Guest: Mia St. Aubin

Podcast Release Date: 3/30/2021

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Welcome to Trulyfit the online fitness marketplace connecting pros and clients through unique fitness business software. 

Steve Washuta: Welcome to the podcast. I am your host Steve Washuta, co-founder of Trulyfit and author of Fitness Business 101. On today’s podcast, I have the pleasure of speaking with Mia St Aubin. Mia St Aubin is the founder of the move collective and also the Canadian not-for-profit move Camp-Canada.

We talk about how she started that not-for-profit, what her story, and her background of fitness was that got her into not-for-profit. There’s a lot of feel-good in here for those of you who are thinking about doing more in fitness reaching more people how to get awareness out for that particular cause that you back and believe in fitness. We talked about everything from meditation to the fitness business, the full spectrum of things. This was a great conversation. And with no further ado, here is Mia. Mia, thanks for joining me Trulyfit podcast, can you give the audience a bio a background on your fitness?

Mia St Aubin: I can. So thanks so much for having me. And fitness for me’s, been my reason for being for my entire life. You hear a lot of people say, you know, it’s just kind of what I’ve done my whole life, but it’s what I’ve done my whole life. My mom was a Canadian triathlete. So I spent my entire childhood traveling around Ontario watching her win races, it was kind of this ongoing joke that we wouldn’t just go watch mom compete, we would go watch her win. So that just kind of was like the ending catalytic getting outside.

Mia St Aubin: My dad was extremely active. He was a former LPP officer. So he was a recruit for all the new police officers coming into the LPP. And so it was his job to be in tip-top shape. And he always leads by example. So that was kind of my roots. This was the background that I had. And so from a very young age, our values were to get outside, enjoy being active, and always pack lunch everywhere we went. We just moved. And so from my personal experience, that was how fitness was introduced to us. We always went on hikes, we had snowboarding and ski passes, we were always swimming.

Mia St Aubin: So it was always something that was fun for me. When I was in grade five, I had a sports science or sports project, we had to go get a newspaper. So my mom had this genius idea that we were going to run to the corner store every single week to get the newspaper. And running was like not my thing. It was not something I like woke up every morning, being excited to do but I thought what the heck, I get to spend time with my mom. So we would go down to this corner store every single Wednesday, which was maybe like a five-minute jog. And then the beach was right by there. So we’d go to the beach, go for a swim.

Mia St Aubin: That’s how I got started. So years down the line. I ended up competing in varsity track and field and university. Then I was a competitive blind guide runner for a blind athlete on the Canadian parent national team. So it just kind of morphed into It. I slowly took after my mom’s footsteps and had this vision because she had this amazing Canadian tracksuit that she would wear because she was on Team Canada. So I had this vision of getting my own. Eventually, I was able to do that competed, traveled, you know, all over North America. And it was an incredible, incredible experience. It just kind of has been part of my life literally since birth. It was I was running with my mom before I was even born. So it’s just always been a part of my journey.

Steve Washuta: How does that blind guide runner thing work? That’s really interesting. Are they holding on to you Do you have to be just as fast as them because you don’t want to be too fast. Right?

Mia St Aubin: It depends on so there are different criteria. There are different classifications for guide running, some athletes are completely blind, some athletes are partially blind. So then that puts them in a different class, the athlete that I ran with, she was a dear friend of mine, we already competed in the same group taught club together. She needed a new guide, she was partially blind.

Mia St Aubin: And so what that meant was some run tethered. So they literally run with our hands joined, it’s an amazing feat to watch. If you’ve never witnessed it in real life, she and I just ran side by side. So I make sure I give cues to her make sure she doesn’t step on the lines cause any line violations and then at the very end of the race, I have to make sure that she crosses the line before me so you have to be in a way better shape than your athlete. And these athletes are already in tip-top shape, right? So it was a lot of pressure.

Mia St Aubin: But the first experience that I had, she came to me and said I need somebody to run with me is this something you’d be interested and I thought sure you know it was something within my wheelhouse already and she goes the first track camp, the training camp that we have to go to is in Australia and a couple weeks you think you can make it? I thought okay, well, I was working as a trainer at the time for a corporate gym and I said either I’m gonna get fired or they’re gonna let me go.

