For the Love of the Map

Choreographer Lauri Auerniitty: The Art of Movement in Supernatural

• For the Love of the Map • Episode 38

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Ever wondered who creates those mesmerizing, flowing movements that make Supernatural feel less like exercise and more like dancing through your favorite songs? Meet Lauri, the Finnish choreographer responsible for some of the most beloved flow workouts in Supernatural, including the first iconic Drop Bass Meditation workout.

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MJ:

Welcome back to another episode of For the Love of the Map, where we talk all things supernatural choreography and the joy in movements. I am your host, mj, and today I'm super excited for you guys to meet supernatural choreographer Lowry.

Lauri:

Hello everybody. Yes, it's very, very exciting to be here.

MJ:

We are so excited to have you here. I'm sorry that you are the last choreographer that I'm interviewing. I was a little nervous.

Lauri:

Yeah, I'm a bit nervous too.

MJ:

And for everyone who's listening, laurie lives in finland, so that's why I was a little nervous, because we have such a time difference and I was afraid of the language barrier, but there there is none. Wow, you speak incredible incredible.

Lauri:

Thank you um, I I still have some like rough spots to like fix, but it's, it's getting definitely better definitely better.

MJ:

That's amazing. So did you learn english in school? I mean what? Why did you learn english? What made you decide to do that?

Lauri:

Yeah, hold on, basically, since I was like really young, I mean oh man, what's the word In like primary school? Oh no, even like lower. Oh, wow what's the word In like primary school? Oh no, even like lower. Oh wow, yeah, we had like an English like club when I was like, oh man, what's the what's the word? Man, what a way to start. I'm sorry.

MJ:

I'm just going to go ahead and get the hard stuff right out.

Lauri:

Like in kindergarten.

MJ:

Oh, okay.

Lauri:

Yeah, we had an English club, so I started learning basic colors and numbers there and back to the elementary school. We also have English classes from the beginning, and because I was so interested in technology and all kinds of places in the internet, that also, of course, helps a lot.

MJ:

Definitely. Do you speak any other languages?

Lauri:

No, I mean I could answer Swedish, but that's really not a. Thing. Just a very little bit. Yeah, just a little bit. Every time I have studied it in school then it stays in your brain a little bit, but because there's really no reason to use it, then I just forget about like 90% of the whole language, Same same.

MJ:

You have to use it to maintain it.

Lauri:

It's pretty. In a way, it's pretty similar to English. So there's like some really like familiar, like rules and sentence structures.

MJ:

How different is your native language from English? The structure and all that.

Lauri:

It's very different. It's so.

MJ:

It's so different that's hard to uh, to translate the both, I always wonder. I speak Spanish, but, like you, if I don't use it I sort sort of lose it. Yeah. But totally different than English. So many different rules. It was easier to learn Spanish than for me to learn English, so I was wondering if it was sort of the same for you To learn.

Lauri:

English. Yes, it was it very difficult. So a lot of different rules from from yeah, it's, yeah, it has different rules, but I would say english is like pretty simple, like for sure to learn. Yeah yeah, so tell us like finnish has some like rules that I mean. I don't think most finns like would get right. But it doesn't matter as a like if some like verbal, something like in a bit like wrong format, that everybody will understand.

MJ:

Everyone got it. That makes sense. In some languages they wouldn't. They'd be looking at you like what are you talking about? So tell us some things about Finland, like random facts that you think us North Americans would find fascinating. Oh man. Oh no. I have one. I have one that I know because it's something that I've just naturally been sort of obsessed with about that part of the world, and that would be like the aurora borealis yes you guys can see yeah, yeah, that that can happen in like, even in the most like southern part of finland.

Lauri:

It's more like um. It happens way more often in the like lapland north finland.

MJ:

But north finland, but and yeah, that's where they experience like polar night, where it's like 24 hours of darkness, which is, yes, intense, you guys don't have that where you live though, do you?

Lauri:

um, yeah, it's, it's called kamus and uh, it's. I think the most like rough month I would say is in like November, where we don't really it hasn't really snowed yet, so it's like dark basically, like most of the time, just all the time and depressing we get maybe a little bit sunlight, but yeah, that's why it's like you want to have some really bright lights in your home, so that actually helps.

MJ:

Yeah, that makes sense to me. I do a lot of light therapy because winter is hard for me. I do a lot of light therapy because winter is hard for me. We don't get 24 hours of dark, but it shortens, the day shortens and darkness is longer than the light.

Lauri:

So I think that's smart that you guys do the lights. Yeah, well, as some random facts. I think sauna would be a good mention. Yeah, sauna is a very finnish thing and I think there's like, um, like one sauna for every four finnish people. Like there are like three million saunas. It's for like five million of population in finland and it's really like very common that if you like are trying to find a homo, it will include a sauna. Wow.

MJ:

Do you have a sauna? Are you a sauna practitioner? Oh wow, yes.

Lauri:

Uh, it's, it's actually just like a couple, a couple of doors, like steps away from there. It's, it's actually just like a couple of doors, like steps away from there. It's an electric sauna and there's also like wooden saunas that you use.

MJ:

That's what I'm familiar with is the wooden one, and it has the little box with the rocks in it. You put a little bit of water in there Sauna's feel great. I can see why it would be popular there.

Lauri:

It's like the stove, yeah, um yeah, it's like. The best temperature for like sauna is somewhere around like 80 to 90 degrees Celsius.

MJ:

Oh, that's warm.

Lauri:

Yeah, but it just feels so nice, it relaxes you and you just to get the chin out.

MJ:

Have you ever? Do you ever stretch in the sauna, or do you just sit there and hang out?

Lauri:

No, I mean, maybe you can do some like small, like stretches, but the I don't. There's really not that much of space, true? So it's just better to sit and just wash, wash away your worries, yeah wash away your worries.

MJ:

That's a good way to put it. I would love to uh. Well, in my head I'm thinking so. Every house has a sauna, right? They're probably not massive they're probably small to fit in everyone's homes yeah, um, it depends.

Lauri:

Like, uh, at parents' place we have actually a separate building that's also like a storage room and the other side is a wooden sauna. But it's more common that the sauna will also be inside your home, that it's not a separate building. But it depends if it's like a it. It depends on the type of the building, of course of course that makes sense yeah in the winter, I would imagine yeah, then it's.

Lauri:

It's amazing in the summer it, like my sauna, doesn't get that much of use because you don't really want to go from a really warm summer day to sauna. But it's still different, but it doesn't hit the same.

MJ:

No, I wouldn't imagine when it's not cold outside. Yeah, Are you big into outdoor recreational sports in the winter? I?

Lauri:

I mean, do you? Ski or snowboard or anything cross country skiing cross really yes, that's intense.

Lauri:

There's yeah, you can. There's a small video I have given you. You can add it here so everybody can see. But, um, it's uh, I had a really long break, uh, between my like skiing hobby. Like I used to go with my dad all the time in like um 17 years ago or something like that, and now, like two years ago, I started it again with my dad and sometimes my brother, and sometimes it's just me, and it's definitely really like I'm very glad that I chose to do it again. Chose to do it again because, and also we have, like it depends on the wind, like of course, I always wish that we get a lot of snow, so but you are the opposite of me, then, because no snow for me?

MJ:

no snow for me because I don't want to any of the snow see, I live in the south, so it's very rare for us. No snow for me. No snow for me, because I don't want to All of the snow. See, I live in the south, so it's very rare for us to get snow. We do on occasion, and you would probably hysterically laugh, because our city closes down for the tiniest amount of snow, the tiniest bits.

MJ:

No one's going to work, work. No one is going to school and, uh, you, you would laugh so hard about it, but we just don't have the recent, we don't have any of the things to to make it safe to drive you know not have snow trucks or anything like that, but then it's understandable that everyone, everything, would get more like closed. So I know you just got a new puppy. Yes, I want to talk about him. What's his name?

Lauri:

His name is Winston and he's a golden retriever and right now he's like a bit over three months old and I got him like one month ago and I actually got Winston at the same time and from the same, like kennel, as my brother and his wife, and this was this. Yeah, they have a brother and his wife. And this was this. Yeah, they have a brother named Kuki. So Winston has his brother very close nearby and they get some like play dates.

MJ:

They get to grow up together and still see each other. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lauri:

And this was a very like planned thing, like I was planning to get a dog for several years and at some point we got to talking with oh, I got to talking with my brother and his wife. They were like, because their previous dog had passed away. So it was time to get a new one, yeah, and they were planning to get the golden retriever and I was like, hmm, okay, golden retriever sounds nice, because I hadn't even decided if I wanted to get a puppy or like, or adopt, like a bit older dog.

MJ:

Right.

Lauri:

But, I mean it sounded so nice that we would get like brothers and they could grow together.

MJ:

Yeah, it's very fitting, considering it's your brother, you know, and you both have the brother dogs and they get to grow up. So you can you know family, when your family gets together, you can bring the dogs and they get to grow up together, and I think that's pretty neat too.

Lauri:

Yeah, I will say it definitely, like like I was prepared for the dog, but I wasn't like actually prepared, vincent, definitely like uh, put my like whole, like structure upside down it's like having a child, it's like having a newborn baby. They need so much. Oh yeah, for sure.

MJ:

Was this your first dog?

Lauri:

Yes, Okay, I have looked after some dogs before, but I haven't owned a dog or a cat and I have grown up with cats. My parents have two cats right now.

MJ:

Do you think you'll take him with you when you ski?

Lauri:

Maybe when he's a lot older. Yeah. Could definitely try that because, yeah, there's some like days that you are allowed to take your dog to the like skiing track.

MJ:

Yeah, I think that would be neat.

Lauri:

Yeah, now you're like, oh, what else can I do with him? He's definitely a very smart dog. Yeah, he like picks up commands like really fast.

MJ:

That's incredible. And if he, since they're so smart and I believe they're considered working dogs, so they like to have a job and a skill to do um, I bet this winter you could take him out and start skiing with him and he could grow up that way.

Lauri:

He would probably love it yeah, next winter season maybe we'll have to see, like, how much of a teenager he is. Truth, yeah.

MJ:

Truth, you might be taking him to the park not far away to test it out at first, but I think it would be good to get his energy out as he gets older and he's no longer puppy, puppy, but still has all that crazy teenager energy like you said, yeah, hasn't mellowed out yet.

MJ:

Yes, I think that would be incredible. So my friend Julia used to always ask people about their favorite food and snacks and I'm interested to ask you because I'm hoping you're going to give us something. We have no idea what it is and it's like something you guys in finland enjoy. I don't know something new that we can all google and and try an amazon prime, something from finland to try, um.

MJ:

So yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna go ahead and ask that question. I usually save that for the end, but I'm adding it here because okay, I'm hoping it will be something we've never heard of like favorite snack or food.

Lauri:

Um, well, let's go to the more of the like, the snack, snack kind first. Um, I will say, okay, something traditional. I will say this in first in finish carry on beer, aka yes. So carry a land, carry a lien pie or pasty yeah, so oh. Yeah.

MJ:

So it's like what is it Tell us?

Lauri:

Yeah, it has like a thin dry crust with a filling of rice, okay, yeah. And you often mix it with like chopped up, like boiled egg Okay, which is like boiled egg. Okay, which is?

MJ:

like egg butter yeah. That sounds good. Sounds hearty and comforting.

Lauri:

Yeah, like handmade. Karelan pirakka is so good.

MJ:

Is it something that, like families, make from scratch homemade, or is it something that you mostly buy somewhere?

Lauri:

You can buy it. It's like both. I mean, I think the more common way is to buy it from just a market, but definitely handmade is more tastier, of course yeah, always, always.

MJ:

So I am super interested to know your dude who lives in Finland. How did you get started with Supernatural? Like? What is your background? Maybe that's where we should start. You graduate high school. You go to college. What are you learning in college? Like, what was your goal?

Lauri:

I actually went to vocational school, I think. Same thing, yeah, to learn what? Oh to learn. Video game development and animation.

