Isabella Channing: Claudia, it's so wonderful to be here. It's such a thrill to realize how long we have known each other. And to be connecting so many years later on something that I'm so passionate about, and I know you are too. So thank you so much for having me. It's wonderful to be here.

Claudia von Boeselager: Such a pleasure. So we have so many exciting topics to cover. But first I would love to ask you to describe for listeners who don't yet know the beautiful South American country of Uruguay and the stunning seaside town of Jose Ignacio, where you are now based.

Can you describe it a bit to give people a feeling?

Isabella Channing: Yeah. Well, Uruguay in general and Jose Ignacio specifically, has the most massive sky you can imagine. There's something almost - the sensation of being - like the sky is more than 180 degrees. It's like you're in a snow globe or something. The sky is so massive.

You can see the visual landscape is so vast that everyone talks a lot about the sky because it's just so - it's so present somehow in, like, the light, the clouds, the colors of the sky, there's something kind of really special about the stars at night. It's very sort of primal elements in Uruguay.

It's funny. The cuisine is also a little bit like this. The ocean. The land. The Sky. It sort of, all of the elements are at play in their most simple and bare raw form. Food is like that as well. There's not a lot of, you know, uh, in like you've seen a lot of Central American countries sort of like mixes of spices and flavors.

No, it's, you know, a potato with maybe a little bit of olive oil, maybe a little bit of salt and that's it, cooked on fire, you know, that's, that's the best, you know, it's the purest

Claudia von Boeselager: The quality is so great.

Isabella Channing: it's a funny way of - in terms of just the elements really at play and you see that in, in the landscape and the tapestry of countryside and oceans that just are expansive.

I really think one of the last places in the world that has still really, really Virgin beaches where, you know, are just untouched, lagoons and beaches and wetlands, and people speak a lot about this very powerful healing energy in Uruguay, and that you can feel it even just from arriving. I think the culture also accompanies this sort of very calm and serene - and I've just completely fallen in love, as you can imagine, now that I'm living here. And Jose Ignacio specifically, to answer your question, used to be just a tiny little fishermen's peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean in Uruguay. And it has one little lighthouse. You used to have to take a boat from the mainland, just across a little piece of water. And so I think it was in 1994, they first put the little bridge and the water and electricity within - just in the nineties, mid to late nineties where it came to this little village. And it was one - it's one of the few places that has a lighthouse in Uruguay.

So it became sort of an important port, but a port meaning each for fisherman families, you know, just a real handful of them. And what makes it really so special is that you feel on this peninsula like you have water 360 degrees, ‘cause you have the bay on one side, the ocean on the other and this very rocky, beautiful sort of cliff, not, you know, very steep

Claudia von Boeselager: Like dunes.

Isabella Channing: Dunes and rocks all around where you are. So it's about six blocks by six blocks. That's Jose Ignacio.

Claudia von Boeselager: So small.

Isabella Channing: Then there are the outskirts. That's really it, with a little lighthouse. Then there was one little restaurant later on, and then, little by little, it has become kind of this very, you know, chic, cool place to be in, in South America. But it really still maintains this very rustic, beautiful, romantic, and really incredibly, physically beautiful place.

Claudia von Boeselager: So stunning. I had the pleasure when I was living in Buenos Aires to just spend a couple of days in Jose Ignacio. And this is gosh, over - well over 10 years ago, and I can still visualize it there. And you're right with the sky. It just seems so expansive. It's such a magical place. So beautiful. Thank you for elaborating on that.

You discussed the culinary hub or the gourmet eating there, and that the specials. Maybe you can talk a little bit more about the unbelievably - you can even say popular, I mean, you have Francis Mallmann, who is also based there and that, that Uruguay - many people, I don't think are aware of as such a culinary hub, not just for South America, but internationally as well.
Can you talk a bit about that?

Isabella Channing: Yes. Well, you know, Francis Mallmann really pioneered, and also brought to the forefront, a style of cooking that has been sort of really native to the whole Rio de la Plata, you know, so we have Argentina and Uruguay is sort of Rio de la Plata, and culturally, they cook on an open fire grill.

And so just in that, you know, the element of fire becomes sort of a main player in the composition of the meals. And there's a whole culture of sitting around and, you know, starting the fire and the fire has to be lit because then the wood has to turn, you know, you have to cook with the, um - and so it's really - it takes time.

It's not quick-cooking and once they have the fire at this perfect place, then you just become creative at putting things on the grill and they are in that purist kind of way. It's really just a play with fire and the ingredient.

And what's also so lovely about Uruguay is that the ingredients are so wonderful. You know, fish is pure. And so you have just like fish and then again, they don't like lots of sauces, you know, there's maybe that little chimichurri, but it's always a little bit, and it's on the side, you know, but they don't have elaborate sauces. They think it really just takes away from the sort of the - the soul of the food, whatever it is, whether it's a carrot or a piece of meat or whatever. And Francis Mallmann really took that really to the next level, you know, and, and took that as almost this, like, spiritual way of connecting with your surroundings, by bringing the fire and the ingredients and then making these delicious, elaborate, very creative meals that way.

So from that, you know, it's become - in Jose Ignacio - had, really, one of the first restaurants that a lot of the people who worked with him at that restaurant now are the owners of the various restaurants in the area. So did their own things. And there's all these wonderful stories about having worked with him.

And so you have wonderful chefs who are doing really special things who are in the area and also Uruguayan chefs or Argentinian chefs who have worked with him, who are now all over, with top restaurants in New York, LA, London. So some of the spotlight has come onto this style of cooking and it's nice to really feel where it originated from, which is here, you know, which is just that again, back to the elements, you know, the fire, potato, the air, the sky, and then that becomes this moment of eating that you see. So, yeah -

Claudia von Boeselager: It sounds really like paradise. You've found the right spot on the planet for sure.

Can you tell us about the origins of the name ‘The Shack’, which became The Shack Yoga, and your lifelong connection to the sea and natural wood as well?

Isabella Channing: Of course. I love that question, Claudia. Yeah. So, it's so funny ‘cause it's actually, you know, it's such a simple word in English, but I never really quite considered how the ‘shack’ spelled in English, in Spanish is actually so complicated. But it's a hilarious thing that people who aren't quite aware of what ‘shack’ means in English will call it ‘jack’. ‘Jack Joga’.

And it's spelled every single way. J-A-K, J-A -C-K, S-H-A-K. So it's hilarious how seemingly a really - such a simple concept and a word has become a hilarious little twist and I’ve got every idea how it's written possible.

But the origins is actually wonderful because it's a very meaningful one to me. And, basically, to make it, you know, not an endless story. I was born by an American father and a Uruguayan mother. I was born and raised in New York and I would come down to Uruguay, speaking Spanish with my mother, you know, every year to visit her vast family in Uruguay. So I have really kind of always felt like I came from two worlds, so to speak, and to two cultures.

And my father was a lover of wood and trees, and he was a sculptor a lot. You know, he was - sort of always had this split way of being in business, you know, a venture capitalist, but also really his heart was in art and being an artist. So as soon as he could early on in his career, he started to buy up small plots of land north of the highway in Long Island, in Bridgehampton, and little by little, he acquired really failed potato crops, you know, at the time that were just pieces of land that people didn't really put a lot of value to at the time, you know?

And he loved the raw - he loved that it had nothing and it was rustic and raw and it was a lot of - some potato crops, and then these woods, these big, expansive woods. And for a long time he, you know, he even had, I think a little trailer or a tiny little, you know, sort of house that he put together, literally with sticks. Just to be on the land. ‘Cause he just - it was so inspiring to him. And then the first thing he built was a studio and then a house that was attached to the studio, you know, to his art studio. So it wasn't the other way around -

Claudia von Boeselager: The priorities.

Isabella Channing: Build the studio and then add a little house, you know, alongside. And his deep passion for nature, and he’d carve immense - you probably remember Claudia on the, you know, from years and years ago - he would uproot trees from the ground, all of this in Bridgehampton, and he would be inspired by the root structures and he would carve these elaborate, you know, beasts and - and women's bodies. And he would sort of see things in these branches and trees.
And so he, you know, would work in these very large-scale pieces of art. When he first acquired the land, the only thing that was built on the property at the time when he bought it, was this very old. It was sort of like a bunker in the middle of the woods, that, from what I understand - it was actually an ammunition shed. To take trees down.

So they would sort of - that was the old way to fell trees. You know, they would, instead of an ax, they had this little ammunition that would help sort of clear areas in the trees. So it was a little bunker in the middle of the woods where I guess it was an ammunition shed. And what it did was - it had these walls, and I guess, to protect from the explosion of ammunition. These walls that were maybe, you know, two feet thick, and on the outside, it was sort of this oxidized metal. And it was this very kind of, you know - you would come up, you'd be walking in the middle of nature, nothing around, all of a sudden you come up to this very - almost it could be spooky, but it was really kind of this incredible little place that my father, being a lover of wood, with a friend of his, cleared it out, cleaned it up and added a tiny little attachment to it and made it this beautiful little house. It was like this tiny little refuge that had a tiny kitchen, that was all very, you know, quaintly made. A bedroom, little windows he put through, even a sliding glass door.
So this funky fun - he kept, you know, this oxidized metal and the really thick, you know -

Claudia von Boeselager: The contrast, yeah.

