Get Out, JoJo Is A Yoga Girl Now

In Chill Chat, Bustle sits down with celebrities and influencers to talk about all things wellness, from daily routines to hacks for getting a good night’s sleep. Here, JoJo Levesque chats about her love of yoga, the importance of mindfulness, and the “revitalizing” artists on her workout playlist.

JoJo Levesque has been in the spotlight for most of her life, but it doesn’t feel that way to her. Since skyrocketing to fame as a teenager, she’s learned the importance of staying grounded and carving out time to practice mindfulness, even when it feels uncomfortable.

That’s part of what drew the singer to yoga, which she tells me she picked up around the same time she began going to therapy. “I just saw an opportunity for them both to be a part of my healing,” she says. “The things I was talking about — my insecurities, comparison to others, perfectionism — would come up on the mat too.”

Now, she’s partnered with YogaRenew, a platform that offers accessible online yoga teacher trainings and virtual courses, to spread the healing power of the practice. “Finding stillness is the hardest thing for a lot of people, myself included,” she shares. “But I just kept coming back. That’s what yoga teaches you — how to sit in discomfort, and see what comes out on the other side.”

Here, Levesque reflects on her decades-long career, her go-to self-care rituals, and the songs she has on her playlist.

I feel like you’ve been famous forever. Looking back, how does it feel to reflect on your journey and where you are now?

When I was writing my book [Over the Influence], which came out last year, it gave me the opportunity to make sense of so many things that had confused me for a long time. I don’t really think of myself as “famous,” necessarily — I’ve just been lucky to live a creative life and experience a lot of highs and lows. Reflecting through the lens of writing the book let me have compassion for my younger self.

Now, I feel like I’m creating a life I genuinely enjoy. It’s dope to be in a place where I feel like I have wisdom, but also still feel young and flexible enough to try new things.

How do you push through writer’s block?

Writer’s block eats me up sometimes. I haven’t written anything since the EP and the book. I think I hit a point where I was like, “You know what? I’ve written a lot.” Sometimes, you just have to honor the fact that life is seasonal.

What helped me finish the book was the deadline. If there hadn’t been a publishing deal, I don’t know if it would’ve ever gotten done.

Can you tell me more about your relationship to yoga and your partnership with YogaRenew?

Yoga came into my life about 12 years ago, when I really needed something to help me reconnect with myself. I felt fragmented, like I didn’t know who I was or how to have a good relationship with my body.

At first, I had a negative perception of yoga. I’d see people in LA in their matching sets, sweating it out, and I thought, “This isn’t for me.” But eventually, yoga frustrated me in a way that showed me I needed it. It challenged me to be OK with discomfort, and that was powerful.

Yoga has changed the way I show up in the world. It’s taught me mindfulness, being OK with being a beginner, and letting go of perfectionism.

I found YogaRenew on my own, signed up for their teacher training, and fell in love with their philosophy and inclusivity. Their message really aligns with me — that if you have a body, yoga is for you.

What’s currently on your workout playlist?

I love this Destin Conrad song called “Kissing in Public.” It’s so breezy, it reminds me of The Neptunes circa the early 2000s. So for a millennial like me, it’s nostalgic but still really fresh.

I also love Sunni Colón and Leon Thomas. My workout playlist isn’t the most turned up. I just want music that feels energized and revitalizing.

That said, it can be something like Teyana Taylor’s “Work This P*ssy.” And it can also be my own song, “Porcelain.” It’s just whatever the vibe calls for.

Would you say a hot girl walk is one of your favorite forms of cardio?

I live in New York City, so getting my 10,000 steps in is something I try to do regularly. I love a hot girl walk. My friend Emma, who lives in LA, got me into it. We would go on walks in her beautiful neighborhood after work, in Hancock Park, and dream about what we wanted our next chapter to look like.

That’s one of my favorite things to do on a hot girl walk: do it with a friend, walk through a neighborhood that inspires you, and just talk. We’d point at houses and go, “Oh my gosh, look at that landscaping.”

What’s something you wish you knew when you were younger?

I wish I had embraced every stage of life. I wanted to be grown up so badly when I was little. I thought being under 18 was inconvenient — I just wanted to work. Now, I’d like to chill sometimes, but I really have to carve out time for rest now, because life doesn’t slow down. And if you have kids or bigger responsibilities one day, it only gets busier.

So I would say, enjoy what’s in front of you as much as you can. That’s where a mindfulness practice becomes so important. I was always thinking about the future or the past — never the present.

It’s hard to hear that advice when you’re young. I don’t know if I would’ve understood it at 17. But I wish I hadn’t compared myself to everyone else to the point where it stole the joy from what I already had.

This interview was edited and condensed for clarity.