Laurie Hang: founder of a nonprofit, have my own personal brand, have this beautiful hilltop sanctuary space, it's easy to be like, wow, like that's just a lot of things. But I wanna explain how these things interconnected. ⁓ and all actually contribute and are part of the same vision and mission. So the first part I want to start with is my very core of who I am, which is an eldest daughter. born in a refugee camp Chinese origins, Vietnamese culture, and I grew up Los Angeles, so a part of the very large Asian diaspora here. growing up in this area, is definitely a plus because I know there are people who grew up in like Midwest different. And I'm glad that I never felt like I was an outsider because I was always surrounded by other Asians. ⁓ And even growing up in the St. Valley, ⁓ where there's also a majority of Latino populations. I just always embraced culture and and think also ⁓ being incubated nine months in my I was in a refugee of 15,000 people who, wasn't just Vietnamese, there were Cambodians and Laotians and Thais, even nowadays living in Baldwin Hills, which is a predominantly black neighborhood, I just feel I do well in spaces where we are embracing all the diversity of ⁓ everything that is around us. We are but we are also ⁓ alike than we are different. And this drives ⁓ so much of what I ⁓ Like you would think I'm so than my husband, who I'm so excited to celebrate 10 years the end of this year, 2026. And he's French, grew up in a very small city in Western France, and yet here we are living peacefully in harmony together on most days. And I say this because, I think it takes a lot of courage to embrace diversity. And the fact that I do this on a daily basis, think says a lot about really what my core values are. ⁓ even ⁓ able to, have Cantonese as my mother tongue, take ESL classes I started school, and then ⁓ started to learn French when was 14 years old, and now even having a French passport and French nationality. Diversity really good for everybody. it's good for gut, ⁓ it's good your friendships, it's good ⁓ work ⁓ because world constantly and changing ⁓ and ⁓ as individuals we need do the same. I also identify as a certified yoga therapist ⁓ the International of Yoga Therapists. And I really believe in the holistic healing of not just yoga, but in Ayurveda. it is about adapting to the season. it's so important that we have like a pulse of where we are now so that we can be more grounded in what is ever changing around us. is one of the ancient practices are coming back. I feel as much as we depend ⁓ on ⁓ like biotech like wearables on your finger, your wrist. You can never deny, you'll know if like you didn't have enough sleep or if you didn't eat enough, right? we have these built in and we are relying externally for information about ourselves, then are we really serving our best interests? So this is why I believe that everybody have more self-awareness. And this why I teach ⁓ because one of the core things that say is that your self-care is world peace. ⁓ And my framework is called Root to because it is essentially that. ⁓ If you look at humans as a we are all like house plants. we don't want to be too hot or too cold. We need some sunlight for vitamin D and we also need to stay hydrated because we're like 80, 90 % water. we're these plants and the environment around us is always changing. And not only that, but the other plants or humans around us are also shifting around us. ⁓ If do not have this self-awareness to really ground in what we are, then else around us can knock us over. ultimately, all of it comes back to mental clarity, which is ⁓ one area of abundance that ⁓ I love to give myself. ⁓ Because if we don't have this clarity, you'll never... be able to integrate you learned and how to apply it in your life and how to do things differently. let give an example that I think is kind of funny. Like ⁓ I went to see my friends ⁓ in Sacramento last ⁓ if you're driving LA, ⁓ it takes about six one way. ⁓ At that point in my life, know, I really needed a vacation and I was just like, you know, I had a lot on my mind. And when I came home, I told my husband, yeah, like I didn't listen to music. I wasn't on the phone with somebody. I wasn't listening to podcasts or audio books. Like I literally drove six hours both ways ⁓ ⁓ like literally by myself. he was like, that's kind of ⁓ And ⁓ it's interesting to me because I feel like ⁓ in our we're yeah, like if you're not talking to somebody if you're not, ⁓ you know, consuming media, there must be something wrong with you. ⁓ And another one of those things that in society, we've come to accept as ⁓ and not challenge ⁓ because, know, ⁓ society also tell you women shouldn't have body hair or facial hair. ⁓ But in reality, that's just to ⁓ like pedophilia. And so that's whole topic for another podcast. But what I'm trying to say here is like, if you don't have that mental clarity, you won't be able to discern what is actually something that you want to continue ⁓ and is something you actually want to change. It's not gonna be something that... comes easily. Sometimes like, we sit in meditation, we get agitated or, emotions come and we don't know what to do with them. with yoga therapy is that it's helped me to ⁓ sit there and learn to be okay with it, because ⁓ not in life is ⁓ awesome and amazing. ⁓ Parts of are very painful ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ But Is it life? And does it deserve to be celebrated? I believe so. So speaking of celebration and joy, I started Hikete Yoga in 2019 with a neighbor. I use nature ⁓ like ⁓ just of the alongside