Isabella Channing: But it had this incredibly charming shack. And we called it - at home, we called it The Shack. And so, you know, as my sister and I would go, you know, every weekend, every summer, every moment that we weren't at school, we would be there.

And our favorite thing to do was to go visit The Shack, take these long walks out to The Shack. And it was a really interesting thing. If I ever think about, sort of, maybe my first mystical experiences, it really can be in those woods, you know, going to The Shack, and, and having sort of awe of being in a place that was far away from civilization.

At the time, it's so funny, you know, here we are talking about Long Island, but in my little brain -

Especially in comparison to Manhattan, right?

Isabella Channing: Especially. yeah. And also to how it is now, because, you know, there’s a lot of it's still intact, but really at the time, you know, there weren't - we didn't have neighbors, it was really a different place, the Hamptons, you know?

Claudia von Boeselager: Much calmer in the 80s, yeah.

Isabella Channing: Much calmer, yeah. So we would take these walks out to The Shack and it was really just our little mystical haven. And then of course, as I got older, I even spent summers living in The Shack and it was really my place in the world. I mean, I would travel, I would go to a school, I would do this and that.
And then, if you asked me, where do you feel the most comfortable? Where do you feel the most happy or free or, or grounded, or at home? It would be at The Shack. It really, there was just this fantasy aspect of it, but at the same time, a really grounding thing about The Shack. And anyway, long story short, The Shack started - after years and years, there was a little bit of decay in the walls and you're trying to figure out a way to salvage it.

And we try to lift up - this was the most hilarious thing. I mean, the nostalgia that we had for it. A little corner of the property had to be sold and it was right where The Shack was. And it was a really horribly sad thing that we didn't want to happen, but - really because of The Shack. So we tried with a friend who had this certain special tractor to lift up The Shack from its foundation and try to move it to a different part of the property.

And in the process, all the walls just started to come down and we actually saved these walls because they're just so sort of iconic, but he had it, sort of, in stacks in the woods, so it was a really sad thing. And this happened several years ago. And, jumping forward, when I decided - in I guess it was 2012, 2013 - to open a, at the time, yoga studio with a wellness component. A yoga studio in Jose Ignacio, you know, I was trying to figure out a name and I couldn't - it just wasn't really coming. And I was just thinking, well, yoga, maybe think about something, you know, in Sanskrit or something. But I also really knew that the concept really was beyond just yoga and just a sort of yoga philosophy that I wanted it to be sort of a little bit more - open to more just sort of

Claudia von Boeselager: Accessible.

Isabella Channing: Accessible, exactly. And, and I was thinking really, I, what am I creating? I’m creating a space. It's a space that things happen in - and then at one moment, I remember The Shack and I said, oh my God, I'm going to bring The Shack back, you know, from, you know, a phoenix rising from the ashes. And I thought how lovely to bring The Shack that’s from the other part of my life, from the Northern Hemisphere, bring it down to the Southern Hemisphere.

And from then on, the minute I remembered it, it stuck. And so it became The Shack. Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love that story. It's so beautiful. Tell me about the time you arrived in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, with 25 yoga mats.

Isabella Channing: Oh my gosh. Well, that was funny. It's like, you could look at it as the low point or the high point of the process, but yes - oh God, you know, I had yoga mats stuffed in every crevice of, you know, as many suitcases as I could possibly break down on one flight. I had a moment, you know, in my mid-late twenties, or late twenties, where I just, I think a lot of people can probably relate to this where you have a turning point in your life, a crossroads rather, where certain cycles of the work - a relationship I think had ended.

And it wasn't as obvious immediately what the next thing was. And those are actually such wonderful moments, I think, because it forced me to pause, and thank God that I did, because I think if I hadn't, I would have so quickly continued with a similar version of what I had been doing. ‘Cause that seems like -

Claudia von Boeselager: Sure, the rat race.

Isabella Channing: Exactly, where, you know, it was - and it was all right there and I was already living in it, so it was accessible.

The other thing wasn't very clear at all, there wasn't really a path. But I gave myself a moment to say, okay, before I go in which I know I can, to another job, to another thing, and to sort of continue, I'm going to just take a little moment, almost like a sabbatical few months of just - and I thought to travel and I thought to go to Uruguay. And I remember arriving and just saying, okay, I have to figure out - I love being here, it's so important for my story - which I can also tell you about as well. But the importance of it to me became so clear and I said, okay, the only way it will be something that I can do in any sustainable way is if I do a project here, and not just like trying to visit every now and then. And that's when I decided to try out - put a little savings into renting a yoga studio and a little house.

I hadn't seen any real yoga studios around, especially in Jose Ignacio or that area. And I said, listen, the worst case is that no-one comes, I have a great summer and practice in my own studio and anyone wants to come and - it was kind of like a little bit of an idea. Okay. I've never really opened my own business - never, ever opened my own business.

And it felt a little bit nuts, you know, but how nuts it actually was landed when I, you know, I'd already rented the studio and this house, and I've been in touch with the real estate agent and I was packing my bags and I was - my friends were like, what are you doing again? And where are you going?

Claudia von Boeselager: And so you’re leaving from New York City, to go -

Isabella Channing: Leaving from New York City. I didn't, sort of, research the market so well. I didn't really have, you know - my business plan was really just the most simple idea of just trying something out. And that's where I found myself, as I mentioned to you, you know, at the Montevideo airport. It was just this feeling of that sort of absurdity of all of these yoga mats spilling out of my bags everywhere.
And I'm arriving and I'm alone. I’m like, what am I doing here? Like what, I - it was like the absurdity of it kind of hit me. And the whole process of arriving was so funny. But luckily, like, I got my flow back and was able to have a smoother start.

The arrival was such a moment where I just remember being at the airport, you know, you have those mirrors and I have these bags and everything spilling out of the bags, a complete mess, you know, nothing is organized away. Like starting a business, I thought in my head, should be. You know, like, where is the team? How is this organized? And I'm staring at myself in the mirror of this airport being like, Isabella, have you completely lost your mind? It was one of those moments that - it wasn't the highlight, but in a way, you know, I can look back and say, well, thank God I did it, even against all odds.

Claudia von Boeselager: Exactly. I love that. So, so beautiful. And I've had a few times, also, in my life, where, I guess, curiosity, excitement to try new different things, came and sort of took over, but having those moments - and I actually had a similar one when I decided to work with street children in Buenos Aires of all places.
And my flight with Aerolineas Argentinas got canceled on the Thursday - I was supposed to fly out Sunday night. Was in Florida at the time. It took me two days to actually get through on the telephone to the airline to figure out was I actually going to be flying. I was going to be committing several months of my life to go and do this, et cetera.

And, anyway, they rebooked me on the next morning. So I booked some cheap airport hotel, which is probably the most disgusting hotel of my life. In Miami, under some, like, highway bypass. And like, I dunno what was going on outside, I don’t even want to know. And I was lying by myself in the middle of - the friends had gone back to Europe - and I was thinking, what am I actually doing? Like, why, how did I think this was a good idea?

But, as you said before, I think that these are the moments and the experiences that actually, you know, it's really getting out of your comfort zone and trying out new things and you look back and you say these were some of the most magical exceptional experiences in my life and they've really shaped and informed me. So, it's such a beautiful story. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.

You talked about, you know, being born to an American father and a Uruguayan mother, and growing up with two cultural identities. How would you say this has influenced you in your life?

Isabella Channing: So, I think when I was younger, I felt very split, you know, I felt there were these opposing forces that didn't really have a place to coexist easily in my life.

My mother passed away when I was five, as you know. We were in kindergarten together. Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, so sad.

Isabella Channing: And so it also added to this sort of split where we - at the time, my parents were also separated. So I didn't ever coexist with both cultures, let's say, in the household. I really remember a Uruguayan household until the time she died. And then we moved in with my father and he really, you know, did the best he could to continue the connection with our family and Uruguay. So much so that he would make it sure that we went down every year, even after she died, even if he didn't come. Or he would, he would come with us, and then even if not, we would have someone fly with us or meet us at the airport and you'd go down to see the family.

But even then it was this incredibly long voyage, you know, very, very far - it felt like you were really going to the other side of the world, which we were. And I didn't ever have any bridge to cross the two worlds. It was like, either I was in the American world, which, also, I also associated so much with, you know, education, the north, my father, masculine. It was always winter there, you know, and summer down in South America. And so it was sort of really occupied, or a certain part of myself. And that when I went to Uruguay, it really felt like night and day, it would open up, not only - and I remember thinking so much about language that you think a different way, you know, and you come to almost different conclusions in a different language. And in Spanish, and the sound of it, and how it was to me, this soft, you know, it was my mother, it was South America. It was always summer when we went down.

And so it felt like these really, really opposing and

Claudia von Boeselager: Polarized.

Isabella Channing: Polarizing. And I do remember that, as I got older and part of my journey of wellness - that started, I think in a funny way, kind of quite young, at least the first initial ideas of it - had to do a lot with bridging this kind of gap inside myself, you know, and I think what I love when I hear about other people's journeys as well in wellness or health, or - is that everyone, everybody has a personal story, some sort of healing that they are doing inside.

And that mine is very much having to do kind of with this, the trauma of my mother passing away when I was very little, also a little too young to really be able to process it in any sort of real emotion, you know, which is interesting. I think even, also being in the eighties, there wasn't a lot of

Claudia von Boeselager: Understanding.

