Claudia Rimoli & Jennifer Viator of Soothie Cushion

If you want to enjoy faster workout recovery times and relief from pain then Soothie Cushion is where it’s at. It’s the most versatile, portable, long-lasting hot/cold therapy product out there.

Co-Founders Claudia Rimoli and Jennifer Viator stopped by Your Life Program to talk about the product and to deliver some interesting insights about posture, ergonomic support, natural pain relief, and more.

Listen now or take advantage of the transcript below.

Listen to “Claudia Rimoli and Jennifer Viator” on Spreaker.

Andrea: Hello, and welcome everyone to Your Life Program. I’m Andrea Hammer, your host. I am a certified fitness instructor, certified health and wellness coach, certified fitness nutrition specialist, and happy life coach.

And you are listening to SOB Radio, and Radio Ear Network Project.

So hello to my Your Life Program fans. Again, because I want to share that you know that sitting is the new smoking, and how it wreaks havoc on our bodies.

So lucky for us, today that the inventor, founder, and co-founder of the Soothie Cushion, Claudia Rimoli and Jennifer Viator are here with us today. After 15 years in the making, the Soothie Cushion, it’s the first ergonomic support system that can provide both hot and cold contrast therapy at the same time in one device.

People are now seeking natural ways to ease their aches and pains and to find comforting back support. So the Soothie Cushion is their answer now. And I want you to join in and listen to the story of these two amazing ladies. And fill your day with Soothie Comfort.

Claudia and Jennifer, thanks so much for coming on the show to be here with us.

Claudia: Okay, well I just want to say thank you, first of all, for allowing us to be here, because this is a very special time for us. We have a lot of great stuff happening, and again after 15 years, now everything is happening so fast.

It’s so incredible.

And the reason I developed this product was because sitting at a computer, all day long, slouched forward, and every time after working out and trying yoga and all those different kind of things to try to help your body, as soon as I would sit back down at my computer the pain came back immediately.

And as you said, sitting is the new smoking, but we can quit smoking. You can’t quit sitting.

Andrea: That’s right!

Claudia: So that’s why I kind of created Soothie. Out of necessity. Because there wasn’t anything else like it on the market. And then when I realized it wasn’t just my problem, it was millions of people’s problems.

You know, so that’s where I, after product development I met all these people. They had all these issues.

I was like, “Oh my gosh. This product can solve it all.”

Andrea: I have one, listeners. And it is absolutely fabulous. And Claudia and Jennifer are going to explain all the components and how it works to you, but you have to have one. I’m just saying.

It’s so miraculous because it’s portable, it has the contrast, cold and hot, that’s already in it, you can take it anywhere you need to go, sitting at your computer desk, in your car, on a plane ride. You know, after surgery, if you sprain your ankle.

Or after my exercises, if you have a little bit of delayed-onset soreness, you should know contrast therapy is so great for you. So Claudia is going to explain because she is the master and creator of this. And she likes holistic and the natural approach. And I’m sure that’s how it played a huge part in her creation of it. So explain to us how you made it.

Claudia: Well, again, as I just said from sitting at the computer, but then when I realized the product that I had, I had a client who was an online university. And they wanted me to create something that would bring revenue to them. And I came up with the cushion, because they all were PhD students.

And they sat at their computer sixteen hours a day.

So, I launched it within the university. And then the professor really thought I was brilliant for developing it.

Andrea: You are brilliant!

Claudia: I did a focus group with all of the students. And that was just an eye-opener. And then it pretty much just took on a life after that.

And then, of course, meeting Jennifer and bringing her on as a co-founder, because everything I didn’t have business-wise, she has that. So we make just a perfect couple.

Andrea: Ok, Jennifer. You’re up, sweetie. Explain how you guys met and how you’re the perfect couple for this partnership of the Soothie Cushion.

Jennifer: Awesome. Well I’m going to save a little bit of that story for Claudia as we go down, but I will tell you kind of just, this product is amazing. Claudia is amazing. She is absolutely brilliant, you’re correct.

But just a little bit of my story. After multiple pregnancies my lower back was pretty much in pain on a daily basis. And I tried everything I could for relief. One of my business friends I knew was going through, introduced me to Claudia. She’ll get more into that.

But the first time I tried Soothie I knew it was the answer I was looking for. What I lost was a whole lot of pain, which I was super-excited about, but what I gained was the ability to have, like you explained, hot and cold therapy anywhere on my body at any time.