Mia St Aubin: Sure enough, I had to create this entire form of how am I I’m going to make, you know, take care of my clients, etc, etc. while I was gone. So that was my first experience of three weeks at Sydney Olympic Park. Running, sleeping, eating being in the sun. And it was the most incredible, incredible experience.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, that changes running, which obviously, except for relays is typically an individual sport to a true team sport, right? They’re really relying upon you. And, you know, if you’re running and you lose, it’s on you. But if you have a partner who’s guiding you, and making sure that you have no violations and things of that nature, I mean, it’s it puts a whole nother level of stress on there that I couldn’t fathom.

Mia St Aubin: Yeah, and I mean, it was really cool at the time, because guide running, it’s always been a thing. There were certain team members on my team that were really kind of leading the charge in there. So for example, if you won gold, if your athlete won gold at the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games for a national championship, your guide didn’t get a medal.

Mia St Aubin: When in reality, you are very much a team you work together, this happens because you make this happen together. So they push forward. And by the end of my time on the team, both parties were getting a medal. So both the athlete and the guide runner. It was a really, really cool time I was one of the only women that I knew of that was guide running at the time. So that was interesting, constantly having to keep up with guys. But it was I think it’s something that’s evolved significantly over time, but it was really eye-opening. And it was just it was an honor, truly, to be able to be a part of somebody else’s dream. It was an amazing experience.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, that’s really cool. I can tell you when we get done with this conversation, I’m going to Google it and look it up because I’m intrigued to see how it works like visually what exactly is going on? So that’s, that’s interesting. Yeah. So tell us exactly where you’re located. And then what is going on pandemic-wise and then we’ll get into move camp, but how to you, or I should say not you, how to local businesses in the fitness industry, circumvents the issues right now, going on with the pandemic and the restrictions placed on you?

Mia St Aubin: I think everybody’s different. You know, I always talk about I have such an incredible team that helped make our project possible. My event planner, years ago, when we launched, it was raining one day out for our event. So we run these national events started on Parliament Hill here in Ottawa, Canada, Canada’s Capitol. So we started these events on our front government lawns of the country. And it’s been it was an incredible experience.

Mia St Aubin: There was one day we’re writing, and I remember, this is new for us, right? We just started these events. It was raining outside, it’s like, do people show up? I have this mindset at the track practice. Like if you’re outside, if it’s raining, you’re outside, you’re getting soaked like you just prepare for it. But I just wasn’t sure. So I remember talking to her that morning, our events were at lunch. And she was like, Yeah, no, we don’t cancel. And that has been the mindset, literally ever since we have absolutely not one time ever canceled an event.

Mia St Aubin: So when the pandemic hit, we had a week and a half to turn around our entire programming. We’re in our seventh year of seven years of outdoor events, we had a week and a half to turn it around. So I spent a lot of time crying in my bed, and then had this mentality: we don’t cancel. And so I can’t speak for everybody. There’s been a lot of amazing practitioners that I’ve been following here, just in my local city of what they’ve been doing, how they’ve been managing it. And I think it’s amazing hearing people’s stories and listening to people’s vulnerability and getting their message out.

Mia St Aubin: And telling us what’s really going on, especially with small businesses. I mean, I’m sure you can relate, it’s a different experience for us. You know, we’re in a very different boat. A lot of people, there’s different support for different organizations when it comes to small business like we’re on an island on our own right now. But as soon as they hit, it was like, okay, that that same mindset, that message that came from, from my event planner all those years ago is like: we don’t cancel. How do we uplift our community? And now it is our duty, our responsibility to get in front of our community and keep them going.

Mia St Aubin: So we just like everybody else transitioned online, and without being blindly optimistic, working within our parameters kept this mentality: where we’re not canceling. We’re not, we’re not closing the doors, we’re going to keep moving forward, we’re going to constantly assess this every single day and see what’s going on, I’m going to be mindful of how it’s affecting everybody else, we’re going to kind of ride loose and not have any expectations. But we’ve not stopped, we’ve transitioned online, all of our events, and they run nationally.

Mia St Aubin: And we were able to double our community and double our coaching community as well. And it’s actually kind of in some ways, as weird as it is been, a blessing because we’re able to reach a lot more people. So again, it depends on who you talk to. But this is the mentality that we’re taking on and we are going to be outdoors this summer. I don’t care for in front of five people. This is how we’re going to operate and, you know, every day we’re trying to stay present. It’s definitely made me ground myself even more. Yeah, because you never know how it’s gonna turn out. You know,

Steve Washuta: Yeah, and that’s all you can do, you have to adjust and adapt. I don’t want to minimize the seriousness by giving this analogy. But if you’re a trainer and you go in the gym, and you plan to use the cable machine that day, and someone else’s on the cable machine, well guess what you have to adjust and adapt, you’re not going to say, “I’m not going to work out anymore”.

