Defining your ideal client can be a tricky business, and more often than not, we end up with an avatar that seems perfect on paper but does not convert into sales. This is exactly what Leah Petitti, a voice coach, is going through. She has defined not one, but three different avatars, but is still struggling to find good leads and make sales.

In this conversation, Cate leads Leah through the retelling of her brand script, redefining her avatar and explaining the effects of language when trying to reach an audience.

Listen to the podcast and learn the importance of defining and understanding your perfect client, researching your competitors, and using free talks to connect with future leads.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to reach your target audience
• How to define your perfect avatar
• How to use your competition to your advantage

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Find out more about Leah
• Write your own brand script
• Find the Money to follow your passion!
• Watch the free Masterclass

Show Highlights:

• Overcoming confusion about your target audience
• Bringing yoga philosophy into the corporate environment
• The importance of finding good competitors

Timestamps:

• 0:34 Understanding and reaching your perfect client
• 6:07 Expanding your language to reach more people
• 11:29 The importance of your story brand
• 17:50 Using free talks to reach your next client

Guest Bio:

A well-loved yoga teacher, vocal coach and workshop leader, Leah creates courses such as Jewels of Longevity and Yoga-Energy-Transformation. She empowers seekers to shed limitations and dare to dream.

Her journey with yoga began at Ohio State University where Leah fell in love with the mental focus and pain-relief she found in yoga.

Leah’s yoga instruction experience now spans several decades. Her signature warmth and humor invite students to safely dismantle fears and gain the courage to stand in their truth.

Sharing her loving wisdom, Leah reflects years of in-depth training with Katie Silcox, author of Healthy, Happy, Sexy. The fires of inspiration from Elena Brower and Gabrielle Bernstein currently stoke the passion for Leah’s mission of teaching people to gain wisdom and peace through yoga.

Private and Corporate Yoga with Leah comes highly recommended for clients in the Santa Barbara area and online!

Romy Toussaint is a force to be reckoned with. Known to some as “The Energy Queen”, Romy has been a Yoga teacher for over 20 years and has dedicated her life to helping others to live their lives consciously.

Now in her third quarter of the Yoga Health Coaching, Romy is finishing her pilot, and can’t wait to enroll more people. She was able to pay off the course tuition and then some, but admits setting a price was the hardest part of the process.

Listen to the podcast to learn more about how Romy was able to fill her first group and make more money, while automating her processes for future growth.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to get comfortable with setting a price for you program
• How to use mantras when you feel overwhelmed
• How to overcome the fear of investing in yourself

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Listen to the Yoga of Colour 
• More about the Find the Money
• Get to know Romy’s program
• Watch the Masterclass

Show Highlights:

• Leading a dynamic group and keeping members engaged
• Automating your business to grow faster
• Identifying the drama triangle

Timestamps:

• 2:35 Setting a price you feel uncomfortable with
• 8:38 Growing as a program leader
• 21:34 The power of having skin in the game

Guest Bio:

Romy Toussaint also known as “The Energy Queen” is dedicated to empower those around her to create a complete practice of consciously leading their lives; to manage their energy and become physically strong through all stages of their lives; to connect to their minds; strengthen their spirit so they can do their work in the world.

Romy is a transformational trainer and coach, motivational speaker, and yoga teacher .She is also a professional speaker and presenter on the benefits of mindfulness yoga and wellness. An expert at customizing and facilitating physical activity breaks, and mindfulness sessions at conferences and workshops for all types of groups and organizations.

In love with yoga for over 20 years, Romy has been married to her college sweetheart for 30 years and is the mother of four amazing sons and the oldest of 5 children.

In 2014, Jill decided she was done with her corporate job as a party planner, she wanted to be a full-time yoga teacher. The road to a successful and fulfilling career as a wellness professional was, however, harder than she anticipated.
Feeling depleted, Jill decided to enter, once again, the corporate world. But it wasn’t long before she realized she couldn’t go on living a corporate life. That’s when she entered Yoga Health Coaching.
Two years on, Jill is living her dream life, and is the YHC Coach of the month. Listen to the podcast to learn how living the habits changed Jill’s life and led her to create a successful coaching business.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to transition from a corporate to a wellness career
• How to be comfortable experimenting with your business
• How to turn overwhelm into action

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Learn more about the Find the Money Course
• Jill’s website
• Jill’s Instagram

Show Highlights:

• Jill talks about her postpartum depression
• Jill shares how she is making her program evergreen
• Jill explains how saying no became a superpower

