Meet Cathy Madeo | Yoga Expert and Founder, Cathy Madeo Yoga

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

Hi Cathy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Currently, I own and operate an online yoga school, Cathy Madeo Yoga. The idea for it came during Covid lockdown. I never thought I’d put a yoga school online. Having taught yoga for nearly 20 years and having been a yoga studio owner, I wasn’t convinced you could teach students how to teach yoga online. But when covid happened, I observed many yoga studios and teachers scramble to put their trainings online. What I noticed was happening was they were using the same in-person model- long 7 hour days, but now on zoom. I thought, no one is adapting to the current landscape! Online learning needs to look good; the videos need to be shorter and engaging so students can rewatch and study at their own pace. I felt called to set a higher standard for the market. Now it was covid, we were in lockdown, I was a newly single mother and I had no money. But I took a risk because my intuition told me it would pay off. I produced my 200 Hour Online Yoga Teacher Training and launched it in the summer of 2020. It’s a mix of pre-recorded high quality videos with live trainings. In 2021, I produced and launched a 300 Advanced Online Yoga Teacher Training and brought on additional expert faculty to join my staff. Over the last couple of years, I’ve also produced over 10 yoga courses in a wide range of topics such as flexibility, handstands, anatomy, and beginner yoga. Now we have over 300 yoga teacher training alumni represented in 40+ countries and 1000s of students who practice with our courses from all over the world.

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.
I have a spine condition called spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal. It left me stiff, inflexible and in chronic back pain for most of my adult life. About 4 years ago I underwent emergency spine surgery. Being a yoga teacher for nearly 2 decades and a practitioner for almost 3, I was humbled barely being able to move for months as I recovered from surgery. Not only was my identity and livelihood threatened, but I wasn’t sure I’d regain strength in my left leg enough to walk again. Now I was never a naturally flexible person but this new limitation challenged me in unique ways. I decided to put all my knowledge to the test and heal myself. In this process I gained compassion for myself and yoga students in general. We all have limitations and most people identify as inflexible. I realized it wasn’t my ability to do advanced poses that students were drawn to, but rather the fact that I had overcome so much. A lot of newer teachers are concerned they aren’t good enough, or can’t teach poses if they can’t do them. I know from experience that the best teachers are the one’s who had to overcome challenges and discover their limitation because they can explain progressions and understand each person’s unique body and history. Of course, I’m not just talking about yoga here. It’s your set backs that makes you human and your story of overcoming them connects you to others. No one is impressed if you can put your leg behind your head or you were handed an opportunity for. no reason, we are moved by our ability to be resilient and overcome obstacles.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I wouldn’t be where I am today without my students and the community they’ve built at Cathy Madeo Yoga. When I started the online yoga school, I was focused on programming and didn’t start with the intention of community. My students showed me just how powerful the online space can be when you have a shared experience centered around a similar love of something, in our case yoga. Students in the community continue to teach me so much and drive many of our growth and even new program ideas.

Website: https://www.cathymadeoyoga.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathymadeoyoga/

Youtube: https://youtube.com/c/CathyMadeoYoga

Other: Tiktok https://www.tiktok.com/@cathymadeoyoga

Image Credits
All images where I am by myself are shot by Irving Martinez https://lookitsirving.com/ All group/class images shot by Alvaro Miranda www.instagram.com/alvarobmiranda