And I was still able to move around, and do life, because I do have four kids. And all four of my kids bowl. My husband’s a professional bowler. And we do other sports as well. Everyone in my house uses Soothie for faster recovery times and you name it, they use it all the time. Every time I go sit at my desk I have to go look for my Soothie, because someone’s always using it.

So it’s an important piece in our home.

Andrea: And it should be in everyone’s home because it is a vital comforting and therapeutic pillow and cushion. Claudia’s going to explain it a little bit.

In terms of how it is in the marketplace today, having a Soothie Cushion, I want you to explain Claudia how it’s different from other hot and cold therapy products.

Claudia: Well, it’s the only  product on the market that you can do hot on one side and cold on the other. And that makes your contrast therapy. And so you would do ten minutes on and ten minutes off.

And because it is portable, you really could put both of them in there at the same time. And you just flip it. And again, it’s different because it has straps that wrap around your neck, your knee, your shoulder, your back. You can sit on it for sciatica. And it’s a backpack, so you can take it with you. So you can travel.

I think the big points of it is portable, and being hands-free.

Andrea: The thing about that portable, hands-free, and taking it everywhere with you is it’s not heavy, either.

Claudia: Uh-uh. It weighs four pounds.

Andrea: Yes! I mean, people think oh, I gotta lug this thing around? But no! It’s light. But the comfort of it! I have it here on my chair right now. I don’t think I’m ever going to sit at my desk without my Soothie Cushion ever again.

So tell us about the importance of posture, and how Soothie can help with that as well. It’s like sprains, and aches and pains. The posture.

Claudia: Well, your mother always told you to sit up straight. Hold your shoulders back. And really there’s a science behind that. I learned this through all my research and yoga.

And it’s really all about the breath. So when you lean forward and you put so much pressure on your organs they have to work harder, therefore you’re using more energy. So at the end of the day you’re exhausted just from breathing. So when you sit up straight, you take a fuller breath.

More oxygen goes to the brain. And it makes you more productive, creative, and you feel better.

Andrea: Of course. I teach that all day long. Posture, balance, alignment, and breathing. And believe it or not the Soothie Cushion is the exact same principles for sitting as it is for standing and exercising.

And I want you to explain a little bit more. This is so great for your posture and for the contrast therapy, but explain how it’s FDA approved, and what you did with it.

Claudia: Well, the element that’s inside of it. The product comes with the cushion, and it comes with two elements. And they’re identical. So as soon as you get home you put one in the freezer. And then when you want the cold one, you take it out and you put it in and the one that was in there goes back in. That’s going to stay cold for about six hours.

The hot, three minutes in the microwave and it’s going to stay hot up to about three hours.

The elements themselves have an FDA approved film on top of them. So it’s not going to burst. And leak all over everything. And it’s non-toxic.  

Andrea: That’s the best.

Claudia: So there’s nothing in it. It’s not a gel, it’s a liquid.

Andrea: Holistic and natural.

Claudia: Absolutely.

Andrea: That’s wonderful. And you can put both of them at the same time. So one side can be hot and then flip it over like you said and one side can be cold. And one does not affect the temperature of the other.

Claudia: Absolutely not.

Andrea: Because why?

Claudia: Because inside of it you have a two-inch very high-quality memory foam.

Andrea: Right. So that’s also part of the structural posture support that you get from using it as well as the contrast therapy.

Claudia: Absolutely. But I just want to add one thing to that. Because, an example is in your car. In your car, you’re automatically braking at the core. This, when you put it behind, you hang it over your headrest? It automatically brings your shoulders back.

Now you’re driving completely different. You take all that pressure off your lower back, so now you’re not going to get that numbness in the legs. You can stop at any travel center and heat that up, or have a cold one in your cooler, and you can go all day with it.

Andrea: Oh, I love that! I didn’t even think of that. Have it in a cooler, stop at a travel…”Excuse me! Can I use your microwave? No I don’t want to heat up my coffee, I want to heat up my Soothie Cushion!”

It truly shows how really portable it is, that you can take it with you.

And Jennifer, share a little bit about how there are other ways that people can experience it. You’ve used it for being pregnant, you’ve used it with your kids. Tell us some other things about what you use it for.

Jennifer: Absolutely. I just want to say like in today’s society there’s finally an awakening occuring. More people are starting to see that we truly have the power to use a holistic approach to help so many areas of our body. And what we put on our body and in our bodies absolutely matters.

And, so, there are so many ways that people can benefit from Soothie. And a couple of groups of people that I feel can, other than, every human like I said…people with chronic or acute injuries can most definitely benefit from Soothie because it can help ease some of their issues. And they can just have a little more comfort.

