Page 25 - Real Style Holiday 2018

all. Mere days after walking down the aisle for her retirement match, Stratus married her high-school sweetheart, Ron Fisico, but instead of going on a honeymoon, she moved to Muncie, Indiana, for a short time to star in the reality series Armed & Fa- mous, where she was trained to be a volunteer po- lice officer. From there she hosted her own travel program called Stratusphere, and even starred in an independent film called Bounty Hunters. But it was the opening of her own yoga studio, Stratusphere, in the Toronto suburb of
Vaughan that has been the career change she has been the most passionate about.
“I was faced with a
career-ending injury and
found yoga as part of my
rehabilitation,” Stratus
says. “I experienced instant
relief and ended up aban-
doning all the traditional
physiotherapy I was do-
ing and did yoga daily for
about three months. I end-
ed up totally rehabilitat-
ing my back and returned
to the ring stronger and
more agile than ever. Yoga
did so much to change my
life and I wanted to share
it with the world. I saw a
void in the industry and created a one stop shop for yoga, a space that offered all different disciplines so that anyone could come through the door and find the right yoga for them,” she says. Her fanbase though was international, so Stratus also started of- fering DVDs and other products through her online store.
From being a fitness model to wrestling around the world and running a fitness lifestyle brand, you’d think Stratus would eventually start to slow down, but instead things just got busier for her. In 2013
she gave birth to her first child, her son Maximus, and then in 2016 he was joined by a sister, Madison. “I don’t sleep!” Stratus laughs. “Just kidding (kind of!)! As clichéd as it sounds, it’s all about bal- ance and prioritizing where your energy is focused. My youngest one just joined her big brother at Mon- tessori, so I have my days free to run my business. I squeeze in training when I can. When I’m not train- ing for an epic WWE PPV, I just do my daily yoga and slip in a run or training session when I can. I def-
initely don’t obsess over my training and I find my diet and lifestyle is what keeps everything in check. Before kids, and even with my oldest, I used to be a workaholic, putting him to bed then returning to my desk. Now, I cut off work and when it’s home time, it’s home time. I am committed to making sure I am present and available for my children—they always come first. Even when I travel for speaking engage- ments or signings—whenever we can, we bring the kids and we make a family trip out of it,” she says.
Stratus’ dedication to her family isn’t surpris-
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