Timestamps:

• 1:24 From corporate mess to a successful Yoga Health Coach
• 10:16 Implementing Easefull Living and the Habits
• 21:50 Experimenting and adjusting your business
• 32:41 Advice for people contemplating joining YHC

Guest Bio:

Jill is a yoga teacher, certified yoga health coach, and soon-to-be mom of 3. Her mothering journey began with burn out, postpartum depression and anxiety, and tons of mom guilt as she fell into the common trap of feeling like being a mom meant being a martyr.
Reconnecting to her yoga practice, incorporating Ayurveda into her daily routine, and connecting with women who were also putting themselves back on the radar were the keys to healing and reconnecting with her own power and desires. Her company Life By The Moon is what came of this transformation from burnt out cog in the wheel to creatrix of a life driven by passion and joy.
She walks with women as they awaken to their innate ability to be energized and vibrant in their bodies, patient and loving with their families, passionate in their work, connected and trusting of their intuition, delighted in the playful curiosity of wondering how GOOD life can be, and choosing a daily experience in full alignment with their own power and desires.

Alexandra Kreis is an extraordinary example of how much you can achieve if you are willing to really give it a go. Since beginning her journey with Yogahealer, five years ago, Alex has become a Yoga Health Coach with an impressive track record. Not only is she killing it in her business, but she has also become a thought leader in her European community.
The secret to Alex’s success? Diving deeper into yourself and your body. Listen to the podcast and learn how Alex has been overcoming self-sabotage and has flourished from the darkest parts within her.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to overcome beliefs that keep you from growing
• How honesty paves the way to breakthroughs
• How to propel yourself by sinking deeper

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Learn more about the Find the Money Course
• Watch the Masterclass

Show Highlights:

• Alex talks about the importance of an accountability partner
• Alex shares her experience with social background from different countries
• Alex explains how she still struggles with self-sabotage

Timestamps:

• 1:07 The impact of the 5 point system of Master of You
• 8:45 Coming forth with what you need to say
• 15:19 The method of circling and establishing a body conversation
• 20:05 Experiencing the water element and sinking to grow

Guest Bio:

Alexandra Kreis has always been passionate about helping people to reconnect with their nature and understand they have the right to be happy and feel fulfilled. It is no coincidence that her professional career has brought her into the deeper layers of self-awareness and self-discovery, whilst assisting others on their own path.
A Yoga teacher since 2002, and an ayurvedic consultant for over a decade, in her mid forties, Alex realized that in order to provide people with tools to explore themselves, she couldn’t be a Yoga teacher forever. That’s when, five years ago, she started her Yogahealer journey.
Believing in empowering people to heal what lies within them, Alexandra has created an overwhelming impact. Especially in Europe, where she has steadily become a thought leader.

After flirting with Yogahealer for about six months, in May 2020, Shea Lehnen decided to go all-in and join Yoga Health Coaching.
Now, only a few months after, she has enrolled 18 people into her Pilot Program. It just goes to show that investing in yourself does, truly, payoff!

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to enroll in a conservative community
• How to build your confidence with coaching
• How to invest in yourself in order to grow

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Find the Money Course
• Watch the free Masterclass

Show Highlights:

• Shea talks about building trust in a conservative community
• Shea shares what advice Cate gave her about confidence as a coach
• Shea talks about her enrollment goals

Timestamps:

• 2:02 The Fast Tracking path in YHC
• 7:31 Structuring your Pilot and Course
• 16:18 Using the step by step YHC system

Guest Bio:

Shea Lehnen started Yoga Health Coaching in May 2020. With a background in psychology, and as a yoga teacher, Shea created Balanced Warrior of Wyo, and is ready to crash the scene with holistic wellness!
Her desire is to help people, Rooted in Ayurveda and Yoga, become the best they can be by making small changes over time, leading to health and becoming their most vibrant selves.
Based in a conservative community in Wyoming, Shea was looking to deepen her Ayurveda experience when she found Yogahealer. Choosing to fast track her YHC experience, she has been able to enroll 18 people into her Pilot!

Why should we tell our story

Why is important that we have our voices heard and that we come out of hiding? Men, women and children have been sexually assaulted, humiliated, shamed over many generations  and what is the reaction? More shame and humiliation. Why should we stay hidden and let the Patriarchy put us back in our closet of shame?

