Yogaland Podcast

"I needed my yoga to find me, to comfort me -- not be another box to check off." An open and inquisitive conversation about navigating the challenges, grief, and joys of perimenopause and menopause -- and how to craft a yoga practice that meets you in the moment.For shownotes, go to yogalandpodcast.com/episode327Thank you for listening and for sharing the podcast with friends and students!

This week Jason and I talk about why a home practice is essential if you want to integrate yoga in your day to day life. We also offer our thoughts on what constitutes home practice so that you give yourself a break and focus on what's important -- getting on your mat! Our hope is that home practice can be the thing in your life that consistently feels like a respite, a refuge, a haven.We hope you enjoy this conversation where we talk through these 7 distinct reasons that developing a home practice is beneficial:It's so much easier to be consistentYou can focus on regions of the body that need more supportYou can use it as a supplement to your studio classes (or other forms of exercise)You get to practice the poses you loveYou get to spend more time on the poses you want to master but struggle withWe all need a daily dose of self-regulationFor yoga teachers, it's a way to get in touch with your own voice, creativity, and insightI've linked to five essential sequences on our shownotes page: yogalandpodcast.com/episode326

Take a deep breath and get ready to take notes for this one: Jason hones in on 5 of the most common mistakes yoga teachers make. They're so common, in fact, that there are a few Jason still has to be mindful of from time to time. This episode is packed with simple, straightforward ideas to help you teach more skillfully and with more confidence.⭐️ Join us in at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts for a morning of yoga to benefit Boston Children's Hospital! The event is April 28th. Join our Team Yogaland here: yogareachesout.org⭐️ For shownotes: yogalandpodcast.com/episode325

You might look at yoga teacher Brett Larkin, with her 500K YouTube followers and think it all came easily and naturally to her. Not so — over the course of a decade, Brett slowly but surely kept publishing videos while working full-time as a game developer job and mothering her two small boys.On this episode, Brett shares the details of how she overcame imposter syndrome with the help of her online yoga community and ultimately created a thriving online teacher training business.She also shares gems from her new book, Yoga Life: Habits, Poses, and Breathwork to Channel Joy, which helps you create a personalized practice that fits into the chaos of your daily life.Go check out the shownotes for links to all of Brett's work: yogalandpodcast.com/episode324

Are you still vying for a decent time slot to teach at your local studio? According to Office Yoga founder Maryam Sharifzadeh, your efforts would be far better spent finding a few corporate teaching gigs. Consider this statistic from Sharifzadeh: In the US there is one yoga studio for every 10,000 businesses. That's a lot more premium time slots, with better pay and, in all likelihood, shorter classes!Sharifzadeh founded her business, Office Yoga, in 2014 and shares all the goods about how to go about teaching in the workplace, including:How to adapt to the time and sequencing constraints in a corporate environmentWhat to wear -- and what not to wear -- to your interviewHow to determine the learning objectives for each class and workplaceImportant ways to gain feedback and understand the inner-workings of the organizationThe most common way she finds corporate gigsThree things to considering when pricing your offeringsSharifzadeh's passion for office yoga is infectious -- as she puts it, people in offices need you, they want you, and they really appreciate the yoga.

Jason joins me this week to answer questions that have been asked during the group live calls of his online course about preventing yoga injuries. He talks through:Knee pain in Upward Bow (Wheel Pose) and Bow Pose (Dhanurasana)What causes sore hamstring attachments and whether or not to bend the knees to make this pain go awaySacroiliac pain that occurs in twistsSeveral different options for coping with sore wrists in Plank and Chaturanga!Jason will be teaching at LoveStory Yoga in San Francisco on March 29th, 2024 -- go to lovestoryyoga.com/workshops to register!Come see Jason and I at Gillette Stadium on April 28th, 2024 for the Yoga Reaches Out event benefitting Boston Children's Hospital. Register here: www.yogareachesout.orgThere's still time to join Jason's training, Better Way to Flow: Preventing & Managing Common Yoga Injuries. Join us here: learn.jasonyoga.com/injuries

More than a decade ago, Sarah Gardner was a yoga teacher with a dream: She wanted to bring a thousand yogis together at Gillette Stadium in Boston to raise money for Boston Children's Hospital.Years before, Sarah's son had spent seven life-saving weeks in the NICU at Boston Children's. After experiencing the love, care, and devotion that the doctors and nurses gave to her family, Sarah knew she wanted to give back. She has spent more than a decade doing just that -- rallying the yoga community each spring to gather at Gillette Stadium to do yoga for a cause. To date, her organization, Yoga Reaches Out, has raised more than 4 million dollars for Boston Children's Hospital. The money raised helps fund the program Every Child Fund, which offers dog therapy and art therapy, helps families with food vouchers, hotel stays, vouchers, and more. Hear Sarah's inspiring story, including lessons she's learned along the way.PS: Jason and I are headlining this year's Yoga Reaches Out even on April 28th and we would love to see you there! You can find information about how to join here: www.yogareachesout.org If you can't be there in person but would like to donate, go to www.yogareachesout.org and type Team Yogaland in the search box.

In the modern era of practicing yoga, we've come to terms with the reality that alignment alone is not the sole consideration when it comes to preventing yoga injuries. Today's episode draws from Jason's recent webinar, The Yoga Injury Matrix, and focuses on eight best practices for minimizing yoga injuries. The talk dives into the following ideas:Mindful, skillful alignmentPace, duration, and intensity are keyIntensification adjustments and their role in modern yogaWell-rounded sequencing mattersHelping your students prioritize self-regulationThe role of stabilization techniquesEmphasizing functional strength and active ROMThe body is a stress-distributing deviceTo listen to more podcasts we've done about specific yoga injuries, we've created a collection here: jasonyoga.com/yogaland-podcast/yoga-injuries/Or, learn more in Jason's newly updated online course Better Way to Flow: Preventing & Managing Common Yoga Injuries. Group calls start on March 18th! Or you can choose the self-paced option: www.jasonyoga.com/injuries

It was such a delight to have Jivana Heyman back on the show to talk about his latest book, The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga. (You can listen to our first chat at yogalandpodcast.com/episode176). The episode explores: What it means to be more collaborative in your teaching, how being more collaborative could help break down traditional hierarchical power dynamics that have led to teacher-student abuses in the past, the importance of overcoming impostor syndrome (especially if you don't think you look the part of the "typical" yoga teacher), his love of asana because of how accessible it makes the spiritual practice of yoga, and the importance of de-stigmatizing chair and bed yoga.For shownotes, go to: yogalandpodcast.com/episode320Jason's 2024 training schedule is up! You can find it at jasonyoga.com/scheduleYou can support the podcast by joining my Substack community at yogaland.substack.com