Today we’d like to introduce you to Alex Diehl.
It’s an honor to speak with you today. Why don’t you give us some details about you and your story. How did you get to where you are today?
Of course! My name is Alex Diehl, I’m an actor, writer, and creator of the Yogable App. I grew up studying ballet, so I always had a good awareness of my body. I continued dancing through college and eventually ended up as a soloist in a ballet company out here in LA. However, I soon realized that while I loved exploring my body through movement, I didn’t love the performative aspect of dance—I was already getting that from acting. I felt I needed to re-define my relationship to movement and my body, so I transitioned out of dance and into yoga. Since I had so much control of my body, I quickly got a lot of attention from a few prominent yoga studios, they helped me get my teaching certificates, and from there it has pretty much snowballed! I taught privately and in several studios for five years, I managed & opened a yoga studio for the nation’s largest yoga chain, I coached a number of teacher trainings, and that all led up to me creating this app–Yogable!
I’m sure your success has not come easily. What challenges have you had to overcome along the way?
Well, I’d say the biggest challenge to releasing the Yogable App was COVID-19. I started working with my developer mid 2019, with plans for the two of us to work a lot in-person starting in March 2020, but of course…. that’s right when lockdown hit. He had to fly back to Costa Rica to be with family, and we still were not well-versed in the art of Zoom calling, etc. at the time, so there was quite a bit of a learning curve and it definitely slowed us down. Also to be fully transparent, finances were tough once the pandemic hit–acting jobs were fewer and farther between than ever, and I wasn’t able to teach in-person yoga classes to help supplement that income anymore. That said, all of these challenges helped make sure that we worked more intelligently and efficiently with the resources we did have, and I’m very proud of what we were able to accomplish given all the circumstances.
Let’s talk about the work you do. What do you specialize in and why should someone work with you over the competition?
What’s unique about Yogable is that you as the student really have a say in what your experience will be. That’s because you’re essentially customizing it yourself. There are three different methods within the app that you can use to create your class, based around your yoga proficiency–so if you don’t know anything about the structure of a yoga class, you’ll just be answering some simple questions, versus some of the more in-depth options that we have. You can select the length of the class, the intensity level, the part of the body you’d like to focus on, and more! Rather than shooting a million full-length classes of varying focuses and intensities, we shot the video content as a bunch of segments of classes that can be woven together, reordered, mixed & matched, so that Yogable can truly create the custom class that’s perfect for you. Having come from a dance background, I would say my specialty is finding unique and effective ways to help you explore your body on a deeper level. I love creating movement that forces you to be mentally and physically present, rather than zoned out–that’s when yoga really becomes transformative, is when you are fully there, aware, and curious–ready to experience and examine your own being mentally, physically, and emotionally.
What’s your best piece of advice for readers who desire to find success in their life?
My biggest advice would be to practice Svadhyaya– it’s a yoga concept, a sanskrit word that means “Self-Study.” Oftentimes as a society, we think success is determined by outside factors–what do they think of me, how much money am I making, is my job title prestigious-sounding enough? Try to practice caring less about what people think or how stuff looks on paper, and think about whether it’s truly aligned with the highest version of yourself. Similar to that Marie Kondo book, where she frames the task of de-cluttering by having you ask yourself if each of you belongings “sparks joy.” It’s like that, but with every decision in your life. You can start to create a narrative that you’re proud to own fully, slowly letting go of old habits, thought patterns, relationships–separating from the things in your life that feel misaligned. That way, the space is open and ready for something more aligned to fill it in.
Speaking of success, what does the word mean to you?
For me success is very personal and always changing. It is a constant process of learning from yourself. I feel success is less about accomplishments, and more about growth. I love being in that exploratory space–I always feel like a child again when I’m learning a new skill, or working on a new project. That’s why I don’t plan to ever stop.
What’s next for you?
Well, as far as Yogable, we hope to one day expand to have a web-based browser version available so that people with non-Apple devices can use it as well. Our goal is to get people using the app, generate awareness & excitement around Yogable, so that we can get the revenue needed to expand further, and make the app even better for all of the users. I have a lot of ideas of where we could take this app, if we have the opportunity to expand. I’d love to make a pose library, shoot more segments, create a 12 week program, etc. There really isn’t anything else quite like this yet, so we’re eager to see what happens! Separate from Yogable, I’m in LA right now filming a couple different projects, I’m about to release a fiction Podcast called ‘Teardrop Hunting’ and will be spending some more time in Madrid where my family is from.
Finally, how can people connect with you if they want to learn more.
Reaching out to me on instagram is definitely the best way– @yogable & @alexdiehl. Looking forward to connecting with you all!