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What’s good, you all? Welcome back to Conversation Piece. The show where we re-experience Indianapolis with the perspectives of all of its incredible people. My name is Patrick. I am your host. And this is the Open Door series, where we literally open the door to the studio and sit down with members of the community to talk about whatever is on their hearts.
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If you’re interested in participating or you want to learn more, head to conversationpiecepod.com conversationpiecepod.com and click on the open door up at the top. And without further ado, we’re going to get into it. Actually, without further ado. Shout out to Life in Indy of the team over there for sponsoring this series. And with that, let's get it.
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My guest today is Destiny Taylor. Destiny. Thanks for joining me. Thank you for having me. You have such a great podcast voice. I hope I can compliment you there 100%. I appreciate the compliment.
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I hope I can compliment you well. Thank you.
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Thanks for having me 100%. Destiny for folks tuning in right now who don’t know who you are. Do you mind sharing just a little bit more about yourself? Yeah. So, in short, destiny. I am from Indiana, from here. I've lived in Los Angeles for the past eight years, and I just recently moved back. All right.
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And yeah, out there on the West Coast, I really delved into all things wellness, mindfulness, spirituality as you do, as you immerse yourself in that culture. And now that I’m back in Indiana, I’m just continuing my work in that space. And I have a business called the Mama Green. Okay. And I have been hosting really cool wellness experiences here that blend the wellness aspect.
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Of course, I’m a yoga instructor, also a sound bath guide. But I also love music. I love culture, I love black and brown people and just vibe. So I've just been bringing that all, together for events. I love it. And it's been. Yeah, they've been doing really well. It's been cool. Yeah. Well, congratulations on all on that.
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On their success. Did you feel like you had any, any of that pre LA, or did you feel like you had to bring some of that back with you? Yeah. Andy. Great question. So definitely I've brought a lot of that back here to Indy. And it's actually been an intention of mine for a couple of years because growing up here, very, very beautiful black background, we didn't do yoga.
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We barely worked out. We did not it. Well, we are some good, you know, soul food. But you didn't. We didn't practice mindful, mindful eating. So it's been a objective of mine to come back and to bring those experiences, bring those knowledge and bring that knowledge here. And happy to have been doing that. Yeah for sure. Well, I’m assuming we might be talking about that, but is there anything in particular that’s on your heart right now that you want to talk about?
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I just want to tell people that you are beautiful. Yeah. When was the first time someone told you that? My mom told me I was beautiful since I was eight. I’m sure she is. Totally. Since I was like a toddler. Especially growing up and being as beautifully chocolate as I am. I am and I have.
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My family is a bit lighter skinned than I am. My mom has always made sure that she and planned it to me that my beautiful chocolate skin is is beautiful and it's needed in the world. Yeah. So I grew up with affirmation. Absolutely. And speaking of affirmations, which I actually forgot, I’m actually a published author and I make affirmation cards, okay?
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And, I don’t have my two published works, but I realized in my bag this is the one I carry around. And this is my, my self-published deck. The first one that I bought sold a monstrous golden mantras. I’m a whole last vibe. I’m going for it with laser. Yeah. Everything my heart desires is manifesting into reality.
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This is the card I need to pull, because I feel like a bunch of stuff has been happening recently. So thank you for saying to me this deck right here, Alpha one two. Yeah, well, one, I actually just threw it in my bag this morning and I didn't pull one. Mine says I am a radiant being of love, light and joy, which I needed this because I've been in grind mode.
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So it's nice to remind myself that I can be joyful. Yeah, my light spirit still pulls through when I’m in. You know my business mode for sure. How do you balance business mode with wellness mode when wellness is the business? I feel like they maybe not antithetical, but they seem kind of like on the opposite ends of what they are about.
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But how do you like how does that work for you? So I’m getting better. I’m. I've been doing this for two years, and I feel that actually since I've come here. So maybe the past five months, I’m. I’m getting pretty good at it. Yeah. I have a corporate career in brand marketing. So when I’m in business mode, it's very corporate.
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Sure, sure, sure. So that makes a stark difference from that mindset to wellness. I remember when I hosted the event for my last deck, I was doing all of the programing leading yoga, sharing information about the deck, sound baths. But at the same time, I was intently running the program, making sure like where everything's on time and I have photos that my friend took of me where I’m doing a sound bath and I’m like, so how do I balance it?
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Honestly, just just being mindful, like telling myself when, when the event starts or when I’m serving, I need to be serving mode. Sure. And I've also gotten good at asking for help, which I’m not great at. I’m I've been an independent lady for most of my life, but now I’m I’m still an independent lady who likes help. Yeah, I can help out a take away from your independence.
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Absolutely. Actually, I feel like it's made me stronger. For sure. For sure, for sure. Yeah. Because that’s, a self-awareness of like, oh, I may not be equipped enough in this area that I need some help in. And I can ask somebody because hopefully being in a community with you I just got done talking about was one of the words fresh in my mind, is that I’m connected with people who have different skills and different experiences that, make mine more whole, you know?
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So, speaking of, like, passing on the affirmation of, like, hey, you’re beautiful, like you as a person. You as a person is beautiful. These two beautiful people over here. Very beautiful. You have very beautiful, beautiful beards in the room, two beautiful beards in the room, and whatever this is,
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What is it like? Do you feel like you indie is a space, like affirming space?
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So I guess two parts of that question, of affirming for you individually and then affirming maybe just in general, like, does dude, does it have that vibe? It's interesting being back. I don’t want to get too deep because I know this is a short conversation, but part of my wellness journey, self-discovery journey that I experienced when I moved away from home is the experience I had as a child.
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And I think a lot of times when we’re younger and we’re in our own bubble, we can often feel.