MJ:

Animation Really.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean, it was mostly basically because of video game dev stuff, but animation was part of the like whole package so I learned some like 3d and 2d animation and, of course, with the like, different game engines like unity and and I, I mean I had a dream of like being a game developer and that basically continued to the university studies. But there I actually had a change of heart because I actually started to studies, to data center studies which they had in Kajaani, which is really pretty far away from here where I live, it's way up north. So I also got to experience like the more Northern Finland where I haven't hadn't really been much at all and, yeah, the I think it was really good decision, because then I realized that, oh man, I, I, because I love like the like technical side of things, of technology, and I got to learn a lot about Linux and just how basically the internet works.

MJ:

Yeah, all the nerdy hardcore stuff. How things work in the background.

Lauri:

Yeah, all of the behind the scenes skins.

MJ:

Yeah, oh man and building building programs, and yeah, that's neat, but how? Yeah so how does that translate to becoming a choreographer? Which is usually dance and music background. Obviously, in the VR space opens a different world and different skill set. I know a lot of the choreographers have graphic design backgrounds, dancing backgrounds, some music here and there, some music here and there. Um, cat had worked in the video game field, um yeah. So how do you go from from learning that in in school to choreography?

Lauri:

yeah, I mean, I guess we can like go to the, like my background background with.

MJ:

VR in general here.

Lauri:

Yeah, Because it will connect to that. Okay, so in 2014, when I was studying the video game stuff in the vocational school, I had an opportunity to go to the Nordic Game Conference in Malmö, Sweden, and in there they had a demo of the dev kit of Oculus Rift the first DevKit and the second DevKit as well. So I first got to experience the first DevKit and they had like a spaceship demo there and it was really nauseating. I was like, oh man, no.

Lauri:

I can't do this at all, but with the second generation of the DevKit, that demo was way more impressive and was like oh man, okay, this is.

Lauri:

You sat on a big throne and you could send some lightning strikes to your minions and stuff like that and there's the scale scale of things was amazing, so that really like sparked the excitement for vr with me. And in 2016, when I would say like the like the current landscape of vr start really started, I pre-ordered the HTC Vive so, which was releasing at the same time as the Oculus Rift for like PC back then, because back then, mobile VR wasn't, it was a thing, but it was basically the cardboard box where you would put your phone in there.

MJ:

Yeah, I thought that was so cool. I remember when that came out and my daughter was very, very young and my partner decided to buy that for her. Yeah, let's buy this for the two-year-old. I'm like what? No, but it's really for us. You know, he wanted to test it and see, and that was also my first experience with VR-ish sort of situation.

Lauri:

Yeah. So I received the Vive, which was really expensive, but I had saved up enough money to get it. I mean it was mind-blowing, like in the demo, because then you had like the controllers that really matched the oh, that's a bit of Finnish that slipped there that, like the controller matched the, like real living space, like one-to-one Really, yeah, yeah, yeah. Or like the.

Lauri:

I mean the same way you would use like the Quest controller works basically, but with the yeah, but that was really cool and you like could bounce some like balloons and you will get the tactile feedback. I was like, oh my God, it's there, but it's actually not there. So, yeah, that was basically the start of my like VR obsession.

MJ:

Go ahead, so go ahead.

Lauri:

I'm sorry, yeah, no, no, no, like I mean after that I have like kept up my like like VR with the like newest VR devices.

MJ:

I would imagine you would, especially knowing your background, knowing that you've always been interested in VR and the technology. What kind of games are you playing in there for fun?

Lauri:

I got to know Right now. Well, there's quite a few that I want to try out, but right now I don't really find the time, actually probably outside of work. Of course, the most, or the headset that gets the most use right now is the Playstation VR, like the second VR headset for Playstation 5 yeah, that has some like, I guess VR like the second VR headset for PlayStation 5.

Lauri:

Oh yeah, that has some like. I guess they are available for other headsets as well, but I like to print sound. Of course, when you have the opportunity to buy a physical copy of a game, then I know which platform I'm going to buy this on, because I love physical copies and physical media.

MJ:

I can see behind you. I see vinyl.

Lauri:

Yes, and those are CDs, oh wow.

MJ:

Wow, you have a big collection.

Lauri:

Yeah, and I actually got into vinyl only this year. Oh, wow.

MJ:

Things have maybe gotten a bit out out of hand, but I love that so your cd collection are those cds that you, you had as a kid and you saved and then continued by yeah, I actually received them from my parents not that far long ago.

Lauri:

I mean I was like, yeah, I can. Like. Mom was like do you? Uh? Oh, yeah, take this. Yes, take this, we get more space. Yes, but I mean, yes, I took them all. Yeah, of course, and actually the lowest shelf those have, like that's only for one band.

MJ:

What band.

Lauri:

It's Sonata Arctica, so that's a Finnish power metal band. Power metal, yeah yeah.

MJ:

Everyone right now goes to find this band and listen to them.

Lauri:

It's actually a pretty fun band because their musical style changed a lot between the years. Right now they are back into their power metal roots, but they have tried different genres and some fans don't really like it, but I'm very much into all of the like different eras of sonata arctica and that, like row has some some of my like og, like uh, things that I bought out as a kid. But there are some really like new releases as well that I have recently bought, like some Japanese only releases that you know it's not the like most cheap, cheapest thing to like get a hold of, but it's so worth it for me.

MJ:

Right. I think we all have those interests and hobbies that are not necessarily financially a good idea to be into?

Lauri:

Yeah, but they have a lot of emotional value. Yeah, yeah.

MJ:

For sure, do you go see that band live?

Lauri:

Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, oh, yeah, yeah, and they're still like really good, even though they are getting a bit old, but I mean only like 50 years old or something like that.

MJ:

Yeah, dude, that is not old yeah no.

Lauri:

Yeah but I know, but they started like 1998.

MJ:

Oh, so they've been around for a long time.

Lauri:

Yeah, I got into them like 2008. Okay, where you could choose an artist and a song that you wanted to bring and let everyone listen and then everyone could vote what they thought of it. It was like a music jury kind of thing. That was pretty fun. And in that class I heard I don't know, I'm not sure what song was it from Sonata Arctica, but it was from the first album and I was like, oh wow, that was like you were in love.

Lauri:

Yeah, that was the reason that, like the next Christmas, it was the like CDd that I wished for that's incredible, and then, yeah, I still remember when I put it on my like, uh, sonny walkman and uh they're like the first song from that first album like just has those really fast drum fills and just gets you right into it, and I, because I hadn't really, like, listened to that type of music uh, before.

MJ:

So opened up a whole new world of music for you. I'm sure it was like a gateway. You got into that band and then it opened up all these other bands.

Lauri:

Yeah, there's also Stratovarius, which is also the same kind of power metal finish.

MJ:

So if Supernatural had the rights to any of their music, would you want to map it, or would you want someone else to map it so you can experience it?

Lauri:

I mean some of the songs. They go like 1,000 miles per second.

MJ:

So it sounds like a prose-only music for prose-only Wow.

Lauri:

That would be crazy. But they have also some like more mellow songs though, so, like a flowy, flowy sonata they got workout could go good work as well yeah, that'd be cool.

MJ:

So I need to everyone go go to the link for the song requests. We're going to start requesting this so that Larry can get his uh, his band in there.

Lauri:

Be really neat that, that would be crazy.

MJ:

Wouldn't it? I think it would be cool.

Lauri:

So so not that artist series, I would like map their whole like discography.

MJ:

Be, out on the lookout. Maybe next year we can get it done. They have to get the rights they have?

Lauri:

they have some really also some really long songs like 10 minutes songs so when you get a really long song, yeah does that intimidate you, are you like?

MJ:

oh geez, what am I gonna do here and not be repetitive and boring? You know well often.

Lauri:

Often those like really long songs do have like a um, a lot of variation and like um, some like really powerful builds at the end yeah, it changes up yeah. So I mean I don't really it's. I mean if, if, if it feels like it's going to be really repetitive, I will just then request like a song like cut down, and that usually is like okay.

MJ:

That makes sense.

Lauri:

Because, yeah, hold on. I'm like actually I will do this live. I'm going to lower this.

MJ:

I'm like what is happening here. It's transformers going on over here because I was actually.

Lauri:

This is a standing desk, so yeah but I realized like, oh man, I still have to like, do some work today. Oh man, I will rest my legs.

MJ:

I should sit now. So let's go back to you, discovering VR, changing what your focus of study was. Because you were like okay, I don't want to do game development anymore. Yeah, because you were like okay.

Lauri:

I don't want to do game development anymore, yeah.

MJ:

How do you get to be a choreographer in Supernatural?

Lauri:

Oh, yeah, yeah yeah, we could be kind of derailed from that. That's fine, yeah, so hold on. It was in 2018, that's when beat saber released. Yeah, and uh, that was, that was yeah, that was in summer of 2018 and I was in my like apartment in Kajan when I was studying and, yeah, I had pre-ordered it and, like the first launch day, I played it a bit. I was like, oh man, this is like so cool.

Lauri:

And yeah, for the for like the first like few years of I was really active in the community and, um, I started doing like um, custom maps okay with the, with the like, the community made editor, and I also knew benny from that same community, who also like, was basically the at that point the most like, uh, I guess famous like yeah, because content creator, yeah, and he had lots of well, not lots, but he had videos on youtube on how to use the community yes, yes, and I used those tutorials, yeah, and I did that for like a few years.

Lauri:

And then, in 2019, I got a message from Benny and he was asking that if I could list my favorite like was it like something like top five favorite maps that I had done? And I was like, okay, here's some, these are fun, these are the ones that I'm most proud of. Like, what are you going to use this for? Don't worry about it. And so I was like, okay. And I think same year he came back and asked if I was interested trial map thing for this upcoming VR app and I was like, okay, yeah, sure, sure, sure. Because I was like for sure, why not? But they needed the first quest for that and of course didn't have it because I wasn't really interested in it, because for me, the top end of VR, of course, was in PC, like powered VR. But I said, oh man, I don't have that. But then he was like okay, maybe we can send you one. And then they did.

Lauri:

You were serious, yeah, and it was great because even if, like nothing would have come out of that like trial, I could have like kept the headset with me Wow, so it was really cool. But yeah, there were some short meetings and the first song that I did was 21 Pilots.

MJ:

What's the most popular song Stressed Out?

Lauri:

Yes, stressed Out. It was Stressed Out. And yeah, the first draft versions are still available for us, not in the app, but I can still go and check them out. Yeah, it's, it's something, alright.

MJ:

I was gonna say it's probably a mixture of feelings for you to go back to that first map. You obviously see progress, but then you probably also cringe. So much progress, yeah there's so many progress.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, there's so many weird decisions. I'm like what is this? Of course, then we also didn't have our tools. That has also improved. The engineers have done some great work. So, of course, then I have to remind, remind myself like okay, back then we didn't have like this like triangle tool that we could use to really easily make like triangle tunnels and uh, but yeah, it's the like. The version that exists exist in the app.

Lauri:

Right now it's much more updated so that it does have some like the original dna from like like like the foundation of the original one, yeah, but, but it's so much smoother and nicer which is I I think it's a good thing that it got updated.

MJ:

I think it's a good thing that it's updated, but the nerdy part of me still wants to be able to go play that very first original map, and just to see it, just to experience it.

Lauri:

Yeah.

MJ:

Let it be in the newer workouts as updated. But that first one, let me see the first one. But I get it, I understand.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean it probably would, or it would be like the OG version would be playable in the first. It's like summer of 2020 where that song first appeared. The first version would be playable in that workout, but something apparently has changed in that workout so it got republished and then it will check like, okay, this song has received updates. After like this first version, let's go jump to that that makes sense.

MJ:

Got it Shoot. If we wouldn't have lost the song, we would have still had that original map in there.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, it's like part of me.

Lauri:

Wish it was still there, but also I'm glad that it's like part of me wish it was still there, but also I'm glad that it's it's not there yeah like I don't want to hear you guys play it and tell me thanks I do revisit it, like maybe a couple of times per year or something, because it's it's, because it's still fun to like go around that and like what are these? Like rhythm decisions and like pattern moves that are like way over, like out of almost your reach, and right the angles are very uncomfortable yeah, the angles like so, like yeah, angular, like no, no, like smoothing at all and no tails back then yeah, yeah, the tails were much more rare.