Find a way, whether you’re working out yourself, or whether you’re training your client to find the next modality to use and for most of us, it was hopping online, if you already had a presence online, which I did just a small one, though, you already had a leg up, right and could help expedite what you had going.

And if you didn’t have a presence online, it was scary. I mean, I have a lot of friends and mentors in the fitness industry, who are in their 50s and 60s, and the online game to them was something they thought they’d never had to get into. Because they’ve built up enough word of mouth and local kind of presence. But, they had no choice given the pandemic and they had to adjust and adapt. And you know, the outside training definitely helps. I know, that’s a lot of what move camp does, as opposed to being indoors.

Mia St Aubin: Yeah, no, it’s so true. It’s so true. I always feel like you can either have a grievance or you can have a miracle, you can either stay in that place of sorrow. And trust me, there were weeks where I was so devastated. But you can either stay there, you can say like, what’s good about this? How can I move forward? And I think it’s amazing that we’ve all had to up our tech game, you know, like, we have a conference at the end of every year.

Mia St Aubin: That’s gone completely virtual. And it’s actually, I love it this year, when we ran it, we had no idea what we were doing and how we were going to put this thing together. But our team stepped up in the most incredible ways, and now we have this entire platform. Now we’re going to be a virtual end and in-person events where our move camp movement sessions. So it’s really like I said, it’s been a blessing in some ways, and it’s really forced us to grow. That’s the place that we choose to hang out in is, you know, what, what’s the silver lining? In what ways has this benefited us?

Steve Washuta: Yeah, I’m interested to see what shakes out a year from now, two years from now and how these businesses have adapted and who really took advantage of it. I know that for a long time, people thought of online training, and the online fitness space as just people trying to scale up, right? That was their only goal, just trying to scale up in sort of a personal profit way. But I don’t believe that’s the case. You can reach more people. And your goal is to help people like it is through Bootcamp. That means more people get help, right? So that it’s not scalability like I’m going to make more money. It’s scalability as in, I’m going to reach more people, and then, therefore, reach my goals.

Mia St Aubin: I think that that’s one of the most incredible things to come out of this is the opportunity, just for us alone. Anyways, we moved into a new city to launch an event in a new city takes about two years of planning and progress and networking. So we launched three new cities, we’re in six cities in one summer, because of the internet, you know, so it’s totally catapulted our ability to be in front of more people and serve more Canadians with the project that we found it and that we work with. So I think if you stay in that space, and you know, you’ll just keep attracting more of that, and you’ll be able to serve more people. I think that’s what it’s all about.

Steve Washuta: Well, we touched on it a little bit, but let’s describe and define exactly what move camp is: what your goals are, and what your day-to-day is like in working in Bootcamp.

Mia St Aubin: So I was telling you about the team. Being on the national team ended and I decided to continue with my own training. So I hired my own coach. And then I found myself before practice or before a meet, finding every single excuse under the sun not to go. There was many times right said at the steps of my house and just cry my eyes out because I was so burned out, and I just didn’t love it anymore.

Mia St Aubin: I have wrapped up my entire worth in this sport, the time on the clock, the practice is,what my body looked like how good I was all of that if that was on point that that meant I’m good. That meant I was worthy. That just snowballed and not in a good way. I pushed myself I trained way too much. I was not listening to what was going on in my body. You know, I was working when I first started out it easily as a trainer, 12-13 hour days, and then I was training three and a half, three hours at the track.

Mia St Aubin: Just was completely not sustainable. So there was one day where I was in the bathroom and I was looking at myself in the mirror and I kind of caught myself and found a lump in my throat. I always say everybody has their journey and a story, but lumps are something that literally makes you stop dead in your tracks. You’re like, that’s not normal, that can’t be there. That’s not part of my body. I ended up going to doctors and it was thyroid cancer. So this was something telling my family was really difficult because you know, there’s that you’re, you’re the healthiest person I know.

Mia St Aubin: And I’m going, am I? This doesn’t happen to quote-unquote, healthy people, you know, so. So I went through that journey, and it really made me assess and look and see if this can happen to me, it can literally happen to anybody. I’m well versed, I’m educated, I’m trained in this area, I’m a health and wellness practitioner myself. So if this can catch me, then it can catch anybody, especially people who don’t have the opportunities to grow up in the family that I did to teach me these health practices.

