The Life-Changing Power of Mindful Movement

< Full Episode

Transcript: The Life-Changing Power of Mindful Movement

Season 12, Episode 8  | February 10, 2026

Jamie Martin

Welcome to Life Time Talks, I’m Jamie Martin, and I’m really excited about this conversation today I’m having with Kenny Ferrer. Kenny is a performer, a top performer and classes experience lead at Life Time in New York City. He taps into his background as a dynamic, seasoned on-camera fitness professional and instructor to lead unforgettably in joyful and motivational mindful movement experiences. He pulls from multiple avenues of experience over the last decade plus, including his BA in psychology, his multiple certifications and credentials within yoga, meditation, strength and conditioning coaching and from the lessons he learned from his minor league and division one collegiate baseball career. And he is described as working out with him is like working out with a close friend. Kenny, thanks for coming on with me.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Thank you for that intro. feel great about myself so far.

 

Jamie Martin

Well, we’re thrilled. We’re really excited because you have been in the health and wellness space for a long time. We want to know what inspired you to get here because we want to know just your background, what drives you, all of those pieces. Let’s start. Like, let’s get to know Kenny.

 

Kenny Ferrer

You know, I think it started with my upbringing within baseball. I was a pitcher and being a pitcher is a really interesting thing because on one level, you’re directing the course of the game. You control the pace of the game, at least back then. There are different rules now, on another level. So it’s an individual sport. On another level, it’s a one-on-one kind of co-op sport because you’re always in collaboration with your catcher. And then on another level beyond that you are really immersed in a team sport because pitchers can’t score runs on them on their own unless they hit home runs but that’s neither here nor which I did but neither here nor there.

 

Jamie Martin

That’s another story —

 

Kenny Ferrer

But you know the point is I was able to experience a broad perspective in multiple contexts all having to do with movement and energy and focus and so when I left baseball and I moved to New York City, I had my degree in psychology and I wasn’t really quite sure how I wanted to use it or what I wanted to do yet. And it took me about a year and a half, but I walked into a group fitness class and I knew about nine minutes in because I looked at my watch. was like, OK, this is going to be the next step. And so it really came down to just being honest on a microphone because I had had my own ups and downs, which led me into having my own kind of ⁓fitness transformation, weight loss transformation. It was about being honest about that with the people on the microphone that then started to lend itself to building community.

 

And I started to see the power — I’ll even go as far as to say the life-changing power of not just fitness but mindful movement, doing something intentionally with other people. And then a million other things happened and now I’m here.

 

Jamie Martin

My gosh, we want to get into some of those millions of other things, but I love how you just touched right there. Like one of the key parts of what I’m hearing is that there was a level of vulnerability that you had to be willing to share with the people that you were in front of and with and collaborating with. Talk a little bit about that. and is there any specific example where that like really came through and you’re like, this, this can make a difference. This can help me relate more to people.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Well, I think it just came down to not being afraid to share appropriate parts of my own story and some of the difficult things that I’ve had to face, but also not make it about me. Just to turn around and kind of present it in a way in which like anyone can connect to it through the lens of their experience. And I started to really notice the power of that when I got my first letter from a regular participant of my 6.45 in the morning Saturday class. Her name was Tiff.

 

And she just wrote me this long letter about the things that she was going through and it included her in the midst of a divorce and losing confidence and gaining weight and just feeling so down on herself and how the class that she was coming to on Saturdays was an anchor for her and she just kind of stumbled into it and it became this important thing for her. So I started to recognize that this whole honest storytelling and sharing is a really important part of this. And it also contributes to the energy. It contributes to the texture of the experience. And having multi-layered textured experiences and kind of leaning into the electricity of the moment and the calmness of the moment. All really important things to me.

 

Jamie Martin

So how has that from your early days of getting into this space? when was that? When did you get started?

