Interview with Lisa Kauff: about her yoga business and balancing work with kids, self-care tips for pregnant women and deep satisfaction

1. Dear Lisa, we're really looking forward to this interview with you! You're a mother of two children and the founder of Monkey Yoga. We love your Instagram account @monkey.yoga.lisa for your daily dose of workout and yoga inspiration, your healthy and inspiring lifestyle, and your positive energy. But it's best if you introduce yourself. Who are you and what do you do?

Wow, so many wonderful compliments for my work all at once. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

My name is Lisa Kauff, and I grew up near Mainz. I am a mother of two, happily married, and live in the Northern Black Forest. After school, I initially studied business administration/international business – common sense prevailed back then. At 22, I started working for an auditing firm and later moved to another international company. Even though, from the outside, I was doing a good job, I constantly felt extremely stressed and had the feeling I was denying my own values. But it wasn't until 10 years later that I finally dared to follow my heart's path and (on the side) complete a yoga teacher training course. During this time, I was so inspired, free, and full of energy that I founded my own company, Monkey Yoga , that same year. In the first few years, I focused on yoga retreats, events, and course formats far removed from the mainstream. It was only with the pandemic that Monkey Yoga's focus shifted increasingly to online.

2. Tell us about your journey to yoga! How long have you been practicing yoga, and how has it changed your life?

I attended my first yoga class when I was 19, but I didn't feel like I was there. It wasn't until I was 28 (eight years ago) that I, by a stroke of luck, found a power yoga class with a fantastic teacher. At the time, I was restless inside and caught in a constant hamster wheel of unfulfilled expectations of myself. On the yoga mat, I suddenly experienced a feeling of deep contentment and serenity. Immediately after the class, I felt like I was walking on air, and all my problems seemed far away. Since then, there has hardly been a day when I haven't practiced yoga for a few minutes. But thanks to the knowledge I have gained from yoga, I also experience my everyday life with a more conscious, relaxed attitude.

3. Your online yoga course program is primarily designed for pregnant women and mothers. What sets your courses apart from other prenatal and postnatal courses?

I designed and filmed my classes while I was pregnant and postnatally after the birth of my second baby. I was missing online yoga classes that catered to my own needs. My classes are designed to give women the opportunity to practice yoga independently, in convenient time slots (15-30 minutes). It's much more effective and healthier to do short workouts 3 times a week than once for a whole hour! I teach powerful, modern yoga that builds the deep muscles of the abdomen and back while also becoming more flexible. It's also important to me to share loving advice and tips—from mother to mother—for more mindfulness and love in dealing with oneself.

4. Your top 5 self-care tips for pregnant women?

1.) Get some fresh air every day, even if it's only for 15 minutes.

2.) A gentle yoga session every day.

3.) Take a few minutes at lunchtime to rest and put your feet up (I enjoyed doing Yoga Nidra during pregnancy, a guided deep relaxation technique that is also part of my pregnancy yoga course).

4.) Learn to eat intuitively: Over the course of our lives, we lose the ability to listen to our bodies. During pregnancy, our bodies send us even clearer signals about what we and our baby need.

5.) We can also improve our own body awareness through self-massage: Massage your entire body with a pleasant oil (or, if time is short, just your feet). Try to observe your body lovingly and as a miracle of nature (which it is), rather than focusing on its perceived flaws. Over time, you'll feel your relationship with your body improve.

5. Tenzin Palmo says, "Distraction is the main problem for all of us—what the Buddha called the monkey mind. We need to tame this monkey mind," and thus aptly describes one of the challenges of our time. What are your tips for moms to slow down the daily carousel of thoughts and live more consciously in the moment?

Phew, this is certainly one of the biggest challenges we face as mothers today! A thousand small and large tasks keep us busy from early morning until late at night.

No matter how much we long for peace and quiet, we can't simply tell our minds to finally switch off. Instead, it helps to direct our focus to a kind of "anchor." This could be our breathing for two conscious minutes while drinking tea. Or a beautiful song that we listen to undisturbed. Another opportunity is a walk (with a stroller if necessary): instead of using your phone, leave it at home and concentrate only on nature, the wind, the smell of the trees, etc. In short: to avoid being buried under the weight of our thoughts, we as mothers have to learn to repeatedly direct our attention to something for short moments in our everyday lives. These are little oases of calm that give us new strength.

6. As a mom of two kids: How do you balance business and kids?

First of all: Every day is a huge challenge for me as a self-employed mother, and I rarely end the day by accomplishing even a fraction of the things I consider important. But I am very grateful and proud that I can be self-employed and that I am lucky enough to have children and a family!

Luckily, we were able to get full-day daycare for both children (2 and 4 years old) early on. Since I have flexible working hours, I worked until the birth and started working again a few days afterward, working 1-2 hours a day. My husband, who works as a surgeon in a hospital, also supports me a lot, and we share the care work quite well on "normal" days. We have a housekeeper who cleans our apartment once a week. I'm also very practical and can easily overlook a bit of dust and clutter. I probably wouldn't be able to balance business and family life otherwise!

7. What are the ups and downs of being a self-employed mom?

In the past, as a yoga teacher, I taught a lot in person, mostly in the evenings and on weekends. This took a lot of family time away. That's why I'm very grateful that my flexible online courses have been so well-received. This allows me to work while the children are at daycare. What I'd like to improve on is setting clear boundaries and truly not working in the evenings and on weekends. Unfortunately, I often don't manage that yet, for example, when urgent requests from clients come in via email.

One advantage, and one disadvantage, of being self-employed: If one of our children gets sick, I have a lot of flexibility in canceling my plans and appointments. Since our families live too far away, we can only rely on the grandparents' support in an emergency.

8. Do you have a particular mantra that you live by?

Hmm, that's a good question. For a long time, my mantra used to be "I am at peace with myself." That often helped me when I fell back into my old patterns—"higher, faster, further."

Today, the mantra "I allow myself to slow down" helps me. As a very impatient woman, it helps me when I once again take on too many tasks at once. I recently heard on a podcast: If we look at a year of our lives, we seem to accomplish very little. But looking at it over five years, it suddenly becomes a completely different perspective! This true realization has changed a lot for me. Often, consciously slowing down leads to wonderful new things!

9. What is your vision for the future?

My dream is to create a yoga retreat center in the Black Forest where people can meet and recharge their energy reserves for a few days. In the middle of nature, surrounded by forests and meadows, with fresh, vegetarian food... But that dream will have to wait a little longer, until our children are a little older :).

10. Last but not least – what is your favorite product from the mara mea yoga line?

It's clear: I love the wildflower sports bra in rose made of organic cotton. It's super comfortable and so beautiful that you don't want to wear anything over it to hide it!

About Lisa