Mia St Aubin: So we talked about serving, that’s all I wanted to do. I was just at this breaking point where I was like, we have to reach more people, we have to talk to more people, we have to be in front of more people. And I need to get this message across. It was a knowing it was coming from inside. And it was like this was always going to come to me it was just a matter of me opening my eyes and finally being able to see it.

Mia St Aubin: And so at the time, I was bringing my clients up onto Parliament Hill. I was teaching them running, and we were doing running clinics and stuff. And it kind of came to me as a voice of how come no one’s ever done a workout on the hill. How come there was yoga, there’s like, you know, I was doing running clinics and stuff. But there was never this mass gathering of people to move their bodies.

Mia St Aubin: At the time, I was living in my best friend’s basement for free. I was going through a really difficult time in my life. I had just been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, I was broker than broke, like, how can you help me with what I was at my rock bottom.

Mia St Aubin: And when I had this idea, she was the first person I thought of so I called up Samantha and I said, I think I have an idea of how you can help me. She met with me. It was just this place of like she was serving me, she just wanted to help me it was the most selfless act I still can have experienced to this day. She gave me a list of people to contact places to go. And we were off to the races.

Mia St Aubin: So I contacted my head coach at the time, Jessica, and I said, I’m going to do these events on the hill, you can come to some of them, you don’t have to come to all of them. I know it’s a time commitment. But I’d love to have you and she ended up coming to every single event. And it went so well that summer that we had extended permits. And so this is how we knew we were onto something. So at the same time, it was healing myself from a personal standpoint, I was like let’s serve people. Let me stop concern consuming myself with my own problems and what’s going on, let me just give back. So at least I can start sharing lessons that I’ve learned.

Mia St Aubin: And every single Thursday, the community would show up, they bring their fitness mats, they would take some time for themselves, and they would show up. And then what started to happen, coaches kept coming to me. And we had one of my Chibok, my Chief Operating Officer now one of our head coaches. She biked up to the hill and said: What is this? I need to be a part of this. So that was when the light bulb went off of Okay, we are on to something we are a movement that is partnering with national health and fitness day.

Mia St Aubin: This is a nationwide movement to make Canada the fittest nation on Earth. And we just joined forces. We started moving along, we then started partnering with some of the top wellness brands in the country, so that we can bring healthy products, healthy brands into the homes of Canadians. And together we can start teaching them how to create this healthy active lifestyle. So you want to think of it as a doing campaign rather than an awareness campaign.

Mia St Aubin: So we all know we need to move our bodies, we all know that we need to take care of ourselves. But if you google any of those things, it’s wildly overwhelming. And so again, I thought if I’m still learning in this area, there’s still a lot of people that are so it was a lunchtime workout that turned into a movement. And now our goal is to move 1 million Canadians and we’re well on our way to making sure that that

Steve Washuta: that’s really cool. And congratulations on you know the venture so far. And I’m sure there’s a lot more to come. I have a million questions now after you’ve stayed at that. But my first question is, is there a schedule? Are you going from city to city and I know the pandemics are a little bit different, but let’s almost pretend that the pandemic doesn’t exist is the structure where there’s a schedule where you move from city to city and the people who work for you underneath you with you. However, do you want to say it come with you from city to city, or do you hire trainers or coaches within that city to help you out?

Mia St Aubin: Exactly, yeah, so we actually are just wrapping up this weekend the second certification for 2021. So we seek you out so we find coaches who fit the fulfill the messaging that we do, who are in their niche already shining their own light, you know, they’re sharing their message, they’re in front of the community, and they’re doing what they do best. So we reach out to you and say, you know, we’d love for you to be on our team.

Mia St Aubin: And so we host a certification to do that. So these are wellness practitioners, professionals, trainers, zoom instructors, yoga instructors. Like you name it, who just genuinely want to help Canadians. So we reach out to them, some of them reach out to us, and so we host a certification. We all start collaborating together and working together to fulfill this message in this mandate.

Mia St Aubin: Then right now, it’s really cool because it’s a hybrid, and so virtual and in-person programming, and every single Thursday across the country, there will be an event. Right now we’re in Vancouver, Halifax, where we will be in person, and then virtually, we’re across the country. So you can log in, no matter where you are, we’ve got all timezones taken care of. You can come to move with us and whatever makes sense for you.

Mia St Aubin: So this is very much like an inclusive, feel-good, high energy, move whatever way feels good for you type of environment. By that, I mean, we’ve got a variety of different movements, we’ve got coaches who are showing different regressions and progressions. If you want to do jumping jacks, if you want to jog on the spot for 45 minutes all work for 45 minutes, it’s genuinely just a place where you can feel good to do the whole workout to do half the workout to do whatever it is that feels good for you.

