Growing up, you were surrounded by artists and an unconventional creative community. How did that early environment shape your approach to building community through movement and teaching today?

Both my parents were nude(ish) half the time. My father is French…c’est la nude vie. I grew-up in a small apartment in the Chelsea Hotel and shared a bedroom with my mother and sister. Lots of pussy and tits, and sleeping together, and cuddling, nursing, bleeding, masturbating, and shitting in close quarters. Downtown, at my father’s loft in Tribeca in the 70’s and 80’s, he was constantly videotaping whether I was sucking my thumb while watching TV engrossed by the erotic letters in Penthouse Magazine. There were a lot of people gathered in small rooms a lot of the time. Things could have taken a very different turn, I suppose, but I ended up very comfortable in my body, drawn towards physical intimacy. I often connect to people through touch…and also by exposing myself. My social service is shameless, desexualized, public nudity.

 

For someone who has spent so much time helping others tune into their bodies, what's something unexpected you're still learning about your own?

I’m shy in the bedroom. It’s shocking, but true. All exhibitionists are secretly introverts. 

 

What's a piece of conventional “wellness” wisdom you love to challenge? 

Pretty much everything. First of all 99% of wellness leaders posit that gossip is bad. That should be enough to run in the opposite direction. In addition, the wellness industry is a toxic, deluded place that completely ignores systemic racism and economic inequality (e.g. the entire concept of “manifestation”). A person can meditate, do breathwork, cleanse, obsess over asanas, optimize their hair follicles, and engage in positive thinking for a lifetime AND it might only serve to make them a more mindful mind-fucker both politically and in their inter-personal relationships. 

 

I have found the “greatest” and/or most famous yoga/wellness/gurus/spiritual teachers to be either blindly apolitical (blaming everything on karma), or anti-abortion twits, and/or or simply asshole dads to their children and wives, or actual literal sadists, rapists and child abusers (have you seen Breath of Fire—the HBO doc about Kundalini Yoga? Yogi Bhajan was the worst of the worst!) We can thank a good percentage of very fit, mindful white women for our current political status. And don’t get me started on the men of the wellness industry…

How has your definition of what makes a "good teacher" evolved over your career?

I used to think a good teacher was—essentially—a sadist. Now I think a good teacher is someone who is so confident with the material that they allow the somatic desire of the group as a whole to lead the class.  

 

What’s a book or film you return to when you need to reset your perspective?

Outtakes from Mel Brooks’s “Young Frankenstein,” scenes from “The Pink Panther Strikes Again,” and any page from the most hilarious novel ever, After Claude.

 

What's a piece of music that never fails to shift your mood?

Anything from Sinéad, my love.  

 

Describe a recent moment when you felt completely in your element.

A rare summer day by myself when I indulged in my greatest swimming desires: started the day bodysurfing in the ocean, ended the day swimming across three kettle ponds each connected by a magical sluice. Once submerged, I pulled my bathing suit down around my waist to remove the last boundary between skin and water.

What's a comfort or luxury you've recently allowed yourself to enjoy without irony or criticism?

Uninterrupted episodes of Nicole Kidman in another outrageous prestige TV show. And a cigarette (...though I puked after the cig). 

 

What's a boundary or personal rule you've set that has served you particularly well?

Always gossip, everywhere and anywhere, with whomever is willing. And if someone claims to be unwilling…? Mistrust them and quickly destroy their flimsy, no-gossip conviction with some seductive gossip they can’t keep their hands off of. All literature would be dead without gossip. 

 

What's a favorite, simple meal you make when no one's watching?

A packet of instant ramen with some quickly-chopped onion and garlic, a spoonful of mellow white miso, a handful of whatever greens are in the crisper, and gobs of crunchy garlic in chili oil. 

Describe your ideal morning—ignoring all "should-dos." 

Hours of coffee time in a cozy chair with a view while doomscrolling… interspersed with gossipy phone calls.

 

What's your go-to daily “uniform”? What garments, colors, or particular combinations make you feel most like yourself? 

I always imagine I’ll wear a skirt or a long dress, but alas, no, I’m a pants gal. 

I’ve only got two looks and one fantasy look:

1. Mt. Airy (my neighborhood) Clown-Core. This is my casual, walk the dog, go to the co-op look: multi-colored printed oversized pants, pink fanny pack, cashmere turtleneck or cotton T-shirt, persimmon colored chunky Fila sneakers, and my almost fluorescent green oversized parka.  

2. My other lewk:  An attempt at casual Katharine Hepburn. Oversized, high-waisted trousers (brown these days, sometimes all white), white sneakers or loafers with a bright sock, T-shirt, oversized linen button down, cashmere turtleneck (or turtleneck under button down), layered with oversized blazer and vintage trench. I’d like to add an undone tie but it’s hard to add a new thing like this without your friends making lots of comments. 

3. My dream-look that I almost never wear is: 70’s straight suede skirt (just below the knee), silk blouse (tucked in), and my 70’s vibe Rachel Comey high heeled boots.