Small, Simple Changes for Drivers with Mother Trucker Yoga

Jeremy Reymer [00:00:00]: This is the monthly show for Project 61. We're here to help drivers take control of their health one mile at a time. The reality, the average life expectancy for a truck driver is 61 years old. But it doesn't have to be that way. This show is about simple, practical changes that can add years to your life and life to your years without taking away from the job you love. The job that's so vital to our nation's economy. I'm Jeremy Reymer, Founder of Project 61. On each episode, I talk to health experts, drivers and other industry thought leaders working to create a healthier future for themselves and our industry. Because your health isn't just about you. It's also about the people who count on you. Let's get started. On this episode, I'm joined by a woman who's on a mission to improve the quality of life for CDL drivers. Trucking health and fitness consultant, Hope Zvara, founder and CEO of Mother Trucker Yoga. Together we'll break down exactly how you can make some minor changes today that can lead to major results. Welcome to the show, Hope. Great to see you again. Hope Zvara [00:01:13]: Thanks for having me, Jeremy. And thanks everyone for tuning in today. Jeremy Reymer [00:01:16]: During the time that we have together, I'd like to talk about Mother Trucker Yoga, how you're helping drivers and other industry stakeholders take better control of their health. I want to be sure we highlight the app that you've created to that end, as well as the book you wrote, which I thought was great content for this industry. And then during our low hanging fruit segment, I want to be sure we can get into some practical takeaways, some specific changes that drivers can make today in order to improve the quality of their lives. Well, this is the second time in less than a year that we've been able to connect. The first time was on my Taking the Hire Road show and I love your energy, your passion, your zeal for health and wellness. A very holistic approach that I think is so necessary. You made a business decision to really lean into trucking. You recognized a critical need and you went all in with Mother Trucker Yoga. Jeremy Reymer [00:02:03]: Can you share with the audience what Mother Trucker Yoga is and how you're helping both carriers and drivers? Hope Zvara [00:02:09]: Mother Trucker Yoga is really a opportunity for drivers to take a different approach to their health and wellness. My thought is always if the gym style solutions and programs and diets would work, they already would have. And really this you look across America, this isn't just trucking specific that the fall off rate for programs or traditional exercises is well above 50%. And that's being conservative. And you have to ask yourself why. Being someone that's been in the health and fitness industry and space for almost over 20 years now, I've learned a few things and made a lot of mistakes. And one of them is really understanding how people receive new information and how people make lifestyle changes regardless of the type of person that they are. And so when we created Mother Trucker Yoga 2017, it became really clear to me what was going to work and what wasn't going to work. Hope Zvara [00:03:09]: And that means this approach of really small, simple changes. I always feel like it's a good pat on the back when I start to see other people utilize that language. But that's really what we're doing is small, simple changes for drivers that they can make right in the cab of the truck within their day so that they're not removing themselves from their life. Rather, they're just simply adding small little things in the pockets of time that they already have. And so this approach that Mother Trucker Yoga is really based on is trying to help people understand that health is not a I have time for it or I don't have time for it. I need to be in this type of outfit or this not type of outfit. I need to have a gym access or not have gym access. It's really about saying, this is who I am, this is where I am. Hope Zvara [00:03:54]: These are the health constraints that I have, but I can still do something. And that's really the approach we've been taking for the last eight years. Jeremy Reymer [00:04:01]: And you said 20 plus years in this space. And I think your comment earlier about the fact that I think maybe more than any other country in the world is how much money we spend on health and fitness, yet we are the least healthy, gotta be one of the least healthiest, certainly in like the modern world, right? It's appalling. And we also have the highest. I know. Expense associated with health and healthcare in general. I'd love to touch on your background. You know, you've been pretty open about your recovery, right? I appreciate that vulnerability. Jeremy Reymer [00:04:33]: I think that's really important. I think trucking is one of those unique industries where people that really embrace it, that get to know people on a more vulnerable level, more human level. You build relationships that last a lifetime. Not only do I think it's healthy to be open about that, but also I think it builds