To me staying silent amid such courageous Truth Telling going on right now is destructive and regressive. Almost every woman I meet has been victimized by actual or attempted sexual assault. To deny these experiences is burying our pain and hurt and sending it down the generational stream to our children and grandchildren. It is unacceptable!

My Experience

I have had my own experience of a near rape in High School. I was lucky enough to have escaped but it left an indelible mark on me. I felt totally responsible for this event and deeply shamed. It was not my fault but I took it on and did not speak about it for many years.

I judged myself.

This was just one of many experiences that eroded my self esteem and my belief in my own talent. This led to an eating disorder and a stream of bad relationship choices.

Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda to the rescue!

Finding the path of yoga and Ayurveda helped me and so many others heal from this early life trauma. I discovered an inner strength I never knew I had and provided skills to heal my eating disorder. I was literally trying to stuff my feelings of unworthiness and trauma to keep them from surfacing. I was trying to take control of a place inside that was totally out of control, fearful and traumatized.

By practicing yoga and learning about Ayurveda I was able to bring my body into balance with nature. I was able to connect to the deeper essence of who I am… The place that is beyond personality and ordinary mind.

Through the practices of yoga I learned to connect to my Higher Self on a daily basis. By adopting good healthy Ayurvedic habits, my nervous system calmed down and I began to sleep more deeply. I finally experienced a deep self-love and respect for the first time in my life. I was able to maintain a healthy weight without obsessing about my diet and exercise. I was free!

The behavior of the men who took advantage of me over the years is reprehensible to me.

How do we as a society address this total disrespect and violence?

The Root Cause

What is causing this behavior according to the wisdom teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda?

At the root of this behavior of violence and domination is the feeling of being separated from others. The Yoga wisdom teachings call it Mayiya Mala, the veil that shows us how different we are from each other; a different race, age, culture, generation, class, gender, sexual preference.

Otherness is what triggers our feelings of separation. This veil cloaks our true nature which is totally connected to the Oneness in us all.

It is hard to see the beauty and oneness in someone who belittles, humiliates, and disregards your feelings as worthless.

Both men and women are at fault in empowering the patriarchy.

I heard a woman on a podcast last week laughing at how Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford. She let out a loud, huge, belly laugh as she shared how funny Trump was when he mocked this victim of sexual assault at a rally.

Where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here on finding the humanity in folks with whom we disagree? Since the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh, many of my students, friends, and colleagues have sunk into a rage and depression about where do we go from here.

Their own trauma triggered, they are anxious and feeling lost as to what can possibly come from this. What is the lesson we need to learn from this darkness?

The Next Generation

As a yoga teachers and health coaches we need to take a stand for the well being of ourselves, our students, our daughters and granddaughters. We need to ask how do we train our sons, husbands, nephews, and grandsons to be sensitive, aware and respectful around women and girls?

We are  called to discover an inner “Source” that will enable us to become resilient and strong enough to stand up to centuries of misogyny and the all powerful Patriarchy.

The practices and wisdom teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda are pathways to help cultivate an awareness and inner strength in both men and women to find a new way forward.

Finding New Leadership

Knowing at a very young age that independence was very important to me I sought out other independent spirits who had non-traditional paths. They were leaders in a new entrepreneurial feminist movement.

I was totally on board. My new friends were women like Molly Fox and Cate Stillman who have blazed new trails of leadership in the wellness and healing professions.

Why should you find your authentic path, your SwaDharma?

Finding the right path is good for the soul. By becoming an entrepreneur I see myself and many women finding their way around the Patriarchy. Being in professions where women excel and hold positions of power, I see women learning to share their power instead of holding others down in order to feel more powerful themselves.

Taking control of your own destiny

When I became a Yoga Health Coach 4 years ago, I began to work with men and women who want to step into their own power and realize their true potential. I am seeing people blossom and grow in new ways. They become more confident and self possessed. They take on skills to help them find their own inner voice and the source of their creativity. I see my students take on new health habits that bring them mastery over how they feel about themselves.

By stepping into power in your own life you can encourage your kids, grandkids, elders step into their own Swa Dharma. Everyone who steps onto this path affects the well being of everyone around them. It is magical!

The Next Right Step

In order to heal our society we need to share power and authority with both men and women.

We need to share the wisdom teachings of yoga and Ayurveda with the next generation and empower them to step into their own “True Path”.

We need to train the next generation of girls and boys to respect each other and not get caught up in trying to fit in by compromising what we know is right for ourselves and our bodies and hearts.

