Interviews with Yogis and Yoginis

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

If you would have told me at age 18 when I was practicing yoga in my livingroom, on a VHS tape my roommate bought, that I’d be an internationally celebrated yoga teacher traveling in luxury, inspiring 10’s of thousand of people ages 1-85, I’d say you were crazy.

Truth be told, my story wasn’t always so flowery. I struggled with depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, was burning the flame at both ends, and was overweight. I regularly found ways to distract myself with drugs and alcohol, numbing my pain and kept myself from soul’s calling. I felt empty inside. I knew since I was a little girl that my life was made for greatness but could not seem to find my purpose here on Earth. I invested so much of myself in work, building other people’s dreams that my body and health was declining and I was often sick. My stress levels were to the max and I had no idea what I should do but desperately wanted my life to change.

Breath by breath and practice by practice, my life began to transform. From being atheist, I began to understand and feel what god was, not who. I began to see shifts all around me, from physical, to mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. My life became barely recognizable and I became happy and have fallen deeply in love with myself.

The journey has not been easy. It takes courage to grow, but I did it and am still looking fear in the face, and am my own greatest support of loving care. How could I not share this beauty and wisdom with the world?

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I began teaching yoga to friends in Chicago in 2011, when I decided that I was going to leave everything behind and move to LA to become a yoga teacher. After being in LA for a year, I lived in India for a deep dive into my spiritual path of yoga and meditation in 2013, after already being a practioner for 12 years. After I came back from India I dedicated myself to teaching yoga, becoming a yogipreneur. 

Some people are natural born leaders, I have the blessing of being one of those people. Leading classes, workshops, retreats, mentoring and speaking is where I feel best. I am very aware that being a teacher/speaker/mentor comes with great responsibility, transperancy, and most importantly vulnerability. It is very clear to me that the abuse, pain, and hardships I have endured are not just tools for my personal growth, I came here to heal myself in order to serve and heal others. My life is not for me, I am here serve the earth and humanity and to be a part of our paradigm shift, elevating millions of humans and the collective consciousness.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

As a gifted intuitive and healer, I use many healing modalities in my classes. For me it is inate to physically touch people so I do a lot of hands on adjustments and massage with essential oils. I utilize sound healing tools as well as my voice and mantras.

My teachings are spiritually rooted and I am a divine channel. Often I don’t recall the things I say during classes as spirit moves through my voice. My mission is to make sure people know that the practice of asana is just scratching the surface of what yoga is, we move from physical into nonphysical. Meditationis a non-negotiable part of my classes.

Clear, detailed alignment cues, personalized attention, and making the asana accessible for all bodies is what I am also know for. I feel very strongly that having a sense of humor is imparative for the healing work we do. I lovingly inspire all of my students back to the seat of the heart and to move forward from that space.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

Sound current is a deeply healing tool that can be found in many forms. Music is a great love of my life and while I don’t play music in my Vinyasa and Hatha classes, I relay on it during my yin and Restorative classes.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

I am very excited to where these up and coming events!

February 11,
Yoga and Sound Healing Workshop
Mandala Santa Monica

March 3
Daana Blue Venice Beach Cleanup
Yoga, Surf, Serve

April 8-15
Tulum Luxury Yoga Retreat

June 21-25
Genius Loci Fest
Yoga, Surf, Music

July 8-16
St. Lucia Luxury Yoga Retreat

September 8-15
Bali Birthday Yoga and Surf Retreat

www.maryhaberski.com
To get get on the waitlist to be first to signup, Email healedspaces@gmail.com

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

Real yoga is what you can’t see, its about how you feel. Yoga allows me to create space to bring awareness to my thoughts and emotions. It allows me to be in the present moment. I become mindful about how my body, mind, and spirit feels. Yoga is a time for healing, this space gives me time to release any negative emotions that I have been trying to deny or hold on to. Yoga allows me to be vulnerable, to simply feel whatever it is that I am feeling in the present moment. Yoga creates space for harmony, positivity, and love.

