Meet Olivia Yong | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia Yong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia, how does your business help the community?
Torus seeks to create a network of heart-centred spiritual creatives and wellness practitioners, whose aim is to develop their artistry within their craft. I’ve found that wellness, spirituality, and art all fall under the same umbrella, which is how I’ve come to the intention of developing Torus as a “heartist hub.” To me, a heartist is someone who engages in some sort of passion-filled endeavour, whether it’s spiritual, artistic, or both, from an authentic place of wanting to share their light with others. Heartwork knows no limits, image, or agenda. Integrating this value into a business, especially in somewhere like North County, San Diego, hasn’t always been the easiest journey, but time and patience has proved that it was worth it. Keeping the intention behind the studio pure has not only called in like-hearted souls who also see the vision, but helped establish a physical space where these like-hearted souls can find each other.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
One of my favorite things about Torus is that I get to participate as an artist in the space. I realized that holding the intention of making this space a creative and experimental heartist hub also gave me permission to engage with it when it comes to my own work. It took a little under a year to set up the studio the way I wanted it to be, and now that I feel it’s complete, I get to take a step back and “let the studio breathe” as I call it. It feels like the studio has taken on a spirit of its own and it’s graduating high school.

Outside of being a studio owner, I am a full time creative. I went to art school in both high school and college, and continued creative education in other parts of the world like Melbourne, Australia. Today, my main 3 crafts are graphic design, dance, and yoga. Most of my work is in the music, entertainment, and festival worlds and I intend to dive deeper in that.

I’m currently developing a passion project that feels like a culmination point in my creative career called Trance Medicine. It’s a performance art project combining dance, yoga and electronic music, with a performance troupe, classes, and workshops. This project is very much fuelled by my love for psychedelic art and global trance music culture. Music is my love language, and some of my favorite genres like trance, psytrance, psychill, ambient, etc. are not really embraced here in the U.S., especially Southern California for that matter. As a deeply creative soul, I felt a piece missing in my life by the absence of this culture that’s so abundant in other parts of the world, so I’ve made it my mission to bring it to life in my hometown of North County, San Diego.

Little did I know that Torus would be the venue for this to happen. Developing the studio with this intention of giving people permission to experiment, develop artistry, and drop into their hearts’ calling has opened the door for me to do the same.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Born and raised in San Diego, I definitely prefer the quiet life away from any tourist hot spots, which is why I take most of my guests around Encinitas, where I was very lucky to have grown up. A day itinerary would most likely include a morning yoga class with a favorite instructor, coffee/brunch at a wellness eatery, beach time, a walk through the Self Realization Meditation Gardens, and dinner at my family’s restaurant, Union Kitchen and Tap.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
As Torus approaches its 1 year anniversary on September 17th, I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to every person who saw the vision, and helped contribute to the space with their light, whether it was by participating as a facilitator, renting the space, attending an event, or serving as a supportive friend. Torus would not have developed in the way it has if it weren’t for the people that resonated with the studio in some way or another, whether it was the vibe of the physical space or the intention behind it. You all helped me believe in the power of intention setting and calling in the people that are meant to be called in. It’s not always easy trusting that putting an intention out will create results that accurately reflect that, but I can confidently say that it worked. The journey of opening Torus with a pure and heart-centred vision has shown me that it IS worth it, and compromising integrity for “faster results” is not. I am so grateful for the friends I have made through this space, many of which I can call soul family.

Website: https://www.torusco.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/torus.co/

Image Credits
Miranda Rogers