• Teach them to recognize true intimacy is not only physical but emotional.
• Train our young boys to have emotional intelligence and not objectify girls and women.
• Choose leaders who are awake and want to empower women and men in new roles.

The economies of countries who educate women are much stronger. Women will educate their children and help our society to evolve.

This will free both men and women to to step into their true path.

Let your voice be heard. I welcome dialogue about your own experiences of finding your own voice and true path.

If you are looking to empower yourself and become more independent, I highly recommend the path of a Yoga Health Coach. If you are currently a yoga teacher and struggling financially this will give you more financial freedom and autonomy. Studying with Cate Stillman had been immensely empowering to me and so many others.

“Embrace your suffering and let it reveal to you the way to peace” Thich Nhat Hanh

Alec was trained professionally as a chef. For years, he led a very arhythmic lifestyle working as a chef and managing kitchens. He realized he needed to make a change. He went back to and dove deeper into his yoga practice and started to enjoy life a bit more. Around the time he started teaching yoga, he found the Yogahealer Real Life Show podcast and realized there were changes he could make in his lifestyle that would better support his wellbeing. He started making those changes and it made a huge difference, not only in how he experienced his day to day life, but also in how he was able to show up for others. So he enrolled in Yoga Health Coaching as a way to take control of his career as well as his physiology.

Alec weaves lifestyle lessons into his yoga classes, calling them “warm-ups for life” and reminding his students that while they refine their breathing, their attention, and their awareness during class, the real practice starts when they leave the studio. In this way, he differentiates himself from fitness instructors. The 10 habits of ayurveda that we learn to teach in Yoga Health Coaching assist in the implementation of taking our yoga off the mat. Implementing and automating the 10 habits is even more important for yoga teachers, who are often keeping arhythmic schedules and running from place to place to teach. Post YHC, Alec has been able to design a schedule for himself that helps keep him in a state of ease and flow.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How YHC makes you a solopreneur while providing you with a network of colleagues and “coworkers.”
• How yoga teachers differ from fitness instructors.
• How the 10 habits of Ayurveda are the tools that help us live our yoga off the mat.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Alec’s webiste
• YHC Have a conversation
• Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – One of the benefits of being a yoga health coach is that while we are all solopreneurs, we have a network of colleagues or “coworkers” that span the globe.
• 2:26 – Alec was trained professionally as a chef. For years, he led a very arhythmic lifestyle working as a chef and managing kitchens. He realized he needed to make a change. He went back to and dove deeper into his yoga practice and started to enjoy life a bit more. Around the time he started teaching yoga, he found the Yogahealer Real Life Show podcast and realized there were changes he could make in his lifestyle that would better support his wellbeing. He started making those changes and it made a huge difference, not only in how he experienced his day to day life, but also in how he was able to show up for others. So he enrolled in Yoga Health Coaching as a way to take control of his career as well as his physiology.
• 6:35 – Alec weaves lifestyle lessons into his yoga classes, calling them “warm-ups for life” and reminding his students that while they refine their breathing, their attention, and their awareness during class, the real practice starts when they leave the studio. In this way, he differentiates himself from fitness instructors.
• 8:46 – The 10 habits of ayurveda that we learn to teach in Yoga Health Coaching assist in the implementation of taking our yoga off the mat.
• 10:14 – Implementing and automating the 10 habits is even more important for yoga teachers, who are often keeping arhythmic schedules and running from place to place to teach.
• 12:22 – In addition to teaching and coaching, Alec still works as a chef, cooking privately for people, in a more relaxed environment and with a sense of ease that helps keep him in a state of flow.

Favorite Quotes:

• “We can’t really gives something that we don’t have a full and true understanding of ourselves.” — Carly Banks
• “Over time, I’ve been able to create my own schedule to where it supports me in deeper ways. . . . So I have these really key points in my day that help anchor me into what I’m trying to create this day, who I’m trying to serve this day and how can I better support myself along this journey while supporting others.” — Alec Hurley
• “We can be doing our dharma . . . but stress and tension come from being out of alignment with self.” — Carly Banks

Guest BIO:

Alec Hurley is a yoga teacher in the San Diego area and a lifelong surfer. He is the founder of Higher Self Wellness and an avid practitioner of ancient wisdom and spiritual practices which he infuses into his public yoga classes and group program “The Art of Connection”. He is professionally trained as a Chef and incorporates the ancient wisdom of “food as medicine” into his culinary creations. Currently enrolled in the Yoga Health Coaching program, Alec is adding the practices of personal and planetary alignment into his modern healthy lifestyle toolkit to help shift the collective into deeper states of connection. You can download a Free guided meditation here to get a deeper sense of what he is all about.