Another group is cancer patients. I have some friends who have Soothie and they said it’s amazing. Because they have a lot of hot-flashes and chills when they’re going through their chemo. And this way they can use Soothie either way. If they need to be a little warmer, or if they need to cool off, depending on what they’re going through. They said it’s just dramatically helped them through their treatment.

And I just think, you know, that’s what this is all about. Is bringing comfort to people. And so that’s super important for us.

Fibromyalgia patients. You hear more and more about fibromyalgia. And I’ll say probably even ten years ago, you didn’t hear a lot about that. But it’s something that’s coming up in the news, more and more. And they’re very heat-sensitive. And so they can put the cold pack in their Soothie and get cooled off for some cool comfort throughout their day, and be able to go about their day and get more accomplished.

That means a lot to patients like that, to be able to have a little bit of comfort and still get things accomplished throughout the day, even though they’re going through either treatment for, like I said, cancer, or if they have a chronic or acute injury, or like fibromyalgia.

Andrea: That’s awesome. See, I didn’t even think of using it for so many medical issues, and chronic issues.

Also people who have to sit for dialysis. People who have had back injuries, or spinal surgery, or sciatica. I don’t want to (legally) call it a medical device, but it helps if you have medical conditions.

Alleviate the inflammation or the pain of whatever your medical condition is doing, or in the middle of the treatment of such a thing. That is huge. That is so huge.

Jennifer: Absolutely. Just bringing that comfort.

Andrea: I think also you were sharing with us earlier when we were having our discussions before we got on the radio, is that you guys are bringing it to the Pentagon, in the coveted Rover Program.

So you guys, explain what the Rover Program is, and how you guys got to the Pentagon. That’s amazing. Because veterans and retired military, absolutely, we thank you for your service to our country. And any way we can help alleviate any of your symptoms of pain or stress.

I mean, this Soothie Cushion is absolutely perfect for that.

Claudia: I guess, being the entrepreneur, and doing, again, so many years of this, I wouldn’t be here without all of my mentors. And people that taught me literally how to be the manufacturer. Because that’s what we are. I’m the manufacturer of the product.

So, getting into the Pentagon was just a blessing. There’s a program called AAFES. It’s a shop on base. And they invite vendors to come in. It’s very popular products. Different people launching their products. Or candles, or whatever they have. But instead of going to AAFES, I went straight to the Pentagon.

And they accepted me.

And I just finished my first year. And now we’re starting our second year.

And what that means is that we go in literally to the Pentagon. We have a space that we do a pop-up. And we’re there for a week, to two weeks, to three weeks.

And I have met the most amazing people at the Pentagon and they’re all in need of this product because of their injuries, and their stress level. And also it’s freezing in the Pentagon!

And they’re not allowed to have heating pads and anything like that. So they immediately came and met me. So we have an opportunity to sell millions to the military.

Andrea: That is wonderful.

Claudia: So now in our second year we’re bringing in more health and wellness products because of the Pentagon. They don’t really have time to do shopping and out and about. They’re there, some 16 hours a day. They have everything inside the Pentagon that they need.

And that’s why they bring these programs in. And I’m hoping that you’re going to be with us!

Andrea: With my MAX PACs! MAX PAC Power and Core.

Claudia: In June, we’re going to take you and introduce your product to the Pentagon, because, again, I think it’s something they can use. And they can do it themselves, right?

Andrea: As a health and wellness, training, fitness…strength, conditioning. Especially even for rehab.

Claudia: Absolutely. So I think we have a huge future together.

Andrea: And then after, they can sit on their Soothie Cushion to soothe the muscles they just worked out to become strong, and fit.

Claudia: That’s right. We’re very blessed to be there.

Andrea: That is amazing. Jennifer, where do you see the Soothie Cushion going in the future, being the business developer?

Jennifer: Well, we’ve done some market research and testing in so many sectors. So, our main focus rolling into the New Year is gonna be absolutely focused on the military, as we just talked about the Rover Program. We’re absolutely blessed to be a part of that.

And we know the military can benefit from Soothie in so many ways. Like Claudia said, we plan to sell millions to the military.

Another focus area for us, going into the New Year, is sports and fitness. It’s a huge focus. Especially…I’m really large into the bowling industry with my family. So we’ve kind of just planted ourselves there right now, along with the fitness area.

Andrea: That would be me.

Jennifer: Absolutely. I think it’s going to be great for those markets just because of everything, it fits right in. I think that it will help better performance and recovery. It’s going to grow into other sectors of that.