My first time taking a class was in summer of 2016 and from the moment I started I fell in love. I fell in love with moving my body and using my breath as a tool to be in the present moment. I would go to different studios practicing all kinds of different styles, my favorite one was hot yoga. Eventually I wanted to start spreading my practice so I went back to the first studio I ever took a class at and got my 200 hour certification. A week after I graduated I got my first job teaching yoga and its been an amazing journey ever since then. I have seen myself grow so much and I cant wait to see where life takes me.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I first began teaching yoga at this studio called Malu Yoga and Fitness; they had just had their grand opening. I got this position a week after graduation and my first class was a power vinyasa. Ever since then I have only seen myself grow with the yoga community and I now teach at three different studios in Orlando. I will forever be a student and hope to spread more positivity into everyones lives.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

I give my students a safe loving space to be vulnerable with themselves and to heal. I teach all different styles of yoga from yin to yang but through out all of them I try to inspirational and spiritual. I want my students to always come home to a place where they can challenge themselves or just connect to their true self. Inner peace is within all of us and thats what connects us all.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

I LOVE music. Music and yoga both provide a space for healing and connection. I love creating spiritual experience in my classes and music helps me reach divinity. Lyrics and sounds can create energy, awareness, and harmony in everyones practice. Music connects us all because we are all one.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online.:

I have a lot coming this year for 2018. I will be teaching a three week arm balance workshop in January at Malu Yoga and Fitness and I will also be teaching a Gentle Vinyasa at the dirtybird campout festival in St.Cloud, Florida.

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

Through yoga and meditation I managed to heal my broken body. It was all thanks to a powerlifting session gone wrong. I managed to drop a 250pound barbell, from overhead height, directly on top of my left foot. I shattered nearly every structurally significant bone, and was told the bones were beyond surgical repair, and that I would never be able to run or move the same way I could before.

I was studying to become a personal trainer, and naturally, the experience shook me to my core. For a long time I was depressed. Eventually, I decided I would try to improve, and without having to look very hard, I was introduced to yoga and meditation.

Within 12 months of that injury, with intense dedication and effort, I finished a sprint marathon and was back to near preinjury conditions.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I am told (and not just by my mom) that I’ve always held the role of a leader; but as far as teaching goes, after having experienced the healing power of yoga first hand, I decided to make it my life’s purpose to spread these teachings far and wide.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

In truth, I rarely teach typical classes. I focus on leading highly specialized sessions that are designed, not to necessarily be a nice practice, but rather to make you a better practitioner.

Having said that, my understanding of anatomy and movement physiology, plus my experience with deeper, more authentic yoga practices, you can say my sessions are a happy marriage of modern and traditional.

I aim to help people enhance their physical potential; but at the same time, show them the truest, deepest, most incredible version of themselves.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

On those rare occasions when I lead actual yoga classes, I like to play something sattvic, ideally some tracks that appeal to modern populations; but still pulling inspiration from more classical roots. Maybe some Indian undertones and mantras mixed in.

However to be honest, I rarely play music in my programs. Again, the sessions I typically lead are highly specialized, and often times adding music can be a bit too much for the mind to process. Ambient background music at most, only if I see that the students are a little anxious or restless.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

Throughout 2018 I am leading YTT’s, retreats and workshops around the world. Check out my website for specific programs

www.danielrama.com

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

I found yoga at my lowest point in life. It saves me from depression addiction and self sabotage. It’s my mission to share the healing powers of yoga with the world.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

The Barkan Method. I’ve been teaching for 15 years, so it was a natural progression of growth. I assisted in his trainings, then made one of my own.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

I talk about the things that others might not want to talk about. I’m not afraid to speak my truth. I’m authentic, challenging, yet compassionate.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

I like it all. Beats, words, – I want you to laugh dance and cry all in one!