 

Kenny Ferrer

That in particular I had a little stint as a personal trainer, okay, I’m like 2012. Okay, that was in 2013 right at beginning

 

Jamie Martin

So how, as you started to have those experiences, started to receive those letters, how did that and all the training that you’ve been doing, whether it was yoga, meditation, how did it inform your training philosophy? What is your training philosophy?

 

Kenny Ferrer

Yeah, no, so when it comes to my training philosophy, I am training for life. And that’s what I encourage people to do. And part of that is understanding the way in which you function on a day to day basis and to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself. Within MB 360, we do something called counter functional training, which is to make sure we can kind of find a sense of equilibrium based off of the very common things that one might experience in life. If you’re, you know, working at a desk and kind of in this position all day. You might know.

 

Jamie Martin

Shoulder’s over —

 

Kenny Ferrer

Yeah, after MB360 you’re kind of like this. And so way before I knew anything about MB 360 and came here, you know, I was just focused on what are my current goals. And it’s so interesting because that led me to face myself. I carried around a lot of shame when I was a kid because I was a standout in baseball from the age of nine years old, like hands down unequivocally. However, I never once completed the mile in high school, the mile run.

 

Turns out to throw 97 miles per hour and hit home runs, you don’t have to have any kind of know, cardio respiratory capacity at all. And my father was a track star in high school. So I just kind of carried that around with me my whole life of just this like mantra of I am not a runner and just feeling quite deflated and defeated around it. And somebody that I met from that initial class that I was, where I started my career, I started to work with him on a personal training level and he became a close friend of mine. His name is Keith.

 

And he wanted me to train him for a race. He wanted me to train him for his first 10K. And I had never even run a 5K, but at that point I had been using fitness and running on a treadmill, running sprints on a treadmill as a means of like an exercise tool. So I had learned and I had gotten my running certification. And so was like, okay, fine, I’ll train you for this. He’s like, and you’re going to come with me. Like the deal is.

 

Jamie Martin

We’re in this together.

 

Kenny Ferrer

We’re gonna go and do the the Cajun 10k in Lafayette, Louisiana, which we sure did and So then I started having to train myself and I had to face all of those gremlins that came up all that You know the the I am not enough story that came up in this face or with this face on it And then I became a runner I you know we did that 10K, which led to like the rock and roll something ⁓ 10K, I think in Tennessee. And then we ended up doing Beta Breakers in San Francisco, which was this, you know, crazy event. Everybody dressed up and it was just so nuts. So fun. And then we ran a half marathon in Kauai, in Hawaii, which got us

 

Jamie Martin

There’s no better setting than that.

 

Kenny Ferrer

An amazing place to run a marathon and then I went on my own going into my 30th birthday That was the stopping point for Keith at that point, but I was just like, you know what? I’m now running regularly. I’m 29 and my birthday is coming up and it was just one of those feelings of I have to face this. And I did. And it was difficult and transformative. And I’m so happy that I did. And I did, going into my 30th birthday, the Honolulu full marathon. Again, I was like, you know what? If you’re going to run for long periods of time, go to paradise.

 

Jamie Martin

Somewhere beautiful.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Turns out, not so bad. And so then, at that point, after that, I realized like I recognized all of the training that it takes to do something like that and cultivated this deep respect for running as a sport. ⁓ But then I also started to ask myself the question of just like, what am I not facing? Because I saw the value in what I was able to attain and I’ll pause there, but yoga ended up being the next thing that I wasn’t facing. And now I am somebody who runs for fun and I am a everyday yogi and meditation teacher.

 

Jamie Martin

Well, I love, mean, what you said, one thing you shared with us ahead of time was like, there’s this whole idea of like, the obstacle is the way and the power of I am. So when you said like, I’m not a runner, I’m not enough, that’s very different than saying I am this, whatever this is for you, right? So talk about that a little bit, the obstacles and the I am.

