As yoga professionals we have all had moments where we have felt like we should be more perfect. Do we know enough? Do we honor yoga enough? Should we even be doing this job? What we do when perfectionism hits and how do we shift through those feelings into something that nourishes and cares for us the way we deserve? Ann Swanson, author of The Science of Yoga & Meditation For The Real World has some answers for us. KEY TAKEAWAYS: *When we have been the person in your family...

Yoga classes are great at telling us how to move our bodies, but not so much on how to think. So this week’s podcast has a guest who will do just that. Enter Dr. Shyam Ranganathan to the chat to talk to us about how we think about perfection in the yoga space, why we have trouble as leaders being less than perfect, and what yoga philosophy actually says in regards to figuring out what is “right”. This is such a great conversation, and Dr. Ranganathan will have you listening, and rewinding...

Can we spend some time together talking about perfectionism? I think so many of us in the yoga space, and in life in general, struggle with this idea of what it is to be “perfect”, and unwittingly our industry has supported perfection thinking instead of deconstructing it. So this podcast is an intro to a series of episodes about perfectionism in the yoga space. I want us to deconstruct this idea of why we are so obsessed with the “perfect” clothes, poses, actions, and ideas. And I...

Welcome to 2024, Yoga Pros. Our first podcast of the year is with the delightful Michelle Cassandra Johnson, and I was lucky enough to get to ask her so many questions. We had a nuanced conversation regarding being of service to the world, how we hold space for grief, and the tension between the spiritual call to be quiet and the noise we experience in our lives. Take a listen to all her wisdom. KEY TAKEAWAYS: *Often in yoga and wellness we shy away from grief and other uncomfortable...

Welcome to our year-end wrap-up episode on Working In Yoga! We are counting down the things that happened this year, why they matter, and what we are looking forward to in 2024. RESOURCES Working In Yoga Website Working In Yoga Newsletter Yoga In The World Study from Yoga Alliance SPONSOR Sunlight Streams Blog

Another bonus episode with my friend Pooja is up this week. Pooja and I talk about yoga’s moral superiority complex, which essentially that means we often think are more moral, perfect, or virtuous than other people. This will come up several times in our perfectionism season, so stay tuned and subscribe! RESOURCES Working In Yoga Website Working In Yoga Newsletter Pooja’s Website

This week is a conversation from the vault that didn’t make it to the podcast feed last year because sometimes life gets to be a lot. But the conversation is so good, and so relevant that I am re-airing it here at the end of 2023, so you can hear my friend Pooja Virani, and I chat about all things money in our pants. It is a fun conversation with some stats, trends, and more. RESOURCES: Working In Yoga Website Working In Yoga Newsletter Pooja’s Website Grandview Research...

This week on the podcast I have the founder of the Original Hot Yoga Association, Val Sklar Robinson on the podcast. As a lot of you know, I love organizers, and I love people who hold ethics and standards for a community—so Val checks a lot of boxes for me. She shares how she started her own trade organization, OHYA (oh-yeah), and we talk about professionalism, organizing, Bikram, grief, corporate yoga studios, bust down some myths, and chat about boundaries. That’s our new word for...

Have you mapped out Your Yoga Business? This week we talk to Ava Taylor, founder of Yama Talent, creator of so many things within this industry, and author of the new book Your Yoga Business—which tells you how she did it and you can to. My favorite part is that she is the true Queen of real talk about the yoga industry. She talks about how long it takes to make yoga a full-time gig, how to market your retreat, and how to build the life you want as a yoga professional. And there is no...

This week I am covering the first of what I feel like will be many episodes about yoga teacher training programs. I have long thought this was the absolute very last subject I wanted to talk about, and after this podcast I am sure it is. But here we are. Talking all things yoga studios and YTTs. I think you will be surprised. RESOURCES Working In Yoga Website Working In Yoga Newsletter SPONSOR Sunlight Streams Blog

This week on the podcast we chat with yoga misfit, Nyk Danu. I love our conversation about alternative spaces, marketing, and mindsets when we talk about all things in the yoga landscape. Because here is the thing: we don’t need to teach at the same studios, with the same social media accounts, and have the same “manifesting” mindset. We can host spaces in alternative locations, with gorilla marketing tactics, and take a both/and mentality with our businesses. We can be both true to...

You’ve heard of Accessible Yoga, right? The movement started with the term, which was coined around 2007 by today’s guest. Jivana and I talk all about our current ambitions for the yoga teaching and industry landscape, and discuss how we can make yoga accessible to all folks. We also discuss where we go from here—how is our future more accessible, more non-profit focused, and more dedicated to the tradition and practice of yoga. Take a listen. KEY TAKEAWAYS: -Covid definitely made...

So what if that came across your feed? >> Independent Yoga Professional looking for the right match. Warm, welcoming, and inclusive are a must.  Neat and tidy are needed in order to make everyone feel safe and comfortable.  Offering all aspects of yoga, not just movement.  You choose your own path, I am just here to help guide you.  Creative and science-based, always ready to support whatever truth you find for yourself.   Looking for students who might vibe with me, but all humans...

