Yoga Since 1996, Bitcoin Since 2020 | 21 Questions with Heather Larson

Sats are satya, you know, sats are true. You know, one sat is always one sat

So I would attack it from the angle of ethics aligning yoga yoga's ethics aligning with bitcoins ethics

Hi everyone, welcome to ask a bit coin or 21 questions. I'm your host

sata Gomez and I am joined by the lovely Heather Larson who's helping me with my breathing

There we go

Heather will answer or try to answer. Yeah, 21 questions in 10 minutes about yoga and bitcoin. How are you Heather?

I'm great, so you know, thank you for having me on

My pleasure

Do you want to give the audience a brief intro?

A brief intro before we start or do you want to go straight into it?

Absolutely, I can do a brief intro, you know, I'm a bit quainer and yoga teacher

I love to talk about bitcoin and yoga, so you've you've now like brought together all of my special interests all in one and

A lot of people know me from radio detox or soapbox sessions

You know, my day job is is working in a variety of bitcoin and and noster, you know tech startups from

So box to rigley you even find me on lightning news. I know I'm forgetting one up runster

So you know keep keeping with the fitness health and wellness

That wee bit coiners love so much

Amen

Okay, so you know the deal 21 questions 10 minutes

I'll read the first question and then I'll start the timer and I almost forgot before we start

Of course, there will be the cashew e-cash qr code somewhere popping up and the first person to spot it

And scan it will get the 2100s at so good luck awesome and we shall start first question

Have you ever talked about bitcoin in a yoga class or workshop?

Yes, I have it just kind of organically happened once because I was playing some music on wave lake in a yoga class

And somebody liked the music and I said well that song happens to be by ainsley Castello a very solid bit coiner

And so this was technically after class, but yes, I it has happened once organically of course was wasn't trying to orange pill the yoga class wasn't trying

If

If you had to explain bitcoin to a room full of yogis using only concepts from your practice, what would you say?

I would go with the ethics and the values the namas

Urgamas and nianas I would I would talk about the ethics like a staya non-stealing or satya, which is truth

And by the way, sats are satya, you know, sats are true, you know, one sat is always one sat so

You know, I don't know if yogis would appreciate sats or satya right out the gate

But I would I would attack it from the angle of ethics aligning yoga yogas ethics aligning with bitcoins ethics

Do you accept a bitcoin for your classes? I do

I have done that on noster. I have accepted zaps for people who attended my online classes

I have always as a as a rakemaster accepted or told people I would accept bitcoin

Nobody's actually paid me in bitcoin for rakey, but for yoga. Yes, I can I have zapp right on my site

I've I've the traditional payment rails as well, but yes at nbitcoiners and when you pay in bitcoin 10% discount for you

Nice what came first for you yoga or bitcoin

chronologically yoga

Yoga since 1996 so this is my 30th year of yoga and for bitcoin

We'll just say class of 2020 because that's when I got deeply into bitcoin

What do yoga and bitcoin have in common?

Uh, the ethics and the values um, there's probably about 21 different things I can come up with

As far as like both are misunderstood both are ethically aligned

There's so much that the coin and yoga have in common, but I would say the ethics the the low time preference the tendency towards study

um

Being deep rabbit holes that I will go down and never get out of um bitcoin and yoga are are definitely aligned

Um, and I think that pointers are definitely aligned to yoga as well. I should give it a try

So in my experience most yoga teachers are women, but most big pointers are men

You exist in both spaces. What is that like? Oh, it's hard. Uh, you know, I've existed soapbox

We're very uh developer oriented and you know in

Nostradevs a lot of men mostly men bitcoiners a lot of men these these are male heavy spaces

I've always worked in male heavy spaces though

Uh, from radio and records rock and roll um, I think the only women

Intense fields I've been in have been you know social work in yoga and so it's it's trying to

Stand out and stand up for myself as a woman, you know, I'm on a tear right now

I'm trying to ensure that when I do a bitcoin event if I'm speaking on a panel and bringing another woman with me

Or setting up women to be on panels. If you define not there, we we did this in DC for runster

We had ainslie Castello, Catherine and Ella Huff on a Gen Z women in the point panel

I didn't have to be there. I didn't have to be on the panel

gloriously davitar my friend an amazing musician

Did that panel for me in DC? So that's that's kind of my point. I spend sticking point right now is

What did you think when you first heard of bitcoin?

My first thought about bitcoin that was that it was a finance and trading

Trading was my first thought and I thought that it was like you needed a robin hood app to do

Yeah, really that was my first impression of bitcoin. It was very wrong

Uh, but I think a lot of people probably share that too

What does financial sovereignty mean to you?

Uh, financial sovereignty means independence. I think for women especially, you know, to be able to have money

Uh, that you

Can access and husband or partner cannot access or does not know about. I think that's been a huge issue for

Uh, myself in the past and many women that I know that is that is the sovereignty issue

What would you say to a yogi who avoids bitcoin because they believe it's bad for the environment

Oh

Yeah, that is the fun speaking right there, but yeah, you can't tell somebody that so you know

I I wouldn't encourage people to study the work of bitcoiners like margo paez and daniel botan

People who really understand energy and and mining and how you know bitcoin mining is actually a net positive

For energy and it's it's it's not what people think it is. It's not the stigmatized version of

Just fun that people think it is

What's your favorite a sauna?

Oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest, and I'm gonna say child's pose

It's it's not one of the fancy ones. It's just you know you you're practicing yoga if you get on your mat and get in child's pose and you

Breathe. Yeah, that's that easy and also that heart

So there are a lot of posts about manifesting in the wellness space and bitcoin is about proof of work

How do you reconcile the two?

Well, and yoga and the sutras. They're actually you know

There is something to the manifesting idea, but it's not called manifesting per se

It's called bovina which is calling into existence and you know

You still do have to do work if you want to manifest, you know

You don't just sit there and go

I'm manifesting a Ferrari and it appears right you still have to actually like go make the money

I think you know

It's the same with bitcoin, you know, it's it's proof of work and it's it's energy and it is it is a system of math

That's a system of science and and you know software development if you really want to go down the rabbit hole

But you know both how proof of work and you know you can't you can't fake the funk, you know, you can't fake bitcoin

You can't copy it, you know, you can't and the same thing with yoga, you know show up

Do the work you do your best and you detach from the result and the same is true with bitcoin and sometimes it's gonna be up

Sometimes it's gonna be down. You just have to chill with it. Just got to ride the wave

Yeah

Um, so how does actually proof of work look to a yogi

Proof of work comes in I think a feeling which I guess is not the the best form of proof of work

But it's you begin to feel different you begin to transform bitcoin does this to you too, you know

You begin to feel a transformation. No, maybe you're standing taller. Maybe you're breathing deeper

Maybe the space, you know

Between these interrupting thoughts maybe maybe that space is is broader

Deeper as well and maybe there's just more

More peace comes to be and that's that's what's going to you know bring that to you

Is there an assana or posture viewers can do if they feel stressed about money

Ah, that's that's a good one. I would I would say child's post because you know

You're going to

Lay your head on the floor. It's kind of like cuddling into yourself and you breathe that, you know

That is something you can do or you could also just sit up straight in a staff pose, you know

Align the spine breathe deeply and center and both of these can be centering and very grounding

How has the fiat mindset impacted the way we practice yoga? Oh

Oh gosh, let's start with the Lululemon

$100 yoga pants yoga yoga yoga has become so much about it. You know, we can blame it. Do you remember this it's

It's so much about aesthetics or looks or how we look in the pose and it's it's very nice when you find a yoga studio that does not have mirrors

You know, you don't need mirrors to practice yoga. You don't need fancy pants. You don't need a whole bunch of things

You know, like I started out with yoga with a $5 book and a very bad fitness mat and here I am 30 years later

Still in love with yoga

Because I connected with it on that level of feeling like it changed me, you know, it doesn't have to be

Expensive retreats and expensive, you know fiat yoga pants

What's the biggest misconception about yoga?

The biggest misconception about yoga is that it's fitness

Because it is so much more than that is is an ancient system thousands of years old that if you practice it

It can bring you peace. It can bring you alignment. They can bring you whatever you put into it is what you're going to get out of it and uh

Although big coins only 17 years old. It's kind of the same. Whatever you put into Bitcoin is what you're going to get out of it

How do you manage Bitcoin's volatility? Oh

Oh, man, I don't want to look

No, I actually like I have the price action on my my screen every day

So I kind of I'm aware of it, right? I'll miss see it one way or another or Bitcoin's winners

Gonna let me know or Nostra's gonna let me know what the price is doing. So I just kind of go

Okay, I'm in this for the long haul. Hold up here at the time. That's 10 minutes. However

However, we did have a few glitches

So I'm gonna add a few seconds onto the clock. We're gonna add about

I'm gonna say 20 seconds on to the clock

um

The question we're on currently is Bitcoin's volatility

You may continue with the answer or we can move on to question 17

Okay, let's talk about it. 17. Let's see. I knew I couldn't do it. Okay

I'm already

But your answers are really good and I think that they're super helpful. So an additional 20 seconds added to the clock and

um

I'll have to read quickly. Okay, so starting and

What's harder to do self-custody or a headstand?

I'm gonna go with headstand. I both headstand has to do with fear or self-custody pretty much

I think just has to do with taking action

The wellness industry is expensive. How can we build a wellness practice and save in Bitcoin at the same

time that was a long question the alarm just went off again

Oh my gosh, I can okay

Okay, so how can we see the blockers been confirmed?

Um just so we did this with a new Joe as well um the block is unconfirmed

You're gonna see like in the episode it'll go more

Unconfirmed, but we will continue and

I didn't mention this for the full interview, but there is a 12-word

seed phrase that the audience can try to find

We will go over time again with this we'll get through the rest of the questions and

There will be a seed word clue somewhere in here. So audience stay watching because you're gonna want this clue

So that you can eventually swipe the wallet with the 21,000 sats

Let's resume ready ready

Okay, so I'll read the question again. The wellness industry is expensive

How can we build a wellness practice and save in Bitcoin at the same time?

