10 Questions: Canadian YouTube Yoga Teacher Bird of Yoga With Bird

I am excited to bring you this months 10 questions blog post with my second international guest and one of my favourite virtual yoga teachers Bird. I found the Yoga with Bird probably around a year ago when I was just looking for some different videos to do in my newly adopted daily yoga practice, and she quickly became one of my go to channels for beautiful flows for mind, body and spirit. As a fledgling YouTuber/ Vlogger myself, and also with my educational background in media production, I am really starting to pay attention to what works and what doesn’t on the channels I follow; what I love about Bird is she has truly perfected the voiceover yoga class, so it doesn’t seem scripted or false that she isn’t wearing a mic, it just seems so natural and she is so easy to follow along with, she is also always so kind with her instructions, always reminding you to “listen to your body today, as every day is different”, this is something which I 100% agree with. I just love how you can find kindred spirits online, by following your own passions of what to write about, I am excited to get to know Bird a bit better through this post and introduce you to her too <3

Here’s the interview:

Hi Bird, thank you for collaborating with JamJarGill.com…

1.       Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you came to start your yoga therapy business and where the name for your business came from? How did you get your idea or concept for the business? What was your mission at the outset?

A: My name Is Francine Cipollone also known as Bird within and out of the wellness community. I’m a 30 year old Vegan & sober 200hr Certified Yoga Teacher. I’ve been practicing yoga about 7-8 years…I’ve lost track while flowing through the journey that is Life he he and within those 7-8 years I’ve been teaching for 4.

I began my entrepreneurial yoga journey due to the lack of opportunity here in Montreal. However I was brought up with the mentality that if no doors are opening you make your own door, so I began teaching one on one over Skype and slowly but surely built a strong connection with many worldwide. The lack of opportunity was truly a blessing in disguise.

The name Yoga With Bird is quite self-explanatory however many don’t know I got the nickname Bird at birth. My aunt called me bird and it caught on through the entire family.

My mission for Skype yoga was never to become rich but to be able to keep myself afloat while offering affordable private classes for those who may not be able to make it to studios or truly need the one on one guidance but cannot afford a $100+ 45 Minute private studio sessions.

Shortly after beginning my Skype Yoga business, I decided to share classes on YouTube. YouTube was how I began my healing journey so I felt there was no better way to give back in a way that has changed my life.

2.       What style of yoga do you practice and what is your reason for this choice? What have you personally got out of it?

A: I practice a few styles, Vinyasa, Yin/Restorative & Power Flow. The reason being is that the body needs balance between strength, flexibility and restoration. If we have one but not the other we cannot truly feel our best selves physically and mentally. Life is truly a balance. However, the style I resonate more with would be restorative. As I suffered from extreme anxiety, restorative yoga has in a way healed me, it allowed me to shed if that makes sense. I think it is why I get so excited to have someone use a yoga block for the first time, it is such a life changer to lay over one of those!

3.       What are the health benefits of yoga from your perspective?

A: First, I will say connection to oneself. A lot of our ailments stem from the disconnect from self. When we begin to understand our body, dig deep within the body mentally and physically it opens a door to understanding, shedding, rebirth. Yoga is simply not yoga if connection is not the goal. connection is for many, birthed through physical goals like strength, flexibility, balance, stamina, and then the mental things begin to come into play like focus, and realisations, forgiveness, this is the journey to connection not only to self but the universe.

4.       How did you come across yoga in your own life?

A: I first began yoga after a life changing event. A simple gallbladder surgery gone wrong. Long story short prior to having my gallbladder removed the doctors needed to go in and remove the gallstones from my bile duct. Unfortunately during this procedure they had accidentally cut my liver. We only found out about a day or two after the procedure in which I ended up losing the majority of blood needed to keep me alive. I then found myself between two worlds, and with a fight I made it back to this one…it was a hell of a walk, however, this life changing journey was meant for me, and gave me purpose. My life completely shifted from there.

I began to meditate daily, as I was a sporadic meditation practitioner for years something told me I had to begin a daily practice, that I needed to be dedicated, so I did.

When I got home from the hospital, it was really difficult to physically move as I was in the ICU for about 3 weeks attached to every wire you can think of, I needed to heal and bring movement into my body so I turned to YouTube Yoga. I was not a regular practitioner but I definitely made it a point to hop on my mat (Blanket) at least 3 times a week.

