S1:E16 - Uzuri is In The Studio With Calamity Jane
In The Studio with Calamity Jane is a show highlighting the incredible women of Las Vegas!
Uzuri from the Sacred Geometry Kemetic Yoga and Wellness Studio joins us for this episode. Kemetic Yoga is an ancient form of Egyptian yoga, based upon the practices of physical movements combined with controlled deep breathing and meditation. Their yoga studio focuses on providing a yoga experience for the melanin-enriched people of Las Vegas.
If you're an amazing person in Las Vegas (or know one), fill out the guest application for a chance to be In the Studio with Calamity Jane!
Transcript:
Hello, welcome to another episode of In The Studio With Calamity Jane. My name is Jodi, also known as Calamity Jane.
Our purpose with this series is to highlight amazing women in our community and give them the spotlight for a moment.
Joining me today is Uzuri from the Sacred Geometry Kemetic Yoga and Wellness Studio. Welcome to the show, Uzuri.
[Uzuri]: Thank you so much for having me today, Jodi. It's an honor and a pleasure to be here.
Tell us a little bit about about your business.
I am a co-owner of a studio called Sacred Geometry and Kemetic Yoga Wellness Studio and this studio is primarily geared toward people of, that are melanin enriched because Kemetic Yoga comes from Kemet, which is the ancient word for Egypt.
And so it's interesting because, in my journey, I primarily walk into classes and there are beings, beautiful ones that don't necessarily look so much like myself and so I was drawn to this specific style because I walked in and there were people that looked like me.
How did you come to get started in this field?
I have to take you way back because yoga saved my life.
I was that kid that was super angry and was going to get kicked out of school. A woman grabbed me and said, "go sit and breathe." I was like, "what?" And she showed me a process of how to breathe and that's how I was introduced to yoga.
So my journey, I went from different styles of yoga that people are very familiar with, from the Bikrams, the Anusaras, the Hathas, the you name it, I trained, I got the certification in it. And so this came about because of a dear friend of mine. Actually, I was her teacher, and it's interesting how they always say 'the teacher arrives when the student is ready., Well, she was ready at that time and then it flipped and she became my teacher, because she had certified in Kemetic Yoga. And I was like, "What are you doing? This is bomb!"
And it really focuses on the meditative aspect of it, not the physicality, that very Western yoga does. It's not - 'Come and go to the gym, work it out. How many downward facing dogs can I do?' No. It's about - 'let's tune into the breath because the breath is the gateway.'
What do you feel makes you successful?
You know, that word success is a very interesting word because I believe it's based off of other people's goals, criteria, bullet-points, all of those things. So I'm going to gracefully not answer that question in that way and merely say what makes me is, I have found something that honors the truth of who I am and the authenticity that I know myself to be through trial and error, and I continue to show up with consistency... and that, I think, some people would say are the ingredients for success. However, I think it's an ongoing journey, it doesn't ever end. So, I'm not a label person, I don't like to be put in a box and I feel like success does that.
What one piece of advice would you give to a woman who may be watching this, who would like to strike out on her own and follow her passion?
I would say there's a subtle voice that you know to be true, and it's like this voice that stays with you no matter what. Never yells at you, it doesn't get really quiet... it's, like, straight-up consistent.
And so, if you've found something that you're passionate about and that voice is consistently saying go for it, trust the process. The process really works. You probably could think in your life of all the situations that you've been through, circumstances, whether they be great and not so great, you've gotten through it.
And I truly believe that the universe is consistently conspiring to get you what you want and it wouldn't present that opportunity if it wasn't going to take you all the way through. So go for it. Do it, no-holds barred. Like, today's the day, the time is now. Do it! Put on your Nikes and just do it!
And now, the famous questionnaire that was asked for 26 years by the great Bernard Pivot and made famous on In The Actors Studio:
What is your favorite word?
Yes.
[Jodi] Why?
Because it opens things and it allows. It lets me know I'm in the place of receiving.
What is your least favorite word?
Difficult. It's my least, it's probably semantics, but difficult seems to stop me personally at all times, so I like to switch that word to challenging or challenge because I'll arise to it every single time.
What turns you on creatively, emotionally, or spiritually?
Okay, I just have to say it, I know could stop the tape, but my mind went way left. So I'm gonna work to---
[Jodi] Bringing it back...
Bring it back. However, I, it's all that, right? It's all intercourse. I can say that, right? Like, it's all intercourse. That turns me on, it's about creation. It's about things, beings, life force coming together with that which is greater than yourself and there's a flow that occurs and that's exciting and that's juicy and that's delicious and yummy.
What turns you off?
I think humans that are, and not even just humans, I think beings that are for lack of a better word - unopen, that have a very narrow perspective, that, maybe it's not even that, but I'll talk it through with you.
Maybe it's that they choose to not be open to other perspectives and a possibility of that and even if that's the truth for them, I don't know if that truly turns me off. I think if you want to stay there, stay there but please allow me to live how I choose to live and you stay in your lane and I'll stay in mine. However, we can still be and not have a disharmony.
What is your favorite curse word?
Fuck. Because people are not getting enough of it, they don't like to talk about it, it's something and, yeah I can make love, I can have sex, but sometimes you just wanna be fucked. I wanna be carnal, animalistic about it and release and it's a great way, specifically for women, either we have to sweat it out, we have to cry it out or have to hit orgasm after orgasm. Orgasm to let it out and that is fuck-ing. So that's my favorite.
What sound or noise do you love?
I love the sound of silence because if you really listen, it's not ever that. So, what we know as silence, I like that. However, there's a depth in there if you listen and hear.
What sound or noise do you hate?
I'm gonna go with, and this is just from my military, being in war experience, it's not a sound that is a familiar sound, but it would be a sound of someone in torture. And I don't mean from being tortured, I mean a horrific event where there's a sound that comes out of a human's body, even an animal's body that you know something horrific has happened.
What profession, other than your own, would you like to attempt?
I think I would like to conduct a symphony. Like, conduct some, and just be, like, "boom, you go, boom, you go, and here we go." To hear that come together. I think that would be fun.
What profession would you never want to do?
I think I would never like to do a job or a profession that had to do with taking life. Whether it was people, animals, having to make the decision to say this is your last breath.
If Heaven exists what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?
Can't come in, there's more to do, get your ass back down there. You got more support this time, more gems this time, it's on and crackin'. Yeah.
[Jodi]: Thanks for being with us today, Uzuri.
[Uzuri]: Thank you so much for having me, Jodi.
Thank you for watching! Join us for the next edition of In the Studio with Calamity Jane, where we put another amazing womanfrom Las Vegas in the spotlight.
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