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

I teach trainings and classes all year long at The Yoga Joint! www.theyogajoint.com

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview? Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

Having struggled with an eating disorder as a teenager, I connect with yoga because it allows me to love my body exactly as it is. One of my greatest goals as an instructor is to help instill that same sense of peace in others. Yoga brings me back down to Earth; it grounds me. It puts things in perspective. It encourages me to continually learn, evolve and connect. It challenges me; it gives me purpose. Now that I’m a full-time instructor, I am exposed to an incredible community of yogis, friends and colleagues. There is so much of my journey left, and I’m eager about the future of my practice!

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

My passion for yoga took root when I moved to Seattle in 2015 and desperately wanted to make friends. Upon earning my RYT 200 certificate, I began teaching and continued to fall even more in love with the practice and the people I met along the way. I am now back in my home state of California, living in Orange County and always seeking to connect with the yoga community both locally and online.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

I have a very upbeat teaching style and love a good jam! I always incorporate isolated core work, and I love to challenge my students with an inversion or arm balance. There’s nothing better than watching a student nail a crow pose or headstand when they walked into class having never considered it was possible.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

Music provides a soothing touch. It helps set the tone of the environment. It serves as a guide – matching rhythm with movement.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

You can find me on Instagram at @heatherparksyoga, or you can check out my website at www.heatherparksyoga.com.

I teach at several studios in Orange County, CA – interested students are encouraged to DM me on Instagram for more information!

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

I have always practiced yoga and it brings me back to who I really am over and over again. What is so surprising to me is that I don’t get tired or bored, every practice is different as I connect to who I really am my heart grows. I think that there’s no limit to the amount of expansion that we can hold and yoga touches on that. Yoga is that infinite possibility the more we are all about.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I started teaching in 1997 because I knew that the question,what do you love? Translated more specifically into DO what you love.

I was utterly and completely in love with my yoga practice so there was no question I had to be a teacher. I’ve been providing for myself through yoga for 20 years. I celebrate that.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

It’s interesting over the years of teaching yoga, of course things change, I have grown, developing new ideas of what’s important. This has altered, in a positive way, my yoga teaching. I now encourage more self-awareness within students by using words that ignite a deeper listening, an intimacy to get to know that here body. It is not my yoga they are practicing it’s theirs. To discover what works correct for them in their practice in their body is the key.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

When I teach I’m not really tuned in to the music to be honest. I am so focused on teaching and my attention is on my students. But I know that my playlist (I use Spotify )always get appreciated. I love using Music to set the tone of the class.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

We are so excited to present Healing Touch Vinyasa teacher training at the Little Yoga Studio in the spring. More information at tahgroen.com/curriculum

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

Why is yoga important to me… How can I put that into words? Yoga has shown me me. Not the external, label oriented me, but the me that’s beyond words and thoughts. The me that is beyond the physical body.

I began yoga in high school. My sister suffered from an illness that no one could cure. It got to the point where we had to help her sit up when she ate, and the doctor recommend walking without breaks for 3 minutes a day, and even that was unbearable. Before the illness, my sister was a go getter. She wanted to be a part of every club and every sport. She had so much passion and so many dreams.

I found myself living for my sister. I was so involved because I felt almost a need to do the things she couldn’t do. I mean, how lucky was I to be alive and able to walk?

One day, we were at a doctor (we had visited hundreds), and once again he has no answer. I was so frustrated I left, and began walking the streets of downtown Fort Collins. Then, I saw a yoga studio and something inside of me just had to go in. That day, has completely changed my life. In class, the teacher said something that really changed my outlook on life. She said “What you do to improve yourself, improves your surroundings, improves the world.”

Yoga has taught me to give you must be well. To love you must love yourself. Being selfish is not only a good thing, but it is necessary.

At that point in my life, I was 15, and didn’t have much money. I didn’t want to ask for money from my parents because I knew they were spending a lot on my sister for all the surgeries and doctor visits. So I bought a $3 yoga mat from Ross, and would take class once a week. Right after class, I would write down everything I learned and practice in for the rest of the week. If I wasn’t practicing yoga I was reading about it. I was so consumed.