MJ:

Yes, for sure. But seeing the progress from what you guys did initially to what you guys put out now is such a massive shift and I talk negatively about 2020 and 2021 workouts, but those were the workouts that got me hooked on Supernatural. That's why I fell in love with Supernatural. But when I compare those workouts to workouts that come out last year or this year, man, they're significantly more comfortable. The angles, it's more intuitive. So I think it's really neat to be able to still have some of those really old maps to be able to look at and compare and see and experience. Um, so benny found you. That makes sense because of beat saber.

MJ:

So you were just hobby. Beat Saber making mats.

Lauri:

Yeah, it was just a fun hobby that I did on my free time. Oh wow. And then it turned, I mean in 2020, after they were like, okay, this was pretty solid, let's continue. I did some small contract work here and there and at the end of 2020 I was like preparing to, preparing to graduate and at like at this, like around the same time, I was asked if I wanted to do this part-time. But then I was like okay, can I do this full time? And then basically then like the next question was like okay, when, when can you start?

Lauri:

good negotiation yeah, and that was in december of 2020, and then then I I graduated and just started doing this full time.

MJ:

Wow, how many maps do you think you have put out since starting working for Supernatural, because you've been there since the beginning.

Lauri:

Yeah, it's a lot. Now my output is much higher than it used to be in those early days, but probably at this point it has to be like over 1,000. Wow, wow I think yeah, wow, I think, yeah, yeah, yeah, there's at least I mean at least something like 800 or something Probably more. I feel that that's a huge number, but I feel like I actually might be still underestimating.

MJ:

Interesting Because I think the last time I looked there were over 3,000 workouts in the library and obviously back then you guys would just get a song or two songs. There were always multiple choreographers on a workout. It was rare that you guys owned a whole workout, so to speak, but now that started last year that you guys would get full workouts, and now we're. It's very rare a workout is multiple choreographers.

Lauri:

I mean, if it's like a super monster or something, then it's rare that it's only one.

MJ:

Right.

Lauri:

But for the basic, that it's only one, right, yeah, right, but but for like the basic workouts yeah, there's like one choreo that will own that whole workout interesting, so talk to us about your process.

MJ:

You get assigned a song, a workout. What are you doing? How do you go about starting it?

Lauri:

out. What are you doing? How do you go about starting it? Yeah, more often than not I start by, of course, listening, listening to the song, and sometimes multiple times before I jumped into editor. And from that like listening listening to the song, I usually get a good idea where to do the like, the 180-degree turns maybe, for example.

Lauri:

And when I'm in the editor I usually start with the section that excites or like inspires me the most. That excites or like inspires me the most, and it can be just a very short snippet of like, just like drums going hey where, and I'm like I know what I want from that part, and the rest can like, uh, go go from like or like. I will just like map the rest around that moment. And for like extra long tails they don't happen often because they are like more special, but that's like anything that's longer than like two beats and those take a good amount of time to get right, especially if I want to do something from scratch and not use our snippet library which does a couple of extra long tails. But yeah, but yeah, if it's like a musical or something like from like a movie or something, then I will of course also watch the associated clip that song is and take notes from that that's cool.

MJ:

Add in real easter eggs from the original. Yeah, that's neat. So do you have? I mean, you love music. I can. I can see your collection. Obviously music is a big part of your life. Besides, like elementary school and high school, music classes are. Are you a musician? Do you play an instrument?

Lauri:

no, I mean this doesn't really count, but I again, like 17 years ago, something I I did go to a like a, um acoustic, like guitar course on my free time, like in the evenings.

MJ:

Okay.

Lauri:

So I learned it a little bit, but it lasted like maybe a year or something.

MJ:

So that's pretty much it. What about dance? Do you have any training in dancing?

Lauri:

No.

MJ:

Do you enjoy to dance in your free time?

Lauri:

I mean, yeah, like some free from like yes, which is you hear music?

MJ:

yeah, yeah to a show yeah, but yeah, yeah, that kind of dancing, yeah, that's fun that fascinates me to hear, because when I think of your choreography, I've spent the last week immersed in your workouts so that we could talk here. I wanted to make sure they were in the front of my mind In your style. I personally have nicknamed you the flowy tail master because the way you set up tails and how flowy the movement is. They're so graceful. You bring out the gracefulness and flow like no other, and I would have assumed you had a dancing or a music background, and so it fascinates me that you're just in touch with the music and the rhythm game to create these movements.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean I will say back when I started, like learning from Benny Eaton and Asia was, of course, like there was a lot to learn and those were like they were really great mentors and like in the early days I had some like trouble just staying up-down-up-down movement and not really going side to side. But when I was like from what Bernie mentioned, really thinking about shifting your body weight and how good that feels like, really thinking, thinking about like shifting your body weight and how, how good that feels like, and then I was like, okay, yeah, I started to pick up on things and go from there you're a quick learner yeah, I mean.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean it did take a while, but when I got to the point where I just could do the work on my own and not really have to go through any of the other team members, that was really cool. But I was also nervous like, oh man, is this okay, will this be okay?

MJ:

But yeah, Did you back then? Were you stalking the Supernatural community on Facebook when your workouts came out, to see what the community thought?

Lauri:

Yeah, so much, so much. Now I don't do it that often, but I'm still lurking there for sure You're a lurker. Yes.

MJ:

Fair, I get that, do you? I was going to say do you have a favorite move that you like to put in your workouts that feels good to you?

Lauri:

Yes, I mean there's a few, okay, you well, I really like whenever I get the opportunity to put some windmills, I will do windmills and also like those upper circling. They are actually internally called storm mills. I came up, I came up with that like word, I don't because they, that moment, needed some kind that snippet, needed some kind of name. I was like this is like windmills but you go like it's like flip around, maybe like storm mill, storm meals, storm meals storm meals.

Lauri:

I like yeah um, yeah, but that's the that moment is something that came up after. Like I had a weird dream in like, was it in like 2022 or something, where I had like dream about, about this like really cool move. But then when I woke up I was like, oh, wow, that that was really cool, but wait. Then I tried to like recreate it and I realized, like hold on, no, your hand can't really go through your body. Wait, how did that work? Unfortunately, we have to like obey the laws of physics. You couldn't make your dream a reality, huh.

MJ:

Yeah it was a wild move, but but couldn't do that in real life I hope that you have another dream that's a little bit more realistic.

MJ:

Um yeah to the physics and you figure out how to do it yeah that's right you also do this thing a lot with your flow workouts, push and pull and the body movement and the weight. It's like this section, this arm will be doing pulling and this side will be pushing, and I really enjoy that. You do that. It's like you can tell, you're aware that's what you're trying to get us to do. Um, and big expansive hits. You know huge movements. I absolutely love that. Um, that style of choreography which brings me to. I want to talk about a workout. It's very old.

MJ:

It's from 2021. This workout is a medium flow with Leanne. It is the drop base meditation. I love this workout.

MJ:

When I found this workout, it was my kind of music. I had Rufus DeSoul. It was my kind of music and I had Rufus to soul. It was so good and the first time I played it I had to sit down on the floor afterwards and I think I think I cried a little bit. I mean, I'm gonna be honest and upfront, it was just such a great experience and it was when I had already loved supernatural, but it was the first time I truly got into a flow state Like out. It was like an out of body experience for me and I drank some water after I got up off the floor and then I went right back in and played it again. I played it back to back. It was so good and I have played that workout so many times since it's so flowy, so so good.

MJ:

Julia and I did like a um an anniversary, our friendship year anniversary. We did lightning a side-by-side for that, because we just loved it so much. Um, and I know that this workout is yours. Which funny story, real quick. I used to think it was Dave's. Dave loves this workout. He loves this workout and every time I would play it he would like it. And I thought well, if he's liking this workout but not my other ones, I bet it's his. And so I went a long time thinking it was his, and when I was talking to him about it, he's like Marla, that's not mine, the OG, the original, is not mine. I'm like well, whose is it? Tell me? And he said I'm not telling you, I'm gonna let that person tell you when the time comes.

MJ:

And I'm like Dave, no, tell me right now. And so I had to wait to find out. It was yours. So, yeah, I want to chat about that first yeah, that OG.

Lauri:

I think I still remember. So, yeah, I want to chat about that first. Yeah, um, that og best meditation. I think I still remember like like our like team sync meeting back then. Uh, we used to like listen to like some of the upcoming workouts, like if there was any interest like from someone to like take some of the songs. And I think, like Kevin, our like music creator maybe it was him who mentioned like this like bass meditation was created as a response after someone else in our team had a very flowy Zen moment in another song and it was like let's see if we can recreate that feeling. Yeah, and back then we didn't used to own the whole workout and I was basically all over this song selection. I was like, oh, all of this is so good. And then I was asked if I wanted to give the whole workout a shot. I was like, okay, sure why not.

Lauri:

Yes, give me all of the songs and yeah, that workout, that type of EDM, is basically what I call like lemon music why explain? Explain yeah, yeah, that's the lemon, or citruna in finnish. Uh, citruna music is like a type of like. It's like a type of like creating a use for. You can use it for other like genres of music, but EDM it works the best. It's basically if they're like. The song makes you go like you had just like eating like raw lemon. Okay, make this like face like oh, okay wow, uh, yeah, that's that.

Lauri:

That's when they're like the song is like lemon interesting and like uh on, like my dad, like jokes, jokes around like on our like car trips, like if there's like a, especially if there's like a EDM like show going on on the radio like yeah, is this like Apple or Pear?

MJ:

That's hilarious.

Lauri:

Then like maybe this is more like watermelon Watermelon, but the lemon is the thing.

MJ:

Got it Okay. Now I'm going to think about that every time I play this workout particularly. But all EDM moving forward Like is this a lemon?

Lauri:

song. Is this what we would say a lemon song? Usually, the drop is the thing where you know if it's like lemon, Like EDM it's fun, because I think in EDM it's really fun for me to describe some of the sounds Like there's like oh, this is really like sandpapery and maybe a little bit muddy. And yeah, that's. That's a thing I love doing.

MJ:

So when you're mapping so let's take bass, meditation, the drop, the OG one you're listening to the songs and you're describing some of the sounds you hear. Are you making notes about that, so that when you go to map it you're like well, this is like a vapory.

Lauri:

So let's add some movements that are like vapory you know, yeah, usually those kinds of ideas will actually come when I'm in the editor already.

Lauri:

Got it like the, is it like if it's like a high, high note or like really ramble, and then then you know that, okay, this needs to be like uh, like nice curve that goes down as the, like, um, mood goes down as well so then, four years later which I never thought thought this would happen we got a new the Drop-based meditation in high flow which is yours, and Dave did the medium, which is so fitting because I know he loved the original.

MJ:

And here I was sitting here for at least two plus years thinking it was always Dave's, so I was glad he got to do the medium. But you're high. So this comes up in a meeting somewhere and they're like, oh, let's bring back base meditation. And you're like, yes, I want to do it. Yes.

Lauri:

Yeah, I wasn't like originally. I wasn't like originally I wasn't going to be in that workout, but I don't yeah, I don't remember the exact details, but it was originally going to be.

Lauri:

I think Asia was going to take it, but then I think Daveave contacted me about like the workout, like if I was interested as well, and was like, yeah, yeah for sure, and asia, of course, had no problem swapping this around. And, yeah, that was really exciting. To go back to the past, meditation style Like, for example, especially like Frufu's do so, like the song On my knees, yes, the the first thing that I did with us that song was the like the chorus drop, um, because it was so easy, I was like, oh, uh, the like the lyrics, like on my, then I'm on my knees. Okay, then you have to be on your knees and the walls are closing. Okay, then there needs to be a triangle like a sidestep tunnel that closes. In those kind of moments just write themselves, it's very easy to like map around those you got to come back with coach leanne for this.

MJ:

She coached the high um base meditation. Did you guys talk, you know? Because this maybe it's just a big deal to me and to the community, because the drop-based meditation it had been four years since we had seen another one. But in my mind I'm thinking Leanne's like Larry, we got to add this or we got to do this, or whatever. Did you guys?

Lauri:

collaborate or chat about the choreography going into the workout. Yeah, there was some like it ideas flying around, I think on those tests. It was me, dave and Jess Jobler. Yeah, maybe Leanne was like in some of those conversations as well, but it like the most unique, like thing that came out of those were like the dave's, like breathing triangles yes, the breathing triangles yeah incredible and the tails with.

