She has exploded to the top of the fashion world at the age of sixteen by grazing the cover of Walk. A former supermodel and now one of the best yoga teachers that I know, Linda Nivotoba. She talks to me about the benefits of yoga for professional athletes, especially tennis players. She traveled the world, lived in a lay for many many years, but now she calls Slovakia her home. At the age of sixteen, were you able to digest that everything that was happening around here for you in the moment?
You just you just go with what everything's been thrown at you. What is the tough part of modeling that maybe we don't see. We don't realize that it is really hard for me? And it was traveling with her friends and her family. I think we have the same at the beginning, right, and it's so exciting. What is the biggest benefit for yourself that yoga gives you. I'm affectionist and I can get very into my head so and it's just like too much plessure. I just go
and uh my ownest down after class. We have so much in common that we didn't even realize before talking to each other and I'm so glad to have her on my next episode of the Real DNA podcast. So please enjoy it and let me know on my Instagram or Facebook or my new YouTube channel how much you have enjoyed it. Ninda welcomes so so much on my Real DNA Podcast. I can't tell you how much I
was looking forward to this my pleasure. So, UM, let me start with saying that I think we are not aware of how similar our first part of lives were. I'm just gonna make it really short to introduce Linda to everyone. Um, she's been in the top of the fashion world for many, many years. As a sixteen year old, she was on the cover of Walk So that's how special our guest is today. Just tell me quickly, at the age of sixteen, were you able to digest that
everything that was happening around here? Not at all, I think as as I'm looking back twenty years later, twenty something. UM, you when you're in the moment, you just you just go with but everything is being thrown at you, and I think when you're sixteen you don't really realize everything that's going on. I'm sure you can relate to that. So when you see yourself on the cover of Walk.
What are your first initial totes? Um, Well, first of all, it was it was a great honor, and I think that was kind of the moment that totally shifted in my career, and it happened very very soon into into my modeling career. So UM, I was really lucky, because um I was I was really really young to be featured on the cover of k one of the youngest girls. UM. I think they after after years after me. I think they changed the limit too, I think to be at
least eighteen years old. So it okay, okay, all right, okay. Um When when this happened to you, were you aware of the of the fact, how much important and how huge that was at such a young age. UM I could tell that it was huge by by the by the um everyone else around me was saying, and that I was getting bigger jobs, and by the bus that was created right after that. UM I said at the beginning that our careers were very similar, but there is a big difference in tennis and in sports in general.
I'm in charge of the match, so if I have a bad day, I'm gonna lose. If I have a good day, I'm gonna win with you guys, it's so different. How did you take that in when you go to an addition and you are fused because of your looks or you're accepted by your looks at such a young age. Yeah, there's so much that's not in our hands. Actually, um, not only have to be you always have to be in top shape, which like you have to be all
the time. But even if everything on your part is done perfectly, it still doesn't guarantee you're gonna get the job, because you can never be perfect for everyone. You know, there's always moments when you're like too tall, or too blonde or some ridiculous reason, are you just not the
idea that the client is looking for. So it's really important to just forget about it and just move on and not identify with the fact that you didn't win this one, because in modeling, there's not like second third place. You get the job or you don't get it. Um, but you just have to quickly forget about it, don't take it personally because you know a lot of times you know it doesn't if you're not perfect for this job doesn't mean that you're not perfect for another one.
And a change that mindset. So when you go to the next audition, you go with like the mind of a beginner, you know, and you fully focused on that forgetting that you didn't get the last one. Well, those are very wise words. What were you able to do when you were sixteen? And probably you didn't have this mindset? Who or what helped you the most to get through moments like that? Um, or maybe you were always in
this way. I have to say that this knowledge came with time, right, But um, in the beginning, of course, like you want to, you want to you want to get all the jobs right, you want to get all the British shots. And uh, you know, sometimes you shoot a campaign and indiand it doesn't come out, you know, so you go through first few disappointments and then you just learn, you know, it's it's a part of the job and you kind of have to evolve and go
with it, and I think it makes you stronger. And you know, after after a few years, it just becomes a part of the job and it's part of the routine and you go to so many additions a day and even if you're getting one of ten, it's great success. What is the tough part of modeling that maybe we don't see, we don't realize that it is really hard. Um, I would say for me, and it was a traveling and being with for friends and for family, I think we have the same is the best thing at the beginning,
right And it's so exciting. It's so exciting to get to see these wonderful places. You meet amazing interesting people from around the world. And to this day, I still have friends in different places and I can mean when when in the in the normal situation, I can just go and uh and and travel somewhere and stay with friends, and um, it just makes the world kind of a smaller place talking about traveling. And we just spoke about it a couple of minutes ago. I know, um, how
much l A means to you. What is it about the place that you love so much? Um? L A is like my second home. I lived there for the past twelve years on and off, and I fell in love with that place and that was the place I got first introduced to yoga. And I love the whole lifestyle of of l A and the importance of taking care of yourself, your body, your mind, being healthy and making healthier choices. It's kind of really a lifestyle. It's
there's there's specific restaurants you can go to. People who work out all day every day. It's uh, there's more opportunity to be making better choices. Now, fast forward forward twenty years. Here we are, we both retired from our first original jobs. And I have to say I'm so proud of you for everything you've done in the last couple of years, and that I'm able to say that, honestly, you are one of the best pictures in the world. And I'm really really lucky that I get to practice
yoga with you. How did you come to it? You just mentioned it that the all started in a lafe for you. Uh. Is it something that you saw yourself doing when you were younger, or just tellt the story behind it. I had always Uh, I had always been there sporting um ever since I was a little girl. UM. I did my short arts, I did UM. I was a runner for a long time. I got to the gym still um. And uh, where by the way, you live much more than me, which I was short to see.