Isabella Channing: Intelligence or, you know - and I think our school did as good a job as it could to really support us in the family, but that I didn’t really have the education or guidance to say, okay, these are how we deal with our emotions. And when you hold in these emotions for too long, they make you unwell. And so I really found myself that later, at about 10 or 11, I started to have headaches, suffer from headaches. You know, no idea what, I went to a neurologist, CAT scans - I remember sleeping and EEGs, you know, it was like a, such a young age. It was, like, where are these headaches coming from?

And there were these low-grade constant headaches that weren't migraines. When we started ruling stuff out, medically, medically, until finally the neurologist, I guess I was working with, went, you know what, it must just be depression. So a psychiatrist, okay, antidepressants.

After a while, I very quickly realized this isn't helping. And so I even remember at age 11, I stopped it all. And I said, okay, there's no cause for this, I'm going to have to just live with it. It wasn't debilitating, but it was like I was having stress headaches. That was what was.

Claudia von Boeselager: It was the suppressed emotion, right?

Isabella Channing: It was suppressed emotion. 100%.

Claudia von Boeselager: The body doesn't forget.

Isabella Channing: And that’s how my body was dealing with it. And I just remember saying, okay, I didn't find any solution in the doctors. So there's no - nothing that I can do. So I remember sort of keeping it, I didn't talk about my headaches again, until later on in university, I did my first yoga class. So anyway, that's kind of how it all started.

And I remember that for a few hours after my first yoga class, I came out and I said, oh my God, I don't have a headache. Something about this - moving the energy around inside, and also after yoga would always be wanting to cry and that the - I said, oh my gosh, something's happening here that is actually really kind of profound.

And I'm like a little freaked out by it, but it -but it was like the idea that me by myself, obviously I’m being led by a teacher, but I'm in this room, and there are no attachment - EEG attachments or CAT, MRIs or whatever. And I, myself am creating this massive change inside of myself, that's generating all these things.
But at the end of the day, alleviating these headaches I've had for so long.

Claudia von Boeselager: Incredible.

Isabella Channing: And so, anyway, it's the self-healing path really. And so, you know, what it was like for me to grow up, it was a lot of it was bridging this gap. Being able to talk about my mother, who a lot of my friends, even, and my colleagues at the time or classmates, didn't even know I had this whole side of me.
So, to say, you know, how do I bridge this to become an integrated whole human being and to be able to live with these two energies almost, or these two cultures, these two things that are very present to me and, in a sense, heal them inside myself. And so it was very relevant in a way to my path.

Claudia von Boeselager: Beautiful.
You touched on a bit, your first experience with yoga and, maybe, was that how it started you down the path to found The Shack Yoga? And maybe you can talk a little bit more about your revelation you had after that first class?

Isabella Channing: It's so funny because I, it almost sounds like a cliche, but it really felt like after that first class, a little light bulb went off, you know.

I had been - I had done gymnastics. I had done all sorts of sports. And I sensed that obviously physical activity was good for me and helped sort of, you know - but that I was definitely not, there was no sort of mind-body emotion. There was no touching upon one's, you know, emotional world or no dialogue at all around the idea of any energy or anything like that.

So, you know, I'm, I'm doing dance. And then I go to my first yoga class and I remember this experience, as I said, this experience, it really was so powerful specifically because I couldn't believe that I had done something through these breathing techniques, and specific postures, and using even my mind and focus, to create this experience inside of myself that was really kind of profound because it shifted something that had been so stuck, you know, really this trauma that had settled in.

And I didn't really know what to do with it. It had become this sort of thick, heavy sort of dense energy that you know, now I'm looking back, you know, my headaches were really bad. But anyway, I was so moved by, you know, how profound, in a sense, the experience had been that I remember thinking, oh God, now I have to, you know - how unfortunate. But this is, I obviously now have to shave my head, move to India, live in an ashram for the rest of my life.

And I remember seeing, okay, well, like there are orange robes that I think you have to wear and that, you know, I have to really say goodbye to all my worldly possessions and my family and my friends because this is it. It was so, you know, even talking at the time to my yoga teacher who was just like, oh yeah, no, you actually, you know, you really don't have to do that. That’s not, like -

Claudia von Boeselager: The stereotype.

Isabella Channing: A mandatory thing. She's like, you know, there are other ways to - you know, if you want to deepen a yoga practice, you're just really doing it once a week with me, if you want to deepen it there are lots of ways to do so. But I was really convinced. I remember I even wrote, you know, sort of, in our end of year - ‘cause it was in university, so we even had to write about our yoga - our final paper, or something - about the yoga sessions that we had done or, you know, and that I was just really, I wrote in this final paper, just that I was really ready to, you know, say goodbye to my life, to the world and to go into some ashram or monastery or something.

But luckily I found out pretty soon that there were ways to deepen a yoga practice without that. And that in fact, I do have met others who did choose that, and it's a wonderful thing, but it really wasn't my path. And I remember thinking how funny that it was something that I thought that you had to do in order to have spiritual practice in a modern life.

You know, I didn't know they could coexist yet.

Claudia von Boeselager: I love it.
Do you have any particular morning routine to set yourself up to win the day?
Isabella Channing: That's a nice one. Yeah. I do seated meditation and I do 10 minutes. So -

Claudia von Boeselager: 10 minutes.

Isabella Channing: You know, I remember thinking, God, I should be doing more than 10 minutes. You know, 10 is really for beginners. But I have found that, for me right now at least, raising two little kids and running the wellness center, that if I, you know, add more or I make it too hefty of a goal in the morning that it either won't happen, or I won't really have a winning, as you said - to have a winning day - it won't. I’ll be rushed, and I’ll go from this wonderful hour and a half, you know, personal practice to, you know, rushing my kids into school or getting breakfast ready.

So I do 10 minutes. I wake up. After a shower, I sit in a seated meditation. And before I start, I do a little kapalbhati, so a little breath work, for like maybe 30 seconds of that or a minute. And then it's 10 minutes on my little - everyone says, you know, there are wonderful apps, and I actually haven't used one yet, sort of, insight timer and all these things - but I just use my little crystal bells timer, 10 minutes already set, and I have my meditation cushion, which really makes such a difference. And I just sit in the little space I created in my bedroom and I do 10 minutes. 10 minutes is really just trying to quiet down, and slow down, and clean out almost all of the static or noise or any sort of build up from, you know, mental energy that just lodges in throughout the night.

Claudia von Boeselager: Life, sure.

Isabella Channing: And sometimes if I have a little more time, I can add another five minutes to it, which is really sort of manifesting or visualizing, and really creating in sort of mental imprint, what either I want my day to look like, or sometimes I'll even have sort of love-based emotion words that I'll use to create an attention for a period of time that I'm in.

So it can even last for, you know, three months or this month or six months that I'm really cultivating, you know, whether it's clarity, or, you know, confidence, or ease or gratitude, or, you know, I'll find words that are resonating with something that I feel like I'm really ready to generate more of in my life.

And so I'll just put a lot of energy, you know - and energy follows thoughts. I'll just try to really put my mind into good use, you know, so it's like clean it out and then focus it, you know, as really we get to choose our thoughts. And so, spend, even if it's just a minute, after the meditation to say, okay, what quality of thoughts do I want to have?

How do I want to guide my thoughts so that my day can follow that? And so that sort of usually is - some sort of intention-setting for either the day, as I said, or the moment of time that I’m in. Yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: It's so amazing, the more - I think people who have come to the realization of the importance of having that sort of inner reflection time, especially at the beginning of the day, to really set them up to win the day. And also the power of visualization, right?

And I think Tony Robbins has a great expression. He says: “Where focus goes, energy flows.” And I love the fact that you said that you have a choice, right? So you choose where you want to focus on. And I think that's such powerful words that I'm still kind of working on understanding - sort of, on this journey.

But I think, you know, when you read about the greatest achievers in the world, how many of them use the power of visualization and inner reflection and thinking to achieve amazing things. So that sounds really amazing.

I'd love to talk a little bit more about - you’re creating The Shack, you've touched on a few of the things in Jose Ignacio - but I wanted to share a quote that's on The Shack Yoga website, which I found really beautiful: “We believe that every human being has the intrinsic capacity to self heal and discover structural, emotional and mental wholeness.” Can you talk, Isabella, about the meaning behind this belief? It sounds amazing.

Isabella Channing: You know, I think it really just goes back to this true belief from my own personal experience and also meeting so many incredible people on my journey, as teachers and guides or colleagues who I've learned this from as well - wellbeing and healing is something that happens when we shift our focus inward. And that idea of me being hooked up to all those things, and luckily it was just tension headaches. ‘Cause there are people who are suffering from so many things.
So the capacity to heal - we move outside of ourselves and into professionals. And thank God for all of the professionals there, because there are many times when you absolutely need to. But the - actually to shift into this concept or an idea that there is self-healing that there is this state there you can create sort of an ecosystem or an environment inside yourself through your thoughts, your words, your actions - your habits, you know, that you create - creates energy that heals imbalances.

So anything that's emotional, structural, physical on a cellular level, emotional level - can be brought back into a state of balance. And actually that's our nature - is to be in a healthy, well, state, but that so many things through traumas, and lifestyle, shift us out of that. And so the process of coming back into a state of wellbeing, and contentment, and health, and really thriving in your life and not just getting by with these things that, you know, um, is - to bring that, you know, it's like a birthright. Almost take it - take the power back in and to really own it in a way.