MJ:

They're like triangle tails. I don't know they were new I I I've seen them in another workout we're going to talk about um. I've seen you use them, so I they were just different the way they um visually, but also the way they had you move your arms with the breathing.

Lauri:

I thought it was really fantastic, fantastic yeah, those like I think, with the chevron arrows.

MJ:

Yes, that's it yes. Are those yours? Yeah, are those.

Lauri:

Dave's the one in the breathing section. Yeah, those are Dave's.

MJ:

Yeah, those are awesome.

Lauri:

But those chevron tales. Unfortunately we had to return to the like normal tails because those, those tails don't like play nice with the, I think the front modifier. Oh man, those tails are so good, those tails are so good, but I mean of course those kind of special tails will of course still be around.

MJ:

They just won't have that visual style of those chevrons. It's got to be difficult because you guys map for the full experience for all the portals, for three, you know, for turns, and then we have these incredible modifiers front facing front facing three portal. Um, it must be difficult to think about that when you're mapping. I know supernatural together is different because you know that's going to be front-facing three portals, so you're prepared for it. But any other time are you aware of the modifiers when you go to map, or are you just mapping for the full experience?

Lauri:

basically, I'm just mapping for the full experience. The modifiers do a great job of just automating that and we don't really have to worry about the modifiers. Um, there might be some like edge cases that we then have to go back and fix, do some small fixes, but yeah, like the chevron tail situation.

MJ:

You wouldn't have known that.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah I think that, yeah, the chevron tails, like the new base meditation, I think they are still there, but, like for like hypnotic house, we had to go back to the like normal tails.

MJ:

It's funny because hypnotic house is the next workout I was going to bring out anyway, which out this year, 2025, yes, which is really exciting. So we we got the drop base meditation, then we got a whole new edm series.

Lauri:

Hypnotic house, yes, um which, basically, is like past meditation, with just a new name okay, so should we be thinking moving forward?

MJ:

we'll be getting hypnotic houses. You're like I can't say that.

Lauri:

I mean maybe. I mean I don't know, maybe, yeah, yeah, but some something like that will for sure.

MJ:

Okay and you got to. Duana was the coach for the high version and the medium, I believe, was Leanne. The high was so fun man, I'm partial to high flow, so I was very excited to see this and the set list.

Lauri:

Yeah, it definitely. With that kind of music the high flows maybe go more towards the high minus, almost maybe medium plus. Yeah. But there's really no point of forcing the movement to go too high, because you need to have those meditative moments for sure.

MJ:

I definitely agree with that and I think it lends to the very flowy movements that you like to create and opportunities for, say, really long tails during certain parts of songs. Opportunities for, say, like really long tails during certain parts of songs, which Helps with the meditative vibe that the workout is going for, you know.

Lauri:

Yeah, I'm trying to remember what. What songs were in that there was? Yeah, there was, actually there was. That truth was dissolved. I think it was remix yes, make it happen yeah, um, I think it was that song where I uh that there's like one um extra long like tail pattern.

Lauri:

That first was just going to be like a bunch of like arm crosses, but then I was like, how can I like make, I can make this more like interesting and uh like fun, like flowy, and then I came off it like maybe, like the other hand, should do some kind of like wave instead of like getting like instructed by the like, the targets. It should be just a tail. And that's how that like pretty, like unique, uh yeah, it's definitely a unique move.

MJ:

yeah, if you guys are watching on youtube, I'll definitely put a clip here so that you can see what move we're talking about. It lends to the whole hypnotic, meditative vibe. It's perfect. It's perfect and it's so fun. It is so fun. I've played that workout so many times. We've been getting some really great workouts. Um the last year, since you guys have sort of taken ownership of it. Like everything is very cohesive from song to song and um, I feel like you guys are able to like work patterns in like sort of like a basic in the first song, then it kind of steps up a little bit in the second song, sort of thing, and then combine everything in the last, and so I've been really digging the workouts for, definitely for the last year it's just like a step above yeah, yeah, when you own the like workout, it does allow you to do some really cool things where you can be like okay, this song has like oh, I found that I'm really using this movement a lot.

Lauri:

Maybe I should like move them over and maybe evolve, evolve them somehow like in the next few songs, and then bring everything together in the like last song. That that that doesn't happen in every workout, but it's cool when it can happen, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

MJ:

Yeah, I think the ownership of the workouts and, if time and workload allows, you can really establish a. It's almost like a training for flow movement or boxing, but we're both flow people. If you guys, the audience knows, do you like to do you map boxing a lot often? I'm sure you have to Do you map boxing often.

Lauri:

I'm sure you have to. Actually, I have, like the skills and drills was the has been like one and a half years or something. When I last did boxing yeah, Even though boxing does give you a nice break from doing flow all the time I felt like flow was just where I felt more like at home. Makes sense and I've been happy with doing just flow.

MJ:

Yeah.

Lauri:

And there probably will be moments where I have to jump back into the boxing, but it won't be a problem.

MJ:

Dude, I was so excited yesterday because I saved a couple of your workouts to play specifically the day before, because I want it to be fresh in my mind, specifically the day before, because I want it to be fresh in my mind and I warmed up yesterday with the Medium Flow. Billie Eilish, artist.

Lauri:

Ah, yes.

MJ:

And as I kept going through the songs I was like I forgot how good this one is, like I just forget that it's just so good. And the movements it's perfect for warming up for me for a high flow, because the movements are big and stretchy. It's just so good.

Lauri:

Did you do that whole workout? Did you mention? High flow. Medium.

MJ:

Oh yeah, I did the medium flow. Yes, I did this the whole one. It is so good, but the very last song, lovely yes, yes, it's beautiful, that's it's beautiful that's, that's the one that uh, uh is.

Lauri:

The is still like stick sticks with me.

MJ:

Stands out in your mind.

Lauri:

Yeah.

MJ:

Did you enjoy that song? Or you just knew how you wanted to map it. It's great.

Lauri:

Yeah, I knew that the TPM targets per minute would be maybe going even like around like low plus, but I didn't really care because I knew I had to like hit all of the like long held vocals. I had to hit those.

MJ:

You had to.

Lauri:

Make the movement like fit the mood of the song.

MJ:

Yes, you did that so well. You leave room to breathe with the song and you are expressing emotion with the movements and the lyric. It's just fantastic all around. I went ahead and rebookmarked it, like kept it on my bookmark list so I wouldn't forget. And I don't keep a lot of things in my bookmarks because it's not organized. I don't want 26 pages of things I have to scroll, so I don't really keep them unless I'm doing research. But I kept that one. I didn't unbookmark it like I usually would because I don't want to forget about it.

MJ:

I don't want to forget how good it is. Also, Bad Guy is super fun too.

Lauri:

Yeah, that I think that was. I think like the high map of that already existed.

MJ:

I think it did.

Lauri:

Yeah, which is Ethan's, already existed. I think it did. Which is yeah, which is ethan's. And, um, I took that and took some like like inspiration from that and did a level down of that map and did it.

MJ:

Did what you guys like to call level down and reshuffle yeah is it reshuffling if?

Lauri:

it's the same level yeah then it's a reshuffle, got it, yeah, and it's a level down if it's from, or level up if there's an intensity difference.

MJ:

Got it Interesting. Yeah, that whole workout was fantastic. It was an artist series that I was very excited the day came out um yeah and uh, um, I really.

Lauri:

oh man, what's that song? Um, hold on, uh, but yeah, birds of a feather. Yeah, I was really vocal about that song, that it needed to be on that record.

MJ:

Good job, dude, because you're absolutely right. That song deserves a place in the artist series. It only made sense to have it. I mean, that was her biggest song from that album.

Lauri:

Yeah, back when we did the mapping those, the album had just released, so I don't think it was well, I mean you could hear from that like song that, yeah, this is going to be big yeah, it was going to be the one, but you didn't know for sure yet, but you felt you were like no, this has to be yeah, no, I yeah, it was love at like first listen.

Lauri:

Oh and I actually yeah, I think it was. It was the first time I heard like the full uh album was uh with uh uh vinyl release that. I went and got like from the shop I had pre-ordered it at and just listened to it that's cool.

MJ:

I want to talk about another medium flow that I actually played yesterday again, um, and I waited for my friend julia because she loves this flow, she loves this artist. I could take her lead, but the workout was fantastic. It is a medium flow, um, and it is actually lindsey sterling that workout that came out right around christmas time last year um 2024 december.

MJ:

Yeah, yeah with coach mark, which was so cool because the promo that they kind of posted in the group and on their instagram it it was Mark and Lindsay Sterling at a concert together. They're like hanging out. Mark's like this is my friend and I'm like what? So I thought that was really neat. But Felice Navidad was so good. It was so good, dude the perfect placement of the joy balls.

Lauri:

I'm sorry I had to mention them. They were perfectly placed yeah, so good, so good yeah, uh, where, when I like uh got the idea that maybe like this has these are like some of like these have like this nice small, like like pause moments, like maybe I could like put some like back-to-back easter eggs or joy balls I'm sorry, thank you, no, you're good so I tried both uh to those and then I played it back and was like, oh, this is it, this is so good.

MJ:

It is so good those moments.

Lauri:

Whenever there's a really fun or powerful moment, then I usually find myself just replaying it over and over and at some point I realize, oh yeah, I have to still do the rest of the song.

MJ:

That's how you know. You added something really good in there.

Lauri:

If you're just playing it all over and over yeah, um, and with felis navidad, um, there's like, because of course that's only instrumental, but in the like the, the, I did check or I actually still. I mean, I remember the whole song from memory because it definitely has been like around here since I was a kid. Yes, yeah, there's. One small Easter egg moment is when you do the like heart tail is the same moment when in the song, I think it's like the lyrics go like from the bottom of my heart and you do the heart at the same time.

MJ:

I love that those are real. It's like it writes itself. Like you said earlier, said earlier you know if the lyrics are telling you something and you can create that in the movement. Um, you have to kind of like, do everything you can to get that in there.

Lauri:

Um, you do that very well um, yeah also go ahead yeah, and whenever someone notices those small details, it makes me very happy.

MJ:

I can imagine, I think, noticing those small details and saying something about it in a post. And if you guys are lurking and see, you're probably like yes, they get it, they get me, they understand.

Lauri:

Yeah, you're probably like yes, they get it, they get me, they understand. Yeah, um, oh yeah, oh no, I lost my train of thought I want to talk about carol of the bells from that workout.

MJ:

I love felice navidad and I love carol of the bells. That really good. What's funny is that song, for most Americans, is going to remind them of Home Alone.

Lauri:

Oh yeah.

MJ:

The movie Home Alone because that song was featured in there. Well for me. I was playing it yesterday with Julia and I was like why do I feel like I was just transported to Hogwarts or something while we were playing it and she's like Marla, it's home alone, it's not Hogwarts, and I'm like I don't know. This is how I feel in this moment, and the environment is in Russia, a place that I love. That location it's on ice, it's like beautiful pink and purple colors.

Lauri:

I had a lot of fun during that one and you have a lot of movement with the two-step triangles, yeah, and I I mean like the movie composer is the like same for home alone and harry potter.

MJ:

So of course that I think there's some like no wonder, crossover you can get why I thought that yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, well, thank you for the validation, because julia was like harley, you're crazy, it's not hogwarts, we're not, we're not in harry potter, it's home alone uh, yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't.

Lauri:

Man, I actually didn't replay that map part. I took quite a bit. When I started doing that work or creating that workout, I checked the Murray workout that I had done previously, like the Let it Flow. Let it Flow, let it Flow was the title. Yes, and I took some of those moves, definitely got transferred over the ice skating tails back and forth. Those were like, yeah, this is a great fit, but yeah, I mean the whole workout was really great fun. I have a lot of like great memories with Christmas and like like with December, like the whole, like with winter time in general. So I I'm usually always more than happy to like take those kind of like themed workouts. Yeah, like take those kind of like themed workouts.