So that's the one thing I love about Linda that obviously I think we both don't look like it, but I think we can lift some heavyweights, so you know you the same. Yeah, I think I think in uh in sports just like in in in food. Uh I think movement is a nutrition part about it, just like food is. And you want to have a wide variety of of different kinds of food that you eat, a different kind of sports, different types of movements that you practice, UM,
different types of loads. Right, you work with your with your own body weight or with some edit weight UM to load more the tissue. I think it's really important because you always surprised the body UM and you just have a different variety which I think can this way you can target um in in many many different ways
the body, which keeps it healthier in my mind. And so basically you had this ever since you were a little this active lifestyle in you and probably in l A. The idea to actually go for it and start focusing on yoga was more clear for you. Yes, So I've been wanting to try yoga for a while and it was the first time I came to l A. Then my roommate took me to yoga class and uh I it was a lot less for site. It was so hard, which I love a challenge, UM, but also for it
was hard for the body and for the mind. And when the class ended, I just really felt uplifted and I signed up in the studio for and I practiced every day for a month and until I was living in l A. In the Ever since I've been, I've
been practicing yoga. UM still practicing out of sports as well, but yoga became a part of my life and slowly UM as some managure very curious, I wanted to learn more and go deeper and I'm just and things, and I started taking some courses seminars until I got to teacher training a few years back, and I took the I took a teacher training just to learn more for myself, but part of the training was to teach a class. And I had a lot of friends around me who
were asking me a lot of questions. So they wanted to advise on their on their poses or on their alignment. How do we're practicing. Some of them had some injuries. They wanted to understand why what are we doing wrong? So I started teaching them and they became a clients, my first clients. Some of them to this day still UM and Uh, I really I really liked teaching. I realized it, and at that time I was still modeling. So the transition was very smooth and slow, and the
progression took a few years. Um. But I got to a point when I had drugula clients and I was teaching a lot, and I just decided that I have to close one door to see the possibility of another one. I really, I am a strong believer that you kind of do this halfway. I mean you can't, but the result it's going to be helpfuay halfway exactly. So, UM, I got to a point when I think I fulfilled my need for modeling and I wanted to settle down a little bit more. And I came back to Bratislava
as well. And it was a couple of years ago and ever since I was teaching in a lot before, but ever since I've been in Bratislava. Um, there's been a full time top for me. And it's another story that we have so similar that I'm so proud of you how you were able to make that transition from one job to basically something completely different. And I think we both know how difficult it is, and I think that's why we appreciate this new opportunity, but now we
have a new life. And what what was maybe something that challenge you at the beginning being a teacher instead of a student of yoga? UM the responsibility because UM, practicing is different than teaching, very very different, and there is I It was interesting because by teaching I got to learn a lot more about yoga by observing different bodies and different struggles that people have. UM. I got to learn so much more about about poses, about people's
needs and how to help them. And interesting thing was that I think from the beginning I started teaching UH yoga one on one. I thought some group classes, but I might prefer one on one because you can get very specific. And I like the challenge of being a little bit of a detective. What your body needs, where is the misalignment? What could help you, and then we
will work on it. And I think that's I find that very interesting because you guys so wide and there's so many styles, so many yoga offers, so much UM. But working with one on one specifically, you're targetting the person's needs. UM. That's what it's interesting for me because you progress so much more and you can see the results very quickly. Well, that's what I love the most when we have a class together, that you really listen
to your clients and you listen to their needs. You you feel their body and really customize the class because I think for a professional athlete, it's always the danger that yes, you know your guys good. But so many times I wanted to do it and my coaches were like they weren't really sure because they knew that I
was risking an injury. Where when I started practicing yoga with you, I knew that I was never having to worry about it because you really you you see the body of the client, and thanks to that, the class is always going to be amazing. But there was an interesting point what you said about not doing things health way, when it was the point for you, UM that you realize that, okay, it's time to close the door and
move on to a new chapter in your life. UM. It was more like a feeling, like an internal feeling. I I had this need of having things more in my hands because the modeling, you don't really have it. You're always waiting for something for someone, for the client to decide for the option to confirm or not UM and I really wanted to have something in my hand that I would be creating and working on and getting
better and growing. And there was the other game is it really did and uh, and I could really feel that this is what this is what I needed to do, and this is the direction that I need to go. So I tend to listen actually emerge myself. Um, this is the subject that I'm most looking forward to to be discussing, and that is yoga and professional sports, especially tennis. What are the main benefits and why you do you think it's so good for at least two to be