trust, right? It builds trust with others when they know that, hey, you're just like me. Can you share A bit about that background and how you were able to overcome some of your own challenges. Hope Zvara [00:05:01]: Well, I struggled for a big part of my life with addiction, anxiety, depression, mainly eating disorder, but binge drinking, drugs, those types of things. I definitely, they had a space in there at one time, but it was really this avoidance of trying to have to deal with life. And that's really what addiction is. It's numbing the feelings to what's going on with life because it's so overwhelming. And so for those of you listening, my addiction was food. Yours might be alcohol or drugs or smoking or porn or shopping or picking up your phone, you know, a thousand times a day for a dopamine hit to try to avoid what's going on in life. We're all addicted to something. And for me, I tried all the traditional things and just nothing was working. Hope Zvara [00:05:43]: And yoga really just fell in my lap. And as a Midwestern girl, I live in southeastern Wisconsin. At that time in my life, I don't even think I really knew what yoga was, but there was something inside of me that was like, you need to do this. And that Wednesday night yoga class became my weekly ritual of second chances. And that eventually led me to a yoga teacher training. And eventually I opened up my own studio and then my own state-approved vocational school teaching yoga functional movement and mindful. And I did that for 15 plus years. And within that time period, I was able to step into recovery. Hope Zvara [00:06:17]: Not because of some magic program. I did eventually go into an outpatient treatment program, but it was the tools that I learned from yoga. And this is the, this is kind of the separating of the tides. I think if I get to toot my horn for just a second, this is really the separating tides between what we're doing with Mother Trucker Yoga and maybe what some other people are doing. And it's not what's wrong or right, it's just what we've chose or what I've chosen. A big part of what makes Mother Trucker Yoga just really an all around great opportunity for you to take back your health is because we're not just looking at the physical. We're not just saying, hey, lose 10 pounds. Because we all know that once you lose 10 pounds, if you don't make real changes that are sustainable, you're going to gain back 20. Hope Zvara [00:07:00]: But rather what I learned with yoga and my own challenges was you need to learn how to deal with what's going on in your life. You need to learn how to be present, how to breathe, how to be a little bit more conscious of the choices that you're making in life. Rather just going through the motions and taking that component and adding that into health and wellness and fitness, yoga, stretching, whatever it is, we really kind of add the gasoline to the fire when it becomes me wanting to take back my health or me wanting to improve my health. And that's really that separator. And I had done that with tens of thousands of people in my fitness career for all of those years. And I was just looking for somewhere else to make a bigger impact and feel more fulfilled, personally. My dad was a sewer pipe layer. Hope Zvara [00:07:49]: I talk about that in the book. A really underserved profession, much like truck drivers. I mean, you don't think about those types of people, you know, in your life. But I watched him break his body and not take care of himself. From a guy in the army running 10 miles on a Saturday morning as a kid in his army boots to crawling on his belly out onto the front porch to smoke a cigarette because he couldn't walk. And so that need to take care of your body and your mind really from a holistic standpoint is really what changes everything when it comes to your health and wellness, be it a truck driver, a school teacher, a plumber, or like my dad, a sewer pipe layer. Jeremy Reymer [00:08:27]: Well, while we're still talking about you, you didn't mention is that you are in the hall of fame. Can you share a little bit about that? How'd that come about? Hope Zvara [00:08:37]: Yeah, 2024, I got reached out to by the Houzz family and at first I thought it was a prank call and I thought like this is just another spam person. But they had said, we have been watching you in the industry for some time and I'd like to induct you into the Houzz Hall of Fame as Industry Leader of the Year. And I, I was really shocked because I didn't. This was not on my radar, but I was really honored because I'm more of a passion-driven entrepreneur, is some people are more financially driven. I'm very much if it's not aligned with my purpose and passion, I won't do it. And that sometimes is thankless. And I'm not a nonprofit so I don't get to ask for donations and I don't have angel investing. It's really my own bootstrap and capital that's been pushing forward this initiative over the last eight years. Hope Zvara [00:09:21]: And to be acknowledged at that level, it was just a really great honor to see that my work is being seen and that people are being affected. I mean, I know that from my end, but it's nice to know that and