Listen in on today’s Yogahealer Real Life show and learn more about welcoming prosperity into your business and making money teaching others about your passion!

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to welcome prosperity in your healing business.
• How can money and spirituality work together?
• What does having your own business space look like?

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Amy’s website
• Amy’s podcast – The Abundant Yoga Teacher podcast
• YHC Have a conversation
• Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 1:30 – Amy and I chat about how did we made the transition from our previous jobs to our current health coaching lifestyles? Our friends asked us for advice and moved us towards this path of wellness and helping people be heal and grow.
• 7:30 – How can you make a living teaching yoga without getting burned out on doing what you love? The business model that Amy works with to help people succeed teaching yoga to prevent burnout and low ojas and the difficulties of owning your own yoga studio.
• 15:00- What does it mean to have your own space to grow your business? Are yoga and spirituality mutually exclusive? What would you do with a ton more money?! Amy and I dive into these big questions in the second half of today’s podcast.

Favorite Quotes:

• “If you don’t root, it’s tough to rise.” – Cate Stillman
• “Any time I up my earning game I’m going to up my impact game.” – Cate Stillman
• “The more money we make is directly proportional to the more we’re serving people and the more people are being healed and transformed.” – Amy McDonald

Guest BIO:

Amy McDonald is a business coach for Yoga teachers. When she’s not travelling the world sipping chai and nerding out about Yoga she lives in a historic town in Australia’s goldfields with her terrier Stephen and a garden full of kangaroos and lizards. Find her online at amymcdonald.com.au or on her Abundant Yoga Teacher Podcast on iTunes. Connect Amy on her Facebook page and website.

When it comes to growing an organic, grassroots pro healer career. Cate wrote the book. From living in a trailer during ayurveda school to running her first Yogidetox in yurt with 6 paying members, it’s fair to say that Cate grew her business from a shoestring budget. When it came to schooling and training, Cate was most interested in ayurveda and very much about the ROI (return on investment). Within a year of starting ayurveda school, Cate was making 50% of her income from ayurveda, even before she was certified. Yoga Health Coaching works the same way. We earn while we learn.

Before we can recognize, articulate, and step into our dharma, there’s some processing we need to do, processing of dysfunctional and/or outdated parts of ourselves with our eyes wide open. The Yoga Health Coaching community provides a safe space that facilitates this processing while providing feedback that comes from a place of care and love AND provides support for identity evolution and dharmic upgrades.

When you book a career conversation with Grace, you’ll explore your wants, your needs your desires, your dharma. Grace has been through it. She’s been where you are, and she’s not so far ahead of you that she can’t relate.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How Yoga Health Coaches earn while we learn
• What needs to happen before we can fully step into our dharma
• Why we need to stop judging ourselves for wanting to make money

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Body Thrive Course
• Body Thrive Book
• YHC Have a conversation
• Stay Hydrated with Copper H20
• Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 1:00 – From living in a trailer during ayurveda school to running her first Yogidetox in yurt with 6 paying members, it’s fair to say that Cate grew her business from a shoestring budget. When it came to schooling and training, Cate was most interested in ayurveda and very much about the ROI (return on investment).
• 4:50 – Within a year of starting ayurveda school, Cate was making 50% of her income from ayurveda, even before she was certified. Yoga Health Coaching works the same way. We earn while we learn.
• 5:25 – Cate started out in environmental policy but her interest shifted to human consciousness when she realized that policy wouldn’t change until human consciousness changed.
• 9:05 – Cate is in the process of writing her next book, Awake Living, a dharma life-hacking system. In looking at what’s already been published on dharma, she found that the majority of it comes from a masculine point of view. In Cate’s view, before we can step into our dharma, there’s some processing we need to do, processing of dysfunctional and/or outdated parts of ourselves undertaken with our eyes wide open.
• 12:57 – Grace is in this process right now. While it’s difficult to recognize and receive honest feedback, it can be softened by recognizing the care and the love that underlies or envelopes the feedback. The Yoga Health Coaching community provides a safe space for us to give and receive feedback that comes from a place of care and love while providing support for identity evolution and dharmic upgrades.
• 15:30 – Shakti will lead the way through desire. It led Cate to impact and income. Money makes impact easier. It’s also a source of independence. For those reasons, we need to stop judging ourselves for wanting to make money.
• 18:15 – When you make an investment, look at the ROI. What’s missing from yoga teacher trainings and ayurveda school is training on how to be self employed, how to go pro in your wellness career.
• 20:18 – When you book a career conversation with Grace, you’ll explore your wants, your needs your desires, your dharma. Grace has been through it. She’s been where you are, and she’s not so far ahead of you that she can’t relate.