Have you ever called yourself “trauma-informed”?  Have you ever wondered what it means to be a trauma-informed yoga teacher? This episode is an evolving conversations episode, where  we take conversations we been having within our industry and push them forward to new places. “trauma-informed” is definitely one of those conversations, so I’ve called in the expert of all experts…Joanne Spence. Take a listen, friends. She drops some serious wisdom on us. KEY TAKEAWAYS: *PTSD and trauma are...

Let’s really push forward this conversation about online learning, shall we? So many times we either vilify training to be a yoga teacher online or we act like all online learning is the exact same. Both of those things aren’t true, as we discussed with my guest today, Zaria Rochester. Zaria has trained to be a yoga pro in many spaces, both in-person and online-only training, so she offers the unique perspective of someone who has actually trained in both modalities—not just taken one...

What if you came across this Hinge profile? “Single and ready to Mingle  Caucasian. Female.  Ages 25-39. Looking to “find her zen”.  Immediate pass on anyone not like me, no chance of a smash.  Must be skinny, wear the latest Lulu, and have a guru.  Spirituality is a must, but not too much or that’s gross.  Not looking for any of that “woo-woo” Sanskrit shit, speak American please.  Ready to get your leg behind your head and pierce your way into my heart?  We might be soulmates, but when I...

This week we are talking about the profession of yoga research w/ Dr. Steffany Moonaz, the founder of Yoga For Arthritis. Steffany tells us about the unique path she took to yoga therapy and eventually yoga research, and how you can work in the field of research as well. It is important to hear from yoga professionals who are on the cutting edge of shifting conversations and language, and so I think this podcast episode will inspire you to pull out your most professional pants and head...

Smart women talking about the thing that lights them up.  In Nicole’s case that is business and money.   Money is the conversation we all avoid like the plague in this industry.  The conversation usually goes: If you are pro-yoga, you are anti-money.  If you are pro-money, that isn’t yoga.   So I am actively seeking to reframe this conversation.  We deserve to earn a sustainable income as a profession, and if we truly seek to help others–we have an obligation to not be the person who needs...

This week’s episode is part of our fall series on Working In Yoga called Evolving Conversations. We are taking some of the things that we find most difficult to talk about, and purposely push past the typical talking points into a new realm of conversation. The subject this week is touch and consent, and there is nobody better to discuss this with than Cheri Dostal Ryba. So take a listen and tell us what you think. KEY TAKEAWAYS: -Consent is dynamic, ongoing, and informed.  That...

This is our last episode for Summertime Self-Care for 2023. What are you doing to recharge yourself before we get busy? Have you thought through your concrete goals for the fall and winter? We’ve got some suggestions, as well as a reminder to figure out ways to rest and make your job a little easier—a little more manageable. We’d be honored if you took a listen. KEY TAKEAWAYS: -It is okay to make earning a good and thriving living a goal. It is good for us and for the industry...

This week we are talking all about “the dip” (thanks Seth Godin for the inspo). The dip is the inevitable downward slide we all experience when we are on an upward trajectory. And if you ask me, yoga in the West has not prepared us for this experience. Positive vibes, good thoughts, and a mislabeled idea of what non-attachment is has made us ill-prepared when we think about those times in life, both personal and professional, when things don’t go as planned. So what do we do? Take a...

This week on the podcast we talk about starting over again mid-year. What are your goals now that we are more than halfway through the year? How can we shift to adjust to the person we have become throughout 2023? I love doing a mid-year reassessment, and acknowledging where I am now, and if I have stuck to the things I said were important when the year started. Or if those things are even important to me anymore. So let’s get into it, the new goals of mid-year. I also answer a listener...

This week we are talking about summertime in the yoga industry. As we all likely know, yoga is a seasonal job—and summertime is when we slow down. What happens to us when we want to participate in all the busyness of summertime life in North America and also our cash flow is feeling strapped? Well, I have a few suggestions. We will talk about having hobbies, how that is good for the soul, and also the power of a survey. Stay tuned for the next few weeks as we slide this summertime series...

This week I have Steff Gallante on the podcast, and she and I get to talk about my favorite thing, self-care. Steff and I are both self-care professionals who hang out in the yoga space and we chat about Ayurveda, Self-Care, and the importance of being able to ask yourself what you really need. Because that is the thing. It is the thing about yoga, capitalism, the western hustle mindset, about being born and gendered as we are. We are often not taking the time to truly ask ourselves what...

Sometimes you get to meet people whom you admire, and they surprise you by being as cool as you hoped they were. That has always been the case with Kristine Kaoverii Weber. Kristine and I met last year at a yoga event and I am not kidding when I say she took the house down with some of her comments on a panel discussion. She is just as insightful here on this podcast as she discusses her history as a yoga pro, how she shifted online before most of the rest of us, and how self-care in a...