And it doesn't mean to disconnect from professionals or even medical - you know, mainstream medicine. But to say, okay, this is an internal movement. Healing is an internal movement that happens. And, so, own it, take it back. And so, with the idea of The Shack, and the idea of not - you know, I studied so many different philosophies and things, that it's not so much about training people in a specific technique, because although there are techniques, what I really wanted is creating a space so that people can practice self-healing, and how they practice self-healing, well, that is the interesting part. There are lots of different tools and it depends on who you are, what tendencies you have, what gravitates you, what excites you, you know.

That we're sort of a whole person, and so, whether you want to come at it through physical detoxification, or through talk therapy and more energy work, or through even like an activation of physical fitness, yoga practice, or hands-on therapy. So there's lots of different ways that one can heal. And that is almost irrelevant.
But how to heal, well, let's play with that. Let's get into that. There's, there are a lot - and I love, and I think we're going to continue, as a human race, to continue to find ways to be healing. But that those are really tools. I think the, the main, the hardest shift, is to realize this is something that I have control over, you know, it's shifting, as you were saying, out of that sort of victim mentality - that I lived in forever, forever with these headaches. So I just had headaches or, you know, I'm a victim of a certain circumstance that caused me so much trauma that this is why, and I could even - and everyone would understand, of course, you're a victim.

And to say, okay, well that - although that may be true, that's not where the story stops. You know? And in fact, this trauma is - this is your ammunition to -

Claudia von Boeselager: Or superpower.

Isabella Channing: Get back on your path, and to say, okay, well, you know, do I accept this as the way I'm going to feel from now on? No.

And so that's when I think the real interesting work starts. And so, yes, we believe that everyone has the capacity to self-heal and that very much - so it can be in close tandem with a guide, professional, a healer, a doctor, a therapist, or yoga teacher or whatever, but that it's really an action that's happening internally.

Claudia von Boeselager: Oh, beautiful. So yeah, taking the first step and from this powerless to actually realizing how powerful we each are. And to - I guess you, you create that space, right? And empower people to realize that they can actually take back control of maybe a lot of ailments that they might have, and how to fix that through different ways.

And, I mean, you mentioned at different points, but, I mean, to focus specifically on yoga - and you said there's different philosophies and different practices, but, you know, just concretely at The Shack, Yoga, you know, do you mix up the different types of teachings? You said, you know, people from every walk of life. Can you, kind of, take us through a day of, and the clients that come in and things you see? Maybe you can walk through a day so we can get a feel of what you do.

Isabella Channing: Yeah, sure. So, I guess the broader scope of that would be that we sort of see people who come in as being - human beings are also either in a state of activation, purification, or rest - and that those are almost the things that - the energies that people are needing. So sometimes you see people who are really needing to activate - to move, movement is activation really primarily - to activate their body ‘cause it is just such an important thing to be doing.

You know, we're, we're creatures that are meant to move. And so a lot of times these imbalances, or illnesses, or things that come up are really from a lack of movement, quite simply.

Claudia von Boeselager: Office jobs, I guess, as well.

Isabella Channing: Office jobs, yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: Sitting for hours.

Isabella Channing: Forever. And so, sort of, within activation, you know, we have a ton of different things that we'll recommend to - we have a really wonderful trainer who does personalized sessions to work specifically with how to move your body.
Because I think a lot of people say, oh, I need to move, they'll join a gym, they’ll start working, and they'll get hurt or they'll, you know, or they'll get unmotivated or they - it's, it's hard. They're lost. Or getting on a bike, you know, it sort of isn't quite inspiring enough or getting there. So, working with - we really recommend working with someone.

And even if it's just a little bit in the beginning to get you on a really focused schedule. Then there are the yoga classes that are more dynamic, the vinyasa, kind of, more flow yoga classes that we also very much recommend. And then, activation can also be activating through sweat sort of sweat therapies, you know, and that also helps to activate.

It's funny, the activation, purification, and rest are sort of the energies that we see kind of are created in nature. And it's interesting because even in the - in yoga philosophy, the, sort of, the way that they see, like, you know, all the energies in the universe are directed either by, you know, it's either birth, death, or preservation. So it's kind of like the idea of creation, destruction, and maintenance, kind of, the idea of activation, purification, and then rest. The three deities in yoga philosophy represent these energies that are constantly at play in the universe.

And so we're always in touch with these energies inside of ourselves. And I think that there are times when we need more of one than the other, almost on a therapeutic level. At The Shack, we sort of help people, we help guide people to say, do you need to be moving more? And so with activation, we'll bring up, you know, as I said, we’ll - we'll organize someone with more activity-based classes. And then if someone's really needing to detox - and really everybody needs all of them, but sometimes there needs to be more of a focus -

Claudia von Boeselager: One is more pronounced.

Isabella Channing: Really. Exactly. So, we'll even have - purification will be a lot of, like, body work. That's, you know, maybe lymphatic drainage, a lot more of the sweating, you know, um, elimination. It's about just eliminating. Some more gentle, maybe, yoga, and physical activity. ‘Cause it's really just a state, more, of detoxification that someone's needing. And so we'll arrange different sessions and classes and things.

And then rest is really one that someone is just, there's this feeling of, you know, it takes a lot to either activate and purify. And so the rest is sort of finding - that's really where we should be at.

So, we activate, we purify - and they’re also different cycles of the day, you know, this is also happening. But the resting state is almost like that's when we are maybe in balance as well, and the body can just be in a state of calm. Where you're not really needing - it's almost between the exhale and the inhale. It's this, sort of, moment of calm.

And so we even have people who are after - they do more of the other more intensive, or, sort of, extremes - that there are balancing, restful, helping people find, uh, joy in the neutrality of your being almost. Where you're - your body is not either in a state of intense detox or in a state of intense activation, but that once you've gone through those sort of healing energies that are more extreme, that you find yourself in a state of balance. And that that's actually where we should be living most of the time.

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah. Beautiful, and really amazing. And I wonder - the clients that come, I mean - do people come ‘cause Jose Ignacio, obviously there's people who live there full-time but a lot of people come sort of to visit. So do they come in a form of retreat that you help them over the course of a week, or whatever amount of time that they're there for, to rebalance, reshift, recalibrate to achieve the detox and the balancing, that you were talking about?

Isabella Channing: So yes, with this opening, the building of the wellness center, which was really - completed itself at the end of 2019, December, 2019.

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, let's talk about that.

Isabella Channing: Where we, yes, where we launched and then had to close right in March, right?

Claudia von Boeselager: With COVID.

Isabella Channing: So we were able to cover that first season. With COVID, exactly.
But that for - it was such an incredible launch. It was really the marriage of The Shack, which I had started, as I said, back when I had that moment in the airport - day one - to partnering with the Vik Retreats, which we'll get into as well. But that - the goal which we have just only really begun to be able to do as we reopened now, and we're going to start to continue to do - is that we have people come in who lived in the area or are here visiting in the summers.

So Jose Ignacio is a place where a lot of Argentinians, Brazilians, and even Europeans, and Americans have homes, and they come for the summer season. It really becomes, you know, very busy during the summer season. Usually - this season was a little different -but that, we have a high season and the hotel as well has guests who stay. And so we have, you know, it's really a space that allows for both hotel guests and general public to come.

Along with that, we do host retreats. And so, we'll organize a week long - even a weekend - or week long retreat that has a focus of being either a meditation or yoga or a combination, where we'll either invite guest teachers or, you know - and it's a combination of having guest teachers come and having the South American population join, or it's people who are coming from abroad, from the US and Europe, typically, and coming to stay for a week to do a, you know, a wellness retreat.

And so, what's so nice about having the space is that it really opens up the possibility of, you know, of that dream of mine, that with a little yoga studio, more in town, although it was - I loved it every day being in there - it was really an important step to be able to carry out these programs of having retreats and being able to go deeper, which is really what the idea is, it’s, okay, self-healing is wonderful, but if you only have a little stint of it, you know, to - to really have the opportunity to dive deep into some of these retreats.

Claudia von Boeselager: Maybe you can walk through, a little bit more, the details. So, you know, just to visualize. So you - you have the Shack Yoga. And you - you have the small space in town, and how did it come to what you're creating now with this wellness center for longevity and wellbeing for South America?
So maybe you could just walk from, you know, how it was with the, the original shack to where you are now.

Isabella Channing: Yes, absolutely. Well, the original shack was, I mean, it was just the most charming. It really was a little shack. It was right in the, you know, the center of town, just whitewashed, wooden, big windows, wooden floors, but it was small and very charming.

And it was exactly perfect for that first - those first few years. I mean, I immediately, and it was - what was amazing was that I arrived, there was like a little sprucing up and laying out the maps and it was like, that's all it needed. It was so perfect as it was, just that sort of rustic that again, sort of Jose Ignacio, Uruguay, rustic simplicity. That you didn't need to do any elaborate sort of wallpapering or reconstructing.

It was all very - the simpler, the better. So, you know, whitewashed, kind of, beachy, wonderful vibe to it. So, yeah. You know, I was lucky because there really weren't other studios in - around. And that people who were coming, who had been coming and we were beginning to come more and more to Jose Ignacio, and Punta del Este - Punta del Este being about 40 minutes away from Jose Ignacio.

