Healthy Chicks

Hooray, it’s Friday and March 1st! That means spring is coming, right? Good news: it’s actually only 19 days away (not like I’m counting or anything)!

I’m so excited to bring you this month’s spotlight on Healthy Chicks in the Community, a monthly series highlighting rockstar Girl Bosses doing their thang in the wellness world. As a yoga and meditation instructor, Lauren passionately and selflessly shares her gifts with the world through volunteering and her recent work with the Boston VA Healthcare System.

In this interview, we chat about her dream celebrity dinner guest, new career teaching Veterans yoga and her love for her home Tower Garden. I’ll let Lauren take it away from here!

NAME: Lauren Durso

DESCRIBE YOUR BUSINESS/LINE OF WORK: As a Certified 500hr Advanced Yoga & Meditation Instructor, I teach to private clients and group classes at my private home studio in Walpole, MA as well as local studios. My recent career addition is joining the Whole Health Systems team with the Boston VA Healthcare System, working full time teaching Veterans yoga and meditation. I am a Wellnesspreneur, as I also own my own Juice Plus+ franchise educating people about whole food nutrition supplement options and healthier living.

WHERE YOU LIVE: Walpole, MA

HOW YOU SERVE THE COMMUNITY THROUGH YOUR WORK: I am a huge advocate of living the practice of yoga off the mat with Seva, selfless service to others. Several times a year I volunteer to teach yoga classes and Vision Board making workshops as fundraisers to donate to the local community, friends in need, and organizations that are fundraising for cancer, PTSD, and homelessness to name a few.

I partner with my daughter’s karate studio, IMPACT Martial Arts studio in Walpole, as they donate the space, and I volunteer teaching to raise money for the local community. The next class will be Friday March 8th 7:45pm-8:45pm. The classes are designed for all levels, kids nine years old and up are welcome, and we have a great time raising funds for great causes. The March class will be donated to two recipients, my neighbor’s daughter whose apartment recently burned down here in Walpole and my best friend’s husband’s fundraiser who is living strong as a warrior with cancer. They have two teen boys and his fundraiser is March 9th.

NUMBER ONE PASSION OUTSIDE THE JOB: Being with nature, hiking!

INTENTIONS/GOALS YOU HAVE FOR YOURSELF IN THE NEXT THREE YEARS: Establishing a strong program of yoga and meditation offerings for women Veterans through the VA and classes at yoga studios, reaching 100 more families educating about Juice Plus+, and piloting a weekend yoga/meditation/hiking retreat Veteran’s Day weekend 11/9-11/11/19 that will raise funds to send three (or more!) military family kids to summer camp.

ONE PIECE OF ADVICE YOU’D TELL YOUR CHILDHOOD SELF: Express your feelings of pain to your parents.

FOODS THAT MAKE YOU FEEL ALIVE & BRING THE MOST JOY: Avocados, homemade protein bars, lettuce and basil from my Tower Garden

SONG THAT MOVES YOU: Thunderstruck by AC/DC

THREE FAB THINGS ABOUT YOU: I am a great tap dancer, I offer my gifts of serving others with my fundraising, and I am loyal to those I trust.

FAVORITE BODY PART & WHY: Eyes; they are the organ that has the ability to express and communicate silently.

I GET MY INSPIRATION FROM: So many things! My two daughters (13 and 11), being outside, listening to Oprah podcasts, being with people I work with in all spheres (yoga, at the VA hospitals, Juice Plus+) and the Veterans I teach inspire and humble me daily.

EXERCISE THAT MAKES YOU SHINE: Vinyasa yoga, walking outside, and any kind of dancing!

SOMETHING IN YOUR “WELLNESS TOOLBOX” YOU CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT: Meditation

GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: Personally: being a mom. Professionally: getting the job at the VA Boston Healthcare system.

FEMALE LEADER(S) YOU LOOK UP TO: Michelle Obama, Oprah, Maya Angelou, Reese Witherspoon

IF YOU COULD PICK ONE PERSON TO HAVE DINNER WITH, WHO WOULD IT BE & WHAT WOULD YOU MAKE THEM: Mark Wahlberg and I wouldn’t make him dinner; I would go to dinner with him either to his brother Paul’s first Wahlburgers restaurant or his mom’s restaurant Alma Nove.

GO-TO MANTRA OR INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE: “I Am Limitless.”

MESSAGE YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE WITH OTHER HEALTHY CHICKS: Stay your course; do what lights you up and share that light into the world because the word needs you!

Want more Healthy Chicks in the Community? Take a peek at past interviews here!