So we wanted to narrow it down to those focus areas to the New Year so we can make sure we’re doing everything we can to bring Soothie Comfort to everyone. And then at the end of the day, because this product can benefit every human being on the planet, we, our vision is every car, every household, every office chair absolutely needs a Soothie and will have a Soothie in the future.

Andrea: That is amazing. And then, hopefully going even further, forward past that, medical establishments, hospitals, clinics, rehabs, will also want to include Soothie as part of their recovery processes for their patients. I see a huge market for you going forward with that as well.

Claudia, any more points you’d like to add? We have a few more minutes and then I want you to share how everyone can go online and buy a Soothie Cushion, where they can find them.

Claudia: I just want to follow up on what you just said. Because we can’t really claim it as a medical device, but we want to move into that sector and getting medical codes for this, because they have, if you go to a chiropractor, they have codes for a heating pad and a lumbar support.

So we want to follow in those footsteps.

So in the meantime, this product is approved for a Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

Andrea: Oh, that’s awesome.

Claudia: So now, going into corporations and doing wellness programs is another thing we’re also connecting ourselves with. So now we can go in and do—because it’s ergonomics. When I walk into somebody’s office, they’re sitting there, and they’re all slouched forward. Their screen isn’t high enough, their chair’s too low.

So I would like to be able to share some of those things with people. Just give them a little posture check as they’re sitting. Because it makes a world of difference ergonomically.

Andrea: Absolutely. When you have better posture and oxygenation in the body, as you explained earlier, you have better cognitive function, better immune system, better visual acuity, better digestion, better everything.

Listen, if you put a plastic bag over your head, no one’s here more than four minutes. So every single part of your body needs oxygen.

And when we’re hunched, crunched, and scrunched over, we’re immediately smushing the diaphragm with our rib cage, and closing our throat off. Which are the two organ systems which, again, air, in, through the nose, down into the body.

Being in a correct, structural postural alignment using the Soothie Cushion to help you, and making those other alterations at your desk, those are imperative. But tiny little incremental changes that can change your life, and your health and well-being. And Soothie Cushion is a part of that. Absolutely a big part.

So, quickly, not quickly, just we only have a few minutes left, so tell us how to get in touch with you.

What’s the website? What’s the email? How to buy one? Where do you get them?

Claudia: Jennifer?

Andrea: Go ahead, Jen. Tell us all that.

Jennifer: Alright. So, absolutely, you can go to our website at www.soothiecushion.com. And you can order straight on the site and we will ship it right to your door.

You can also check us out on our social media. On Facebook we’re at Facebook.com/soothiecomfort, or you can just look up Soothie Cushion; it will take you right to our business page.

And we have, on both the website and on our Facebook you can always see links to our blog, and our blog is so informational and fantastic, that I truly feel people can learn and get a little educated there, which is so important.

We’re also on Instagram @soothiecomfort as well. Those are the biggest ways to get ahold of us for sure.

If anyone has questions they can always send us messages through either one of those platforms and we’ll be happy to get right back to them as soon as possible.

Andrea: That’s wonderful. And also, don’t forget to mention, well, I’ll mention it, they come in a lot of fabulous beautiful colors. And they have color sleeves that are designed to just, the color makes you feel good, and Claudia’s going to share a little bit more about an offer that she wants to send out to the listeners.

Claudia: We’d like to offer, on the website, the price is $125 and we have a special going on right now, it’s $98 with free shipping. But because of your kindness, we would like to offer all of your listeners a $79.99 special with free shipping. And they can just reach out to us at the info@soothiecushion.com, let us know they’re one of your listeners, and we’d love to send them a Soothie Cushion.

Andrea: Wow, thank you so much. So listeners! Say that you are following Your Life Program with Andrea Hammer when you order your Soothie Cushion and you can receive yours for $79.99 with free shipping. Well, girls, I really, truly appreciate you both being here to share this fantastic invention and creation that the whole world needs for comfort, ease, portability, and just feeling wonderful.

I’m never going without my Soothie Cushion, and I advise all of you to listeners to get one as well. You’ll absolutely love it. Thank you for joining us today. I’d love to hear your comments and questions about all the information and inspiration we shared here.

So email me at andrea@hammerhealthandfitness.com, or just check out my website, hammerhealthandfitness.com, and also the rest of the radio show platforms that Your Life Program is on: SOB Radio Network, Radio Ear Network, Society Bytes Radio, and also on iTunes, iHeart Radio, and Spotify. So look up Andrea Hammer’s Your Life Program so you can live intentionally fabulous every day. Thanks for joining!