We recently connected with Katie Thode and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, thanks for joining us today. Getting that first client is always an exciting milestone. Can you talk to us about how you got your first customer who wasn’t a friend, family, or acquaintance?

I started practicing yoga as a 14-year old in high school; it was my gym requirement! I fell in love with the movement then, but did not know much more about the practice for quite a few years. After completing college and then moving forward to graduate school – I have two degrees in Music Education – I really turned to my yoga practice. Life was busy, a bit stressful, overwhelming at times, and also, a bit isolating. I was a full-time graduate student in a different state – I felt like all I had time for was going to class, doing my homework, and keeping up with the gym as my stress relief outlet.

I started making yoga an intentional part of my life post-graduate school. It was at this time in my life where I connected with much more than the poses and started to listen to and understand the significantly deeper meaning of “yoga.” A few years later, I decided I wanted to become a yoga teacher and in 2017, I started my 200-hour training. As part of the training, I had to complete a certain amount of teaching hours. I was teaching yoga to anyone who would allow me, for free, in exchange for their feedback. My first client, Meg S., was the most consistent and constantly expressed how great she felt (even through some of the initial soreness!). Now, in 2025, Meg is still a consistent private client whose practice has evolved. She became my first paying client upon completion of my YTT program and has stuck with me since ~ even through Covid! She has gone along the ride with me as I explore new ideas in my teaching and as I explore new modalities. I have started to offer Sound Healing – featuring my beautiful hand made Tibetan Sound Bowls and Koshi Chimes – and Meg has started to incorporate that into her weekly sessions as well.

I am so honored that she has stuck with me since Day 1!

Katie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I fell in love with yoga as a teenager. This passion grew as I did and came to life for me in a different way when I became certified to teach in 2017. Since then, I have shared my love of the practice with so many individuals, many of whom still practice with me today!

I love to practice and teach vinyasa based class. Typically, if I am teaching in-studio or gym, my classes have a powerful strength element to them that I love. When I am teaching my private clients, I cater to their personal goals and desires on the mat. Some clients have shown up and want to move slowly while others want more power and strength to their sessions. That is the beauty of private sessions; you get to pick how you want to show up every time you land on your mat and that can look vastly different from week to week!

I would not say that I solve problems for my clients, but I help bring them a sense of calm in their minds and bodies that they are able to make decisions from a clear and stable place. I want people to leave me with a renewed sense of personal power and strength – both from a physical and mental/emotional standpoint.

Sound healing is my newest offering that I am so excited to share with my community. I discovered sound healing when I was in my yoga teacher training and had been drawn to it since. Over the years, I have attended countless sound healing sessions and always feel like a different person at the end. Sometimes these sessions bring a sense of calm and peace over me and sometimes, I feel the total opposite! But I have learned to appreciate all experiences for what they are teaching me. Being able to share this with my clients now has brought me such joy. Sound healing sessions feature a full, hand made set of Tibetan Sound Bowls and hand made Koshi Chimes. These are used together to create a calming experience for the client.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

My personal practice started to slow down a little bit organically over the last year, but in November 2024, I was challenged to slow down even more, and a bit less organically. My body had been feeling off, I had a lot of pain in my hips, I couldn’t do a lot of the things I was once able to do without any pain. It took 3 orthopedic surgeons and countless MRIs and CT scans to learn that I would have to have bilateral hip surgery to repair laboral tears on both hips and repair double hip impingement, also on both hips.

It was a VERY challenging time in my life. I was not able to show up on my mat how I wanted to and for a long time post surgery, I couldn’t even get to my mat! I was not able to powerlift! Everything was different.

With this, I was forced to pause and reflect. I went into the surgery confident that I would come out so much stronger. I had the best physical therapist (Dr. Antonious Aboseff, Resilient Rx PT) and an incredible support system that had my back and was ready to help me through the recovery journey.

The first couple of weeks post-op, I was in a lot of pain and was very frustrated. Around the 3 week mark, I made a pact with my self that I was going to start meditating every day again. This was a practice I had started for myself in 2020 and had stayed pretty consistent with for a long time, but eventually, it became less consistent. It was in the days and weeks after that decision that I was reminded how impactful meditating and breath work really is.

All of this to say, I was not able to practice yoga the same, teach, coach my strength classes, go to work…nothing. I went from doing everything to being able to do very little. It took a huge toll on me and I had to shift my thought process so that I did not become negatively consumed during the recovery process.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn that rest is a sign of weakness. I have worked very hard my entire life, which I am proud of. But, typically, I take my breaks when my body has had enough and forces me to rest… usually by way of a cold, or flu, or sinus infection!

Throughout the last 5 years, I have started to notice the signals my body gives me to tell me to slow it way down. I have become so much more in tune with those signals – which has also been a result of my meditation practice.

Then, after being forced to take an entire summer off this year (the first summer in my life that I have not worked, been in school, or been in school and worked simultaneously!!!) I really had the opportunity to acknowledge my body. This was the most in tune with myself I have felt in my 35 years alive.

Rest is not earned! Rest is not a privilege. Rest is a necessity. Unfortunately, too many people have the same mindset that I used to have… that we prove ourselves in how much work we can do, how much content we can create, how much we can be on the go, and that is really not it!

In my work, I remind people that taking the time for them to either move through yoga, or breathe through meditation, or melt into the sound bowls, is essential and a necessity! We cannot pour from an empty cup.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://livelaughyoga.weebly.com/
• Instagram: @powerlifting_yogi918