The shoulder is a notoriously complex and even injury prone joint, but we don’t have to be afraid of it!  Today we have Diana Zotos, our resident Physical Therapist, joining us on The Mentor Sessions to dive into everything yoga teachers need to know about the shoulder! 

I absolutely love Kathryn Bruni-Young’s smart approach to movement and well-rounded strength and I’m so excited to have her back on The Mentor Sessions to share her wisdom with us! 

I hear frequently from yoga teachers who feel burned out and are trying to figure out how to dig themselves out of that hole. I know it can be so tough! We become yoga teachers because we love the practice and are initially so excited to share it with others, but the realities of making a living as a yoga teacher can be very challenging.

The yoga world is a subculture of our society; it mirrors both the beauty and the problems of the wider culture it inhabits. As a group we tend to spend more time teaching and talking about the things we deem “positive” about ourselves and our world, but in the long run this does everyone a disservice, both us and our yoga students. 

My spiritual practice is one that asks me to wake up to the world as it is. 

My spiritual practice asks me to be strong enough to see the truth about our society and understand my place in it. My spiritual practice values equity for all people and has a deep reverence for our inherent interdependence as a species. 

Ann Swanson is a certified yoga therapist, mind-body science educator, and author of the beautiful new book,  Science of Yoga. She is part heart-based healer and part science nerd. With a Master of Science in yoga therapy and roots studying yoga in India and tai chi/qi gong China, Ann uniquely applies cutting-edge research to mind-body practices while maintaining the heart of the traditions. She joins us on the podcast today to talk about the intersection of yoga and science.

Matthew Remski is a yoga teacher and author. As the survivor of two cults, his work has been pivotal in illuminating the shadows of globalized yoga and Buddhism. His writing shows that disillusionment and critical inquiry can be gateways to mature spirituality.

Erin Jade has been working in massage therapy and yoga/movement instruction since 2004. In 2014 she began to pivot away from traditional asana into varietal movement drawing from the influences of Katy Bowman, Erwan Le Corre, Ido Portal, Igor Burdenko, Moshe Feldenkrais, FRC, Laban Bartenieff, contemporary dance and more.

This is a VERY special podcast episode! To celebrate Episode #50 I decided to turn the microphone around and let someone interview ME. And it’s not just any “someone”. Almost by coincidence two of my very best friends from college, Alece Demeray and Nikki Hay, became yoga teachers many years after I did.

It is common for yoga students to come into class, tell us they have an injury and expect us to be able to modify for them or at least give them ideas as to what they should avoid. If those moments before class make you nervous then today’s podcast episode is for you!

The path of a career yoga teacher can be a circuitous one. I find it so helpful to hear how different teachers navigate that terrain, and today we get to hear from Caitlin Casella, who has been teaching yoga and leading teacher trainings for a decade! Since adding strength training and other functional movement modalities to her repertoire, her practice and priorities have shifted.

Today I am THRILLED to introduce you to yoga teacher, writer, mama and studio owner, Octavia Raheem. This episode stands out as an all time favorite; the deep wisdom and beautiful words that Octavia shared felt like a salve for a wound I’d hardly even noticed was there.

More and more yoga teachers are incorporating resistance bands into their teaching because they can be a wonderful complement to the movements found in a traditional asana practice. We are super lucky to have TWO amazing teachers who are EXPERTS at this joining us on the podcast today for a roundtable discussion on incorporating resistance bands into asana classes

Have you been hearing yoga teacher friends talk about PAILs and RAILs and CARs and 90/90 and you’re feeling a little left out because you have no idea what they’re talking about? No worries... we’re going to fix that today!

Tax time is coming up here in the States and I know how stressful the process of filing and paying our taxes can be for yoga teachers! Did you know that every year yoga teachers around the U.S. overpay in taxes due to a lack of knowledge around beneficial tax deductions they can take as independent contractors?

Many yoga teachers want to have a meditation practice, or feel like they should have a meditation practice but don’t for some reason.  Other yoga teachers practice meditation but feel shy or uncertain about how to incorporate meditation into their teaching. We are very lucky to have Cyndi Lee (!) on the podcast today, talking us through everything that is important about practicing and teaching meditation in her Classic Cyndi Way

Janie Ganga Fronek is a teacher of the Integrated Amrit Method of Yoga. Janie Ganga began practicing Amrit yoga in 2002 as a weekly student – until shifts in her life led her to Amrit Level I (RYT 200) certification in 2013. She believes in Health at Every Size - the simple premise that the best way to improve health is to honor your body – and offers Size-Affirming yoga workshops and Chair Yoga.

Over the next few weeks we’re doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I’m going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active teaching practices in different parts of the country, and world!  

Over the next few weeks we’re doing something new here on The Mentor Sessions. I’m going to introduce you to five amazing yoga teachers all of whom are engaged in active and full teaching practices in very different parts of the world!

Megan Spears is a yoga teacher based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Megan teaches publicly, privately, and is also a lead teacher for EveryOne Yoga School 200 hour yoga teacher training. Megan has been practicing yoga since 2005 and teaching professionally since 2014.