Lauri:

Yeah, You're all about the Christmas holiday, winter wonderland themed ones, which is which is cool, yeah, and with the um, um, um, the um, actually the Murray Mary workout. It was pretty funny because, um, those it has, like the, it has all of the classic Christmas songs. Most of them I recognized immediately, but I was more familiar with the Finnish versions of those songs. So it was fun Like oh yeah, oh man, what's the wrong song?

MJ:

And so you're mapping for the English, the american version of the christmas songs yeah, and because I I remember all of the like finnish version.

Lauri:

It's fun to like compare the lyrics.

MJ:

I'm like, yeah, these like matches and some of them like definitely have taken some like creative liberties yeah, I was gonna say that the translation, you know, were they um word for word pretty accurate or were some like completely different?

Lauri:

yeah, some some had like different new fun, like um, yeah, it was the frosty, frosty, the snowman. Okay. That's definitely fun and that's in Finnish. That's like well, they're in the like course. It's a frosty, the snowman, and in Finnish it's hey Kura part, and which is basically hei means hello, and kuureparta is like the name of the character. Okay. That like translate to like I don't know what kuure would mean, but it basically parties beard like frosty beard maybe, oh, okay, Okay.

MJ:

Interesting. It would be cool if there was a huge difference in the lyrics. But instead of mapping to the English lyric, you map to the english lyric, you map to the finnish lyric and we would be over here like it would be a super hidden easter egg, you would add in yeah because you would have to know the difference.

Lauri:

You know yeah and I think that would be like really deep, like it would be this next level for the super obsessed, like next year or this year, 2025.

MJ:

And if you get a holiday workout, we're going to be all super, examining it to see, like, okay, so he has this, going right and hitting it up here. So what does that mean in Finnish? Like what's the spirit mean? Let's see. Yeah. That'd be funny.

Lauri:

Now I'm just thinking about the Murrayray workout, like in like sleigh ride, that that also was so fun because you had those like horse, like riding moments, like it, giddy up, giddy up, then like okay, yeah this also again writes itself, then you have to do like the kiddos like horse movement yeah yeah, and in the end where uh like the singer is like calming the horse down, then you do some like flag turns, like you're that like uh over excited horse that has to calm down.

MJ:

Then yeah, that's smart. Yeah, that's smart merry workout. I'm gonna have to revisit that merry workout because, well, I, I did play it last week, but I hadn't played it since the day it came out originally, and I usually replay workouts often, um, but I'm weird. I'm like is it March, april? I can't listen to Christmas music.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's so weird at this time of year to think about Christmas or Christmas songs With the Christmas workouts. Of course we have to do them like two, three months in advance, and even then it feels like really weird, like I'm not like ready for christmas, just just like right just yet and you're already super immersed when you're in the headset and then, for some strange reason, it's like brainwashing you into thinking is it christmas time?

MJ:

like iwashing you into thinking is it christmas time like I always leave the workout. Thinking it's christmas time, I'm gonna get out the headset.

MJ:

It's gonna be dark out, my tree's gonna be out, like I had to come back to reality, you know yeah oh man yeah I'm found out recently, just the other that one of my all-time favorite medium flow maps belongs to you, and I think I screamed when I realized it. Chris is like why are you screaming? And I went to one of my best friends who knows that I play this song in this workout all the time. I was like I found him. I found him and they're like what are you talking about? I found who mapped my song. It is Medium Flow, swedish House Mafia Artist Series. It was one of the first artist series that came out.

Lauri:

Oh yeah.

MJ:

With Coach Rainier, and the very very first song is Heaven Takes you Home.

Lauri:

Heaven Takes you Home, yeah.

MJ:

It was when that workout came out. It was one of the first maps that got my attention in a more like examining the movements, not just enjoying the flow and the movements and playing, but like really paying attention to choreography. Okay, so this is sort of started my love affair and my obsession and why. Now I have a podcast that wants to talk about it. So that's kind of how important this song and map was for me. Also the song itself. I loved the song. Yeah, it resonated with me. It's a great song yeah.

MJ:

You know there's magic in pain, there's magic in going through and caring, you know being there for someone and you can relate so many life situations to the lyrics in this song. I would go in and play that first song and then leave and go back in and play this first song. I used it to help emotionally regulate myself. So when I was having a really bad day or I was dealing with something really heavy and I would get in the headset and process those emotions by playing this map. So this song and map is a huge deal in my life. It is in my heart forever and when I found out it was yours I was like we got to talk about it.

Lauri:

Yeah. Yeah, I still remember some details about when I got that song. I think now that I did a revisit for that map. Oh sorry, like back then, I remember that I wasn't tested sidestep pattern that repeats a lot.

MJ:

Yes.

Lauri:

And I remember that back then I wasn't really happy how that turned out. I don't, I actually don't remember, but I do remember that I wasn't happy with it, okay. But I was like, okay, this is like good enough, right, let's just go. But now that I replayed, what was I on about? Like this is fun. Yes, I own about like this is this is fun. And also, interestingly, I actually stayed like the movement stays surprisingly a lot on the like main beat, I found out, but I think it was actually a pretty good decision. But like there's a lot of like syncopation that you could play around, but you definitely get locked into the flow that way so I think the way you mapped it and what I like about it is it leaves room it it.

MJ:

You can and this is a me thing I can add my own additional movements. I can go forwards, I go backwards, which is something that you guys can't map. You can't map that form of movement because you can't visually translate that to the user, right? So it's something I add in on my own, and why I really love medium flow the most, because it's something I have time to do. So that two-step pattern is so fun, it's so fun, it's good. Dude. Past Lowry, you were wrong is really good Sorry.

MJ:

It's really great. I agree. You're like, oh, I get it, now I get it.

Lauri:

And I also remember that it was originally. The song was going to be cut down. The outro wasn't going to be there.

MJ:

No.

Lauri:

But when I found out, when I went to the editor, I was like, why, why does it like fade out right here? Like there's still like some of the song left? And I went to our like teams like I was like, hey, can I, can we like can I get this like song in, like the full version, like please, like I want to do the long outro tales? I had like a really great idea for that. And of course, the ending lyrics with uh, she sings like oh, the colors fade to gray. I was like, oh yeah, this is the like the gray joy ball moment here yes, it was perfect and it's just, it's the finishing, the emotion, the expression.

MJ:

You have to finish it. So I'm so glad you went to bat for the song and for the experience to have that there, because it would not be the same, because you have those long, flowy tails and you can be expressive, and it closes the song out, it closes the experience, um, perfectly yeah, it was.

Lauri:

Was it that in 2021?

MJ:

it what I'm? I have it right here and I'll scroll down and look. I want to say it was 2021, 2022 it was 2022 okay, okay, um september of 2022. Yeah, the whole workout's good. I know there were multiple choreographers on this workout. Um lifetime, which is the third song, is a justin map. It was intense for the time period. It was advanced for the time period. I loved it.

Lauri:

I love it um I think yeah, the second song, I think it's Asus as well.

MJ:

Moth to a Flame is so good. I mean the whole workout is fantastic, but for me it's the first song Like. I partial this workout all the time, just to play the first song, man, it is so, so good. It's an experience, and you are really good with giving us experiences that match the music. And that's going to lead me straight to this next medium flow. I know I'm staying in medium flow land.

Lauri:

Yeah, that's also where I usually live.

MJ:

Okay, good, okay, and this is an experience too, and it is from the power workout full body chills with Leanne from September of 2022. So it's the same month and year.

Lauri:

Oh, that was in 2022 as well.

MJ:

Yes.

Lauri:

Yes, oh, I misremember, because I was like, oh, that's 2021. No, that's 2021. No, that's 2023.

MJ:

You're a year off now, yeah, but the third song, politic, by Coldplay, that is a full-on experience. That is a full-on experience, oh man.

Lauri:

Yeah, that's the song that I still think the most about. Really Still yeah, it's like oh man, I wasn't familiar with the song beforehand. Okay, yeah, I had no like. Of course, I knew Coldplay, of course, but that song I hadn't heard before, right. But that song I hadn't heard before Right. And the first impression when I was listening to it was like, oh, this might be a challenge to map. You start with that barrage of just powerful guitar and drums and then it goes into that very, very spacey flow like feeling yes and I really, really, really wish I still had like one of the like early drafts.

Lauri:

But I don't have the like that saved anymore because I it was going to be very different in like in the beginning, like without really any of any of those really long tails. But then I I was like, nah, this isn't really working, let me just start over, and I hadn't really done any a lot of work at that point, so I didn't save that. But now I wish that I did so I didn't save that.

Lauri:

But now I wish that I did because I really would like to Compare it. Yeah, compare it because it was going to be so different. And but, yeah, then I just went with the really like long tails and those tails are I did some tail work that are still only in that map. And those tails are I did some tail work that still only in that map. Yes, yeah, because they didn't. They don't really fit like anywhere else. It was very custom made just for, like that experience. And um, back, like and back. Then I think I was really starting.

Lauri:

It started with OG, best meditation for sure. At that point our guidelines were starting to be a bit more relaxed, so, like you could put like tails through the triangles because, like before, we had like kind of a rule that you should think the triangles are like lasers, that your hand can't go through. But when that started to like change, they was like okay, let's try something with this. And then it's just like. I think the politic is where I just went like full, just full, creative, like let's just see what's happened.

Lauri:

Yeah, I think the first, really the first like song that had those like really extra long tails, like purposeful extra long tails, was fix you, I think. I'm not, I'm not sure, yeah, but that, yeah, that was benny's and uh, that also like if, if I remember like the dates, like right it it, like that has, that was also a huge point of inspiration.

MJ:

So you took a Benny map for inspiration to create big, huge tales and movements for politics.

MJ:

Also the complexity is advanced in comparison to some other mediums. In comparison to some other mediums, you know, because the way the angles and the targets have you moving at that time, that was really advanced for a medium. It stood out. That map stands out in that workout. Still, it stands the test of time. I don't say that a lot about a lot of older maps. It stands the test of time. I don't say that a lot about a lot of older maps, but sometimes you come across some and you're just like that is still as good as the day it came out, even though you guys have evolved and created way better workouts. This map is perfect. It would still be as good 10 years from now.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, it would still be as good 10 years from now. Yeah, yeah, it's pretty fun because with some of the replays that I have done, I have like, while I'm playing I'm thinking like, okay, what sections I would do differently now? And there would be like sums, those extra long tails. No, that's still like no touching there. But there's like that, like I don't remember the lyrics like precisely, but something like mention of love, I think, or in in that, like one, one of the like sections. Then now I would, of course, use the heart.

Lauri:

But, but I mean those that moment has like a lot of like, cross um crosses and that works perfectly fine as well, because those are like. Those are like, those are like hugs you're hugging us. You're hugging us, yes I, I love, love to do like, like virtual, like hug moment. Anytime. There's like a moment in the lyrics where it's something like uh, rapping, I'm wrapping myself, or something like that. Then there I was like, yep, this needs to be a hug.

MJ:

Yes, I love that. So another thing that makes this workout or this particular map politics so good is you can tell Coach Leanne is feeling the map, feeling the song. It's one of her best coaching moments. I encourage anyone listening. If you use focus mode, please don't focus mode Leanne for this song, because it is a therapy session. It's an experience to hear her to do the movements. Everything combined perfectly and that's why it's so good guys, it is so and it's on the moon, it's on the moon yeah the environment so good.

MJ:

So if this came up again, like politic has never been up in another workout, I've never seen it.

Lauri:

I've searched it um yeah, at some point I think it was going to be in a low workout, but I don't think that workout ever released.

MJ:

I don't know how I feel about that in a low.

Lauri:

Yeah, I don't know I mean, that was years ago, Okay, but I remember that I saw like I was checking the upcoming workouts and I saw that. Okay.

MJ:

Interesting, so would you take it? I don't, if it came up, would you be like I would like that please for like an opportunity, yeah yeah, but oh, man, it would be.

Lauri:

It would be a challenge, like even like high would be also a challenge, I think, like medium is like so perfect for that song, I agree. I I don't know that I would want to see it in low or high um yeah, no, because for high you would have to like maybe break that like really like zen flow a bit. Yes, because you you need to have some kind of like extra moment for that high intensity yeah.