get recognized from the external. Jeremy Reymer [00:09:33]: Yeah, for sure. That's really cool and I'm glad to see that. I'm glad that you were able to share that. You know, you put out a lot of great content and I'm excited to share and promote it as part of the Project 61 movement. Hopefully that can, like I said, you know, be the wind in the sails of companies like yours who are just dedicated to improving the lives of the industry's most valuable workforce. And speaking of content, you created a Mother Trucker Yoga app and you also wrote a book that I mentioned earlier and we'll talk about here shortly, full of practical advice for drivers to help them create healthy habits. How is the app helping you better connect with drivers and meet them where they're at. Hope Zvara [00:10:07]: Yeah, the app is really just an opportunity for drivers to dive in a little bit deeper. It's not the only thing that we do. It's not like the linchpin to Mother Trucker Yoga, but it's definitely a tool in the toolbox. The great thing about the app is there's gated content and there's free content. So you don't have to join our membership. You don't have to be a part of the inside family to gain access. You can download the app. We have free challenges on there. Hope Zvara [00:10:31]: We have tons of information on our blog, we have audios. And so you can take that next step towards your own health. Make that small, simple change today and just find one thing. I always think if you do one thing every day intentionally, that's going to improve your health by the end of the year. That's 365% better. Just one thing. We don't need to change everything. Like, we don't need to be like, I'm never going to eat sugar again. Hope Zvara [00:10:55]: I'm going to exercise seven days a week, actually eight days a week. Like, I'm going to. I'm going to do keto until keto becomes beto. Like, I'm going to do all this. And it's just so unrealistic. Mainly because our brain does not operate that way. Like we, when we say, let's take away, we actually as humans are more instinctually going to hold on tighter. And that's just our nature. Hope Zvara [00:11:18]: And so this, like, all or nothing, black or white approach just doesn't work for the majority of people. And so with the app, it just gives people this, like, nice opportunity to dive in a Little bit deeper and just say, hey, I give you permission to make one small change today and that's enough. And then they can take that into their everyday lives and hopefully share that with other drivers as well. Jeremy Reymer [00:11:38]: I love that idea. I love the leveraging some technology there. And because, again, this is a lot of times, this is where they're at, especially those who are in the cab of the truck. They're on the road all the time. About the book, what prompted you to write a book, and how can we get that book into the hands of more drivers? Where do they find it? Hope Zvara [00:11:53]: I've always been a writer. I love speaking. I love writing. In my fitness life, I wrote five different fitness manuals, so that's always been a communication method for me. But I had so many drivers saying, love your videos, love your videos, love your audios. I want to see it. Like, I want to, like, lay it out on my passenger seat. And I was like, well, I can fix this. Hope Zvara [00:12:13]: And I think as far as just a content creator and an entrepreneur goes, a book is just such a great resource for people. People throw away magazines, but they don't throw away books. And to be able to open something up and be like, man, my back hurts, and be like, oh, I can do that, is just such a great tool for people. And this really a labor of love working with my publisher. I mean, they brought these visions that I had to life in such a way I can't even explain. We talk about posture. We talk about the four basic movements everyone needs to do to age healthy. More than 60 exercises in the cab of the truck. Hope Zvara [00:12:47]: And I don't know if you know this, Jeremy, but all the 60 exercises and really all the images in the book were all of me. But I didn't want that to be a barrier to drivers. When you pick up something and you're like, that doesn't look like me, right? Like, you look at anything and you're like, I'm not like them. And I wanted to eliminate all of those barriers. And so I found a sketch artist, and I was like, I want you to recreate these and make them, like, all different types of people. And so you look in there and we have all different types of people, Men and women, slightly larger, older, different nationalities. And so I wanted people to be able to see themselves in what they were doing and say, I can do that. That looks like me when I was writing this book, and it just really is probably one of the coolest things that I brought to life in the last. I don't know, 15 years or so. Jeremy Reymer [00:13:32]: The first time I interviewed you, I didn't have it yet. I think I had just ordered it before, you know, and so shortly afterwards, when I did get it, I think I sent you a message because I added you on Goodreads, which I. I'm active on with different books that I read all the time. And so I really