Superwoman Gina Turner Is A Health Goth With A Heart Of Gold

I always did yoga here and there because I danced all my life, and then when I was in college, I did a little more because I was a dance minor. But it was always something to compliment  my dance practice. Then when I stopped dancing, I started to get heavier into my DJ career, I needed something to kind of round me and center me, no matter where I was in the world. It gets a little chaotic being in night life so I needed to do something kind of polar opposite. So I found my sanctuary in yoga.

Then something really crazy happened: I was in Ibiza and I dove into a pool and my head hit the bottom and I was rushed to the emergency room. And basically what happened was yoga saved my life in this instance because right before I got in the pool I was doing a yoga class followed by a head stand, you know closing out the practice. So my neck muscles were completely warm and activated. And I didn’t break my neck because I was just practicing yoga. So I was like holy shit: yoga’s so amazing, I want to take it to the next level. So I marked off two and a half weeks of my schedule and I did this intensive three hundred hour certification in Vinyasa flow, and I got my certification in prenatal while I was pregnant later, and the rest is history. And people were like ‘Wait so you had two and a half weeks off from DJ-ing and you aren’t like taking a break you’re doing like 12 hours of yoga a day?’ And I was like yeah. And that’s how I became a yoga instructor.

Yeah, for my pop ups I’m doing one in Austin and one in Miami and I’m really excited about that because it’s not very often that I get to do two things I love the most in one setting. Playing music and teaching yoga is the best of both worlds for me.

Yoga is so much more than just the physical practice. It’s really also a mental practice. So traveling through the airport is a yoga practice. Dealing with people is a yoga practice. Learning to be like this silver surfer if you will and just like glide through life instead of reacting. It’s beneficial in so many ways. Plus, I have a pretty chill baby too because I do so much yoga. So, that’s also a plus.

Yeah me and the baby do mom and baby yoga on Saturday’s. My husband, he’s a Kung Fu and Tai Chi instructor as well. We’re both into eastern philosophy in terms of exercise and you know keeping a sound mind. It’s really ideal because there’s a competitive nature in our industry. Well , in any industry, but more so in ‘show business’ to use that funny term. There’s just a lot of competitive people and you know it’s very cut throat. So it’s nice to have something that’s just switch off and do wherever. And get our minds right.

Basically health goth is changing the stereotype of what it looks like to be a fitness person. You don’t have to be in neon fluorescents with a pony tail and a scrunchie. It’s this whole movement that is happening right now that my friend is in the forefront of. And I’m more of a yoga person, but health goth also. I think it’s a really cool thing cause I’m covered in tattoos, I wear all black, I’m not your typical gym rat at the gym. I’m DJ-ing that so that’s not yoga related, but it is health-related and I’m really excited about it.

Well, basically what’s gonna happen in Austin. because everyone is drinking, and because I have experience teaching yoga classes in a party atmosphere, I know that more likely than not people are going to be stumbling in or like not exactly on time. So I’m making the doors open at 1:30, the class is starting at 2. I’m going to do a mixed level class, I really love teaching Vinyasa flow because it’s a way that I can do strength training and cardio and I feel like it goes way faster than running on the treadmill or an elliptical for 45 minutes. So it’s a lot of strength training. And then afterwards I’m just going to DJ. What’s really special about the two pop ups I’m doing in Austin and Miami, is that I’m donating the proceeds to charity. So everything is going to go towards SIDS.org. I had a brother that passed away so it’s really important for me, and plus I have a little baby, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to lose my child at such a young age. They still don’t know why it happens.

A lot of times in Miami and Austin there’s all these people trying to make money during the festivals and I’m like if I’m gonna do these they’re gonna be for charity. You know I wanted to do something with a purpose. So I decided to do this one in Austin at City Surf and the one in Miami on the 29th at the Dream Hotel.

My music selection is really important. A lot of James Blake and the XX, like I always kind of push the envelope in like making it still a little electronic, but accessible to people who want to relax. So that’s always fun for me to find new things for my play list.

Well, I definitely have a little short visitor with me at all of my gigs. She comes everywhere with me from Japan to LA. Everywhere. She’s just always by my side. It’s a lot harder speaking as a producer to just sit down and make music these days because there’s like a little girl standing on the keyboard when I’m trying to do stuff. I definitely have slowed down a lot since I became a mother. I only took two weeks off from radio and Sirius XM because I knew that I could do that from home. That was really cool and a blessing. Whereas I used to DJ every weekend or every other weekend or more. Now it’s kind of like you know, two or three times a month. I mean I’m kicking it back up. Of course like Austin and SXSW, I’m DJing every single day that I’m there so that’s a little different but I’m blessed to have a baby that flies well. In terms of yoga I don’t practice as much as I did when j didn’t have a kid but I still try and practice every day. I mean before I had a kid even when I pregnant I would practice like two or three times again, plus I’d go to the gym. But now I always have to have a baby sitter, it’s just different. Things change.

Gina Turner will be in Miami for Electric Beach Festival starting tomorrow. You can find information about her events there here.