 

Kenny Ferrer

So I got the phrase, obstacle is the way from Ryan Holiday’s book, The Obstacle is the Way. And it’s the same idea. And now what it’s evolved into is something that I say regularly in any of the classes that I have the privilege of leading, which is that this is controlled adversity training, more often than not, in which we are cultivating small scale courage.

 

We need to know that we are tough. We need to know that we have the capacity for excellence and that our actions matter and that our thoughts matter. So let’s use this little isolation of 45 minutes or 60 minutes or 30 minutes or if you’re on the app with me, 10 minutes. Let’s just use this time.

 

Jamie Martin

Anything is better than nothing, right?

 

Kenny Ferrer

And so that is then the opportunity for the I am message to be really pointed to make sure that it’s a message that is Enlivening and quite frankly emboldening. I tend to get a little sassafras in class, but you know we like it un poquito picante. We’ve got to be ourselves.

 

Jamie Martin

Yep. A little spicy, right? Is that what you’re saying there?

 

Kenny Ferrer

Yeah.

 

Jamie Martin

That’s what I thought. Oh my gosh. I love that. Well, even just the whole idea of small scale courage. think those are the things that when we can practice them on a daily basis in whether it’s a yoga class, MB 360 class with you, those are the things that over time they add up. So when the real adversities happen in our lives, the real hard things, there’s a level of resilience that you’ve kind of built there. It seems like, like when you put in the reps, when you do the work and you prepare yourself, what’s your take on that?

 

Kenny Ferrer

No, certainly am 100% there with you. And it also makes me think of how my yoga teacher, one of my main yoga teachers once said to me, the yoga is almost pointless if you don’t take it off the mat. That really stuck with me for yoga and meditation and really any isolated moment in which we are trying to fortify a skill or embolden ourselves within our own lives.

 

We use that thing as a microcosm of everything else. It is all connected. The way in which you show up for yourself in a Pilates class might affect the way in which you show up for yourself in a corporate setting in which you want to stand a little bit taller. Your ability to push through the grit of a long hold in yoga might lend itself to greater tenacity and endurance and the recognition that you can be patient with intensity.

 

Intensity and immensity don’t need to mean stop. They’re just a crossroads. So yeah, I think that there’s a huge opportunity for folks to lean into. Life Time is like this, this El Dorado, this paradise of opportunity and it seems like things are shimmering everywhere.

 

We mentioned MB360 and meditation and yoga and also, you know, I’ll take Alpha Strength with my friend Mary, who’s also an LT Digital performer. And Mary and I have been friends for a long time and she will push me. And I love it because of that, because we train and have slightly different philosophies, but under the hood at the most fundamental level, we’re there to I feel like spread love. Maybe Mary won’t say it that way, but I’ll say it that way and I’ll double down and say it for her.

 

Jamie Martin

Well, and you’re spreading love but you’re also helping people tap into their potential whatever that is for them and that when there’s New potential that maybe they achieve then there’s a new baseline and there’s a new potential like so how do I mean? How do you meet people where they are because people are coming in from such different places like you know I could be coming in from yesterday I showed up one way today I show up another way and that’s a totally different different circumstance from the other person on the next mat to me So how do you bring people in, help them all feel connected in this community that you’re creating.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Yeah, I call that strong safe space. you know, one of the things I say frequently at the top of class and throughout class is start from where you are and work with what you’ve got. I mentioned my friend Keith that I went on the running adventure with our 10K tourism, if you will. And when I first met him, he showed up to class and this was a dimly lit room, treadmills and strength work on the floor, blasting music.

 

My playlists are very lit, like blasting music and it was very good. Just gotta tell you. And he looked like a deer in the headlights. Like his eyes were like this big.

 

Jamie Martin

Where am I right now?