enjoyed it. I think it's fantastic. And I'm gonna. There's some things that we'll get into here shortly when we get into the lower hanging fruit segment. But one thing that I noticed, you can have a thousand problems in life until you have a health problem, and then you only have one problem. Jeremy Reymer [00:14:00]: And I wish people would understand that a little bit more, and they would be more proactive and focus more on preventative health. I've come to realize that less than half of the trucking companies out there even have a wellness program. And those that do, they have such low engagement. Why is that? And what can carriers do in order just to get better engagement from their drivers? Hope Zvara [00:14:20]: Yeah. About a year and a half ago, I interviewed about 18 different trucking outfits, from carriers that had 100 trucks to, you know, 2,000 trucks. And across the board, the consensus was exactly the same for every company, large or small, that it was low engagement, some of them at 2% or less, and it didn't matter what they were offering. And I spent a big part of my previous career creating wellness programming for different companies and different types of seminars and different types of programs. I was working with Harley Davidson, AT&T at the time of my exit out of my studio. I was gearing up to work with Kohl's corporate. I had done some stuff with them. And really, the same is true across the board. Hope Zvara [00:15:00]: When you're creating a wellness program, having a good idea is not enough way things look on paper. And this is kind of the disconnect between, let's say, wellness programming and having something and let's say a carrier or the head of safety or the vp. When something is laid out really nice, it's like, oh, I love that. I love that. It's like, let's add more. My husband's in construction. It's like, oh, I want to add more to the house. Like, let's put more in the designs. Hope Zvara [00:15:21]: Oh, it's going to be so great. And then you get the bill and you're like, whoa, I can't do this, and you got to pull back. Well, the same is true in health. And so when creating a wellness program, the thought process is often let's do more is better and flashy. Lose £20 in six weeks. Like this idea that I need to, like, try to grab people with these big flashy items, these big fancy countertops and cool doorways and awesome windows, then people will want to do it. The problem with that is you aren't understanding and taking the time to understand your clientele. This is not somebody that has a membership to Planet Fitness. Hope Zvara [00:15:58]: This is not somebody that probably is going home and eating organic at their house. This is not somebody that knows the difference between fats, carbs and proteins. Heck, the average American doesn't know the difference between them. And so they're throwing all this information at them because we think more is better. And that's just going to make someone revolt even more. Why? Because they don't want to be seen as incompetent. They don't want to be seen as somebody that cannot do it. And the other piece of that is if they can't see and they can't figure out where to fit this in, that feeling of failure is going to take over before they even start and say, I'm just not going to try at all. Hope Zvara [00:16:40]: What's the point? And so when creating a wellness program, at least with Mother Trucker Yoga, and I approach these carriers, I have to kind of laugh to myself, Jeremy, because what I'm presenting to them is so the opposite of what everyone else is, that sometimes they're like, well, where is it? And I'm like, where's what? And they're like, where is all this stuff? And really, it comes down to meeting your people where they are. More is not always better. And understanding the way the human brain learns and the way the human brain makes changes in their life. This is not about having good equipment. This is not about fancy exercise sizes, and this is not about having the most robust program. This is about understanding how the mind works in order to get somebody on board with any change you want them to make. Jeremy Reymer [00:17:29]: Yeah. And at the end of the day, I mean, my goal is if the 61 is the average life expectancy of a truck driver, that's just not okay. And to your point, it's the little things. It's baby steps. Keep it simple because it's sustainable that way, right? Otherwise, it's a flash in the pan. And I think that's this is probably a good segue to dive into our better everyday segment where we get into some specific takeaways for drivers. Jeremy Reymer [00:17:52]: We understand that being a truck driver is hard, right? It takes such a high level of discipline and pre planning to make sure they're eating real human food and staying away from all the garbage in front of them. It takes being very intentional, like you said, to get adequate movement throughout the day and enough consistent sleep. So maybe we can touch on, you say three or four things. Some small impactful baby steps that they can incorporate into their day and improve their health immediately. And I know that you have a lot of these here and I actually earmarked one