So, you know, close enough that - and the whole area becoming sort ofmore and more popular as a vacation place in the area - that people had a craving for it, they really, it was something, there was like a, you know, a lack of it in the market, you know - which is a good thing ‘cause I had no idea. I didn't do enough research to know in advance.

And the ability to do it in two languages. ‘Cause there were a lot of people who are, you know, tourists and a lot of people who are living there. So to have - and at first I remember, I mean, my class ends up being this, like, Spanglish mix, but to kind of have everyone be able to follow some part of it.

And it's just a one room studio with a little massage treatment room in the back. Tiny, tiny little kitchen, which is really just in the hallway between the massage room and the bathroom. And I always loved my bathroom, all the sunlight would pour in, and it was just the sweetest little bathroom. And that’s it. That was it.

Wraparound deck - a big wraparound deck around that studio, which really created something unexpected, which is that I would put little - I would put, like, a little tea and some fruit and nuts, and we had these beautiful sort of hammocks and couches outside.

And that it became this community gathering center in a funny way. It was, like, you know, everyone was used to either connecting at a restaurant or maybe a boutique, or at the beach, but there was, suddenly - as anyone who does have a yoga studio that they love to go to - it becomes your place. You know, you go, you feel some sort of ownership of the space, which is really wonderful because it makes it yours in a way.

And we would have classes. And then after class, people would just sit and have tea and you would see people meeting and having really sort of, you know, morning connections that were profound, and awake and, and meaningful somehow, and also fun and light and just - This vibe was created, you know, this -

Claudia von Boeselager: That’s amazing.

Isabella Channing: And that really was so much fun to see that, you know, that people were doing really hard work and then they were able to come out of class and spend time and then walk down to the beach.

And the people would say, wow, you know, this, you know, this 20% of my vacation that was based on yoga or wellness or the therapy that I did just made my entire vacation so much more rich and full. I was able to enjoy my family, I was able to really take in this beautiful place we're in. And, you know, that it really supported people that, you know, and a lot of these very high functioning people who work really hard in the rest of the year, it's their one time to be with their family.

And it's hard to make the switch. So you're in a beautiful place. You have a great house or you're here or you're - and how to actually, okay stop. Pause. And that's what it was. The Shack was like, you've arrived. You’ve arrived. So -

Claudia von Boeselager: You’re in the present moment.

Isabella Channing: Yes. Be in the present and connect. And that, it was just - how simple and how powerful that can be.

You know, that we should be doing it every day, but even if it's every year, you know, really powerful to say, okay, this is my time to really connect and then to stay in the present and to have a different type of holiday, where you will have fun and you will go out and you'll do all these activities - but that something about it will have this awareness.

Have this awareness, and this slowing down, and that you're reminded to enjoy, and make eye contact and to - and that all of the feedback was that it was so important to people to do this. And it was really the one, it was a gift that they were giving themselves, you know.

That was this little - it was this charming little studio. We would pack everybody in, you know, in the old days now, pre-COVID. Pack everyone in, you know, mat to mat, and have these great classes. We had four classes a day. You know, I basically almost taught all of them - we had a couple other teachers. But it was, like, really high energy, really fun. But I started to feel after a little while that the space was very funky.

It was very sweet, but I mean, you know, the floorboards would be -would lift up. I'd have to keep nailing them down. You know, there, it would rain sometimes in certain parts of the studio, you know. And I was also limit - the size became limiting. Because, you know, I would have retreats - back-to-back retreats in a little room. And it was just - I'd have to find another space for my daily classes - and it was just, I was bursting at the seams after a while and feeling really limited. And a lot of my energy was just on like the little space rather than, you know, the things that were really interesting to me.

So at one moment I thought, okay, I really need to find the next incarnation of The Shack, essentially, in Jose Ignacio. When it was clear that it was working and that people were wanting it and I was loving the process of it. But it felt like, okay, next step.

And that's when Alex and Carrie Vik, who are the owners of Vik Retreats in Uruguay. A boutique hotel chain. They also have hotels in Chile and in Italy. But that they, interestingly Alex Vik, also, has - his mother was Uruguayan. So we actually, when we first met, you know, oh we, we come from the Northern Hemisphere, had mothers that are Uruguayan. And they started a beautiful hotel group that is: Estancia Vik, Playa Vik, and Bahia Vik. So three really gorgeous hotels.

Claudia von Boeselager: Beautiful. I’ll link them in the show notes as well for it, for people to take a look.

Isabella Channing: Yeah, great. Good. And they were some of my best students. I mean, they'd come to every class.

And what I love is that so many people would say, you know, this is the only time of year that I even practice yoga. It was like the sort of gift that they would give themselves. Like, maybe they did other sports or activities, but then they'd come to Jose Ignacio and everyone would do yoga. It was just like, everyone goes and we do yoga.

Claudia von Boeselager: Thanks to you. I mean you brought it there, right?

Isabella Channing: Yes, exactly.

So, they were in - I think it was this simultaneous moment where I'm looking to, kind of, expand the space that I’m working out of, and they wanted to incorporate wellness more prominently into the forefront of the experience of staying at the hotels.

They have a wonderful, artistic element to all of the hotels. It's very interesting. You can read more about that. But that, they really wanted to, you know, capture the beauty of being in Uruguay and that the experience of being - staying in the hotel - would allow for a focused wellness. And so basically it was - that was it. It was, you know, this combination of where I was wanting something, you know, that I could expand into.

And so we did - built and designed a free-standing wellness center that is located on the Bahia Vik property, which is on the water. And it was a dream come true. I mean, it was to be able to, you know - being so confined with that small studio, you know, and spending maybe what was it, six years, I guess, envisioning - aw, if I only had, you know, a little extra space to do this or to do that, or to have a simultaneous class or to do a retreat - and so to be able to, you know, design something that I wanted to maintain very pure and simple, you know, like, materials that we use were all very natural and of the landscape and to keep the Shack energy, but bring it up a notch in the sense that we can really receive people to do long-term healing treatment plans, to be able to have a studio, you know, two movement studios. To expand our vocabulary in a sense, because it always was - the main idea for me - that yoga was the starting point for me. And then I did go on and venture into other areas - aspects of wellness. So, but I do believe that - as I said, yoga is a tool. One of many. And that, I think that it's an important thing that people can explore the different tools because in different moments in your life, as well as different types of people, certain tools are just going to align with you.

Whereas others really don't, or aren't, and that it would be so unfortunate if you just said, okay, go to a kundalini class. Some people are going to love it, and others are just going to say this isn't for me and how unfortunate it would be to have them turn around and say, nevermind with this whole wellness thing, you know - which more and more people are now, I mean wellness, which I love, since I've left New York, you know, now it's all over, which I - just, it's great. ‘Cause it wasn't, however many years ago. But the idea of there being lots of tools in the toolbox, essentially. A wellness center is such a - such a general term. And so what is that?

And it’s true. What is, I mean it’s such a - but what it is, is a space that you have an array of things, a vocabulary of modalities that are all geared and all the umbrella of that self-healing. But there can be so many ways. And we don't have all the ways. We have some and as we expand it will, you know, provide more opportunity, but that - it's been wonderful.

And so we have hotel guests who are doing retreats and have their stay and their daily practices at The Shack. You know, they can walk right over from Bahia Vik. And then people who like, you know, my people from forever who have been coming to classes and treatments and everything continue to come. So it's been, really, a fun experience, yeah - working with them and creating a space that now I feel like I can finally, you know, call home.

Claudia von Boeselager: So amazing, and so beautiful.

And we were talking beforehand about how this impacts, sort of, wellbeing and longevity. And obviously there's such a big movement now of people's awareness about living better, also longer. But how would you say the daily yoga or regular yoga practice, and what other ways - I mean, you talked about meditation as well - would help improve people's day-to-day quality of life? I mean, obviously I can imagine some people, myself included, love to experience what you've created there, but are there tools and tactics from a more practical day-to-day perspective for somebody who's not there that you would say, this is the aspect of yoga or the connection or the mindfulness - like, what is it that would help people improve quality of life that are learnings for you from the yoga and wellbeing focus that you're looking at?

Isabella Channing: Oh, that's a great one because, I mean, it's, it's an infinite journey too -

Claudia von Boeselager: Of course.

Isabella Channing: So I can respond in a way that I've recently been really thinking about, sort of, I guess, essentially, like how energy works in our bodies, and that the dialogue of energy being sort of energy can either contract or expand inside, or that's the way that it can feel. It's either contracting or, sort of, expanding.

And that I think we can be, you know, sustaining over time a sort of contracted state, which then can be, you know, you can see that in sort of chronic inflammation or, you know, something that's sustained over time. Oftentimes through habits, through trauma that hasn't been worked through, lifestyle choices, which, oftentimes - it's all connected. How we make lifestyle choices is affecting, you know, the trauma, or the trauma is affecting how we make choices, or these things start to create density essentially, or - or contracted energy in our bodies.
And I think that we start to get unwell, you know -

Claudia von Boeselager: Like your headaches, right?

Isabella Channing: Yeah. Like our headaches. Like the systems in our bodies start to fail and they're, they're sort of in survival mode until they stop working, or until they get - until we have a reaction or until our body finally has allowed our signal saying things are not well.