 

Kenny Ferrer

I was like this man is never coming back here. Thanks for coming appreciate your attendance. But then he came back the very next class and he kept on coming back and facing that and then I remember it was after like two or three weeks of doing this consistently But he asked me after class. He said, you know, when does this get easier? Say Keith The point is not for this to get easier because what’s gonna happen is

 

what’s already been happening. You’re going to choose heavier weight when you recognize that you can do this way with ease. You’re going to go a little bit faster on the treadmill even by 0.1 because you know that you can now do that. So it’s not that it gets easier. You get tougher and you level things up. So I understand in any given class setting that somebody is coming in with their entire emotional history and I don’t know anything about that. But I know what I’ve been through in my life and that lends itself to both empathy compassion so I feel for everyone that comes into the room even if like you know somebody has a face on and they don’t seem like they’re necessarily receptive. I know that that has nothing to do with me right so I just kind of try and create an environment in which there are multiple avenues to success. It doesn’t necessarily have to mean go harder today. It can mean just be intuitive. And again, in MB360, we talk about intuitive intensity. Intuitive intensity is understanding where you are now and what you can add to fortify the experience for yourself.

 

So again, coming in from this place of when the other part of strong safe space is being compassionate, but also my class is hard. It is not meant to be easy unless it is if I’m teaching a restorative yoga class, which I don’t currently teach at Life Time. I teach yin, but yin or surrender yin is intense. So I’m aware of what my, I would say expected role is in terms of what I hope to offer in any given experience and I will genuinely be myself in offering that. So take it or leave it. I love that people take it.

 

Jamie Martin

Like the way you are unapologetically yourself and you bring that to the table every single day to every class to your mat to everything you’re doing is what’s what I’m hearing from you.

 

Kenny Ferrer

You know, I think that that gives permission to other people to do the exact same thing and I am emboldened by the people that I admire and this is a way in which we create these virtuous cycles of like I’ll tell you what You know what Megan the stallion is featured in my yoga playlists So all every single one of Megan the stallion songs is about confidence. And so like, you know when we get caught up in specific lyrics sometimes, I think that, and I’m really into musicology, I think that we can get distracted from the message. I taught a livestream class today and there was Megan on the beat and with a song that was all about just like being in one’s own power and I looked around the room because I also had friends in that livestream and we were all feeling it. We were all there to do the thing.

 

Jamie Martin

Yeah, I mean music creates energy right like it really can help set the tone for all of those things.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Certainly. I have a very eclectic taste in music and so I think that certainly the experience of a yoga class would be different from an in-person GTX class with me and of course, MB360, all flavors are welcome there.

 

Jamie Martin

I love it. I want to talk a little bit about something you shared ahead of time. You said the way we perceive life is the way we actually live. Let’s talk about that because it really does seem that we talk all the time about like our mind, how we think, what we affects our actions, affects our behaviors, right? All of these pieces. Why do you make sure like that you think about that and put that into what you’re doing as part of your kind of way you approach classes, but maybe approach life too?

 

Kenny Ferrer

Sure. So when I did my meditation teacher training, we learned about the concepts of karma and emptiness. And emptiness is basically that we are projecting a nature onto everything at all times. So in a nutshell, is that everyone is projecting at all times. And if you take a step back, and recognize that you are in control of how you choose to perceive any given situation.

 

Because we don’t really know what like, know, if you’re writing something down, I could tell myself the story that this is something, you know, negative and frightening, and, you know, that would just feed this pattern of negative self-talk, which, like a groove in the sand, and, you know, we can think of this term, samskara in yoga, like a groove in the sand, the more you think it, and we now know with, you know, neuroplasticity, the deeper that groove gets, and the more or we’re just gonna mentally go there. So if you start to take the reins on your thoughts, and the best way to do this in my opinion is to meditate. I meditate every day of my life and I haven’t missed a day in several years.

 

When you take a step back and start to recognize that we are always acting in accordance with our thoughts we start to realize we should really pay attention to what those thoughts are and figure out a way to genuinely believe in thoughts that are beneficial and generative for ourselves and the world around us versus ones that cause division within ourselves and the world around

 

Jamie Martin

Well, right. I mean, if we’re going to just continue to, if we think negatively about ourselves and keep in that thought pattern, I mean, that’s how our lives are going to feel, right? It doesn’t feel like there’s any good there, but if we can switch it around, right? How do we take a more positive or authentic, meaningful approach to that?