MJ:

And it would just break the flow of it, the gracefulness of it, the beauty of it. I mean high maps can be beautiful as well, don't get me wrong. But for that song, medium is where the mapping lives and will forever live in my brain. It's just so good. Did you have any other songs on that workout? Full Body Chills.

Lauri:

From the top of my head, I think it has. Florence and the Machine yes Song.

MJ:

Drumming song. Drumming song, yeah.

Lauri:

That's also.

MJ:

Yours.

Lauri:

That's also mine, that's actually from what I remember. That was actually pretty challenging song, like I love Florence and the Machine and I love that song and like the whole album from which that song come from. But yeah, yeah, that song was a challenge. I don't remember like much about it other than that, but I think the rhythm was like it's so fun to listen to.

MJ:

Yeah, not to map to was actually pretty like surprising.

Lauri:

When I started to work on it, I was like, oh okay, hold on, I have, I have to really use my ear with this.

MJ:

Does that happen often, where you enjoy a song so much out of the headset and you think, oh, this will be easy to map, I'll just get in there.

Lauri:

And then you get in there and you're like, oh wow, hold on, this is not easy no, not often okay, but sometimes and then it's like, oh man, I was really looking forward to this, but it looks like this is going to be like um, a bit more like work yeah than like, than like fun yeah, I get that.

MJ:

So we're talking. I'm going to stay on the whole experience thing because I'm starting to see a trend for you. What you excel at really, really well is taking what I would consider highly emotional music. All music is emotional, but like the songs, songs like take politic, for example. Take, you know, for me personally, the bass meditation, the rufus de sol, stuff that's very emotional. The lyrics are intense. Um, even swedish house mafia is that way for me. You know, heaven takes you home. So I want to talk about this came out. Uh, I believe it was 2024, the end of 2024, and it is another power workout. Wow, another power workout for you and it's a medium. Yeah, it came out in um october of 2024 with leanne and I freaked out the morning this came out. It had the Band of Horses on it, band of Horses, the Funeral. It was the first time we've had Band of Horses in Supernatural.

Lauri:

Are you a fan of that song? Yeah, actually it was Jess who messaged me about that workout. They were working with or she was working with Leanne on that concept that had some big emotional tracks. She thought that my style of mapping would be a good fit.

Lauri:

They were right. What were my thoughts about this? Also, she gave me a list of potential songs and I told her my favorites, yeah, and also the intensity wasn't locked down at that point. But I was like she was really unsure about making it as a high and I said like, yeah, medium is a safe bet here. And Band of Horses, that song I hadn't, or I wasn't familiar with it before, but I was like, oh, this is really like this song is cool.

Lauri:

It has good build to it yeah, that build, that build is so like any song that has that like that slowly just builds and builds. They take more time but it's also very satisfying to make.

MJ:

Yes, I think it's worth the time.

Lauri:

Yeah, if you really put attention to details, to that build of power and just like, maybe you use some of the like pattern from before but then you add some like additional targets and additional rhythm.

MJ:

Yes, and I love. First, it's got Coach Leanne in it again, and I'm seeing a trend here with you and Coach Leanne in these super flowy experience workouts. The funeral it was the last song. It is so good. It is so good, you guys. The mapping is incredible. It really lets you breathe and move and be flowy, but then have super fast movements in the drum sections. It's very good. But then have super fast movements in the drum sections. It's very good. There's also another song on here that is close to my heart. When I saw it I was excited. It's Sia Breathe Me, and you did so good on that too. It lends to your style.

Lauri:

Yeah, oh man, that song. There's that moment in the beginning which starts really calm and then ends with the extra long tails that wrap around and she sings like breathe me, and then there's just quiet and then you start turning and that moment that's also one of the moments that I was just replaying over and over. I was like, yes, this gives me chills every time. Yes, it's the same. So I just replayed that over and over. Okay, let's continue. I just replayed that over and over. Okay, let's continue.

MJ:

But it felt so great I was like yes, I was so excited.

Lauri:

That's a perfect response, because I had that same response when I played it for the first time. Yeah, and those kind of moments like letting just things go quiet and not doing any kind of moments. That there was like moment, like really in the beginning, where I got like it was feedback from Benny where he showed me like in that, whatever that song was, uh, I basically had done some like there was still some like quiet, like ambience or like some sort of like lyrics still going and I did, I still did some like moments to those and benny like gave me a suggestion like maybe if you drop these moves away and just let it breathe a bit and then when the music really comes back around in full force, then it that just that more extra powerful and basically that. That like that feedback. Feedback has like stuck with me since and I use that like teaching a lot yeah, that's, that's a good.

MJ:

I mean, I love that feedback and you can tell it has stayed with you and impacted the way that you make choices for your mapping. That workout is called Heart Wrench, which is perfect title for that workout, but the very first song is Coldplay Fix you, which is Benny's map.

Lauri:

Yeah, I think, yeah, that map, I think I.

MJ:

You reshuffled.

Lauri:

Yeah, that's reshuffled. That's an updated reshuffle it is. So I did go into that map and did some minor new stuff, just so that it would be more cohesive with the rest of the workout.

MJ:

I could feel it because I know that map, that original Benny map, fix you like muscle memory for me. I've played it so many times. So when I played this workout I knew right away I was like, oh, you've adjusted the angle over here to this target in this one. I knew right away and I recorded it to look at the gameplay and see exactly how you changed it. Recorded it to look at the gameplay and see exactly how you changed it. But the day that workout came out I went ahead and recorded my first play of Breathe you and Band of Horses right off the bat. It was 4.30 in the morning. I woke up Chris in the house because I was singing so loud and he's like Martha please why do you have to work out so early and wake me up I'm like morning.

MJ:

But um, both of those maps. And then went back and played them again because they were. They were that good. Um, so I was excited to hear that you were the one. I mean, I had a feeling just because of the tails and the way you allow room for breathing in those chill moments and then you come back super powerful with the movements. You're really good at that and I do pick up on that in your mapping. So I had assumed Breathe was yours. And then I kind of went back and forth about Band of Horses and Dave was like it's not mine. I was like it's Lowry's. Like it's it's lowry's, then if it's not day, if it's not his, then it's yours. I know it was yours. So that one was awesome too. Um, there is a workout on my list that I was surprised to hear was yours.

MJ:

Um, it's actually just one map, it's one song and it's disney hits. It's been in two workouts, it's been in the disney hits villains um and it's what's the other one?

Lauri:

yeah, it's the disney hits lion king. Yes, like all all of the lion king tracks yes, be prepared yes it's fun, it's fun, it's fun.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, that like that OG, like that villains workout, that that was. I think that was split between me and Benny and back then we went like we did some like collabs and we went back and forth in each other maps and gave feedback and also like added some like new ideas to those maps and then gave it back to see, like how the other one liked it. And um, yeah, um, then it returned in the disney hits lion king workout and that got further updated by me and now I actually found out that I, when I did a revisit that it was even further updated slightly more yeah, uh, it's in the intro I was was like, oh wow, this is really cool, but this is not something I would do.

MJ:

Right Something. Who updated it?

Lauri:

Then I looked around and it was JR.

MJ:

Ah, makes sense.

Lauri:

Yeah, I don't Makes sense. Yeah, I don't. Sometimes there might be some like new requests or resupples and that when you are not available, then it will go to some like other, like team member and yeah. So I don't know what was the like, the feedback or the thing that why it was changed, but it's definitely even more cool, I think.

MJ:

So it's like almost a real collaboration at that point on the third iteration of the song, because JR added a whole new section to it.

Lauri:

JR added a whole new section to it. Yeah, it was like pretty minor, but the intro definitely had more like tunnels and some lane changes. But then I think the rest is like the same, or at least I'm pretty sure, because when I play it like true, then I go yeah, this is all me. I know when I'm playing a map that it's done by me.

MJ:

Right, it's yours.

Lauri:

Yeah, but I mean Lion King, love the movie, of course.

Lauri:

Back when I did the OG map for the villains, I watched the music part of the movie of course a lot, even if I can remember it by heart, and, yeah, I took a lot of notes, and which basically like the same kind of process for any other kind of movies, like, for example, star Wars.

Lauri:

But, yeah, there's some moments in that map where there's like the hyena march section, yes, and in that point there's only straight up and down targets, only like no angles and side steps, like you are like marching back and forth, yeah. And then there's a moment where in the beginning, where, like the sky, I think in the movie, slams like the bone away from one of the hyenas and then at that point you have a flag turn back and forth. There's a bunch of those kind of small details that are just so fun to do, especially when you love the property, just so fun to do, especially, of course, when you love the like the property. Then it's like and for the like, the new lion king workout. I went back and it was fun to look back at the og map and see like, okay, I can make these like angles here a bit like more like also more pleasing to the eye and just more, more clean, yeah like even more easy to read, because at that point my lifestyle definitely had evolved a lot further.

MJ:

So so people can go in and play all three versions of this map, or have they been changed?

Lauri:

They can play the OG. Og is in the Villains workout. I could tell almost from right away okay, this is the OG map, because this has some angles that now really like caught my eye, like, oh, this you wouldn't do that now. No, I wouldn't do this now, but the updated version has the like the updated intro from JR, but I mean, it's basically the updated version that I did, just with even more updated intro. Cool.

MJ:

And Benny and you worked on the Lion King workout together.

Lauri:

No, the villains. The Lion King workout was, I think it had me, Benny, Ethan and JR. Oh wow, I think every song had like someone else.

MJ:

Each person had their own song. That's neat, yeah.

Lauri:

Because I mean basically not surprising that everyone really wanted to do get some of that Lion King.

MJ:

That's cool. So this leads me to. I want to talk about a high flow, and it is the Queen high flow artist series. Yes, yeah, now we're getting into high flow, but what's perfect about this is bohemian rhapsody was the first, at least to me known map where you're good yeah, the sun is really blind it's in your eyes. You're good, it will adjust. You can do what you need to to be comfortable yeah, yeah if you guys are watching on youtube, the sun is coming in now, if you're listening now you know why.

Lauri:

Oh, it's like it's no longer. Yeah, it's definitely moving around, also with the clouds, oh wow.

MJ:

So Bohemian Rhapsody was a true collaboration, at least the original map. I'm not knowing about this artist series. That's why I'm bringing it up. I want to ask the original map. There were three people who mapped one song which before was unheard of, one song which, yes, before was unheard of. To my knowledge, bohemian rhapsody and freebird are the only ones that are a song that had had multiple choreographers on yeah, that that had like this, distinct like sections.

MJ:

Yes, yeah so for the bohemian rhapsody in this Queen High Flow Artist Series, did you keep a lot of that collaboration or did you just redo it?

Lauri:

Yeah, because it was a high workout, so Benny had done the high level up of the medium so only by himself, and I don't remember if I did any reasonable updates to that, but it's basically still like the Benny's Okay, benny's Level Up Got it, I think, if I remember correctly.

MJ:

Bohemian Rhapsody in that workout is probably still Benny's original Level Up of the collab. Cool. What about the rest of the songs in the Queen workout?

Lauri:

There's a one. What's the song We've got?

MJ:

Bicycle Race Seven Seas of. Rye.

Lauri:

Rye yeah.

MJ:

Under Pressure, which is like my favorite Queen song ever. Don't Stop Me Now. Those are all the songs.

Lauri:

Yeah, don't Stop Me Now. That was Dave High and I did some reasonable updates to that Just to again match the rest of the workout style that, just to again to match the like the rest of the workout. Yeah, style, um, and under pressure, that that was. Uh, I think that was a high map that I had done before and I, of course, updated that maybe a bit more because I was like, oh, there's so many new ideas. I went to do some new edits but yeah, and Bicycle Race and Seven Seas of Rite, those were totally new.

MJ:

And I played this yesterday. This was my last workout of my session yesterday. I was dead by the time I got to uh under pressure and it was uh, it was very fast. So it was I mean the song lends to it to be very fast but I felt like it was a high plus in some areas. Um, but you had some really fun sections that forced me to be a little bit quicker on coming back around to hit targets and I enjoyed. I enjoyed that challenge. Um, also, I know this workout is huge for the community. This is like a fan favorite workout.

MJ:

Obviously, it's queen every you know um but uh, lots of people still talk about this workout. I know lots of people play it. I see posts about it all the time.