And that there is another language, which is more of an expansive state, which I think is doing the daily work because it really is - it's like cleaning your house or brushing your teeth. It's like, well, If you don’t sweep the floor, well, you can sweep it once, but then it'll, you know, you have to sweep it again -

Claudia von Boeselager: It builds up again.

Isabella Channing: It has to be this daily thing, which is a tricky one for a lot of people, because they'll have this incredible thing - this is what I always tell people, “Yeah, it's great. You do yoga once a year when you come, but what about the rest of the year?” So that's also part of the idea, is that the wellness center is allowing us to do more year-round programming, which is what I'm really excited about. There's a lot to do in the off season, you know, the healing doesn't stop.

So, you know, I think it's - as I said, what tool it is, can be - you can take some time to figure out what it is. It doesn't have to be this type of yoga. It doesn't have to be, you know, this, it can be affirmations, it can be meditation. It can be yoga. It can be even fitness, because fitness, I think we're bringing - what I liked about having the fitness aspect at first, it felt a little bit out of my comfort zone, but I realized you can make fitness as conscious movement, okay? Absolutely. That's super powerful. And so, bringing something in that becomes a part of the way that you live your life.

And so, the choices that you make in your day are going to affect how you are long-term and that, you know, we have heard this so much, but somehow it really is powerful to incorporate it, actually, because what you're doing is that you're constantly regenerating your energy and you're constantly letting go of things you need to let go of.

They're impeding your path somehow. And you're making space for the birth of something new, whether it's more calm, you know, a deeper breath in, you know, you have to let go of the air, you know, it's - you can see it in every practice, that we have to get rid of things that are cluttered up, like our closets, you know, our, our house -

Claudia von Boeselager: The spring cleaning.

Isabella Channing: And then soon, it'll be moldy and it'll affect the foundation of your house.

But if you keep it clean, it'll take - the foundation will stay clean. So it's preventative medicine. And I just love how sort of low tech, low cost it is. It's just so basic sometimes, but it is so challenging to make it a lifestyle choice. That it's not just, you know, something you do from here and there, but it's actually a sustainable practice of whatever sort and that you come back to it.

And I think, just to close on that, is that I even found, and I think that why it's so hard for people is because oftentimes, it's not a very pleasurable experience at first. When you sit down and you're told to close your eyes and take a deep breath, a lot of times it's like we're bombarded with how much is going on in our head and the - and the stress right under the surface.

But we're layers. And so the stress or the anxiety or the discomfort, I mean, I just remember sitting in meditation, you can't move. You're uncomfortable. All you want to do is stop doing that and move and do something else. And so the first initial sensation of discomfort for a lot of these sort of really important healing, daily, simple things, are what dissuade people from continuing.

But with time, not only does the discomfort - you realize it's a thin veil that disintegrates - but the space that you begin to occupy inside yourself is so vast. And rich. And beautiful. And it's a refuge. You have a refuge, this golden empire inside of yourself. That, what ends up happening is if you go for any period of - too long without doing it - you miss it. It's like a - coming home to yourself. And that these - in the beginning, it is hard. You know, it's like learning something new.
It's confronting, a lot of times, like, the BS that is in our life. But to sit through that, it's actually a thinner veil than we think.

And then when we move through, that is such an enjoyable experience. And that, that is what I also want it to be - is that this shouldn't be so hard. And it is hard, and we do confront a lot of really challenging things, but the joy, and the fun, and the freedom. And how even wild, and sexy, and cool this can be - because you're moving past just the first level of, like, frustration, or the discipline, or the boredom, or that there's so many other things to do. It's just, there's a lot of resistance around it.

But as soon as you shift past that, it's really a profound thing how much more fun - not only how much better you feel, but how much more fun it really is - the experience of our days. So what tool, that's completely - I'm never going to tell someone what to do. I'll give people starters, yeah. I mean, practice yoga and meditation, practice healthy eating, practice positive thinking.

I mean, there are a lot of teachers and there's lots of methods to do this. Grab something and stick with it. It's going to be hard and you're not going to like it, but that's irrelevant, almost. What - how you feel about it in the beginning - don't base anything on that. It's just a practice you move through and then talk to me in six months after doing it.

And then you'll say, okay, there's been a real shift.

Claudia von Boeselager: That sounds so amazing. And such an experience for people to go through and to push through the pain barrier, I guess, to enjoy what's at the other side. Really, really profound. And you were speaking about clearing out things. And I think - a question for you: In the last five years, what have you become better at saying no to, be it distractions, invitations, and what new realizations and/or approaches helped.

Isabella Channing: First of all, love that question, Claudia, because it's so important, you know, with this, you know, everyone thinks of wellness, like, oh, just be positive and, like, shift your energy to things that are positive, and although that's true and, you know, the Tony Robbins, and the idea of energy following thought, or things will move in the direction, that you cannot, that - there was like a term coined, you know, “spiritual bypassing” or something, where you actually are constantly only thinking about positive things and you're actually not addressing things that are challenging to move through them because energy needs to be transformed there. It's stuck, stagnant energy that needs to be transformed. And so moving through things that are difficult and that there is a time to focus on - no.

And what do we not want to carry with us? What is that healing samurai sword cutting through, you know, your - there has to be that, kind of, almost fierceness, I think, at some moment in our healing process where we say: ”I've had enough”, you know, and what's great is that you really have to be fed up.

It has to get strong enough for someone to say, I've given - I’m fed up. Because if it's too gentle -

Claudia von Boeselager: Mediocre.

Isabella Channing: A discomfort? Oh, we're fine living with a mediocre life, you know, with these low grade tension headaches - totally used to it at this point. In fact, I wouldn't even recognise myself without them, you know? So, we really - we'd rather hold on to things that we know, even if it sucks, than, kind of like, be shot out into the unknown - who knows what's gonna happen. So -

Claudia von Boeselager: The breakthrough.

Isabella Channing: So I think that there is this very powerful healing process at one moment that we have to continue coming back to, but is this what - yeah, what do we say no to. You know, I even have, I think, - go more into, I think in the beginning, talking about what, yes, you know, sort of, the elimination diet.

Or that idea of like - don't think about all the things that you're cutting out of your diet. Think about the things that you’re just going to add in. Because a lot of people - it immediately creates a lot of stress, sadness, longing. They hate it. They don't want to do it. Like, wait, but I love those things. I have to say goodbye to them.

Claudia von Boeselager: Separation, yeah.

Isabella Channing: And they get stuck on all the things that they can't eat. When really it's like, don't put your energy there. Think about all the things that you can. So I also do believe that there is this - flip the light flow in, and it'll clear out the darkness. But there has to be a -and I think I'm very much still working on this - what are areas that are sucking on my energy somehow?

And it can be, you know, it's really becoming sort of - and in my yoga classes, I even sort of invite people to be, like, enter into an energetic dialogue with yourself, you know, like, learn how to have an energetic dialogue with, you know, understand and comprehension of what's going on with you.

And so it's like mental, emotional, physical, it's all actually kind of blurred together. So - so bring that into saying, okay, what's happening to my energy. What happened after that I spoke, I connected with this. I turned on the news, or I had this type of conversation, or I used these words in the sequence.

Something happened to my energy, and I actually use those words in that sequence a lot. So what's happening there. And so I think that's always step one - energetic dialogue to realize, oh, wow, look what I'm doing. And, oftentimes, without quite being so conscious of it, and how can I stop that? So it's actually pausing, and eliminating, and shifting into another direction.

And so that's about choosing your thoughts. We get to be - how the conscious breath and we can have a conscious mind. And it can also be - those two things can also be unconscious, which is kind of really cool. So we're breathing - thank God that can be unconscious, we don’t have to think about it every single time we do it.

But then what happens when your breath does become conscious? And then what happens - you're thinking all the time, in your mind, you're thinking about this, you’re thinking about this. Your mind is just this wild animal inside, and that actually also, but you can, we have the capacity to stop and choose our thoughts. And how one thought - I always loved this one, you know - more than even food you put in your body, one single thought has the capacity to change the chemistry in your body so quickly, and so drastically. Like, it's a chemical cascade that reaches all your organs, all your soft tissue, all your - so choose your thoughts and feel really empowered to do that. And when you're choosing a thought, you're saying no to another one, there's a process of interrupting that we have to get really good at.
So, our natural tendencies are - tend to be ones that are not good for us. Then, with our evolution as human beings, we get higher quality thoughts, little by little, but at first you have to say, you have to pause and you have to interrupt, and you're literally - and it takes time. Where you stop, and you say “no”, and you have to change your mind.

And then, it becomes easier to the point where, you know, you can - that little neural pathway, I guess, dissolves or something, it doesn't - but that then you are - now have a new mental construct with new chemicals that are being released in your body and a new outlook on your life. I mean, it's actually quite profound, but it starts with the annoying, detailed every day, interrupting and saying no to that feeling.

So I think that I recently had a - the building up of the wellness center - I had self-confidence issues that would come up that would be like, oh my gosh, can I be the director of a wellness center? You know, like, you know, I didn't get my medical degree. These doubtful thoughts would come in. And, and I, that's something that I remember saying - take a deep breath.

You're not trying to be anything other than you are. Just continue this like authentic - this authenticity. So it really became - really sitting in my authenticity and loving it and being from, you know - and emanating it. So I think a lot of it has to do with thoughts because it so easily can misdirect you or -

Claudia von Boeselager: And knowing yourself as well.