 

Kenny Ferrer

And this is totally, regardless of what the actual objective circumstances are. you can have, I once heard this quote, I think it was from Father Richard Rohr, Franciscan friar, who said, is going from, so to experience gratitude, it’s moving from the need to have what you want to the decision to want what you have.

 

And so that really shifted something in me because I started to take a step back and really look at the things in my life. And I have a whole practice called GRIP, Gratitude Reorientation, Intention and Prayer that I do when things are going optimally every day, but more realistically lately twice a week.

 

Gratitude totally shifts the lens with which we experience life and it makes it a lot easier to draw new grooves that will get you out of those negative self-talk.

 

Jamie Martin

So on that note, if you’re saying you’re doing this twice a week right now, right, let’s talk a little bit about some of those non-negotiable habits because I know those have been integral for you. Yeah. So what are they in your life? If there’s two to three that you’d say, I cannot go without these, what would they be?

 

Kenny Ferrer

Okay, to be malleable yet firm with how I am training. Right now I am currently living a dream that I set out for myself many years ago, which is to be an on-camera fitness instructor ⁓ at a large scale and to be able to put out generative, hopefully good, impactful things for others. And so if I’m going to teach and like, if you watch my live stream class, if you’re with me, like that sweat is not digital, babe. Like it is real.

 

I tell myself when when I glisten they listen. That’s just what I tell myself.

 

Jamie Martin

You said that to me before we went on camera.

 

Kenny Ferrer

So I train for whatever it is I’m training for I’m not currently training for a marathon. I’m currently training to stay nimble and to feel strong, I want to feel like the superhero version of myself as I’m doing something difficult and intense and perhaps emoting or telling a story or, you know, trying to be concise about a cue on camera. So to make sure that I’m always training for life, which means that you need to be both malleable and adaptive, but also firm. Like, I’m not going to skip several days of, like, I’m not going to skip, I’m not going to skip anything when it comes to my movement practice.

 

Daily non-negotiable, I wake up, I drink at least 20 ounces of water, and I go right into meditation. Right into it. I love to meditate more than once a day. The reality of living in this kind of circumstance in New York City with the electricity, and like, today I had a live stream class in the morning, and then I took an instructor’s class and gave them feedback. And then I had a doctor’s appointment, and now I’m doing this podcast. So it’s like, and this is, by the way.

 

Jamie Martin

Little moments, right?

 

Kenny Ferrer

And I’m teaching two more classes later and like I still have other things to do. So I know that the second meditation or a different opportunity for meditation might not come up. Therefore, I will take the opportunity as it presents itself, which is right out of the gate first thing in the morning. So I’ve become disciplined in waking up on time to be able to do that. And then skincare routine, come on.

 

Jamie Martin

OK, tell me what is your skincare routine? This is huge.

 

Kenny Ferrer

11D part skincare routine. it’s too much. No, you know what? Honestly, during the pandemic, like I had time. So I was just like, let’s figure this out.

 

Jamie Martin

Let’s take care of ourselves.

 

Kenny Ferrer

You know, found different cleansers and I’ve got this laser mask that I use at night. So I do it in the morning and the evening. And it looks very silly, but I feel like Iron Man and I don’t hate feeling like Iron Man, so.

 

Jamie Martin

Right, again, lean into that superpower feeling, right? Like when you have it. My last question, because you have said this a few different times, you mentioned storytelling. Why do you think storytelling is so important with what you do?

 

Kenny Ferrer

We are all living unique experiences. And what’s interesting, like if you look at me, you might see a bunch of different things and make a bunch of different assumptions. Tattoos. Tattoos of flowers. Brown. Big. You know. Personality is a certain way, all of these different things. Ethnically ambiguous, it’s such a mystery, who knows? I mean, I know, but like, you don’t know, unless you know. I don’t know. And you know, I’ve come to realize, and I learned this at a very young age, that our differences are like materials, and we can use these materials to build blockades that cut us off from each other or bridges.