yoga therapy. ⁓ By being able to deeply ⁓ without walls, ⁓ to smell ⁓ feel the aspects ⁓ the environment ⁓ us, ⁓ nature is a of medicine. ⁓ Japanese it forest bathing, when we are immersed in nature ⁓ and we're surrounded by all the different diversity of of these plants, insects, animals that together in a beautiful you start to really ⁓ see that you're part this bigger picture. when we ⁓ combine ⁓ cardiovascular exercise with hiking and walking, ⁓ when we do mindful together, ⁓ like individually on the mat as well as collectively as a community and like a yoga, like the bird sequence. believe that these are the times in our lives that we ⁓ feel connected ⁓ ⁓ ⁓ it is this like interconnectedness ⁓ most of us lacking, right? We about isolation from technology and from COVID. we talk enough about, the lifestyles that we have today. you just have to buy groceries ⁓ at the grocery store ⁓ and you don't have depend on your neighbors other people to supply you with food. ⁓ our entire systems have shifted in a very short ⁓ to the point where our bodies have not caught up. And so, when we are able to really be together and my dream, why I was meeting with nonprofits this week as I'm trying to ⁓ fun development plans for how I'm going make this realized that thinking of how I wanna do it, but sometimes I just have to do it. And in the action, I will figure it out. I'm learning right now is that when you take the first step, the next steps will materialize ⁓ and therefore you get more clarity instead just ⁓ in analysis paralysis, which ⁓ is definitely one of my tendencies I hate admit. ⁓ But with Hiket yoga ⁓ since 2019, It has been such a practice for me to put into action the core concepts that I believe in and being able to do it through a pandemic. Like I can't even explain to you that whole cycle of going straight for five months and completely burning out and my nonprofit when really it was me ⁓ setting firm boundaries. So I find that every failure has been a lesson. And if I give myself the mental clarity to extract those lessons and learn from them, life ⁓ just going to just be ⁓ endless education and much more than in the same place. ⁓ now I want to jump into my most recent success. in February, ⁓ ⁓ Nancy if she wanted to collaborate with me ⁓ this day retreat. And was like, hell yeah, let's do it. and then I got my husband involved. I was like, you're gonna pick up lunch and you're gonna help us set up the table. And even as I was going through some things, like he was able to give me words of support. And lastly, I also have So got diagnosed ⁓ 2022, ⁓ four years ago, ⁓ and it been a in itself about But I finally... found a VA who was also an eldest daughter and like just learning to give up control of all the things that I was holding and being able to trust her with it. Like I literally did all of this last ⁓ and like in the last four weeks and want to explain to you why this is such a success because even though I had a husband for almost 10 years I don't think we really fully like leaned each other. Maybe this also deserves another episode because believe that true partnership is really about, ⁓ know, being who you are, asking for help and trusting that ⁓ person got you. with ⁓ of mine, She's in marketing and she's an author ⁓ I trusted her to guide me. ⁓ on what I didn't know and that can be so humbling, that can hurt the ego, like you know people think that like yoginis don't have egos, like trust me, like I felt a lot of things and the secret here is really that I allowed myself to feel the things and I didn't dwell in them, I made sure to take action, to be like what do I not like? and start implementing them. And I think that is the grandest success. Like yes, I hosted nine women here with my co-host. 11 is an amazing number for my first ever day retreat at the Hilltop Sanctuary. But I think what's most amazing is that I freaking did not do it alone. I have always you know, it was like a one woman band ⁓ and it was like this badge of honor. ⁓ that I was carrying around but I didn't realize that it wasn't really serving my grandest vision, which I'm about to tell you. My ⁓ grandest dream ⁓ is to have international retreats, We can to Bali and... Cambodia and Costa Rica and Mexico and even nearby like Sedona and Joshua tree and Palm Springs like I'm just planting seeds right now, your brain ⁓ your ⁓ Reality ⁓ are the ⁓ like literally create limitations ⁓ that constrain to ⁓ And as I'm breaking every boundary that I've set for myself, the vision just keeps getting wider. And so my grandest dream is to have a self-care chateau in France. Only about 10 % of the chateau in France are like a historical monument. So what I see is having a historical chateau and my own YouTube channel where create the self-care chateau from scratch but I really see it being a place where women can return year year ⁓ and I was thinking like I could have it be ⁓ like a of hundred founders ⁓ like If this resonates with you and you're like, you know what? ⁓ Like let's ⁓ freaking go. ⁓ I there is like, you know, ⁓ what the state of how everything ⁓ is and how constantly I'm life's too to not go for your dreams. ⁓ I want personally invite you to ⁓ my upcoming full moon tea and tarot ⁓ So there is only room for women ⁓ we're going to have a nourishing supper. ⁓ Then we'll right out here and have a fireplace. gonna have a tea ceremony under the full And we are gonna pick some tarot cards. connect with them, journal ⁓ and we're probably gonna howl at moon. ⁓ Sorry, neighbors. I am so excited for this Full Mood event. I can't wait I'll see you in the next episode.