So it’s Thursday 12. Eastern and move camp.ca is where you can sign up for all the events right now. And we’re right in the process right now of transitioning and getting this new message out of moving million Canadian. So the million movers movement.

Steve Washuta: I think it’s great, too, that you, you know, are you’re helping people who are not necessarily like fitness freaks, right? And fitness experts, there is fitness has gotten, you know, it’s to the level where everybody thinks there’s only one way to do something, right. And it’s and it’s their way and fitness, whether it’s like you have to do CrossFit, you have to lift heavy, you have to deadlift, you have to be a runner, just getting people moving is the first step. It is very important. And there’s not a lot of people who are willing to say, you know what, I don’t care what you’re doing exactly, I just want you moving, I want to start the process. And then you’ll eventually go down the road where you become a little bit more nuanced. But right now, it’s, it’s about just starting the process.

Mia St Aubin: But that’s just it. And so we work with such a variety of practitioners. So you see them on the movement sessions, every Thursday, they each have a section, you see what they’re about, you see their energy, and so that as a, as a Canadian, as a moving camper, you can say, Oh, I really love to style, I love how he does his types of movement. So you can get access to all of them.

Mia St Aubin: They all have their own type of programming their own type of modalities, maybe they have courses, then you can start being a part of their community as well as a part of our community. And this is how what I mean by saying we were built on collaboration, we, I genuinely just care if Canadians are part of their health and wellness process.

Mia St Aubin: And if they’re moving their bodies and that they feel good, whether that’s with us, whether that’s with you, whether that’s with one of our coaches, I don’t care, as long as they are genuinely moving and feeling good, I want my dream is to have people have the same experiences that I had growing up and feeling good and moving my body because it’s unbelievably gorgeous outside and I want to go have a picnic and a hike because I want to fall in love with nature because I want to take up a new sport.

Mia St Aubin: Because I just want to spend some time with my friends versus I need to get a six-pack, I need to lose weight, I need to push myself. Because most of the time in my experience that doesn’t feel good. And like you said, you can get to that place. We provide you with all of these resources, all of these practitioners, all of this education once you’re part of our community, and then you can choose for yourself how you want to take care of yourself, but you’re part of the process.

Mia St Aubin: So instead of just hearing you need to walk 10,000 steps a day, you need to get more sleep and you need to take care of yourself, we know this, I don’t buy into the messaging of you know, people are lazy people do not honestly believe it’s because they don’t have direction, they don’t know where to turn to. And they don’t feel good enough to actually take on that endeavor. They feel so full of shame and feel so awful. Because marketing is telling them you’re a bad person for having let your health get here. So it’s not really motivating to do something in that energy space. So we really try and create this culture where it’s okay. And here’s how you can actually do it instead of making another suggestion. You know, we make it a doing camping.

Steve Washuta: Yeah. And you’re right, people will naturally look at, you know, the end of the road and say, How can I get there, it’s too far down the road where it’s like, you just you have to start. You have to start from somewhere. And I think getting people to understand that long-term health and wellness should be the goal.

So if you’re 25 now, and you want to be moving around and doing things into your 60s and 70s you need to make sure that you’re taking care of your body and doing all the right things to get you there right so that people notice that later on in life. I’m now I will be 36 soon Things are creaky just when you wake up in the morning. So it’s more important that you’re moving around, right? And that you have, of course, you could still have goals right from time to time, you still have these goals. But overall, I think you guys have a fantastic gameplan, of making sure that you hit all the different demographics. And you’re not just focused on one specific fitness goal.

Mia St Aubin: Yeah, exactly. And we want to make sure we’re being as authentic as we can, you know, because those health concerns that I had, back in 2015, there are lingering things that I’m personally still working through. So I don’t want our community to look at us and say, even my head coach to like they’re so hardcore at my head coach used to she still coaches and was in fitness competitions.

Mia St Aubin: And we would joke around with her when we show up and watch Jess when you know, she would just when she stepped on stage did she win, because he was incredibly good at it. But the same thing she preaches, making sure we get out for a walk every day, like a goal that we all have on the team is to get outside every day. And most of my coaches and my internal team have children. So they want to make sure that they’re leading as an example for them as well.