Lauri:

Yeah, so some of the like the posts like well, I don't. I don't look that often in the community anymore, I don't know. It's just kind of. I like to stay away from social media. But whenever I see a really nice post, I do have a Bookmark folder in my browser that I do add some or I save some of those posts and that works really as a nice mood booster when you're having a bad day. Yeah, yeah, it's, those are really like lovely to read yeah they are.

MJ:

They are very nice. I've done a lot of deep diving where I search the community for certain keywords like choreographers or choreography, things like that, and um, I'll screenshot them. And um, before the podcast, before I knew all of you, I would do that and then like collage them all to be like here's supernatural. See, all these people want to know who the choreographers are. Here I've've got I've got a 352 comments of people requesting more information about the choreographers or saying nice things about the choreography team. Can we get more info? And it started with like emails, so I can totally understand why you would save those for yourself. Because, um, it's, it's validating and reassuring and it's like if you're struggling on your own work to create a map, it's like, oh, I'm not good at this, I'm not gonna do. You know you could read those and people love your work. You know I get that yeah, I mean sometimes.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean sometimes. It's crazy to think about just how many at least are playing and having fun with the work that I have done.

MJ:

Yes, we have fun.

Lauri:

And just get more fit and just yes, we get healthy we move it's good for our minds.

MJ:

Um, you change lives, man, in a fun way. In a fun way, you know, it's not like we're doing work, you know. That's why I love supernatural, because I'm yeah taken outside of. This is work. This is exercise. This sucks. I don't want to do this. Let me get back on my couch, you know um yeah, it's just fun.

Lauri:

Yeah, it's like the moment like you don't even like notice that you are basically working out.

MJ:

It's like yes, and that was the. I mean, the first real time that that really clicked for me was when I discovered the og base meditation. That was the workout that really cemented like I'm going to be a lifetime supernatural. This is huge because I work so hard that that song there's like a five minute song in there. It's a Rufus DeSoul song, of course.

Lauri:

Yeah.

MJ:

And Leanne talks about how meditation is can be very difficult to clear your mind. You know, and people think, assume meditation has to be this one thing and it doesn't have to be. You can feel the feelings, you can be frustrated, Just like this long song. This is going to be hard, it's going to be endurance, but guess what we're going to make it through. And it really changed my point of view of exercise. That workout did for me. And now I just get in there and it's like two hours have passed and I had to force myself out because I'm like, oh gosh, I need to get out. I've been in here two hours, Um, but yeah, that that one. I. I absolutely love the queen. That was really, really fun. And another high workout that I think is super fun of yours, which I guessed was yours I think I sent you a message the first time I played.

Lauri:

I was like dude, is this yours?

MJ:

Because I looked at the playlist and I thought you know Justin would like this. It has Avenged sevenfold on it. But then I saw Muse and I was like hmm, let me play it, let me see you know it is a high flow with Coach Mark Rockhard from 2024. It's called Mixed Up Muses and that workout is so good. That whole one is yours right.

Lauri:

Yeah.

MJ:

Okay.

Lauri:

Yeah, and that's the one with the knee strikes right.

MJ:

Does it have knee strikes? Yeah, I, that's the one with the knee strikes, right. Does it have knee strikes?

Lauri:

Yeah, I think it does, Because, yeah, it for sure does it, does You're right? Because the placement?

MJ:

yeah, yeah, you're right, I'm like does it have knee strikes? I wish the card in the app said it had knee strikes.

Lauri:

You can only kind of see that in the headset unless it's actually written in the description.

MJ:

That's why I read the description, because I find all sorts of information in there. But the first song, the Alter Bridge song, is so good, so good. Metalingus, I love that one.

Lauri:

Man, I'm trying to remember, and then Shepherd of Fire from Avenged Sevenfold.

MJ:

It's got Hysteria from Muse.

Lauri:

Muse.

MJ:

And the only thing, it's got a Metallica song in it. I don't like Metallica. I'm not a fan of Metallica. This is the only bad part about this workout. Okay, has a Metallica If Darkness had a Sun. And then we end with another Muse song, nights of Cydonia, which Cydonia.

Lauri:

Yeah, man, With that song I do have some. Tell us Fun memories because that was a level up from my medium that I had done song. I do have some like fun memories because that was a level up from my medium that.

Lauri:

I had done, probably for the artist series, maybe, probably, yeah, and the medium was already like really like medium plus, maybe even high minus. So when I got to that song I was like, hmm, how do I keep this like high and not like go any like pros, pros, only levels, uh. But yeah, especially like the end and like 360 turn, turn button. That was like at first like, oh, I heard all of the like guitar riffs here, but I don't. There's no way I can hit all of those and get this like keep it like high level. So it was interesting to level up for sure, but I mean that that song it's again like that's the like the type of song that has that long journey and just so many like different like levels of power that's so fun to play around with.

MJ:

Yeah, you can add so much different stuff.

Lauri:

Yeah, of course it helps, because I love the song and the band.

MJ:

Also. You are really good. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for turning us so much. You always use all the portals, all the lanes you spin us around. I noticed that during my research. It's my favorite thing. I love portals, I love to be turned. I say front facing sex, the joy out of life. That's me, that's my personal preference and style. So I see you turning us and I appreciate it. I wanted to say that. But in that song, man, it is the best section in the turning sections and it's a little. It's got a little bit of complexity and it's so fun and there's crossovers. It's good, Good time.

Lauri:

Yeah, Um, again like going back to the like, the like, the beginning, the beginning of my career, I could say.

Lauri:

Back then I really had actually difficulties coming up with the turning section, so even changing lanes, really at all I would say but now it's like if I notice that I'm staying too much on the front lane, I'm like, okay, no, then it's to be some like new edits to this. But then it's like it's really now it's really easy to just find like the moments that make sense, like, okay, you will turn here and then again here and here. And um, yeah, now I'm just like lane turns all the way, yes, even in, even in low, yes I agree.

MJ:

I low users, in my opinion, low users that's the time to start them getting used to changing lanes and it's slow enough. And, uh, get them adapted for medium and then hopefully for medium to to, to high, you know.

MJ:

I started my journey on lows. I was only played lows for eight months Like I could not physically play anything more than that Um. But then when I got into medium and saw all the turn, I mean I, I just could never go back now. You know, um, that's so much fun and low users, I believe they can do the turns, man, yeah yeah I mean you have to start from.

MJ:

Somewhere exactly, exactly, and it's funny that you mentioned at the beginning of your career. Um, it was difficult for you to figure out how to put that in there, because I always ask you guys, how do you feel your? The evolution of your mapping style has changed and you've really pointed out some interesting things like turns. You've gotten a lot better and comfortable about turns um. You mentioned something earlier about benny giving you feedback, about letting things just breathe with the music for a minute. What else do you think has changed your angles?

Lauri:

angles, yeah for sure. Yeah, um, and actually not also finding like or realizing when not to like overuse tales, because I think at some point uh, I don't remember exactly when, but there's like maybe a few few maps or like a few moments where I really was like, okay, tails and tails here and tails here, tails everywhere, because I think I was just getting more exciting, excited with the tail use. But now I'm like like, does it make sense really to use it on a really quick drum roll? Or just finding more of those nice moments. Of course I am probably the one that uses tails the most, yes, but yeah, just finding the right balance. And yeah, and those in the early days, as I think I mentioned, like I was doing a lot like up down movement and not much like going anywhere else.

Lauri:

That has like evolved, so so so much, 100% it definitely has.

MJ:

I picked up on that during my research. When I played some of your older maps versus the newer ones, there was a significant difference. Um, so I would say, yeah, you definitely evolved and changed. You've had a lot of growth in your career so far, and is there anything that you're super focused on this year, or an idea? You you know something you're excited about? I kind of put you on the spot. I didn't, I didn't prep you for that.

MJ:

But I know for Asia. When I asked her, she wanted to start incorporating more dance and more new movements. I know that was her focus, so I'm wondering if you have one this year well, I mean, uh.

Lauri:

Well, if nothing else, my focus will of course stay on the tails, yes, and just just finding like doing like new, like unique tails, like tails that you haven't seen before oh, that's exciting.

MJ:

I love that you answer tales because you are the tail master dude, like you really are. Um, even the other choreographers mention that on their episodes when they come on that, um, you know you have the best tail work and they, they can't wait to see new tails from you and so they can steal it and repurpose it and use it. Um, that, you're just the best at that. So, yeah, I'm, I'm, I can't wait to see what you come up with man yeah, it's.

Lauri:

It's also interesting to think about. It just kind of happened like I don't know. Yeah, it's probably just like the type of movement that I love to do. It just goes into like very flowy territory, so that of course, brings in the tails.

MJ:

Yes, it does. And see, I was thinking about Beat Saber, and back then they had no tails. Now there are some tails in Beat Saber.

Lauri:

Yeah, it's crazy Sometimes. I haven't played Beat Saber in a long time, but I have seen some of the updates. I'm like, oh wow, this looks so different.

MJ:

It is. I play it on occasion. Sometimes my friends and I will meet up on like a Thursday night and we'll play Beat Saber together in a party. It's fun, we'll all play the same maps. I am not good at Beat Saber in the way that I am good at Supernatural and that surprises a lot of people. Like I'm always at the bottom, I'm always third place I never. But I have fun, I enjoy myself, um, but their tales are interesting and I always think, oh man, this would be cool to see you in super. You know, anyway shouldn't say that.

MJ:

But I could see how doing something different but similar would be cool and supernatural, but their tales are not like your tales, friend. They are not. Your tales are unique.

Lauri:

The experience of supernatural is unique and, uh, they're lucky to have you for serious I mean, if, if I like, could go like maybe, like even just like a few, like six years, like back to the like, to my like school days, and tell me like, tell myself like, yeah, this is going to be like future, like job for like the who knows how long I was I, I don't know how I would react I would probably like tell myself, like are you and this all like came up from just because I had that like fun hobby that I did.

Lauri:

So that's basically like yeah, like I would say like to everyone. Just like, keep doing the things that you love and sometimes like something crazy will happen.

MJ:

Yeah, opportunities happen because you're doing what you love and you're passionate about it, and others recognize that that's great advice. Do what you love, never know. Yeah.

Lauri:

Never know.

MJ:

Yeah. So I got to ask you if you could switch jobs with anyone in Supernatural, like go off and be a curator for a day, whatever engineering, be the person who makes Joy Balls, because we need more Joy. Balls Just saying Whose job would you go get, whose job would you go trade with?

Lauri:

Somewhere like mine first went into like the programming, like the main app stuff that goes into that um or like be like someone I don't, I don't know what the title would be like someone who, that would be pretty high up.

MJ:

That someone can, that can make like some like feature, like decisions, like what comes in then and like the product team I would think in that department come up with new features. You got any new feature? Ideas. You'd wanna add all sorts of stuff, I would imagine.

Lauri:

Yeah, and like the one that comes to mind, it's really not feasible at all, like it's not even I think possible with the just a quest headset. But that's just because I I love using like, like my personal vr. Like system is like a really Like my personal VR system is like a really weird mix of a Quest Pro and a Steam VR trackers that I put around my body, so it's like a hybrid.

Lauri:

You've created some sort of VR hybrid system of your two. Yeah, there's like a tool that you can use to combine them and yeah, but that that like uses for that kind of system I basically use for vhs. So you have like the quest pro for like eye and face tracking and then like the three trackers around, like one of is around your waist and the two are around your foot, so something like that that follows your whole body, like doing doing something that for supernatural that would be really cool, and I would imagine it would also when you trade back to your choreography job after you've created this feature over here.

MJ:

Um yeah you could map, knowing that it's tracking the whole body yeah that opens up.

Lauri:

So many possibilities, yeah, yeah, and also would just need to also like bring into the market like the system for that kind of tracking. But it's not a but. I can dream right exactly.

MJ:

Is it not feasible, something that would could happen right now in the state of the technology? But thinking in the future, yeah, in the like far future far away future.

Lauri:

But I mean looking back back at the state of vr like um 10 years ago, and now it's it's so, so, so different. Yes, yeah, it has advanced in so many ways that I hadn't really thought about back then.

