This interview with Stephen Beck, founder of San Diego's Yoga Loft, was the first in an interview series we ran in 2017, shining a light on people we admired and the things they were building. It reflects his plans at the time.
From pastry chef to executive to yoga
At six foot one, Stephen is likely to be the largest person in any room, followed closely by his ideas. "In my mind I'm 8 feet tall."
His career began with a simple motive: "I've got to make money or Amy Barkus is not going to go out with me." He became a pastry chef, then a hotel manager, then vice president of sales and marketing for an entire western region, then CEO of his own consulting company. "I got on this pursuit of cash, kind of like the American Dream thing." It eventually left him feeling lost, but his Type A drive kept him going, until the day he went for a run that ended in open-heart surgery.
"I realized that, this near-death experience? Everything else is kind of a bonus now and we better get serious."
He had always been traveling, and knew it was time to spend more time with his children. Then, one year at Burning Man, he found what he describes as his dharma.
"I took one of my clients, the president of a corporation, and he was interacting with this woman who truly was a hippie, and they're having a really good interaction, a prolonged interaction, and it was mutually respectful. And I was just taken back by how these two worlds at this particular time were interacting in a delicious, conscious way."
Bringing awareness to the mainstream
In his own words, Stephen's calling is to bring awareness to the mainstream: to give executives and companies an "awakening" so they make decisions more holistically.
"The real work is in mainstream economy. If we can get them to be aware, first in their body, then they'll become aware second in their heart and spirit."
Yoga Loft, a boutique studio in San Diego's Little Italy, was his way into the yoga world. "I needed to know the minutia of this industry, what it is to teach," he said, in order to bring yoga to people who weren't already on that path. At the time, he was planning a bigger project, Destination: Light, a space where different yoga traditions, a fitness facility, co-working and a restaurant could share one roof.
Fear or love: advice for a time of transition
We asked what advice he'd give anyone going through a transition of their own.
"Slow down and take some time to sit with yourself. Allow yourself to feel. Try not to allow yourself to fear."
Stephen sees life's decisions falling into two categories: those based in fear and those based in love. Fear choices tend to sound like "should" and "better do"; love decisions are as simple as "I love this, so I will do it."
"Lean in to what your heart is asking you to do. That's your purpose."
Fear is often the louder voice, which is where he sees yoga and meditation helping: they give us time in silence to hear the quieter one.
Stephen's daily rituals for balance
- Morning yoga practice.
- Morning meditation.
- Teaching, as a chance to serve others.
- Sleeping before 10pm.
- No electronics an hour before bed.
- Burning palo santo every morning.
If stress and sleep are on your mind, you might also like our pieces on fight-or-flight versus rest-and-digest, why sleep matters and mental health, the gut and yoga.
