We had the good fortune of connecting with Rosie Acosta and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Rosie, how has the public health crisis affected your views on work-life balance?
Being at home has taught me the lack of “work-life” balance I had in my every day life. I realized it had been months since I was able to spend some good quality time at home. I spent 80% of the year traveling, when I was home, I was also working. It really helped shine a light on why I was feeling so depleted and what I need to do moving forward. I used to think I had a good balance, being as part of my job is teaching other people how to create more of this. I learned that I need to take my own advice.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
After a tumultuous childhood growing up in South San Gabriel in East Los Angeles, I suffered from depression, anxiety, and a binge-eating disorder throughout my late teens. My parents immigrated to this country ( from Spain and Mexico) to try to make ends meet. We moved into a neighborhood that was not the greatest. It was amid gang violence and the racist drug war in the late ’80s and early ’90s. I learned early on that there was a price to pay for wanting to create success. I got into a lot of trouble until the last straw was getting arrested from trying to steal a cop car. I found yoga and meditation as a late teen, and that was life-changing. I learned about different techniques to help ground, and breathe. Some of the techniques began helping my anxiety, and sleep and I knew that I wanted to continue to dive deeper. I became a yoga teacher in my early twenties and began helping my students cultivate a life of mindfulness, presence, and intention. One of my greatest gifts has been to have the understanding of people who feel hopeless and lost. I guide my students into experiencing a deeper connection with themselves and exploring the consistent changes of life while creatively weaving in spiritual elements from my own practice and experience.

Any great local spots you’d like to shoutout?
I love LA. It’s my home. I have just a handful of places that I feel encompass the essence of LA. We would begin by catching the sunrise hike at Griffith Park Observatory, then head over to Hugo’s West Hollywood for breakfast. We would go catch a matinee at the Arclight in Hollywood at the Cinerama dome, (where I saw my first hollywood movie) then head up Runyon Canyon for some outdoor yoga and a stroll for some city views. Right before sunset, we head over to Santa Monica to catch the sunset off the pier, walk down the boardwalk and get some hippie accoutrements and maybe a psychic reading. I spend so much time indoors, inside studios, inside classrooms.. I do my best to be outside as much as possible.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I have been super grateful for the FitPlanApp community. I don’t typically like to work out at home. Part of my practice is moving my body, and I can’t go to a yoga studio or gym at the moment. FitPlanApp has not only great workouts for all levels, but has a strong, supportive and loving community that has really helped keep me sane during this time. The other thing as been using Paintillio. Paintillio takes any photo and turns it into a custom paint-by-numbers work of art for you to enjoy with your friends, family, community or colleagues. I love to paint, and its extremely meditative. This has also kept me from being online for countless hours through the day.

Website: www.radicallyloved.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/rosieacosta
Twitter: twitter.com/rosieacosta
Facebook: facebook.com/radicallylovedrosie

Image Credits
photo by: Torry Pendergrass (@torrypendergrass)

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