Yoga Strong

Giving yourself permission to be more you isn’t a one-and-done process. Showing up fully is a forever journey. When I started sharing my life online, the way I showed up looked so different than how I show up now. Little by little, I became braver and now I get to be as big as I want to be. Friends, the same is true for you. When you start to own who you are, you get to be all the things you dream...

There is no “right” way to be a yoga teacher. But so often, we get caught up in ego and competition, trying to be the “best” or judging others for showing up in a way that’s different than how you might teach… the truth is, there’s enough room for all of us. If you show up in your own joy and with intent to truly serve your students, you’ll always find success. People gravitate towards authenticit...

This is for the teachers out there. I’ve had so many conversations about repetition recently, both from week to week and within a single class itself. Maybe you’re feeling some kind of pressure to put out a brand new flow every single week, but I’d like to make a case for doing the same things. But even if you hear the same things over and over again, you can always learn something new, gain a new...

I did something new yesterday. I took a hip hop dance class. Doing something new and awkward and sometimes uncomfortable like taking a hip hop class was never something I felt I had the courage for before yoga. There is something that yoga has given me—or more accurately, that I have given myself through the process of self-discovery that yoga has put me on—that allows me to take up space, to play...

Sometimes being a leader means learning when to listen. In leadership roles, often we feel like we have to do it all alone, without the advice or help of the people around us but in truth, we are stronger in community. We are stronger together. We miss out on opportunities to grown when we keep things to ourselves or refuse to ask for help. Our communities lift us up, and create space and strength...

I’m so excited about what I’m about to share with you because I’ve created something I’ve never seen before and I know you’re going to love it, too. I came to yoga from a weight-lifting background and have always loved the element of strength needed in flow. So, I created Yoga Strong—not this podcast, but a 3 month program where we will be combining yoga and strength. You don’t need to super into...

Last week was the first ever IRL Flow School. Many years ago now I decided to start sharing my life online, and now I have the immense joy and pleasure to connect with all of you in person. There is real magic in showing up to listen and learn and do something new together, and IRL Flow School is something I am absolutely stoked to do again. We do not grow alone, and how lucky are we when we get t...

There is a time for rest in life, but there is also a time to work hard, and to really hustle. As a child I played basketball, and in that sport I always too pride in being the first one down the court—always ready to shoot. I want to be the first one down the court now. If you really want something (and I really want something) there is work involved. I’m ready to work, to put in the effort it ta...

What are you paying attention to? Is it the infinite process of coming to know yourself? Is it the way you might be feeling shame? It’s so easy to take shame on in this life, the feeling of doing “this” wrong, of not belonging. When we feel shame, we feel small. We lose the essence of self and how we express ourselves in this world. We get to be the truest version of ourselves when we show up in b...

How do you leave a thing in a generous way? These four mindset intentions help me navigate the times I say "no" to make more room for a "yes" while still honoring the way the thing changed me.  Having just left a studio that I've taught at for a year and a half, a change that felt hard but right, I lean into abundance, gratitude, listening and ceremony (could also be calle...

There is a fear many of us face when we have to stand up in a crowd or at the front of a room and make ourselves heard. Maybe you ask yourself, “Who am I to be doing this? What right do I have?” The thing about Impostor Syndrome is that it’s just a made up name, something a handful of people decided to call a feeling one day. Everything in this life is something that someone decided to just make u...

Serenity Messner never thought she’d find her way to strength training, much less own her own gym. Lifting weights feels like the direct opposite of Yoga, but the two practices compliment each other, and both exist to make your life outside of the classroom and outside of the gym better. In this conversation with Serenity, we talk about what it’s like to be a beginner at something, enjoying the li...

I’ve been thinking about wellness lately. As someone who works within the wellness “industry” there is so much to discuss around what it means to be well. You might know, I’ve been dealing with a lot of back pain in recent months, and it’s been a lesson in listening to my body, to what my pain is trying to tell me. If living Yoga Strong is all about the practice of paying attention, how have I bee...

I have an offer for you. What if you approached your students without an ask? In situations where someone is walking out during shavasana or following their own flow during your class, instead of looking for an explanation, you talked to your student and simply listened to their experience. When you make people feel seen without demanding anything from them, answers or otherwise, when you listen t...

You’ve heard me say it a lot, we are so much more than just one thing. And on the journey we’re all on to uncover what it means to be human and to find home within ourselves, we have to slow down. We can’t find connection, with others or ourselves, going a million miles a minute. There is SO much contained in your “true” self, and in order to be seen you have to show up as the truest, most authent...

There is no single definition of what yoga is, there is no “right” way to practice, and there is no “wrong” way to be a teacher. Yoga is a practice with real depth and breadth, one that we could truly study for our entire lives and still have more to learn. And if there’s one thing I know to be true in this life, it’s that there is more than one way to be right. So if you, as a teacher, or even as...

There’s something beautiful, especially as a business owner and entrepreneur myself, about watching another business owner out there owning it, finding success, and redefining who yoga and movement is for (and thats means everyone). Rachel Brooks was a bartender and worked in the service industry for 18 years. After finding yoga, she wanted to create a space for others with late-night and non-trad...

I did something recently for the very first time—I walked out of a yoga class. And I remember the first time it happened in a class I was teaching, too. We might jump to conclusions and start telling ourselves stories of all the things we’re doing “wrong” or how we might be “failing,” but truly, it’s never about us. When I left, it was because of the low-back pain I’ve been dealing with, not how t...

It’s a brand new year, and everyone is talking about resolutions and intentions for 2023. I wanted to share a little bit about a word that has been coming up for me, one that I’m choosing to focus on this year: trust. To me, “trust” is a reminder to step into my joy. It’s the opposite of fear and anxiety. And even when the stress of being a business owner and a mother and a provider for my family...

This podcast is called Yoga Strong—but what does it mean to BE yoga strong, to fully embody what that means? If yoga is the practice of paying attention, what are we paying attention to?  Paying attention is all about presence, how we show up in the world and bringing all of us wherever we go. We carry the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of who we are in every room we walk into, and tho...

Today’s guest is a pretty damn special person that I am lucky enough to have met through Instagram, and you need to know him, too. Nick Harris is here to bring positivity through the world. He doesn’t look like your traditional yoga teacher, and that’s what makes him so relatable and influential to the youth he mentors. Nick leads by example in everything he does, always showing up unapologeticall...

If you’ve ever felt that you weren’t enough, or that you’re too much, this episode is for you. There are times when I catch myself feeling one way or the other, but it has never helped my joy. Focusing on what doesn’t exist only takes away from my happiness and leaves me feeling stuck. Here is what I know is true: you are neither too little, nor too much. Focus on what IS, and what you ARE, and yo...

Cecily Milne is a disruptor of movement within the yoga community. Becoming a teacher of yoga doesn’t begin at your 200 hour trainings, you begin when you show up in the room. And when you show up in the room, you’ll find it filled with different people who all experience different things; it’s a place full of in-betweens. Traditional asana practice can often become a rigid structure without any r...

This is for the yoga teachers: those already teaching, and those who feel the call, but may be too afraid to start. If you’re not sure if you belong, let me assure you right now, you do. You don’t have to know everything, and you certainly don’t have to be the best, you just have to start. You’re going to to the damn thing, even if you’re afraid. You’re going to do the damn thing, and everything w...

I don’t know about you, but I often struggle with this season, and can find myself stuck, in need of a shift. If that’s you too, or if you’re struggling for any reason at all, maybe you’re in a rut, you feel you’re lacking creativity, or maybe you just find yourself not wanting to do anything at all… this episode is for you. This is to help you get unstuck and move forward, because you are so need...