of the pages, so I'm gonna. Wait, I'll let you. You've got one that's kind of at the top of your mind. Your daily get fit, quick pit stop checklist here is on page 30 is one thing that I'm, I'm highlighting, but. Hope Zvara [00:18:35]: Well now I gotta look on page 30, Jeremy. Jeremy Reymer [00:18:38]: But it's some really good stuff that they can just do and you can do today, right now. Simple stuff. Where do we start? Hope Zvara [00:18:46]: Well, the first thing actually I want people to think about and this is, doesn't feel health related. But again, there's a lot of science behind this is every single morning like your life depends on it. I want you to do two things. The first thing is I want you to practice gratitude. And the reason being is it activates the decision making parts of our brain, the prefrontal cortex. And when we're thinking about gratitude, that's the very first thing that comes to your mind that is going to shift shape the rest of your day. Like this is. This is not like pseudo science here. Hope Zvara [00:19:17]: This is actually your brain firing and rewiring itself. When you bring gratitude to the forefront, it also is going to help increase serotonin and dopamine. It's going to lower stress. And so everybody, I challenge you. Everybody has three things they can be gratiful, grateful for. And this is my ritual. It's a person, a place and a thing. Like a thing can be a situation or something that's happened. Hope Zvara [00:19:40]: But every single morning, I list those off. I quietly whisper them to myself. And that's the first thing that I say before I get up out of bed. It's just been a ritual for me since I was struggling with addiction many years ago. I thought, you know what? To dig myself out of this hole, like I can, I need to see the positive no matter how hard life is becoming right now. And that really played a big role in me getting into recovery and staying in recovery. So the first is gratitude. The second one is once you've done that and you sat up, you're going to drink eight to 20 ounces of water. Hope Zvara [00:20:12]: Now don't tell me I don't like water. Well, you know what I don't like? I don't like chemotherapy drugs, I don't like diabetic medication. Like there's a lot of things I don't like too. And so I want you to have that water though. Water bottle, water cup, mug, I don't care what it is by your bedside before the night before. So you're sleeping in the truck, you're sleeping at home, just have that right there. And the first time your feet hit the ground, I just want you to chug, just chug and get it done. And the reason being is because if you are out on the road, your body in the morning, it's going to clean out your intestines, it's going to jump start your metabolism, but also within about 30 to 60 minutes, it's going to move through your system quite quickly because you haven't eaten yet. Hope Zvara [00:20:53]: And so by the time you have to head out on the road, you're going to have to relieve yourself and use the bathroom. So now you've already checked off hydration and you've already set yourself up for success before you even set foot out on the road. So maybe you don't drink any water until you're parked for the night. You've already gotten a headway towards your goal and that is going to make such a big difference. So those are the first two. The third one I want you to do is I want you to practice intentional movement. If you're listening to this for the next seven days, let's just do seven days. I want you to move on purpose. Hope Zvara [00:21:26]: That doesn't mean, well, I strapped my truck bed down or I got in and out of my truck. Well, no, that's things that you're doing, I want you to to move on purpose. So find one moment during the day where you're going to intentionally do something like I'm going to make the intention to walk one extra lap around my truck. Or I'm going to make the intention to do 10 squats. Or I'm going to make the intention to do a little half down dog on my truck step because that's what the trucking yoga book said, whatever the case may be, intentional movement. And then the fourth one and the final one, I want you to try to eat one more fruit or vegetable for the next seven days than you are right now. So if you're not eating any good news, you're just going to start with one, not five. Okay? So this is where the small piece comes in, Jeremy. I'm not telling you five fruits and vegetables a day, like that's like overload to the body mentally, especially just one. So if you're already eating three, eat four. If you're eating two, eat three. Whatever the case is, just one more fruit or vegetable and start there. Jeremy Reymer [00:22:25]: Yeah, that's fantastic. The gratitude piece, I think for listeners might think, well, that what does that have to do with health and wellness? Everything foundational. And it's the mindset, right, that you're kicking things off with. And then the water. So about. It's probably been about four or five months now. I drink 32 ounces of water. That's the first thing I do. It's the very first thing. I don't drink coffee first now I drink lots of coffee, but it's, it's after that. But I drink 32 ounces