(upbeat music)
- I needed to open up a space
that allowed everybody to come,
that allowed Black people to see this is for us,
we can heal.
We are allowed to heal.
It doesn't matter if you're small, if you're skinny,
if you're fat, if you're Black, White, anything,
it's for everyone.
My name is Blu Cauthen.
I'm the owner of InoarG Yoga Studio.
- I'm impressed by Blu.
She is amazing.
She is doing so many things.
Not only is she the owner and operator of a yoga studio,
she is the mother of five children,
she is a firefighter and paramedic,
and she does all of this with grace and stillness
and she is present in every area.
- I was in paramedic school and I had no time whatsoever
to focus on me,
and I was looking at these little yoga challenges
with people, like, contorting their bodies
in these different movements.
So I was like, ooh, I wanna try it.
And I didn't even realize I was stressed out
until I started doing the yoga poses.
So I went down the line to start trying to find me a class
that went with my schedule,
and that was my first time ever taking a full yoga class
and it was just beautiful.
During my teacher training,
two of my cousins had come to the class and they'd done it.
And afterwards they had brought to my attention
that they didn't really feel comfortable
because they were the only Black people in the class.
That made me go and reflect and realize,
I'd never seen any other Black people
in the studios with me.
So I was like, I guess I should start letting us know,
hey, this is for us, too.
It's for everybody.
(upbeat music)
InoarG was created so that when you come in here,
if you're doing a pose and you just happen to look up,
you could see somebody else's hair curling,
you could see that somebody else's thighs are rubbing,
things that you don't typically see portrayed in media,
or just when you go to typical yoga classes.
- A lot of people are missing out on things like yoga
because they can't find a place to go
where they feel safe to be themselves 100%.
- Yoga in general has helped me tremendously in my life
just to really learn to appreciate me.
InoarG means movement towards purification within.
When I say that,
I mean that you have to learn to love your current self
where you are before you can move to your next self.
My babies, they are so excited.
Like, they're just excited,
'cause like they tell everybody,
oh, mom is a firefighter and she's a yoga instructor.
And it's just so cool just to see my children really absorb
to see all the things that I can do
or that I am doing and accomplishing
and just still living a life
and still able to provide for them and spend time with them.
(upbeat music)
We wanna look cute when we're working out in the gym.
It also makes you want to work out.
So I decided to start Blu, (laughs)
which is my fitness apparel line.
I just really wanted to have an apparel line
that worked for everybody
and still allowed you to be comfortable and cute.
I didn't know how important it was to have a website.
And then I didn't know how important it was
for a website to look good.
I was playing around
with a couple other sites or whatever,
and GoDaddy was so simple.
It was so easy.
And when I finished it, I'm like, is this dope?
All of the feedback I get from my website,
it's just amazing.
And then the marketing aspect of it, as well.
Anytime I update my website, it prompts me,
"Hey, you wanna let your people know
that you just made these changes?"
So it let's you know if people have seen it,
if they unsubscribe.
So, just that feedback is really good
and it's just made InoarG a lot prettier.
(Blu laughing)
(upbeat music)
- What is really inspirational about what Blu does
is she comes with energy,
and the reason why she has that energy
is because she's grateful.
So it's an inspiration, I think, for any entrepreneur to go,
okay, there might be a lot going on around me,
but I can still be in this moment.
I can still be present and I can still be grateful.
- Your customers will value you
if you show them this is what I am and what I have to offer.
I just want everybody to realize
that it's more than just poses
and that it's really got a lot to do
with your mental health.
When they go out, I want them to say,
I feel better about myself
than I did when I first walked in.
(upbeat music)