Mia St Aubin: And that’s my dream one day as well. But we Yeah, we want to make sure that it’s it we’re leading by example. And our community knows that we’re not quote-unquote, hardcore. We just some days, we’ll do a higher intensity workout. Some days we do Pilates, and some days, we just get outside for a walk. And we’re just creating that culture to make sure that people know that that’s okay. That’s normal.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, because it can be nerve-racking for those. I mean, I worked when I first started out in the fitness industry, I worked at a private training studio, I’d say it’s mostly females between the age of 35 and 65. And, you know, when they walked in, we had a sort of a survey for them to fill out why exactly they came here. And the first reason was, well, they thought it was, you know, for beginners, so they thought it was female only or they thought it was an older crowd because they were nervous about jumping into the fitness game and having people you know, look at them and say, What are you doing here? Because it is I mean, it’s so it’s overwhelming if you don’t know what you’re doing.

And I think you guys providing that not only the workouts, but the education to say, Hey, don’t worry, we’re going to start here. We have different levels, we have different trainers, and you’ll get to your end goal eventually is fantastic. Now I know you guys are a non-profit. Can you talk about the difficulties and in working in the nonprofit sector or starting it and any advice to other fitness professionals or health professionals who think they potentially want to go that route with a business?

Mia St Aubin: Yeah, it’s so there’s I do a lot of reading I fell into during that whole experience, I started journaling a lot, I started reading, you know, some of the greats and became very spiritual. So just deciding to stay in this energy of, Okay, if I white knuckle, my way through life, I’m probably going to die at a really young age. And this concept of working hard and not taking care of myself and pushing, pushing, pushing harder, better, faster, stronger, does not work for me. So it was like this ultimate surrender, which didn’t happen overnight.

Mia St Aubin: But as a process of diving into these books and doing a lot of journaling. So at the time, there was no business plan. There was no five-year plan, there was no structure. It was like, like I said, this calling for me to go and take on this endeavor. Even when I was I tell the story all the time. When I was in great two It was my teacher who put out careers day, you know, the whole school was doing careers day and I showed up in a gymnastics outfit that my mum made me because I was going to be an aerobics instructor.

Mia St Aubin: And I remember getting rid of duels, you know, my friends are showing up with top buttons and glasses and briefcases and they were all secretaries and professional people in offices. I was bouncing around the schoolyard in my aerobics outfit. And by the end of the day, I was the aerobics bimbo. But it’s all the bullying that went on. For myself growing up, that was something that actually didn’t get at me, it was more of a fuel to keep going. And I always knew that this was something I was going to do was going to be my one and only job interview.

Mia St Aubin: They said, Where did you see yourself in five years, and I was saying doing something big, being in front of people being in front of the community. So when we started it, it was just a passion project, not just it was a passion project, we wanted to just serve communities. And it wasn’t until like I said, When Lydia biked up onto the hill, we started working with other brands, our title partner, green Beaver, that we decided that this was going to be a thing.

Mia St Aubin: So it was probably around year five, to be honest with you, where we said, let’s make this a structured business. Let’s you know what we can do to actually make this an organization that that changes Canadians and Canadian health. So I think the biggest thing I can say to anybody starting any type of endeavor, any business is just to follow your passion. And that sounds like such an after school special message but anything that has ever been impactful in this world that we see that we are That we buy into now that we bring into our homes that we subscribe to came from someone’s heart center came from someone’s passion so much someone’s calling someone sharing their light. That is all that this has been.

Mia St Aubin: And the reason it’s done anything it’s done is that everybody has an opportunity to share their light and their messaging and their leadership, which again, serves a greater community. So it was around that time. So taking that passion. And then actually, I was talking to Samantha about this yesterday, then putting in the work. So then put in the structure. Putting your team together. So we built our accounting team, and we built our, you know, our internal organization structure, and then created the plan of like, Hey, where are we headed, we got our web team, we got our social team, and started putting the infrastructure around the passion.

Mia St Aubin: So if anything, like to move in it steered in any direction, it was always coming from that vision, first and foremost, that vision. And so the idea of turning the programming itself into not-for-profit just came from how it started, it was always a free event, it will always be a free event. So it just naturally made sense for us to transition into that, that realm in that world. It’s not something that I had a lot of experience with. And it’s not something that I knew a lot about. But again, it’s just coming from this place of giving our passion, serving our community, and just living from this place of joy and happiness and doing what we love.