of water, same cup every single day. And that has been a really big deal for me because I think I find that I probably am not drinking enough water outside of that for my size and weight. Hope Zvara [00:23:05]: Yeah, and one of the things too with water, and this is like a whole nother episode we can get into, drinking water actually isn't enough. So drinking water cleanses, but it doesn't necessarily hydrate. So you need some type of a conductor. So like Celtic sea salt, you know, or something along those lines. Because otherwise your cells can't bond to the water. And so you need some type of a conductor. So that's why, like a pinch of Celtic sea salt, you're also getting all your electrolytes and some of your minerals. You can't absorb vitamins without minerals. Hope Zvara [00:23:33]: And so there's so many benefits to just adding a little bit of salt or trace mineral drops into your water every day. So now you're actually hydrating yourself as well. And this is so simple and easy. Like that you can do that. Doesn't take a lot of money, doesn't take a lot of time and very well could keep you in the health lane of your life and career. Jeremy Reymer [00:23:53]: The intentional movement. I mean, what's frustrating, I think when I know the life of a driver, they've been driving all this time, they're taking a 30 minute break, they park, they go and they sit down inside of a place. You're like, that is the last thing you should do, right? 30 minutes. I know that you're probably tired because you might not be eating very good, you might not be doing all the things that you really need to do. And be intentional about. But it's so important to be, to your point, intentional and get some movement. And one of the things that I actually learned this, I think it was from you, was I don't even sit down. When I put my shoes and tie my shoes, I actually stand up and I bend over because it's harder to do that. Hope Zvara [00:24:31]: And it's a balance challenge. And there's so much coordination that goes into that. And if you don't use it now, you're gonna lose it. I worked in a nursing home teaching yoga for two years and man, there is nothing that those men and women wouldn't give to get out of their wheelchair, put on their own shirt or coat, reach their arm up overhead. And so that's part of the intentional, on purpose movement. Like nothing's stopping anyone right now from just reaching their arms up overhead and stretching side to side. You might think, well, that's dumb. Well, I guarantee your back's gonna crack. Hope Zvara [00:25:01]: Your shoulders might pop a little bit. You reach your arms up overhead, it brings your heart rate up. So that's really good cardiovascularly. Like there's so many little things that we're just not doing. And to your point about the break and then going and sitting, you're fatigued and tired and exhausted mentally, maybe not necessarily physically. And so you have to override that mental fatigue. And within two to five minutes of movement, that's going to go away. So when you're mentally tired, that's why you should still go for a walk or still go to the gym, or still get up and walk in place or whatever the case may be, because that mental fatigue will go away quite quickly. Hope Zvara [00:25:40]: So you have to, once you understand that, then you can start moving in the direction of like, even though I feel this way, I know I need to do this because I'm going to feel better afterwards. Jeremy Reymer [00:25:52]: Excellent. And I'm so glad that we got to do this. You know, for our audience who'd like to learn more about Mother Trucker Yoga, where should we direct them? Hope Zvara [00:25:59]: Yeah, you can find me on all platforms and online. Mother Trucker Yoga. Just type that into any of your social channels or Google and we'll pop up. And you can check out our blog, check out our audios, our book, lots of resources. My goal is for you to have that one tool that you can carry with and make those changes until it becomes automatic. And then take a second and then take a third when you no longer need me. I've done my job. That's what I think. And again, that goes back to that passion-driven entrepreneur like I want you to be successful and have all the tools and that's really what Mother Trucker Yoga is all about. Jeremy Reymer [00:26:31]: Success is the byproduct. At the end of the day. You do that and you execute there. Then success comes. That's not the reason why you do it. And I love that. Thank you once again for joining me, Hope. I look forward to a panel that we'll be doing together at ATA's mid year meeting in Scottsdale, Arizona. I'll be seeing you soon. Hope Zvara [00:26:46]: Awesome. Thanks so much and thanks for tuning in. Jeremy Reymer [00:26:52]: That's it for this episode of Project 61. But remember, change doesn't happen overnight. It happens in the small decisions you make every day. You don't have to do everything at once, but you do have to start work. Try at least one thing we talked about today and see how it feels. If you found this episode helpful, share it with a fellow driver or leave us a review. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy and keep moving forward.