The beauty of yoga is the more I know, the more I realize I don’t know. I’m so grateful for yoga, for yoga showing me the love that’s within me, and within every object, person, and animal around me.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I knew I wanted to be a teacher basically the first class I took. At 15, I started my savings account for Teacher Training that I ended up getting at age 19 (or 20.. I forget haha). To me, this was truly a dream come true. My first class was so powerful.

What made me transition? It just felt right. I never questioned it. I just knew I was meant to teach.

Later on, in 2016, I received my 300hr. I could write a book on how powerful that training was personally and professionally. I never want to stop being a student of yoga.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

Space.

Space to breathe. Space to slow down. Space to fail. Permission to be vulnerable, and completely you.

My classes tend to be explorative, intense, and meaningful. It is hard in such a fast paced, distracted world, to find the space to breathe, and explore yourself.

See the love that’s within you. Breathe, practice, and with time you will.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

I love music. I use music gently and intentionally. Not as something to distract, but something to encourage a greater depth to your practice.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

I currently moved to San Fransisco and am looking for teaching opportunities. I am planning a retreat that will occur Summer of 2018, which I am super excited about!

My IG is @Dawnmichelleyoga
Website: Dawnmichelleyoga.com

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why it important to you?

I first practiced yoga when I lived in Amsterdam and it was the first time in my life that I experienced such a profound physical and mental transformation afterwards. Although my yoga practice was as sporadic as the fickle nature of most backpackers, I fell into it again years later when I was a professional dancer.

Regular rehearsals would sometimes injure my body whereas regular yoga practice would soothe my muscles and calm my mind. Eventually I stopped oscillating between the 2 extremes and decided to be a full time yoga teacher. It’s so important to me because even after so many years, its the most pure setting for an honest dialogue between my body, heart, mind and soul. I still feel challenged and I still discover something new every time I take a class.

From a personal perspective, I have a regular 40 day practice that I am devoted to which helps me stay focused on a goal or on a block I’d like to shift. I do the same thing every day for 40 days, and then I start something new again after a few days of rest. Its the cheapest form of therapy and I highly recommend it.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?

I started teaching about 2 years ago and the transition into a leadership position evolved naturally after teaching at big festivals and being a regular lecturer on yoga teacher trainings across Australia.

My desire to go deeper with my students also meant that I was no longer satisfied with teaching regular 1 hour classes, so my offerings morphed into workshops, then longer workshops, then an online course, and now regular retreats.

3. What makes your classes unique?

My classes offer a fusion of kundalini yoga, sound healing with a gong, energy clearing techniques, along with a few kinesiology exercises to help my students shift any heavier emotions that they’re ready to release.

My classes are generally themed to match the season by cleansing the meridians, heal the chakras or pay tribute to a new or full moon, as well as an equinox or a solstice.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?

Music is EVERYTHING for me! My playlists have been put together meticulously so that I can devote myself to being present for my students instead of feeling like I need to search for a song. I’m very fastidious about the music’s vibration matching the theme and the energy of what I’m teaching.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online?

I’ll be running a retreat called REST, RELEASE & RESTORE next year from 16 – 18 February in north west Sydney. One of the MANY reasons why I’ve been inspired to host this retreat is to invite like minded souls who are ready to take a break from their environment and their comfort zone, so that they can be held in a deep, safe and reverent space during the shedding of old beliefs, integration of new activations and soulful rest of their tired and weary souls. All the details can be found here: http://pattykikos.com/rest-release-restore/ It would be wonderful to see you there!

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

When I was a child, my mother would read biographies of yogis, spiritual masters and people doing amazing healing with vegan diet, Energy healing, and meditation, and then tell me their stories. I was inspired by those stories and watching her rheumatoid arthritis go into remission. I was an athlete and had a natural inclination to improve physically, mentally, and spiritually. What