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We feel the challenges. Maybe in some ways we feel we’re not affirmed. We can’t find our people and things like that. So I experience that when I’m younger, when I was younger. So now that I am back in India, it's important that I’m coming with fresh eyes, with a fresh mind. Me, as someone who has grown and evolved a bit so I can answer that question for myself.
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Yeah, I do, I’m very honest. But I can say just as a black person here. Yeah. I especially in wellness, I often don’t go in spaces where I see myself, where I see people who have my same background, who have my same complexion. So I can say that what I’m doing with the mom and green in my wellness spaces is to ensure that there's more acceptance, more like black and brown folks.
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So I can say that I’m still to answer your question. I’m still discovering, but I’m also contributing sure, to the community here so that I myself, the people that I love, my community, can feel more affirmed. Yeah, well, you’re creating that space. If you don’t see it, then you have to, somebody's got to step in and make it.
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And you have the benefit of having been able to go outside of the space for a number of years and then develop, learn, cultivate in your own way, like what wellness means, and then be like, hey, I love where I’m from. A love where, for whatever reason, we’re coming back and I want to bring this back. And then it's like, okay, the space still isn't really here.
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So let me go ahead and and build something for, for the, what does Indianapolis mean to you? Home. It means walking outside with no shoes on, catching lightning bugs on my hands, seeing a bunch of lakes and walking alongside them. That's what it means for me, and especially living on the West Coast for so long. Those are the things that I cherish about this place.
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Sure. And I'll pull up. I'll call them little things, but it's I don’t know it. I don’t think that’s the right way. I don’t want it to diminish diminish it in any way. I’m trying to think of what? And I don’t think nostalgia is the right way to describe it, Nastassja. But it's. I’m. I’m not I’m not sure how to explain it, but I can say coming from a desert and coming from a heavily condensed area.
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Yeah, I took for granted. Like being able to do those things like taking walks and hearing, cicadas. Sure. Seeing birds and stuff. So yeah, I think about it as like, like light pollution. Yeah. Like I grew up in rural, rural Indiana. And so like it was I got the experience of like, seeing the stars a lot and seeing, like, pitch black, but living in cities and then, like, living in, like, San Diego and Chicago and stuff in those condensed environments.
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It's like you you do lose some of that. And when you were describing it, I was thinking the word space pop up and I’m like, yes, like space to move, space to breathe. Not that you can’t find that and like LA and other places, but something that’s challenging, it is for sure. And I think the way the city is laid out.
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But then just Indiana in general is a state like you can find more of those pockets of space to move freely or however you choose to move. Yeah, yeah. You can. Lots of land. Yeah. Also too, like lots of space to build community, which is great. It's amazing that you know what you’re doing here, what all of the tenants in the States are doing where we’re having this conversation.
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I don’t know if that’s public knowledge, but, but I mean, even to, to be able to just come here and, just hop in, host my events, connect with people. That's space. That's a gem of what Indiana or Indianapolis provides, for sure. You may have already answered this question, but want to ask, like, what do you want to see from the wellness space in the city?
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Not just the rest of the year, but maybe just going forward? Yeah. And this is what I want to see. And wellness spaces in general, just more like a true third space for people to connect. And what that looks like is we’re not just doing yoga, we’re not just doing sound baths. It's.
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Some something else is there, you know, something else. Just the activity. It's not just the activity. Okay. Yeah. Like there's connection. There's, you know, maybe there's food in there which I provide. I think that’s important for sure. Everybody loves a little food, but, yeah, you know, music culture, just like rich integrated. Yeah. Experience. Like you’re not just going there to, like, okay, I’m checked in and I’m.
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I’m do the thing and then I leave. You leave? Yeah. It's more of a place to, like you said, build community and connect. You talked you just mentioned a couple ways that you do that. Any, like, any way in particular you found that has really, like, connected with people or brought them in. Obviously people are different. So there's going to be different ways.
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But any way that you have either found that’s super effective or one that you just really enjoy. Yeah, I mean, one thing about me, especially me having a marketing background, again, I’m not just doing you’re going to sound bad, right?
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was like, you know what, I want to bring a vibe. Like I’m thinking like candle. Like, I want to feel like I’m in Tulum. So I found that space, which is Sahar Wellness Center, ran by Black Woman and found square.
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It's beautiful. It's like you’re transported into to loom. So I got candles. You know, I want to, I want teas, I want to make it a tea lounge. So I’m bringing in complimentary teas and. Yeah, also, what else to top it off, to wrap it in a bowl. Like use it. Yeah. We're going to make this a candlelit tea lounge that’s going to transform into a music lounge after we finish our activity.
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It's a full a whole experience, a whole whole ass vibe and experience. Yes, yes, I love it. Well, in that too, like, you’re probably finding people in the city to collaborate with, like you just said, to then build. And I think that’s the best part about community. And what I've really enjoyed about doing things here in Indianapolis is like, people are generally willing to be like, hey, how can we collaborate together?
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And most of those people are doing pretty cool stuff. So absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely. I appreciate you popping in and sharing a little bit, as we wrap it up here, what are what's the best way for folks out there listening, watching, tuning in right now to, you to follow. You find. Yeah. What's the best way for them to go?
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Yeah. Instagram is the best place. And you can follow me there at the mama green. The mama green, the model green on IG. We're going to link it in the show notes. And you’re going to make sure to get connected and find yourself some wellness. Find yourself some good vibes. Definitely. Thank you so much. Thank you. Lily.
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Conversation pod for everything. Conversation related. Shout out to Life Nanny for sponsoring this series. And until next time I've been Patrick Armstrong. There's been the open door. See also.