We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jana Sims a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jana, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

My yoga brand is Issa Yoga Flow and our first offering is a monthly event called Backyard Flow & Chill. Standard yoga classes are held in a studio where participants typically arrive, take class, roll up their mats, and leave. It can often be an intimidating environment especially for people new to yoga or for people who feel like they are not the right size, color, flexibility level, etc. for yoga.

I started Backyard Flow & Chill to provide a welcoming, nonjudgmental, safe space to engage in practices of self-care and wellness, connect with nature, and connect with community. Each Backyard Flow & Chill consists of a 60-minute yoga FLOW led by myself, Jana Issa Sims, followed by a 2-hour backyard hang and CHILL with comfy patio furniture, refreshments, mimosas, music, and of course great company to connect with. No more intimidating yoga class that you leave out the back without ever speaking to a single soul. I wanted to offer the opportunity to care for the whole self, physically, mentally, and through our very human need of connection and community.

Although I am a Los Angeles native, I hear plenty of stories from individuals new to the city that really struggle to connect with others and foster community. I hate the fact that my city has gotten such a bad rep when community is one of my number one pillars. It is a core belief of mine that community is the connective tissue that allows our individual magical essence to ascend the plane of ordinary and evolve into the extraordinary. It warms my heart when I hear testimonials from attendees of Backyard Flow & Chill sharing how at home and welcomed they feel in the space and in the community.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

In our society, we are taught from a very young age that our personal success, happiness, joy, and even value in life is directly linked to external approval and validation of our choices. We may not hear these words verbatim, but we are socialized in this paradigm from the time we are babies. What starts as encouragement and support morphs into reliance on external validation and approval to gauge one’s own level of personal satisfaction.

I’ve always been the one to do that which has been pre-defined as the “successful path”, following the steps that get the head nods and pats on the back from those in my social and professional spheres. I didn’t see it as looking for external approval, I didn’t think I was carving my life path according to that which gave other people positive feelings about my choices, I just thought I was doing the “right things”.

That is until I realized how great my story sounded but how worn down and unfulfilled I felt. I went to the challenging college preparatory high school where I was one of very few BIPOC students, and even fewer who specifically identified as Black, same was true for the prestigious college I chose, the major I chose because it seemed like the most likely to land me a prestigious career, and so on and so forth until I landed myself in a Vice President role at a top ranked financial institution recognized as global leader in financial services. I was pretty proud of myself, especially when I was able to tell others my title and the company I worked for. I was spending 3 hours a day in traffic, never spending any time in my home and struggling to carve out time for the relationships that bring the most value to my life. I compromised my sleep, my physical health, my nutrition, my fitness, my passions, and all that in life that ignites my spark and life an experience worth living. I compromised it for a nice paycheck, but mostly I compromised for the ability to have a story that immediately elicited approval from others. For this reward I sacrificed the essence of me, I sacrificed it so much that I found myself not knowing who I was or what I liked, seriously I didn’t know what sparked joy in me, I felt like a robot just willing to do the next “right thing”. That is until I found myself in a place where I lost purpose and will. I took a sabbatical of sorts for a year, I enrolled in a yoga teacher training program at The Tree Yoga Cooperative, which was a yearning that had glimmered in me for over a decade but I dismissed it as something that just wasn’t meant for me in my life because I figured my life would never have space for such an endeavor. And then in my exhausted and worn-down state the thought came to me “what is all of this for if it doesn’t allow for me to enjoy my life, what’s the point??!!”

I had to relearn to define success, accomplishment, joy, happiness, etc. for myself and on my terms for my life. The yoga teacher training program at The Tree really ushered me into my personal power and agency over my own life. And in this power I gave myself permission to start Issa Yoga Flow and make space for community in my life, I started an oral history project with the elders in my family, I started monthly Sunday dinners with my extended family, I offer my professional skills and talents to an organization that aligns with my truth and vision for the world, I volunteer at a farm, I visit the ocean multiple times a week, I spend time with children in my extended village exposing them to new experiences and empowering them with agency in their own lives.

Without unlearning this way of thinking I would have never encouraged myself to take a chance on something different, to take a chance on me, and create the change I want to see in the world, or at least in the world of yoga and community in Los Angeles.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

I know I keep going back to the theme of community, but like Neo said in his song Make Me Better, “I’m good all by myself, but I’m a force when we’re together”. I credit so much of what I’ve accomplished and the person I’ve been able to evolve into to the talent, skill, and hearts of those around me.

My sister is an entrepreneur and she’s been a hustler since childhood, willing to do whatever it takes to not just get it done, but to get it done in excellence. My sister knew social media wasn’t my forte so she stepped in from the beginning and gave me the space and opportunity to focus on my craft and passion, providing the yoga and fostering the community, while she engaged in areas that spark joy in her. My advice is to tap your community, tap your network, allow others to support you in ways that ignite their spark while you continue to feed that which ignites yours.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @issayogaflow

Image Credits
Henry Chan