started as means to be successful football when I was young and as a track and field sprinter in college and elite level turned into my primary focus of my sadana to self realization, God realization, and how much can I fully embody the divine presence in every thing I do. Growing up our family, Guru was Sri Sathya Sai Baba. I taught Sathya Sai Education in human values (like a Yoga Sunday school) while I was in college at San Diego State University. In the summers, I went to college courses in India at Sathya Sai Baba College where Sai Baba was the teacher learning Indian culture and spirituality. In between seasons competing and semester breaks I got certified in clinical Hypnotherapy, NLP, Rieki master teacher and Pranic Healing. This training went perfectly with my degree in physical education/ fitness and training. So right after college I taught in schools as a PE teacher and coach, and started a business ‘Inspirational Hypnosis’ Energetic work, where I teach yoga and trained athletes for speed and conditioning. Still at it 22 years later. It’s a lifestyle of healing and service as natural as breathing.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I never took a yoga teacher training. But before teaching, I had a lifetime from childhood with the teachings of Sathya Sai Baba, Hinduism, Yoga (inner Yoga), Buddhist and Taoist healing and spirituality, training in hypnotherapy, various meditations, and energetic medicine; plus my physical education major understanding how to teach exercise, movement and physiology.

So my cousin’s yoga teacher/ girlfriend was going back to school and asked if I would take over her yoga classes. I already had an idea of how I wanted to teach and the physical and spiritual experience I wanted to share with students through the medium of a hatha yoga class.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

I definitely have a unique asana flow sequence. Like everyone, it’s how a teacher guides students to notice inner awareness, breath and asana that makes us all unique. You may notice the mindfulness, hypnotherapy, and energy healing background in the language I use in my yoga classes.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

I grew up singing and chanting mantras and Hindu Bhajans, so I personally love this fusion of east and west. Good music puts me in the zone where my words are flowing with the music. When the music is new and I really like it I can barley teach because I’m so drawn into a meditation.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

My next big event is Tuesday 11/14. An awesome evening:
6:45pm Yoga with Me
8:00pm Energetic Healers Network, where energy workers from different modalities gather to connect share knowledge and experiences, and learn different ways of applying Energetics in a free mini session. All are welcome.

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.

1. Tell me about your personal journey with yoga. Why is it important to you?:

I was introduced to yoga when I was dealing with depression following a sexual assault in my teens. Yoga brought me back to myself, reconnected me to my body and helped me get back on track better than therapy alone ever did for me.
In my 20s I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease and became extremely disconnected with my body. I felt like I would be sick all the time and became depressed. I decided to dive deeper into my yoga practice and through a yoga teacher training I became myself again. I became more connected to my values and to my true self, and I began to live a yoga lifestyle. Yoga continues to heal me everyday, every time I step on my mat.

2. When did you first begin teaching yoga? What made you transition into a leadership position?:

I began teaching yoga in 2011 and have lots of experience as a teaching in Boston, MA and Houston TX. I teach yoga because I want others to feel the healing benefits of the practice and lifestyle that I have experienced. During my graduate work in psychology and clinical social work I began to develop my own style of therapy that combines traditional behavioral therapy techniques with chakra yoga movement, mantra, meditation and breath to process trauma and remove emotional blocks.

3. What makes your classes unique?:

My classes are unique because I emphasize flow and movement with breath to cultivate mindfulness. Each of my classes makes the connection between what asana teaches us on the mat and how we can live it off the mat. For example, if we can balance, breath and stay calm in an intense pose on the mat, we learn to breath and stay calm when faced with intense situations in our daily life.

4. How does music benefit your guidance in a yoga class?:

I use music to set the mood and energy level of the practice. I will often create playlists that have a build-up, a peak and a cool-down period. Hearing the style and tempo of music is a cue to the mind and body to either increase or decrease your energy and your heart rate. This helps to keep the class energy cohesive and allow students to get into the flow.

5. Tell me about your next event and where we can follow you online:

My next event is called Flow with Gratitude. It is a yoga party at a beautiful art gallery in SoWa Boston. We will have a gratitude meditation, a slow flow yoga practice and healthy snacks and drinks after while we hang out in the gallery. I am super excited for it! People can find out more about it on my site www.laurenfarenga.com and facebook.com/laurenfarenga/

Attention Yogis and Yoginis: Are you interested in doing a 5Q Interview?  Fill out your unique responses here.