During this time, I discussed my anxiety with my doctor, after my doctor telling me I had a chemical imbalance in my brain which was the reason for my anxiety, I began to take medication. This medication was not for me, but I was desperate to at least give it a few months. During this time I was still doing yoga and felt that yoga was making a bigger impact on my mental health than these medications were.

I quickly understood that this anxiety was deep rooted and this medication was solely a band aid which was never going to heal me. So I stopped taking the medication and began a daily yoga practice and have had a daily yoga practice since.

Although yoga hasn’t healed me from experiencing anxiety here and there, it has reduced my anxiety more than half and has allowed me to live a fulfilling quality of life.

5.      How did you train to become a yoga teacher?

A: After seeing how yoga helped me, I knew I couldn’t keep this life changing gift to myself, I HAD TO SHARE. I saved up all all my money and took a training on Paia, Maui at the beautiful Maui Yoga & Dance Shala with Nadia Toraman and many other incredible teachers. Another life changing experience.

6.       When and how did you decide to work for yourself?

As mentioned in question 1, I began working for myself in 2016 due to the lack of opportunity here in Montreal.

7.       Can you tell us about your YouTube Channel, what it is all about? What message you want to get into the universe with it? And how you produce it?

My YouTube channel is called Yoga With Bird. I offer various styles of yoga classes ranging in lengths and levels however I do offer more beginner friendly classes as that is what the majority of my audience wants.

My goal for the Yoga With Bird YouTube channel is to be able to offer quality free yoga classes. I am grateful to be in a position to offer free classes as I am able to monetize my videos with ads. This is a huge help as it allows me the time to dedicate to creating these classes for those who need it most because like many, when I first began yoga I did not have 25$ to spend on a studio class, there was just no way. Yoga was never meant to be a profitable business, however realistically in a world like ours, in order to offer such a valuable practice we must be compensated monetarily in some way so we too can stay afloat. YouTube allows me and many other teachers to do so without the student spending a dime, what a wonderful age we live in that we can practice yoga right in the comfort of our own homes for free.

My purpose on YouTube it to truly offer an inclusive healing space for all worldwide to soak in a practice that has helped me in many ways find peace, self-love and true happiness. If I could only help one person through the YouTube platform, it would have made all the work worth it.

The way I produce every video begins with an IPhone and 2 soft lights, once it’s filmed I upload the video to my desktop and start editing which takes a few hours, sometimes 3-5 (Not the most tech savvy human alive!) From start by writing out my sequence to finished product by uploading the video up on YouTube, one video takes me a good 12 hours in total. That is not including the hours that go into advertising. Although it is a lot of work, I would NOT change it for the world. Time is so valuable, and if all this time I put into one video can help someone, it is time well spent. With time, as my channel grows I will be able to have a bigger budget for a more sufficient filming and editing setup and I will then be able to produce even more classes in less time. For now we flow with life and enjoy the ride!

8.       When and where and what are your classes? And how do you book them?

A: I teach of course completely free yoga classes on YouTube for all levels and needs. I also teach private yoga sessions via skype you can learn more at www.YogaWithBird.com/Skype-Yoga and are booked through email or the contact form provided on the website where we will then discuss a class that will help you reach your goals while still keeping your lifestyle in mind.

9.       Do you have any book /Web or music recommendations to use with your yoga and mindfulness practices?

A: Oh yes, music and yoga are such a beautiful combination. I have quite a few artists that I personally love to listen to during my practices, depending on the mood as well. Kevin Paris is probably my favourite. I met him while on Maui and had the pleasure of hearing him sing and play his guitar every morning at the shala. his music is filled with so much purpose. Kevin recently did an album with Casey Kalmenson who I also had the pleasure of hearing sing and play guitar while practising at the shala, the album is called” Say Love” and is pure magic. Another incredible artist I love to have join my practices is Solarising, he’s got a ton of incredible moods and tones to choose from. I also create fun playlists over on Spotify for practitioners to use for their own personal yoga practices, everything from Jazz to a kids playlist to hip hop, there’s something for everyone. You can find me on Spotify…

10.   What’s your favourite thing about being a yoga teacher?

Maybe this sounds self-centred but nothing is more rewarding to know that I have helped someone’s quality of life. That I was able to be here, to offer that supportive healing space like others have done for me is truly more rewarding than anything.

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I hope you find this an interesting read, I do hope to expand this section of my blog further to talk to inspiring women from all walks of life to get an insight into their worlds. Please do drop me a line at gill@jamjargill.com if you are interested in getting involved in my next 10 Questions post 🙂