When you think of a person who does yoga, a truck driver is one of the last people to come to mind. Hope Zvara is the CEO and Founder of Mother Trucker Yoga and Road Relief Wellness  She’s been featured in Forbes magazines, Red Eye Radio and appeared across the country as an inspirational speaker. Hope tells Libby Collins how she grew her yoga studio in Hartford into a national movement for truck drivers and how anyone, anywhere can incorporate yoga into their daily life. It’s all ahead on this mindful edition of WTMJ Conversations!
A partial transcript is provided below, courtesy of eCourt Reporters.
LIBBY COLLINS: How did you go from running a yoga studio to establishing a business for truckers?
HOPE ZVARA: Well, at the close of my studio in 2019, I had served more than 10,000 students. I had taught all over the country at conferences. I had a successful school, so I didn’t have to step away from that. It was more of an internal feeling of, like, this isn’t where I belong. And then my husband invites me to a local business mixer in Allenton, Wisconsin.
So, I go over to this cocktail table, and here’s this guy, never seen him before, and we start talking, and I’m trying to pitch him corporate wellness. And he looks at me and says, “Do you have anything for truck drivers?”
And I think I’m funny sometimes, and I throw up my hands and say, “Mother Trucker Yoga,” really just trying to get a rise out of this guy.
And he does not skip a beat. He looks at me and says, “That’s brilliant. You want to go into business together?”
LIBBY COLLINS: So, you were looking at the entire lifestyle when you developed your program?
HOPE ZVARA: The first thing I looked at was the fact that they are sitting for 14 to 16 hours a day, and then it’s a long time on the road, mentally fatiguing. So, when they do get to their drop point, they’re so tired then that they don’t want to get out. They’re like, oh, I’m so exhausted. It’s like, no, you need to move. So, why not bring more movement and exercise to them in the driver’s seat?
LIBBY COLLINS: How do you do that and stay focused?
HOPE ZVARA: So, I had done a lot of trainings and certifications and teaching and chair yoga, and a lot of them are just simple things that they can do while driving. Something as simple as a pelvic tilt. Arching the back and rounding the back while they’re sitting in the driver’s seat is not only going to create a loosening of the lumbar muscles, but it’s going to help create blood flow through the pelvis to the legs and back up to the heart again, it can help improve digestion, it can help reduce neck pain, improve posture. Something as simple as that.