Favorite Quotes:

• “All of us are wounded healers at some point, and we’re in it for our own journey until we’re in it to help people.” — Cate Stillman
• “There’s this whole underbelly of dharma that causes parts of ourselves that are dysfunctional or outdated . . . that need to get processed through agni.” — Cate Stillman
• “For pro healers, shakti leads the way.” — Cate Stillman
• “My dharma has a lot to do with the marketplace. A lot to do with helping pro healers in the marketplace. . . . Money makes impact easier.” — Cate Stillman

Guest BIO:

Grace Edison lives in British Columbia, Canada. She’s a mom of twin 8 year olds, a Yoga teacher, studio owner, and Yoga Health Coach — and she also works for Cate Stillman in Admissions at Yogahealer! More than anything, she loves to make people laugh and has a not-so-secret dream of doing stand-up comedy. Grace has a strong passion for empowering others to take their health and wellness into their own hands. She loves building authentic relationships, making people laugh, and creating supportive communities. After a long-standing relationship with severe depression, Grace has found deep relief through the habits of Ayurveda — and much credit is due to Cate and her Body Thrive program. After taking Body Thrive several times and jumping into Yoga Health Coaching, Grace came aboard the Yogahealer team.

Chen Ya’s yoga  studio  is a beautiful studio  filled with light. Originally the studio offered facial treatments and massage, but recently  Chen Ya shifted  her business  to teaching yoga and training  yoga teachers. A group of Chinese yoga teachers offer Anusara yoga classes in her studio . The downstairs room is a bit darker and is great for the restorative classes that are so popular there. The upstairs room is larger and brighter  and mostly used for training teachers and workshops. The modules I taught in Chen Ya’s yoga teacher training included 50 hours of Ayurveda, Meditation, how to teach yoga classes with Heart Themes and teaching yoga to Seniors.   

I  Focused on the Habit of Meditation

Prior to the training, I made the decision to use one of the most important Body Thrive habits I learned from Cate Stillman, meditation, as the foundation of the week long intensive I would be teaching. When the training began, I told everyone to act as if we were on retreat, and do the following, stop drinking alcohol, eat lighter meals at night, go to bed early and get up early. I asked everyone to start and end their day with meditation to assimilate all of my instruction and to prepare for the following day. 

The regular meditators were on board right away. Non-meditators, not surprisingly, experienced and expressed resistance! Each day I asked who meditated, and everyday more and more hands were raised. When we got to the heart theming module, the students realized that meditation actually helped each of them to have the contemplative ability necessary to weave heart language into the physical practice of asana.

As the meditation “energy” grew deeper and deeper, the group reported experiencing seeing lights and colors, feeling a vibration and rocking sensations. These experiences are called Kriyas. They occur in deep states of meditation, as meditation energy begins to move in the physical body. I became aware of the powerful Kriya energy moving through the group as the training progressed.

Meditation Creates a Fire

One of my meditation teachers, Rudrani Farbman, talks about the field of energy of the kula (sacred community) becoming like a lens for meditation energy or Shakti. If you put a lens over dried leaves, the leaves will catch fire. The lens of shared energetic practice intensifies the meditation energy in a group. Once a student has experienced meditation energy moving inside the begin to awaken to their true essence. Getting a hit of this inner blissful state,they become more and more curious to meditate to find it again.

The group began to share their dreams. The meditations were affecting their subtle bodies. One teacher came back after teaching meditation in her class for the first time. She described how it tremendously shifted her yoga instruction. Every day I had the teacher trainees practice teaching meditation to a friend in mediation dyads. Their confidence and love for meditation grew and grew during our time together.

Once Upon a Time in China 

The students were asked to bring in stories from their lives and their culture to share with the group in order to learn the art of storytelling. The stories began…  “Once upon a time…” A sweet look came upon the yoga teacher trainees as if they were all in Kindergarten gazing upon the teacher reading from a story book.  As they got more confident, the trainees practiced telling their stories to the group. Giggles and looks of recognition came upon each  of their faces as they found universal themes in everyday circumstances to share with their students.
As their confidence grew, humor emerged to bond the group, everyone began to relax and have fun together. An ease settled over the KULA. We were bonding.