Isabella Channing: Yeah, exactly, yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: What I get from that is learning to say no to the thoughts that take your energy and that drain you and being, A aware of it, and B then choosing to redirect to a place where you can create and actually be in a positive frame of mind and focus on what's there, which I love. And one area I find super fascinating, and trying to get more familiar with is intuition. And letting - creating space to actually let intuition come through. So it's also one topic I'm very interested in as well, but it sounds like that, through your journey of knowing yourself and inner connection, that you've really become good at trusting yourself. And, as you call it, authenticity as well, which is so incredible.

Isabella Channing: It’s a process. It’s a constant process, but yeah.

Claudia von Boeselager: Changing gears a bit for some rapid-fire questions, what has been your most exciting purchase in the last six months? I love specifics, so it could be a brand or model, where you can find it, and why?

Isabella Channing: One of the most fun experiences of starting this wellness center and not only was designing the physical space, which was really, really creative and, you know, how does one move through a space. And how does the space somehow inspire healing, you know, and inspire the, what - what we're trying to cultivate inside those walls, you know, so that was really wonderful. And then just as exciting was purchasing the equipment, you know, and the tools that we were going to have in sort of phase one of the wellness center.

And this is where I, you know, I was reaching out a lot to friends in the wellness world and did a lot of research because I'm really, at the end of the day, oi a tiny little coastal town in -

Claudia von Boeselager: At the center of the latest trends.

Isabella Channing: Uruguay, South America. And so, you know, whereas I was living in Manhattan, where I did feel very, quite confident about knowing the latest trends of all the wellness things, as a wellness junkie in all the products and all the brands. And I sort of realized that my shift towards this, like, you know, living in the countryside, on the coast and, you know, it was more about the tuition and making the space for all of that.

But that I want to have a wellness center that has, you know - ‘cause there really are some wonderful gadgets out there. And so -

Claudia von Boeselager: I’m a fan of them.

Isabella Channing: Yes. And I would say that two of the most exciting things that I purchased were an infrared sauna - and I did so much research because I just had to, you know, I like all of the different brands that are making infrared saunas. All the, you know, customer reviews and - learning about it, ‘cause I even, honestly, don't even have that much experience in them because I've been in Uruguay, remember, so it's, it's a fun, it was actually going to be a funny thing, yeah, right?
Steam rooms and saunas, I mean, even living in New York, the bath houses and stuff, I would use all the time and I loved, and I would do them, but infrared was really kind of more on the later end of the spectrum.

Isabella Channing: So I ended up using Clearlight, the company Clearlight, infrared saunas.

Claudia von Boeselager: So just, Clear - C-L-E-A-R?

Isabella Channing: Yeah, Clearlight. I think it's all one word. Which we have been so thrilled with. It's just amazing. It's like this beautiful Cedar interior, and it has beautiful, like, speakers and there's even like chromatherapy. So you have, like, different lights that are like coming on you and then the infrared panels are really good, and -

Claudia von Boeselager: Can you explain for people who might not know the benefit of infrared light? Like, why an infrared sauna? What is it for?

Isabella Channing: Yeah. So infrared light rays penetrate much deeper into the physical body than light rays. And so the penetration in through the muscle - through the skin and through - and I can't remember how many millimeters it is, but it's quite a lot deeper into the body.

And the infrared rays are extremely healing there. They - it's like rapid cellular repair when it’s on the body. And so, having infrared - direct infrared light on the skin is incredibly healing. It just - immune system is, you know, even down to, like, physical, muscular issues, but it's deep immune health. Along with sweating, you know, what sweating does, sweat therapy essentially is just eliminating a tremendous amount of toxins and waste the body produces -

Claudia von Boeselager: Because your skin’s your biggest organ, right?

Isabella Channing: Your skin’s your biggest organ. And so it's like taking a shower from the inside out, you know, and really eliminating and, and letting go. And so it's that double, it's really double it's - it's sweating, but sweating with infrared rays, which also what it does is that it heats the body more than the air. So in a regular sauna, it heats the air.

There are, you know, regular heaters that heat the air, so much so that then the bodies - but actually the body never reaches the temperature to sweat as deeply as it can with infrared. And it also doesn't create such hot air that it's really uncomfortable to be in. It burns your nose -

Claudia von Boeselager: Burns the nose, yeah.

Isabella Channing: So, the infrared is a much - it’s a much nicer quality - a nicer quality heat in a sense, you can really tell the difference in the heat..

And we actually have a regular sauna as well. We have a regular dry sauna, and we have an infrared sauna, which we have in one of our treatment rooms. Along with the soaking tub, which we like to do - so you have sort of a private room ‘cause we really recommend being, you know, fully nude in the infrared sauna to get, like, the most impact of the infrared rays.

And so we'll align it and we'll put, like, healing flowers and herbs in soaking tubs. So you can have sort of a space to just be with yourself, to soak, with lots of salts we'll put in perhaps, or depending on what someone's wanting, you know, and then do the infrared, in the same room. And, also, moving on to the question - my second favorite thing that I purchased was a BioMat, ‘cause it's infrared. It's infrared rays, but it's through amethyst crystals. So it heats the amethyst crystals. And it's a mat, and it’s kind of like all of the fervor in the wellness world, from what I learned, and now have been able to experience. What's wonderful about it is, it’s this comfortable mat that rolls up and along the mat, inside, there are these amethyst crystals.

You hook up the Biomat in - so you plug it into the wall.

Claudia von Boeselager: Electricity.

Isabella Channing: Yeah. And the electricity activates the infrared, heating up the amethyst crystals. And you lie on it. The other thing that the infrared rays does, and the BioMat being so close up to your body, is that your electromagnetic radiation -

Claudia von Boeselager: Field.

Isabella Channing: Yeah - field - is completely cleaned, you know?
And get so much - we’re on cell phones -

Claudia von Boeselager: Yeah, everyone.

Isabella Channing: The cell phones, wifi, cell towers, and, you know, we really have a lot we're holding on - there’s almost like - the cleansing has to happen on the electromagnetic level as well. So, and then you don't even realize why you're feeling so much lighter or so much more peaceful. And that there's a lot of that that's being cleaned out as well.

And so the BioMat, what’s nice about it, it's also like a warming pad. It warms up.

Claudia von Boeselager: So it’s not hot, it’s just warm - it’s comfortable?

Isabella Channing: Yeah. You have a little temperature regulator. And so, if you actually do want it to be hot, you can. And they have them also for office chairs, like in the shape of office chairs, and they have them to put all over your mattress. And so you can literally be sleeping. Which I think the thing about it being plugged in always me a little strange - feel strange about it, but people do, because you have that all night long, that hyper healing energy that comes from the BioMat. And it's super relaxing. And so sometimes we'll even do like a healing session, a hands-on healing session, you know, some sort of massage or something, over the BioMat.
So you get, like, double, triple layers.

Claudia von Boeselager: Wow. That sounds incredible. That sounds really, really wonderful. So two very, very great to purchases there. Has a failure or apparent failure set you up for later success. And do you have a favorite failure of yours?

Isabella Channing: Uh, that's a good one. I, for a long time, really was down on myself for - I started two career paths or rather educational paths that I decided to not continue.

And although they were very conscious choices at the time. They weren't, without their, you know, dose of guilt, looking back. I started pre-med to think about doing med school, which luckily, really, I think was not more than one or even two semesters, and then psychology.

And I spent a long time searching in my post-yoga class -

Claudia von Boeselager: Lightbulb moment.

Isabella Channing: Apocalypse. Yeah, lightbulb moment. Where I said, okay, well now how do I - I actually deepened my studies at the time, right after college, in Uruguay, in my early twenties. And I studied with a healer, it was more of a, like, apprenticing, you know, with a healer and studying with an informal kind of professional training group.

But we learned, I mean, it was just like, I, it was like an in-depth, and it was almost three years where it was really learning all about, you know, the basis of ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine, and bodywork, and even -

Claudia von Boeselager: So, global techniques.

Isabella Channing: Yes, global techniques. I'm learning how to - it was very sort of integrating healing methods, and sort of the synthesis of a lot of these methods.
And what are these overlaps and how interesting to see how they're all actually in so many ways saying the same thing, even quantum-type theory about, you know, health and the mind and you know, the planet and us and what - so it was just this in-depth time, but it was not anything, it was an apprenticeship essentially.

So I, after about three years of intensively studying, I went back to New York and I said, okay, now I want to formalize this deep passion of mine into a career. And that's when I just started to look around at all of the, you know, in New York, the big universities, the small training programs to see, where can I find this synthesis?
I want to learn about all of them in one, in one course in one training or one PhD or one, whatever it is. And I wasn't - I just felt like I wasn't, I couldn't find what I was looking for. And so I, you know, I did a very sort of in-depth medical massage training program, which was wonderful. It was like a two year program and always working, but I felt like, okay, I need more...I want more. And so then I started, you know, pre-med at NYU and I just felt like, okay, great, but that's not actually the direction - that's taking me too far away from this that I'm very clear on what I want. And then I, I mean, I - it's like, then I started psychology. Psychology. I thought, okay, it's psychology, I'll be able to get - but it was, you know, I just remember that I would meet graduates of the programs that were then, you know, that were seven, eight years down the line. And they really, it wasn't that - the work that they were doing and that, wasn't what I was actually looking to do. It really wasn't, it felt like, okay, I could do this, but I would be doing it kind of just for the degree, which is valid. And maybe that's what I should do, but I just felt this fervor of, I already know what excites me and I want to do this. And I think it's powerful and important in the world. And I - but there was nothing, I didn't find it at the time, at least.

