Heather Fleming

Name: Heather Fleming

 

Lives in: Los Angeles, CA (USA)

 

From: I was born in Massachusetts, or New Hampshire — I’m not really sure as it was on a highway to the hospital. 🙂 But the hospital was in Massachusetts, so I just go with that. I spent my childhood in a small town in New Hampshire — and yoga was a big part of my life even then.

 

Occupation I have a passion for product development, which led me to create the Koru fold and roll yoga mat (korumat.com), a yoga mat that folds and rolls to keep the practice side of the mat separate from the floor side for hygiene purposes.

 

Tell us your first three jobs (ever!): My first job was manning the grill at a small restaurant during the heatwave of a New England summer, which is probably why I’m vegan now. During college, I picked up a part-time job at a graduate school for library information science. Yes, that’s a thing, and it and the people are awesome. After graduating from college, I worked in product development at Guthy-Renker, where I began to learn how to take an idea and make it a reality.

 

Zodiac sign?: Aquarius

 

Enneagram type: Type 6, The Loyalist – which is pretty spot on. One trait of a Loyalist is “they want to feel safe and tend to be concerned with outside threats” — hence what led me to create my yoga mat.

 

What do you love about Greece? I’ve never been to Greece, but it would be a dream to visit one day.

 

Tell us something most people don’t know about you: I’m a pretty open book, but one thing people may not know about me is that I had a lazy eye until I was about 9 years old. In a strange way, I think this helped me embrace my quirkiness at a young age — made me comfortable just being me. I have three daughters, and I hope they always embrace the things that make them unique.

 

Where we are most likely to find you in Lynn’s Kundalini Yoga? I’m grateful to have recently connected with Lynn — and also to have had the chance to take one of her live stream classes on strengthening the nervous system. Lynn’s SUP classes look amazing too, and I’d love to join one someday if I’m ever in Greece.

 

The first time you tried Kundalini Yoga? The first time I tried Kundalini yoga was last week via live stream with Lynn. She is a fantastic teacher, and her coaching through the class was so peaceful and grounding.

 

Tell us your top tip to combat climate change: My top tip to combat climate change is finding alternatives to eating animals.

 

Anything else you’d like us to know?: Throughout my yoga practice I was increasingly bothered by the fact that I would clean my mat, and then roll the studio floor side of the mat right onto the side I had just cleaned. I wanted to find a better solution, so I spent 4 years testing materials, patenting my idea, and working with manufacturers in three continents to create the Koru fold and roll yoga mat. It’s been a wonderful adventure bringing the Koru mat to life — and even more incredible doing it all while raising my 3 daughters with my husband who have each been the biggest inspiration in the process. Feel free to check out the Koru mat here (korumat.com), or say hi on Instagram @korumat.  And to acknowledge the challenging times, we’re currently donating $10 for every Koru mat sold online through our website (and shipped in the US) to Direct Relief to support health care workers battling COVID-19.