Member Focus: Jo Murdock
We caught up with member and programming partner, Jo Murdock, to chat all things wellness and her time with Common House since joining last year. A New York native and trained dancer, Jo is a business and non-profit owner, who teaches a monthly yoga session with us. She has been featured in a handful of articles and taught for brands like Nike, Self Magazine, lululemon, MIRROR, and Netflix.
Give us a little bit about your background
As a dance major during my high school years, I danced at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and continued dancing while majoring in Media, Society, and the Arts at SUNY Purchase. I'm classically trained in ballet, horton, and jazz, which I've gotten to use in choreographing music videos. I'm a former lululemon ambassador, and I started my fitness career in 2015. As a fitness instructor, I'm certified in barre, yoga, yoga for athletes, meditation + breathwork and much more. I have my 500hr RYT certification and have created wellness programs for kids, yoga alliance certified training, and lectures.
What are you doing currently? And how did you get into this line of work?
I currently run my wellness business (flowwj0 Yoga), a non-profit (reimagine our wellness), teach yoga full time on GLO.com, and am the Lead Yoga Teacher at The Well Collective. When I became a barre instructor I realized that I can manage myself and enjoyed it. So slowly I've learned what I can offer authentically and have been nurturing it ever since. I got into barre and yoga during a time when I needed a lot of emotional support. Yoga empowered me and it was clear that sharing this with others was a part of my calling.
What excites you about this?
It's extremely exciting to create wellness opportunities for folks who have been historically left out of the wellness conversation. When folks start to prioritize their overall wellbeing it creates a chain reaction and when we all start to prioritize it we create stronger and healthier communities. I wish I had wellness resources and access growing up so it excites me to be able to give back now. I’m doing a lot of this work at The Well Collective and it’s been a really healing experience.
tell us about your time at common House
I found Common House by word of mouth. I was told there were a lot of beautiful spaces to lead yoga sessions, in addition to spaces that were great for co-working and networking. I enjoy meeting someone new every time I enter the space and the atmosphere is very cozy which helps me focus and work more efficiently. I have made some amazing connections in the house that have grown into friendships. I've seen some folks outside of the house that I bump into at CH. We laugh about it and then get to know each other, so it's a beautiful cycle and I'm happy to be a part of that.
To learn more about Jo’s practice, head to her website here.