Something that really integrated different healing methods that I could become an expert at -

Claudia von Boeselager: So many areas.

Isabella Channing: Lot’s of modalities into one yes. Different areas. And then I studied nutrition, you know, so I feel like there was this feeling of dabbling a little bit that I remember at the time. It's so interesting. I look back and I was like - I think going back to the sort of self-confidence thing or the failure, where at one time I thought how I just, I failed, you know, in these courses because I kept just choosing not to continue them.

And now I look back and I go, thank God, because I just actually, at the end of the day, even though it was coming from sort of a - not the total, you know, like enlightened confidence part of myself - I was saying no, actually to these things that were not actually, even though looking back, you know, with all of the ups and downs of those years, I had a very clear idea, even then, I just kept knowing what was not, what was taking me too far for this way or taking me to for the, and - and somehow I was able to stay somehow on some sort of path to be able to get to where I am now, which is creating a physical space that has these things in the.

And so I think that there was a lot about that, where I saw it perhaps as a failure or this frustration of not finding, you know, this - and I still believe that there should be, you know, like a new curriculum, you know, and I, and I believe people are creating them. I actually almost started - started public health.

I remember as well. And I just remember thinking. There really needs to be something, you know, educators and - needs to come together and create a new curriculum on training people for what is wellness, because I think it needs to be much more at the forefront of everyone's mind, you know, especially when we look at the impact it can have on our health long-term.

And so, you know, I became a health coach and I was working in sort of a health coach or I would - but I just kept feeling like it was like a little bit of this, a little bit of that, a little bit of this. And I was like this sort of frustration of not finding, you know, that one thing. And that's actually, because that one thing was an integration of different things.

So I think that - that probably looking back would be the answer to the many, mini failures along the path.

Claudia von Boeselager: Well, the perceived failures, you can almost say, because looking back now - and as Steve Jobs so rightly says it's connecting the dots, you know, in retrospect, that actually makes complete sense and you probably, you know, you'd take always something with you and that's all contributed to the person you are now and what you're creating and what you're giving back with the wellness center.

So really, really beautiful. For people who want to dig into yoga for longevity and general wellbeing more, what resources or books would you recommend they start with?

Isabella Channing: Oh, that's a good question. So I always first tell people, you know, to just find something that's convenient, like, whether - it’s always more, when people would ask where - they're here for a visit or stay and where can I practice in New York or in Buenos Aires or in wherever they live, who do you recommend?

Where can I go? And my response would be go somewhere where you can sustain it over time. So with resources in terms of, you know, books or anything online, I think it's something that you can click with, and that is easy. It has to really, there has to be ease in the process of connecting. It can't sort of be a complicated process in the beginning.

Claudia von Boeselager: Set yourself up for success, right?

Isabella Channing: Exactly. And so I always loved, you know, for example, Yoga Glow is an online platform where they - you sign up and it's something like, I dunno, $10 a month, or so, actually probably more at this point, I think they started at something like that. But you have access to so many classes.

And I love how they separate it. They go - heart, mind, and body, right? So you can click and it's just a plethora of classes geared around those and, and click, you can click and it's there. And there's a 20 minute class. There's even like a 5 minute class. And a 90 minute class. All different levels and all different types of teachers.

And a lot of them are some of the real heavy hitters in yoga that are out there and alive now. And boom, they have really good audio recordings, you know? And so it, it would just, it's just simple and you can access -

Claudia von Boeselager: Yoga Glo

Isabella Channing: Yoga Glo - G-L-O. There is a payment to it, so, you know -

Claudia von Boeselager: Subscription money.

Isabella Channing: Yeah, subscription-based. One of the highlights in this very challenging, complex, and difficult time of COVID is that all of - a lot of platforms have shifted online.

So a lot of things, especially yoga, I think the yoga world maybe was more reticent to move online. I mean, I'm sort of speaking for the whole yoga world, which - I know a lot of people had online practices before, a lot of virtual studios and so forth, but there was a really big shift of wellness-type resources that are now online. And I think that that was a boom. The wellness industry boomed online during COVID.

And I think that we have yet to even see all the things that have been created and resources that there are, but there are a lot of people, who before were only in person, are communicating online and that people who say, oh, I don't know about online. It's, you know, it's a transition, it's shifting out of your comfort zone, but give yourself the time because you can access so directly some of the most powerful teachings that are happening on the planet now. And people are doing it, they're there, they're offering their classes, they're offering their services, and encouraging a lot of people.

I have a lot of, sort of, older students as well. And sometimes they can just say, you know, and you can tell that it's the same mental construct they've been saying, oh no, I don't do things well online, or something like that. And I'm like, oh, okay. So let's just pause there for a second, you know. Rewind. So, this is something you believe, it’s a belief system about yourself.

You're not good at this. So to just shift and say, you know, just because we, you know, at this point we can be blocking ourselves off from something that's so special and meaningful and - and then the simplicity of it is actually, you know - can be taught and learned, of how to access it. So, I think that's something exciting to see and that there are more and more resources.

I als0 - my meditation teacher who I've been working with, she's a dear friend and meditation teacher who does incredible online things in South America, she's half American, half Chilean, and she moved to Chile a few years ago, around the same time I moved to Uruguay, and started a meditation school.

And she's from a lineage of, you know, her guru in India, and she's devoted her life to service. So she's, and she's just, I mean, a ball of sunshine and love, and she's teaching online classes and meditations and spiritual coaching and - and she has wonderful, also, mini, you know, daily meditations that she does.
Her name is Shree Devi, if you want to put that there.

Claudia von Boeselager: Sure, I’ll put it in the show notes. S-H-R-I?

Isabella Channing: S-H-R-E-E.

Claudia von Boeselager: Okay. Shree Daly?

Isabella Channing: Devi.

Claudia von Boeselager: Oh, excuse me.

Isabella Channing: D-E-V-I And then another word, Devi, Shree Devi Maa. M-A-A. So three words, Shree Devi Maa. And she has VIDALINEADA. That is her business essentially. And we've had her do retreats at the shock last year, on our opening. She was there. We were actually planning another one. And she can do bilingual retreats. And she’s - so much of like these powerful sorts of energy, meditation, healing, you know, affirmations, or changing the way that we're thinking and stuff. A lot of that is so much from the support of Shree Devi of, you know, the work that I've been doing with her, and the work that she's doing. And it's really incredible to witness everything she's doing. She has a lot of resources as well online.

So yeah, those are the two right now that pop into mind. Yoga Glo, Shree Devi’s online platform, which - you can find her on Instagram. And I know there are so many more, but -

Claudia von Boeselager: Those are two really good places to start. And where can people, and of course, I'll also put this in the show notes, but where can people learn more about what you're up to, and what you'd like to share with people, what you're doing with the wellness retreats, where's the best place to find you?

Isabella Channing: I would say to follow us on Instagram, we're always updating with our programming, some things that are happening. It's TheShackYoga, altogether. Shack being S-H-A-C-K- Shack Yoga. And the website as well. We - is www.theshockyoga.com. You can find us there for our online - so we're going to be launching online practices, as well as the retreats and intensive courses that we'll be doing for the next year.

Claudia von Boeselager: Oh, excellent. So people can find out about that and sign up. That sounds really great.

As a closing comment, and this has been a really wonderful conversation touching on so many inspiring and amazing parts. Do you have a final ask, or recommendation, or next step suggestion, whatever it might be, for my audience, any parting thoughts or message?

Isabella Channing: I think something that has been sort of so prevalent to this conversation and also others we've had together, as well as sort of a continuing theme as well in my journey, is that adverse, or challenging, or traumatic, or difficult, experiences can end up being our best friends. I mean, they can end up being the most profound and important experiences that we have.

And that I think almost as - as an advice to give a friend or to give a class that I'm teaching or to the audience listening is to not shy away, you know, is to greet adverse moments front on.. Full on. Invite them in, sit with these difficult things, sit in your discomfort, because the process of transforming or - which happens after we first invite it in - of transforming challenge that we feel in our life - is what ends up deepening the purpose of our journey. And that we begin to cultivate so much of who we are, why we're here, what this self-knowledge - it happens through the process of moving through these challenging or difficult things that can happen in our life. So to not avoid it and to greet it and meet it and almost love it, invite it in, sit with it, because they will be your pillars.

They will be those moments. And they are what will allow you to evolve essentially as a human being. And so I, I just, you know, I - I try to even remind my young girls and myself and - if something challenging is happening is, this is - this can be - this can be an amazing moment. Just right now, it's going to feel so hard, and to just bring it in, let it in, let the tidal waves come in and whatever it has to offer. And that moving through this moment, will end up providing so much meaning to your life, essentially.

So I think those might be my parting words.

Claudia von Boeselager: Isabella, thank you so much. This has been so wonderful and inspiring for - for myself and for listeners on their journey to longevity and lifestyle. So thank you so much for joining the podcast. It was a real pleasure speaking with you.

Isabella Channing: Claudia, it's so inspiring to see what you're doing, that so many people can reach these conversations, such important human conversations about this - such an important subject.

And I just love what you're doing, and so excited to see more. And thank you so much for having me as a part of it.