Oh begin where you are, you know, again, it's not about the Lululemon pants, you know, it's it's about

How can I do yoga? How how can I or how can I stay fit and and and be well?

And meeting yourself where your finances are at, you know, you don't need the stress of overextending your finances

And spending beyond what you can afford, you know, I do have a friend

Excuse me

I do have a friend who spent about a hundred thousand dollars on her her wellness

And she was able to cover it and it was it was something that

She had been through something and and her her health and wellness had badly suffered

And and she said this is an investment of myself and I'm doing it and she just had that firm belief

You know that bovina that calling in or manifesting that I'm going to

spend what it takes on my wellness. So that's that's like one

It's a mindset

Where you do that and like for me, I've I've not gone that route

I've been like

Let me live within my means because I'm on a stack sats like yeah

Maybe I don't need a chair, but I do need a meditation cushion

So it comes down to the you know economic trade-offs that we all face

But certainly you have to find a balance between putting your wellness first and also, you know

Putting your stacking first for the long term and and just kind of breathing into it again. It's always breath right

Breathing and doing okay, I can stack sats and I can meditate because you know to be honest breathing is free

You know sitting down and deep breathing and trying to you know bring it down a six breaths a minute

You know if you can do that you're you're breathing you're meditating you're practicing yoga

You know, it's that simple that is free

You know, and I've also been able to offer

In the past I've been offering you know online yoga classes through Noster and anybody could attend

There was no gatekeeping and and if people wanted to send me sats afterward

They could send me sats afterward on Noster. So, you know, I think that's a powerful way to do yoga

Where it's the the people who participate, you know, give you

You know the value that they perceive that they received and so you know people spent a few sats on me

Great and if not they got to have yoga in an affordable way

Yeah

What does life look like after practicing yoga and stacking sats for a few years?

Oh, it's it's a shift, right? It's a mindset shift

It's a calmness and an optimism that I think that you don't get if you're engaged in in fiat world or fiat fitness

You know that's in which I you know refer to fiat fitness as like the the very centralized form of fitness, you know if you're

You know part of a big gym or big fitness conglomerate, you know, whereas yoga you don't need to do that

You know, that's not the way of yoga to have a you know a McDonald's version of yoga

You know and then Bitcoin changes you as well and I think both things change your values and change your priorities

In a more wholesome way to where there there should overall be less stress when you kind of adopt this way of life where it's like

I am saving in the hardest money possible like I have a future now and I'm confident in that and I'm also practicing yoga

You know, so that's a change as well

What is Noster

Noster is notes and other stuff transmitted over relays and it's an acronym for protocol

You know protocols versus platforms, but uh

Noster is many things. Noster is basically rebuilding the internet so that it is open source and free

You can join at ditto.pub. That's what we made at soapbox, which is a little bit beta

But it's kind of the super app where we can pull

Every aspect of what you might want online and to kind of one thing if you want video if you want pictures

If you want articles if you want to share like Twitter

But it's unsensorable and that's the magic of Noster

It's also compatible with the rails of Bitcoin and Lightning and you know, that's why there's a lot of Bitcoiners on Noster

But Noster is whatever you want it to be and I know that sounds very generalized and generic

But it is it is the answer to a closed internet where you can be de-platformed where you can be censored

But it's it's like if you pull together

Twitter, Facebook, TikTok and everything else and it just gave it one login one profile

And you get to take your audience with you for the rest of your life

You don't have to move between them. You just you have one

Community and many possibilities and that's I guess the best way to put Noster

It's a more

sociable

wholesome and free

internet experience just it's just kind of rebuilding the internet to what it was supposed to be in the beginning

Yep

And last question

Do you practice more yoga during a bear market or the bull market?

Oh, well, you need it more in the bear. I don't know if it's about practicing more

I think it's about practicing differently. I think you know when you when things feel bearish

I can tend to go more towards philosophy more towards the sitting in meditation more towards the nourishing practices where when it's bullish

I get into that height, you know, I get into that that energy that that high energy and you know

Then maybe I want the vinyasa then maybe I want you know that challenging practice

That's going to make me sweat, you know, because I'm feeling bullish and sometimes it flip flops

But you know the practice you have oh depends on many factors the seasons of your life and yes bull and bear markets as well

Well, there we have it 21 questions about Bitcoin and yoga. Thank you once again Heather

Can you remind people where they can find you?

Find me a Noster ditto.pub you'll find me there the username is is Heather Larson or make songs longer because

If what happened in 1971 hadn't happened we would have longer songs songs have gotten shorter over the years

So there's there's that there's my website destinyarchitecture.net if you want to read my 21 ways Bitcoin and yoga are aligned

We've got that there for you and Twitter is writer Heather L and we'll also see you in Las Vegas at the end of the month

Awesome. Thank you very much, Heather

Thank you cider. Yeah, hit me up anytime

Questions about yoga or anything, you know always around. Do you know how to get a hold of me? I

Well, thank you

I'm unclean your butt cheeks

Cuz you don't know you're doing that either you know and or your evening could be your job if you're if you're well-practiced and unclean your butt cheeks

That's good with the job

Where are we holding the stress state where are we holding let go let go but I don't want to fart on air