MJ:

That's pretty neat. I like that. You want to go either into the programming area because no one has said that yet, so you're the first to say that or in the features. I think that's pretty neat too.

Lauri:

Yeah, the programming I actually, well, I haven't done any like. I have done, of course, a little bit scripting for like with the Linux stuff, but it's not my favorite thing to do. It's not my favorite thing to do. But also I was thinking like if I could like get some like knowledge into my brain as I transfer to that like job, even like for a while, then programming for sure I haven't or I'm not haven't been really good at like maths.

MJ:

Like it just hurts my brain, me too.

Lauri:

But there's still part of me that thinks like programming is really cool.

MJ:

Yeah, I like it. I like that answer. So have you ever, have you, been to the United States and come to see Supernatural oh yeah, oh man.

Lauri:

That's the whole thing. The first visit to the USA that I did was in 2022. Okay 2022. Okay, yeah, that was in summer of 2020. And that was like two years after doing this full time and I mean what an experience it was to like finally meet everyone face to face.

MJ:

And see the studio and see where everyone works and all that.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

MJ:

That's neat.

Lauri:

Oh man, and yeah I mean like's neat. Oh man, and yeah, I mean like after that I have done like one to two visits per year. Okay. And I have stayed in, like the California Los Angeles area only, but who knows, maybe in the future I will visit some other like state.

MJ:

Yeah, I was going to say is there a state that you want to visit? Is there someplace else in the US that is? It's like oh, I want to go there.

Lauri:

Oh right somewhere like oh man, somewhere like where would that be like in, like some like really big, like nature, like reserve? Like a national forest or national parks, yeah we got the Grand Canyon yeah, grand Canyon, or like the. What's the like the with the really insane, like what's the tree? The with the really insane, like what? What's the tree name? Oh, oh the old, old.

MJ:

Oh, I'm having a brain fart yeah um that's in the north, northwest, the big trees oh yeah, the big trees google big trees, united states. What help? Help us out, friends. What kind of trees?

Lauri:

They're not oak trees. That's the red sun?

MJ:

I think so. People are yelling at us. As they're listening, they're telling us exactly what tree it is.

Lauri:

How you don't know this.

MJ:

Isn't it the redwood tree, redwood tree, that I? Think it might be yeah, and they're hundreds of years old.

Lauri:

Yeah, yeah.

MJ:

I would like to see that too.

Lauri:

But yeah, I mean love nature and like all of like nation, like parks and those kind of places are really like my jam and like here, here I live like it's basically just bunch of forest everywhere. So that's nice love love, love, love going to the like forest, forest folk, and I will say in, like when I first, like I still get this experience, I think every time I have visited Los Angeles, but like the first time I was like man.

Lauri:

It was so crazy, like uh, especially like looking like uh down from the plane as we were landing, like whoa, there's so much so much building so much like just endless amount of into the horizon, just like even the, like the six lanes of like endless, like car yes, the highways, the interstates highways, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's crazy yeah, I will say that, like it felt very, I would say if that's one word to describe it felt very grand. Interesting.

Lauri:

Like, for example, like in Finland, like this city I live, Jyväskylä, very easy to pronounce is like a city of like 150,000 people, Okay, a city of like 150 000 people, okay, and that's like pretty, like sizable city in like finland standards and like the population is like five million. So, like that, put that to the perspective and like even seeing like some of the like the buildings that I saw in the los angeles like I have never seen like buildings this tall and big and like the whole like layout, like also, like I think they are called like strip malls.

Lauri:

Yes, yeah, that's not a thing here yeah. Yeah, and like there's like just endless amount of shops everywhere you go, like wow. It's like why it's probably surreal you have a lot of options. Yeah, it was, and yeah, love to visit, but I will say that I'm not really a city person. Like even in here, I wouldn't like living in. Like a city person, even in here, I wouldn't like living in a city area, and definitely in LA. I would say it's way too hectic, yes, and just noisy for my living taste.

MJ:

I get that.

Lauri:

Really great to visit.

MJ:

Yes, I think everywhere is great to visit Something redeemable in every place, but where you choose to feel at home and have that serenity as a home should have. I'm with you on the nature, farther out from cities. That's how I also prefer, but I like visiting lots of cities and places for a little while. Yeah, but I like visiting lots of cities and places for a little while.

Lauri:

Yeah, I will say one of the, of course, the downsides of visiting LA is the time difference. Oh yeah, because yeah. And also, of course, the plane flight, if it's a direct flight, which is basically required because otherwise it's insane, oh gosh, basically required, because otherwise it's insane, the direct flight from the main capital of helsinki to la takes 11 hours so you will stay in the plane for 11 hours and then, when you get to LA, the time difference is 10 hours. It goes, I think, backwards.

MJ:

Wow, it's hard to adjust to that.

Lauri:

So yeah, then, like the evening is like 4 am and when your brain is still in the like previous time zone, it does.

MJ:

Something weird to you, yeah the feeling is very weird.

Lauri:

Yes, for sure, like the first visit, has been the longest and that was like a bit over a week, and back then I had just started to get in like accustomed to the like LA time and then I flew back and was like, oh, not this again.

MJ:

And then you have to adjust once you get home.

Lauri:

Oh yeah, and it's a bit like the visits after have been shorter, which is, in a way, it's a bit crazy to think about. Like some of the visits, I have stayed only for like two days. Wow yeah. Only for like a particular like event Got it. Like a particular event, got it Like collab between coaches and just planning a lot of cool little things.

MJ:

Yeah, yeah, but an 11-hour flight here and back for two days? That would be an adjustment for sure. You're drinking a lot of caffeine, I'm assuming. Are you a coffee person? Do you drink coffee?

Lauri:

No, oh, I actually don caffeine, I'm assuming.

MJ:

Are you a coffee?

MJ & Lauri :

person. Do you drink coffee? No, oh, I actually don't. I'm fascinated, really.

Lauri:

But I do drink tea.

MJ:

What kind of tea? What is your Finnish tea that you drink? I probably have no idea what it is and I'll try and figure it out. Finnish tea that you drink.

Lauri:

I probably have no idea what it is and I'll try and figure it out. I don't really have any default tea that I go to Black tea. Black tea and green tea Got it. This has been a few years but it was pretty like fun flavor. It was like blueberry pie and something else. Yeah, that was a fun flavor.

MJ:

Yeah. But sometimes just plain green tea is like the are good well you know, asia's a big tea drinker, so the next time you go visit you should be like take me to your tea place yes she loves tea. Um, I'm also a tea drinker and a coffee. I'm just a fan of hot beverages for some reason. Jens Nielsen.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean last time I tried coffee it's really a long time ago. So I think the time will come at some point in my 30s probably, when I will like… Lila Leone, be ready for it, jens. Nielsen, be ready for coffee, but… Lila Leone, not yet, yet. Not yet, you're holding out, not got it.

MJ:

So I ask everyone who comes on the show this is like a thing that my friends and I started, where we decided to each pick an emoji an animal emoji to be specific to you as as like a hug or a care reaction to messages, because sometimes you know your friends, like I, had the worst day. This is dumb blah, blah, blah. Life sucks and you don't want to heart it. You don't want to send a thumbs up because, like that's mixed messages, right. You want to give them a hug like I hear you here, hug. Yeah, yeah, yeah, so we picked animals.

MJ:

I used a flamingo, it's just my thing. What would your animal be?

Lauri:

Like mythical creatures a lot.

MJ:

Do you? Okay, you're into them.

Lauri:

Yeah.

MJ:

So like.

Lauri:

I mean a dragon, yes, yeah, you're into them. Yeah, so like I mean a dragon, yes, yes, because, especially because if you think about like like wing hug.

MJ:

You're my new favorite. You're my new favorite. You picked a dragon. I've been waiting for someone to claim a dragon and your reasoning behind the dragon is perfect and makes so much sense. And when they're flying, they're super graceful too.

Lauri:

Yes.

MJ:

Oh, this is perfect, and also use these emojis. When I do one of your workouts and it's your full workout in the companion app on my journey, I will add your emoji to it. And so if people look at my journey and they see a dragon, they'll know oh, that's Lowry's workout. So it's like my own little puzzle system of you. Guys aren't featured on the workout like the coaches are. I understand why it doesn't say Lowry Mathis, but this is my way of doing that. So if you guys see a dragon, now you know.

Lauri:

Love that Awesome.

MJ:

All right, workout suggestion of the week.

Lauri:

your turn, what you got okay, um for flow, I will go with. That says it up. Uh, past meets present, and that's from December of 23. Okay. And I will say, yeah, it's a very fun dancey jazz workout. Yes, and that's with Coach Ranier, and Ranier actually he messaged me after, I think, he had recorded that workout that he thought that it was really fun and he can't wait to see what kind of reaction the community oh, that's cool that when you get a message from the coach saying, oh, this is a good workout.

Lauri:

Yeah, that doesn't like it, Then it's a good sign. Yeah, okay that's a big deal because I mean, back when I was mapping it, uh also, like I was really like thinking like yeah, this is, this is the good stuff I I had so much fun with this. I love this. Good yeah, and we, yeah, just Michael Babel and Buble Buble, yep, and Bennett and Lady Gaga, and good stuff.

MJ:

Good stuff.

Lauri:

And for boxing I will go with Skills and Dr drills, medium with coach doc and yeah, this that's the latest uh boxing. With that workout that I did some like collapse bit we were with dave and dog and that's just uh overall. Just that workout does the focus on like flurries and allowing you to nail those on with the like repetition it's a very good skill driven workout.

MJ:

It's totally good I love this new series. I can't wait to see more from the skills and drills.

Lauri:

It's a pretty cool concept yes, there might be something, something might be cooking.

MJ:

Love to hear that.

Lauri:

At least some future plans might have been discussed.

MJ:

I don't know, discussed, I don't know. Oh no, would be cool, I don't know.

Lauri:

Would be good, maybe, who knows?

MJ:

so awesome. Two great workout suggestions, both flow and boxing. And you guys, when you play these workouts, in any new workouts, especially new ones that come out when you are done and the scorecard comes up and it says, oh, you got a diamond, you got a hundred percent accuracy, blah, blah, blah, blah. Before you click home to go find your next workout, look to the left. It's going to be a box and it's going to allow you to rate it. It will give you lots of options. You can like it, you can love it, you can hit other and it will prompt an email and you can write a whole novel worth of feedback. They read your comments, you guys. They see them. They read them in your in a meeting.

MJ:

You're anonymous. I did find out it's anonymous. They're not saying well, marla said this song is really bad. Please don't make this map like this. They're not going to know it's you. So your feedback in rate it. It's so important. That's how they. They know what we like and what we don't like and, um, you know it's important to them, so don't forget to rate the workout do it, do it, do it, it's.

MJ:

It's a great help yeah, and I don't think many people rate the workouts, so your voice is loud if you're rating the workouts your opinion is weighed heavily, so go rate it For sure. You know so important. Get in the habit. Look to the left. You can only rate it after you play it, so you can't go back in the app and you have to do it right at the end. So don't forget to look to the left and rate it.

MJ:

But yeah, all right. Well, I want to thank you for meeting me in the middle of the night to record this. Middle of the morning for you. I had no reason to be nervous. This was great. Can't wait to see what you do in the future, dude, and I'm excited for the community to hear from you.

Lauri:

Yeah, I mean, this was so, so cool to be here.

MJ:

Your first podcast recording.

Lauri:

Yeah, my first podcast experience. Yes. Definitely like was like nervous and but also really excited.

MJ:

So now you're a pro. Now if someone else asks you to come on a podcast.

Lauri:

You'd be like yes, I was like yes, sure, I'm a professional, I got this yeah, don't worry about it that's right.

MJ:

well, thank you, guys, for listening in, spending, spending your time with us talking all things supernatural, choreography and the joy in movement, and we will see you next time, guys. Bye.

Lauri:

Bye.

MJ:

Thanks for joining us on today's episode of For the Love of the Map. As always, you can join the discussion in the private Facebook group and follow along with show updates on Instagram and TikTok. Links can be found in the description below. If you find value in the show, please share it with your friends. Your comments, likes and reviews are invaluable and I cannot thank you guys enough. See you next time.