all be treated with respect, dignity, and kindness. Yeah, I know that this isn’t reality, and there are numerous blogs/websites that have hateful messages about who is better than who, or whose agenda is correct versus another.

If I ever see CJ again, I bet he wouldn’t remember the huge impact he had on my psyche, first in a negative way, and then a lesson learned. I learned that some people won’t ever change, but you have to just brush it off and know that there are lots of good, open-minded people out there who won’t judge you, and rise above it. I mean, look at President Obama…