The Week was Dedicated to Hannah

In the beginning of the training, I learned that a favorite kula member had died over the summer and that not everyone knew of her death. Hannah was 28 only years old and a mother of 2 young children. Tragically she had died of an unusual heart disease. I took time the first day of the training to connect with everyone in the group through a healing circle. We made a puja, an altar filled with sacred items that I brought from home. The altar had Mala beads, a small Nataraja, some healing crystals, Padukhas-the guru’s sandals, a candle and some incense.)  I asked people to put items on the puja that had meaning to them. My translator bought Hannah, the deceased student, a sweet woven straw sun hat from Taiwan. We put the hat on the puju and honored Hannah, dedicating our week together as an offering to her. We invoked blessings to her and from her for our gathering.

I led everyone in creating a magical pot in which each person put in a word that described Hannah.  Some of the words placed in the magical pot were “Sweetness,” “Love,” “Compassion,” “Loving Kindness,” “Steadfastness,” “Adhikara – great studentship.” I told the students to emulate these qualities during the week as a tribute to Hannah. I also told them that embodying these qualities was a way for Hannah to live on through us. As the tears flowed and some of the grief was processed, the group bonded in a deep and authentic way. We dried our tears and felt a renewed rigor in our work together.  

This is the essence of the first Principle of Ansuara Yoga. “Open to Grace.” Open to the teaching that was already present the moment I walked in the door of Chen Ya’s studio for the training. My job was to guide the Kula to open to their tender-heartedness and their love for their classmate. We were able to turn the grief into a powerful honoring of Hannah’s legacy.

Take a Dosha Quiz in Mandarin

When the Ayurveda module began, the students were fascinated. I asked them to take a dosha quiz in Mandarin. I introduced the idea of the Ayurvedic clock to them and asked them to start eating heavier meals during the day and lighter ones at night.  Within the group, there were kula members with digestive issues, sleep issues, one cancer survivor, and a few with chronic respiratory infections.  Smoking and pollution are the two main causes for respiratory issues in China.

The modern Chinese diet has a lot of sugar and salt, causing hypertension and diabetes. The newly prosperous Chinese are now prone to many chronic illnesses, such as obesity and heart problems. These health issues were not as prevalent in China in the past. I taught the Chinese yoga teachers many of the 10 health habits of Body Thrive. As a result, the Chinese students in Guangzhou were able begin to understand how to take care of their own health challenges. During that week they shared that they were sleeping better, their digestion felt more efficient and some students were able to quiet their minds for meditation for the first time in their lives. Regular meditators found that their practice deepened and became more fruitful. They had more kriyas and insights about their Sadhana (spiritual path).

Time for Chair Yoga in China

When I finally got to the ‘Yoga for Seniors’ module, we studied Osteoporosis and Ayurveda. Since many Chinese people do not trust taking medication (I wonder why!!) I was told that because many children have died or have become ill eating formula from China. As a result parents often go to Hong Kong and bring back safer formula from overseas. Medications in China are sometimes tainted with industrial chemicals making people ill. I learned that there is great fear of medications and baby formula in China For this reason, having alternative treatments for Osteoporosis, rather than drugs, was appealing to the Chinese yoga teachers.

I taught the traines how to teach chair yoga. One of my students said that Chinese people were skeptical about the causes of Osteoporosis and rebelled against taking medication or doing any weight bearing activity. I assured them that education is the best medicine. I also explained to many of these teachers who are now in their 20’s 30’s and 40’s, that the time to build muscle and bone  mass was right now! I discovered they loved inversions and were now inspired by the ‘Yoga for Seniors’ module to build muscle and bone to prepare for the aging process and life post menopause.

Meditation opens the Heart

At the end of the modules, they were teaching each other meditation, sharing their heart themes with each other, planning to either teach chair yoga to a relative or start a senior yoga class. All of the students were anxious to delve deeper into the study and practices of Ayurveda. They had conversations about Agni, Ama and Ojas and could really articulate these terms along with the Doshas, the gunas and the 5 elements. I taught them many of the 10 habits of  Body Thrive. These habits made a difference in their ability to openly receive the teachings of our week long intensive. It helped the students find that inner opening and trust that allows the heart to “Open to Grace.” Most of the students opened their hearts to the teachings. I did see some resistance. One student who saw herself as very advanced got up to share her heart theme. It needed help. I volunteered to help her outside of the class and invited her to do it over. She not only did not do it over, she did not show up for the rest of the module. She was mortified of having to do it over again. Every other student was able to take coaching in their stride.

