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A Day in the Life: Lime's C.J. Kettler

Cable World, Oct 10, 2005

By Simon Applebaum

Some cable executives wind down with tennis or golf. For Lime CEO C.J. Kettler, it's a trip to the yoga mat.

Actually, Kettler goes one better--she brings the yoga mat herself, as I learned one evening last month.

Kettler's avocation is also her vocation, as Lime, formerly known as Wisdom Television, is devoted to health, fitness and holistic subjects. These days it's owned by a group called Revolution Living, whose leader is former America Online chief exec Steve Case. With Revolution's backing, Lime will have a new schedule and graphic look in the next few weeks. A former member of Oxygen and MTV's senior management team, Kettler joined Lime last winter after a few years in media consulting and private equity ventures.

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Despite a busy work schedule it's unusual for Kettler not to be twisting herself in and out of yoga positions at least four times each week. When not taking classes, she practices at home or on getaways to Woodstock, N.Y., with her husband and three daughters. The routine: at least three yoga periods weekdays and one on weekends. Often, she'll wake up at the crack of dawn to do yoga.

But practicing vinyasa yoga is more than just a healthy way to spend her off-hours. "If I don't do it, I find myself off-balance, and I get off-balance on the job," Kettler says. "It enhances my life far more than anything else. There's no way I don't make time for it."

Kettler is so devoted to the benefits of exercise, particularly what she gains from classes at Yoga Sutra, a studio only a few blocks from Lime's offices in midtown Manhattan, that she's arranging for Lime employees to take yoga (or other exercise classes) there at a discount.

On this night, Kettler enters the studio, located across the street from the New York Public Library's leonine-fronted main branch, clad in black shirt and pants. Colored candles at the front desk greet students before the 90-minute class begins. As she walks into the room and places her mat near a corner, I watch seven students join Kettler for the class, each taking a spot on the floor.

When the instructor starts talking, the room gets quiet and stays that way. In a smooth and steady manner, he invites the students to shift from one body position to another. "The goal in the class is to feel how the body flows," the teacher says in undertones. "Find your breath and breathe."

From a cross-legged position, Kettler squats and brings her left leg up to her chest, then the right. After that come standing leg and arm stretches. Toes and fingers are stretched out as well. The instructor comes around to adjust the position of each person when necessary as he gives directions. He adjusts Kettler's shoulders.

"It's dexterity you're going for," he says to Kettler when making another adjustment. "Feel the broadening of the body...Beautiful."

Everyone gets down on their colored mats for a series of pull-ups, leg lifts and back bends. The instructor encourages everyone to relax and notice any tension. Once noticed, students are told to let it go.

Kettler stands and moves to the wall in front of her. There, she does another set of positions--some with her face against the wall, some with her face down or to the side. The patter from the teacher continues, and so do his adjustments.

For Kettler, yoga is all about focus, deep philosophy and attaining a higher level in life. She started classes as a supplement to dance training at Smith College in Massachusetts. Kettler retreated from the yoga scene post- college, and rekindled her interest five years ago, when she became involved in Pilates.

"I really missed doing it regularly," she says during a break in her Yoga Sutra session. "It's a routine you constantly develop [that] takes you to next level after next. I like it even more now that one of my daughters does it with me Sunday mornings."

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A Day in the Life: Lime's C.J. Kettler

Cable World, Oct 10, 2005

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