Mia St Aubin: And so then, you know, there are some days, I’ll be totally honest with you, I feel like I’ve absolutely no idea what I’m doing. I’m making it up as I go. And then there are other days where we’re on it, and we’re on top of it, but it’s always coming from that set that vision, vision space. So any challenges, specifically as it relates to not-for-profit or anything like that would maybe just be the experience that we’re in right now. But it’s not any different than I think any other business owner’s challenges. I think if you’re living from that place of passion and purpose, then everything you’ve figured out, there’s a way through every block.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, and we all have that sort of imposter syndrome, from time to time, some days, we wake up, and we feel like, we’re going to be the number one business in the world. And some days, you’re like, should I just give up today. So and that’s, that’s the norm. And I think to add to your sort of after-school messaging speech, as you, as you call it, with a passion project, you know, this never give up. That’s what I would say, however cheesy that is because you know, this, when you start these businesses, it’s essentially a pyramid, there’s a ton of people at the bottom, who are also trying to do the same thing.

Eventually, it’s not that sometimes they’re not good at it, it’s just that they give up, right people give up, and then those businesses in your niche or in your genre, you know, eventually, there’s only a few of them. And if you keep working at it, you will know the cream will rise to the top, and yet you have to stick with it. And it seems like you know, obviously, with move camp, you guys are past that point, right? Giving up as is not there. But there is that point in that business where you say, I can, I can turn in the other direction.

Now I can go back to what I was doing before I can maybe, you know cap this off at what I’m doing now is instead of making this move camp Canada, I can just do it in Ottawa, right? Maybe I won’t expand out or there are all these sorts of internal things you’re going to be fighting with. And eventually, you have to say, No, no, no, no, we’re, we’re going for it. We’re going, we’re going all in.

Mia St Aubin: Yeah. And I think it’s just remaining, not having expectations, and having those goals in mind. But then surrendering to what’s happening surrendering to understanding that, again, white-knuckling it trying to control it saying we have to go this way isn’t going to work. So as my job every day as CEO of this company is to be open and to be flexible. And to know that I’m ready to receive whatever is going to come our way.

Mia St Aubin: So maybe that is, you know, like last year having a transition online. And maybe, I don’t know, maybe we don’t get outside too as many cities as we want to this year. Or we maybe we get out to more you know, there’s a lot that you just have to be open to receiving and flexible. And I think the more you can practice doing that. So that’s why I’m a huge advocate of meditation and journaling and reading, the more that you can do that I think the more that you’ll continue to move in the direction that you were meant to all along.

Mia St Aubin: So very similar to how this got started. And the whole, the whole, from the beginning was just because we knew so I think if you continue to do that, and you have the utmost importance, make sure that you’re remembering and you’re keeping in mind how you can serve the greater good. If that’s your full purpose, then you should work with us. And be that’s I think that that’s what can help you continue to be successful.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, I think so too. And time will fly. By that way. If you put your head down on the grind and your goal is simply that to help as many people as I can or to help the people the best I can even if there’s not a lot of people you’re helping Time will fly by and things will build on their own naturally again, however cheesy all of the sounds, it’s true, right? And, and you just, you have to put your head down and do the right thing and you know, the path will pave itself for you. So, speaking of meditation, do you use a meditation app? Have you gone on retreats? How exactly do you use meditation?

Mia St Aubin: I have used the insight timer app. There’s Sarah Blondin is, I don’t know what you’d call a practitioner of someone who puts her meditations on there. I love her. Her voice is just so soothing and calming. But now I’m very much a student and Marianne Williamson, she wrote several books right now, the one I’m obsessed with is called a return to love. So it’s something that I read regularly every morning.

Mia St Aubin: And she also has a book called love divine compensation, highly recommend that book if you whether you’re spiritual or not, just moving away from the business books that are so structured, and they are all about doing and, you know, pen and paper, moving away from that and just taking take doing yourself a favor and learning from a different perspective. It’s such an enlightening book, if you’re a business owner, Gabby Bernstein is someone I adore. I love her messaging.

Mia St Aubin: So that’s so annoying, study under a lot as well. And, and it’s an ongoing practice, very much a morning routine that I have, I am obsessed with my morning routine, I’m sure you hear a lot of practitioners talk to you about this, it’s just so that I can have two and a half, two hours to myself, where I’m studying where I’m learning where I’m meditating.

And I think especially during this pandemic, I went through a lot of personal challenges. My mum wasn’t well this year. And then on top of everything that everybody else is going through, it was just kind of like, Okay, this is what I’m going to fall back on. Because there are a plethora of things that I have no control over right now. So let’s just get really grounded.

Mia St Aubin: And so I just dove into it. So I’m sinking further and further and further into it. untamed is a book that I’m obsessed with as well, Glen and Doyle. And she talks about finding your liquid gold, you know, just sitting in this place where you just like smother yourself with your liquid gold of your knowing and moving closer to that.