When it was time for me to say goodbye I felt so fulfilled and grateful for this experience. I hope to be invited back in the next year or so.  I am so happy to see this inspired group of Chinese Anusara Teachers moving towards become Licensed Anusara Yoga teachers and spreading the good news of Anusara Yoga, Ayurveda and Meditation in their communities. They now have skills to teach seniors and many new skills to share with their students.

Advice for Teaching in China and Beyond

For anyone planning to teach yoga and Ayurveda in China, the Chinese students are diligent students. I discovered that by asking questions constantly during my modules forced them to focus and pay attention. I quizzed them throughout the workshop and they loved being tested. They are accustomed to studying very hard.

Discipline comes easy for the Chinese student. Give them homework.  Spontaneity and creativity needs to be nurtured in them because this is not a skill that Chinese students learn in the formal education system in their country. Chinese yoga teachers are open to discovering the best way to teach and learn easily. Their education system teaches them to study. They are bright and motivated and used to studying hard and really absorbing the material. As a teacher you may need to remind them to turn off their phones and stay alert and focused. I found the students in my training got distracted and start having side conversations.  I know they are comfortable with me but I still had to hold the boundaries of the student /teacher relationship.

Honor the Teacher

They are affectionate and generous. They wouldn’t let me pay for my meals. They picked me up from the airport and ordered me a car to take me back. Meals arrived at the hotel room the evenings when we didn’t go out and lunch was ordered for us every day. I didn’t have to brave the heat or look for some food at lunch time.

I felt like an honored guest and what was even more fun was my discovery that Chen Ya, the owner of the yoga studio  and host,, had a tea obsession. One day I had a queasy stomach and she brewed up some special fermented tea that was so soothing. Someone explained that they can digest all the fat in their food because of the tea. Somehow the tea helps them digest the heavy fatty foods.

Chicken Feet and Other Teaching Challenges 

According to many of my friends, Guangzhou is the foodie capital of China. I found the food a bit too heavy for me. I loved the veggies, soups and fish. You had to be careful of bones in the fish dishes. I saw a lot of chicken feet, but did not feel tempted to try eating feet! Chicken feet actually makes their Chicken soup quite tasty!!  We ate around  huge round tables with a lazy susan in restaurants. Everyone dipping into the serving dishes with their chopsticks. It is no wonder that a cold spread around the community. We share food and germs family style.

I surrendered and knew I would probably be taking some kind of cold home with me. Our day of visiting Hong Kong was in the 90’s with over 80 % humidity. It was really uncomfortable. I felt as though I were literally baking in the sun. My translator who was from Taiwan said she came down with some heat stroke symptoms from our day in Hong Kong. We had to spend a lot of the day in a mall as it was smoggy and hot outside. Hong kong is a port built  on the side of a mountain. We went up to Victoria Peak to look at the skyline and the day was hazy and sunny.

This was the last day of my trip. I could feel a cold coming on. Disturbed sleep, weird diet and too much Pita energy. I had a great time but couldn’t wait to get back home to the 10 habits and my green smoothies for breakfast.  Being out of rhythm while traveling is difficult. I did get to sleep early but would wake up way before dawn every day.

Gratitude

As I packed up to come home I felt as though I passed the torch on to next generation of Chinese teachers who want to make a deep impact in their communities. I am beyond grateful for the experience of teaching yoga in China and look forward to my next journey there in 2018 or 2019.. Hopefully I will go at a cooler time of year! Teaching yoga in China has so enriched my life and made me a better teacher . It has given me confidence and valuable experience in presenting new  Advanced Teacher Training modules to these enthusiastic students. I look forward to my next adventure.  Another Advanced Anusara 300 hour teacher training is being planned for next year.

My Advice for My Fellow Yoga Teachers and Presenters 

If you are invited to teach in China or anywhere in the world, welcome the opportunity and ‘Open to Grace.’ Let the experience bring you to a new space in your life and your teaching. There will be challenges and amazing gifts. Be prepared and let your deep connection to the Shakti lead the way. I was nervous preparing, but so uplifted by this experience.  It is like skydiving.  You jump out of the plane and your life will never be the same.