practicing it as well? So we said a little bit about like having a variety of movement because especially professional athletes, um, are so specifically oriented on like that skill that you need you know that that that like angle that you need, right, and and I think this is what causes injuries, Like you can predict what are your weak points by playing tennis, right, It's different for different athletes. Right that work with some
hockey players as well, and I have some golfers. You seem to be working with all the sports just with one rotational at least in tennis we have two sides, but still a lot of rotation exactly. Um. So UM this the repetitive movement causes injury after a while, right, But UM, I think yoga offers also recovery. You know, you can you can strengthen the joints, you can balance left and right side so you have more symmetry and
there's less compensation. Um, it improves your balance. Um. There's a lot of health benefits, but I think the main one would be the connection of like you guys, more mind and body. So I'm sure I don't have to explain to you how important it is to be really focused before you serve, right, and everything that goes in your mind. How to quiet the mind so that you can really be here and now and just breath quite
the mind, but also being able to stretch it. And that's one thing you mentioned ones in our class together. And I absolutely love the fact open my mind in so many different ways that yoga teaches us with the stretching and being in positions that are uncomfortable to be the same with our mind, to push us, push ourselves and face the things that we don't really want to face, and just open our perspective on life. And I think that's where I feel the main connection between the body
and mind. It's um do. Yoga poses are just tools and we can use them in different ways that you choose for the anatomical benefits, but also as you as you, as you said, observe because the poses are like situations in our life. It's very like you can take this out of the man into the real world and just observe and did to know yourself? How do you react when things get tough? M when things get challenging? Do you do get angry at yourself that you're strong enough
to criticize? Do you hate the teacher and she's keeping you there so long? Um? Do you compare yourself? Right? Were like, oh I really knew this, how come this is not happening today? Or when you have when you don't have balance, you know what's throwing you out of your balance? There's so many, so many questions and answers as you can get um if you attention. Mm hmm.
That's so well said. I think it's also very similar yoga with a tennis match that it really reflects everything that's going on inside and more so when you're playing appropriatch or when you're on the math doing practicing yoga because you really have to face yourself so the issues come out even stronger. I would say, what is the biggest benefit for yourself that yoga gives you. I think it gives me grounded. I always turned to come back and turn to come back to yoga when they're stuff
going on. And I'm a perfectionist and I can get very into my head. So when it's just like too much pressure, I just go and move and breathe, and the mind always fights down after a class and and instead of reacting, now I have time, I processed a little bit, and I can make better choices. Being a little bit more specific, for tennis players, when is the best time that you would suggest to make yoga during
the tournaments or during the practice weeks. So I would say, you don't want to really do any intense big stretches right before you're about to play. UM. I would keep yoga for either after the match if you want to do this a recovery or stretch, or maybe on your days off in between matches. UM, then you can really work on the flexibility and and mobility and or like or even stretch. UM out of hockey players go first, and tennis players who is more stafferent. Similar, right, guys
need to be more stiff in general. Um, the girls. So that's why girls think. I mean, there's this new The girls are better at yoga. Girls are reflexible. Yeah, And I just love their reactions. Whenever we go to practice yoga with other athletes, guys they think, oh, this is so easy, right. I think they have the impression that you guys just for girls, And then it's nice to see them shaking and sweating and realizing that this is not stretching to have a class full of guys
on this like ten athletes. You know, they come, they're really strong, but they've been trained in a different way, so it's different kind of strength and it's different kind of challenge. So this wedding they giving me looks, yeah, just quickly and tell me. I know how busy you are and how tough it is to for myself to get a class with you, which is absolutely great. How can people reach out, how they can see maybe some of your classes, or how they can have a one
on one with you. I'm still working on some on some online content. Uh, hopefully we'll be coming soon on my website. But for the moment, you can reach me on Instagram. Um it's Liva oltover Um. You can DM me for if you want. UM zoom class I'm teaching online especially now, still teaching some life classes here in Slovakia, but I know around the world it's a little bit more complicated. I have some clients in uh in the US, so I know they're staying home. They're very grateful that
they can still practice. UM. So yeah, dear me on on Instagram. So it's actually one of the coolest things in your job that you can do this pretty much worldwide, not having to travel, and you get such an international crowd. Yeah, it's good. Um, I'm really happy about this and also to be able to see my friends. But I hope that we can travel some again and see them life
because I's like life is always better what we can travel. Right, Okay, I know we are about to do finally a class together and we're gonna do some videos as well, so can people actually can see some of your stretches specific four tennis to on our Instagram's YouTube. We're going to put it as well, so there's gonna be plenty of content. So before making it any longer, let's move to the second part, and thank you so much again for our podcast today. Yes, and we'll see you actually all very soon.
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