So it’s actually provided a lot of comforts, doing this morning routine and having this practice in the mornings, because it’s the only thing I feel like you can really count on, you can really know that that’s going to be there for you. And that can be a constant for you. So it’s truly is a life-changing shaving practice.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, and much like fitness, it’s not something that you ever find a launch, right, you never get to the point where like, oh, I’ve done I’ve maxed out on meditation and are needed anymore, or like I’ve become this ultimate expert, you’re going to be doing it for the rest of your life, it’s going to change.

And it’s To me, it’s important that I use it again in my morning routines as well. And I think it’s important that people understand it’s not just about for those who have an issue with this, like chakras and crystals and that sort of thing, right? So meditation is, can very much help you in a day to day just, if nothing else, calm down and calm some of those voices down in your head before you start the day.

And I think there’s you know, there’s a host of apps out there, I use something called the waking up app.

I don’t necessarily recommend that over another one. But I do think it’s important that people give it a shot if nothing else, and I will say it’s, again to give weird analogies: It’s almost like quitting cigarettes when you start meditation. Meaning it’s probably going to take you four or five or six or seven times before you’re actually sticking with it right?

You’re going to quit meditation at some point and say, I don’t get it. I’m not doing it. It’s not working for me. But I’ll tell you now, if you do start it, just stick with it because you’re gonna go back to it eventually.

Mia St Aubin: There’s no right or wrong way of doing it. A dear friend of mine, he’s a coach on our team as well, I remember him saying so distinctly: You don’t have to learn how to meditate, you just sit there.

There’s no right or wrong way to do it. For someone who is ridiculously A-type and a total perfectionist, that concept was just so calming to me as I don’t have to work at this.

Mia St Aubin: I don’t have to try I can just like it was it was incredibly liberating. And it’s true. There’s and there are some days where you’ll do it and you feel like nothing like what did that do that but it’s a cumulative process. And you’ll witness it show up in your life where you’ll start to, things won’t bother you as much.

Or you’ll just be a lot more controlled in your thoughts in that you don’t find that you’re wandering or that your ego is not grasping at things to try and obsess over. You are just you and allowing and receiving and moving in that way that feels good for you.

Steve Washuta: Yeah, that’s a great point. It is a cumulative process much like fitness, right? You don’t always have to look into the mirror the next day and say: I don’t feel like my biceps are bigger. This is a wholesome approach. And you might not see the results instantly, but it ultimately if for nothing else, putting it into a routine and making sure that you have said routine is going to help you right, even if that meditation itself is secondary to starting a morning routine.

Mia St Aubin: Yeah, exactly. And so I think we are, you know, we’re all put on this planet to, to serve and to shine our light in whatever way that makes sense for us, I think, move camp is is just about that is just another example of how we’re able to share our message and share our light-giving others permission to do that, you know. We’re all meant to do something on this planet, and mine is just so happened to be this and I’m just ridiculously grateful and, and blessed to be able to do what I love to do every day and that I get to be an aerobics instructor in front of 1000s of people wearing my gymnastics outfits.

Steve Washuta: You knew it. Your second-grade teacher, I think we should reach out to her now and all of your classmates and let them know. [And they probably know now I’m like I’m pretty verbose.] So let’s let everybody know where they can find more information about move camp where they can get to it virtually where they can sign up to potentially be a coach if they’re in the area. And any other information.

Mia St Aubin: Yes. Oh my gosh, I would love to hear from you If you would love to serve our community with us. bootcamp.ca/movecert is where you can learn more about our server certification program. And you can also so once you’re part of our community, sign up for an event to move camp.ca or you can sign up to learn about the program. Once you’re in our community, you can gain access to move collectively so movecollective.co is our healthy hub for educational experiences and events across the country.

Mia St Aubin: So Move collectively as our parent company. Once you’re in there, move cancer flagship event we have moved corporate which is our corporate division, where we work with different organizations and employees and staff to help them stay healthy. Move starters, our certification program. Move Con is our end-of-series conference and celebration, where we get to we’re fortunate enough now even virtually to work with practitioners and speakers across the country, some incredible speakers. So you’re just really part of this ecosystem that is supporting you and helping you with resources to create a healthy active lifestyle. So once you’re part of our community, so bootcamp.ca. to RSVP for an event, you’re automatically a part of our entire membership program.

Steve Washuta: Check out the Move campsites. I’ll list all the information below the podcast on all the different platforms. Thank you so much for being here Mia St Aubin.

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