 

And so what’s important for me is to be honest and transparent about my experience so that hopefully somebody else can recognize our sameness through our differences. Somebody else has their version of Megan Thee Stallion, their version of, you know, artist that activates them, that brings that fire from within. You know, my baseball journey might be somebody else’s sewing journey.

 

Like, and learning that we can experience each other’s stories in this way lends itself to this sense of unity. And when it comes to this idea of the healthy way of life, we’re healthy in community. We need each other. And so, tes, embolden yourself and find the individual power of who you are, at the same time, recognize that you are a part of a collective and both of them are important. It is always yes and rather than either or.

 

Jamie Martin

I love it. It’s something I say myself. It’s yes and both and like let’s try and find a way to bring it all together, right? Whenever we can. Did I miss anything? Is there anything else you want to make sure that we share with our listeners and anyone else who’s tuning in? ⁓

 

Kenny Ferrer

Yeah, I mean, if you can’t tell by now, I’m pretty loquacious. can just talk and talk and talk.

 

Jamie Martin

We could talk all day.

 

Kenny Ferrer

I mean, think that’s it for now. think that like when it comes to if anybody is listening right now who’s just getting started and doesn’t really know where to start, understand that the LT Digital app is full of resources and committing to a few minutes of something, whether that is a few minutes of meditation, a few minutes of just mindful movement, getting yourself started and letting yourself initiate enables you to start building momentum. Small wins. the other non-negotiable every day is making my bed. It is my second small win. I’m bringing water and meditation into one. But you know what I’m trying to say. And this has a neurological response and actually helps us feel good about ourselves in a really minuscule way. I guess what I would say is that we can go very far. Tt is small manageable steps that lead to significant strides. Start somewhere.

 

Jamie Martin

Start somewhere one day at a time. All right, well Kenny, thank you so much for joining me. We want to make sure that our listeners and viewers can find who you are on Instagram at KenDorphins.

 

Kenny Ferrer

I was doing that before the Barbie movie. Let me be very clear. T

 

Jamie Martin

You got it!

 

Kenny Ferrer

They, I’m like, are y’all taking residency in my brain with all of these Ken puns right now? But it is Ken Dorphins. And that happened by mistake. I was teaching a double of a cycling class in Tribeca in New York City.

 

It was at 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. 45 minute classes back-to-back and a lot of people would double they would come in looking like zombies and like just giving me you know when somebody has such a resting let’s say resting grump face yes let’s keep it you know when somebody has that but like to the max yeah they would walk in and be like yo are you made at me, like what is happening?

 

But then when they would leave they would just be jubilant and full of joy and ready to go and then somebody was leaving and Said something like great classes. I was like, yeah, it’s just those endorphins man, and he goes Ken Dorfins. I love that!

 

Jamie Martin

And that’s where you got it.

 

Kenny Ferrer

I was like what? And then my friend Keith that I mentioned earlier was just like yeah Ken Dorfins So you gotta you gotta work with that said I started working with that.

 

Jamie Martin

That’s so good. And then you have like the whole Barbie movie. You probably were like all searched up when all those were coming out.

 

Kenny Ferrer

I was in the Uber on the way home buying my I am Ken-uf tank top right away. That Etsy vendor, you got it.

 

Jamie Martin

Alright one last question that I’m for real gonna sign off if you had one phrase or mantra that you Turn to with regularity. What is it?

 

Kenny Ferrer

The one tattooed on my forearm that says you decide who you are at any given moment.

 

Jamie Martin

That’s a constant reminder for you.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Constant.

 

Jamie Martin

Well, Kenny, thank you so much for joining me. So glad to have you here.

 

Kenny Ferrer

Such a pleasure. Thank you so much.