Yoga Perspectives

No matter how proficient you are at teaching yoga, the reality is that reaching an audience for your wisdom does requires having students show up to classes. This means a basic understanding of digital marketing is important for anyone hoping to get the word out about their classes, workshops or teaching avenues.  Resistant as many yogis are, being flexible and adapting to the changing world is vital to expand your reach and continue to share the teachings of yoga today. Digital marketing expert and RYT -200, Emily Dailey, shares her advice about how yoga teachers can  embrace Digital marketing in support of their careers to keep current with shifting means of communication today.  

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Teaching yoga is a worthy endeavor, and anyone wishing to embrace the role of mentor to others has good intentions and an inspired heart. But learning the skillset of great communication and creating a strong platform for sharing yoga requires an awareness of more than Sanskrit and postures. Join Ginny Shaddock and Denver Clark, IAYT Yoga Therapists, in a discussion about 7 common mistakes new yoga teachers often make and how to be a more effective and dynamic yoga teacher.  

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Join IAYT Yoga Therapist, Denver Clark, as she discusses Ayurvedic Practices for Spring that keep yoga teachers healthy and build awareness for preparing yoga classes that flow and resonate with the changing energies occurring from Winter to Spring.

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

In this episode, Denver Clark, ERYT-500 and IAYT Yoga Therapist, discusses the five Koshas and how they can be integrated into yoga classes and yoga therapy sessions. She offers theory and practice insight as well as exercises that can be integrated with asana to increase a student's awareness and open channels of understanding. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Ahimsa means non-violence, which most people familiar with basic yoga philosophy know, at least intellectually.  But becoming a vegetarian and being kind to others only scratches the surface of our interpretation of the teaching. This conversation explores Ahimsa and its relationship to the Gunas and our mindset. Cultivating peace within is pertinent to our ultimately embracing non-harming behaviors, and this demands a continual attempt to remain in the Sattva state mentally. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

This episode discusses different approaches to learning the yoga sutras, comparing the merits of approaching the teachings academically or intellectually to experiential knowledge and developing the heart knowing. What kind of teacher should we look for? Can we trust teachers? Must we have an Indian guru to learn the teachings correctly? What can we do to deepen our understanding and have a more authentic connection to our spiritual path?

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Join Denver Clark, IAYT Yoga therapist, LMT, and co director of Heartwood Yoga Institute for a candid talk about yoga, body image and diet culture in America. The discussion introduces important considerations for yoga teachers with recommendations on how to focus a class and use language to promote body acceptance, health and a positive association between our physical bodies and our yoga practice.

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Setting boundaries is an important subject for discussion for anyone who is a yoga teacher, mentor or person who serves others in health and wellness. Join Ginny Shaddock and Denver Clark, IAYT yoga therapists, as they discuss the how and why's of setting boundaries for professionalism, sustainability of a career and our personal health and wellbeing.  

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

This episode features Stephanie Engebretson, IAYT Yoga Therapist and RYT-500, speaking about empowered language for yoga teachers. The discussion explores the relationship of sound, vibration and language and how affirmations and saucha (purity of language) is important to anyone hoping to evolve their teaching to make it more inclusive and impactful. With 8 suggestions for teaching with mindful awareness of language, this podcast invites teachers to consider new ways of communicating with their students in the class and elsewhere. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

This episode explores the emerging field of yoga therapy and IAYT (International Association of Yoga Therapy.) The discussion focuses on how a yoga therapist is trained, how the work differs from advanced yoga teaching and the mission of IAYT to make yoga therapy a recognized, regulated health modality. A newly graduated IAYT therapist, Stephanie Engebretson, joins us to share why she chose this educational path as a yoga teacher and what she found most inspirational and most difficult about the studies and the work of a yoga therapist. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Yoga Alliance has risen as the leading agency influencing yoga today as it sets  standards for teachers and yoga teachers training programs. Is it necessary to participate in this non-profit, and what is the benefit for yoga teachers? This podcast explores where Yoga Alliance came from and why the organization is criticized by some people in the industry.  Is the controversy fair or merited or are the expectations yogis expect from the non-profit unreasonable?

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

For many yoga teachers the relationship between making money and being of service to others is a deeply conflicted one. This conversation explores how yoga teachers and others are  conditioned to think about money and the root conflicts between spirituality and teaching yoga as a profession with the pressure to earn money to support our lives and make it possible to do the work. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Senior ordained minister at First Baptist Church in Greenville SC and RYT-500 Yoga teacher, Jim Dant, joins us in an inspirational conversation about yoga and Christianity. Exploring both the similarities and the challenges of both practices, Jim offers insight on how the teachings of both spiritual paths can be interpreted as more similar than different and how our spiritual development can be enriched though remaining open and embracing a sense of wonder rather than judgement. Jim is also the author of the delightful, lighthearted book Namaste Newbies, about his early insights  as a new yoga practitioner.  

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Cody McNeeley, RYT-500 and IAYT Yoga Therapist,  discusses how yoga mentors and allies can share yoga as a tool to help LGBTQ Youth in their journey to self acceptance. He explores how yoga teachers can create safer spaces and build awareness of the unique challenges faced by  students of the LGBTQ community in order to deliver for more inclusive and supportive practices. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

Every yogi begins infatuated with the practice. This is what inspires us to fall in love with yoga so we keep coming back for more. But  the initial fascination we feel with the practice eventually wears off and our first instinct is to spice up the practices  with new types of yoga or superficial gimmicks that are more about entertainment than true awareness. There is difference between yoga as spiritual entertainment and settling in to spiritual maturity and discovering a deep devotion to the process. This episode discusses  emotional wisdom and spiritual growth and how we can let wisdom and discipline lead our path rather than let our yoga become an object of curiosity and desire. When we practice non attachment to our expectations of yoga, our relationship with the spiritual elements has opportunity to expand and take root.

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

#002: Ginny Shaddock explores the definition of yoga from the Bhagavad Gita to contemporary views in this review of yoga's origins, how people interpret and assign meaning to the practice today, and how yoga was meant to be explored and integrated for a more profound and authentic experience.

Learn what it means to have a heart knowing verses intellectual understanding and how to deepen your relationship with yoga. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.

This first episode introduces the hosts of Yoga Perspectives, Ginny Shaddock and Denver Clark, and explains the mission of the podcast to serve yoga teachers and advancing practitioners. Listen to learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute, the staff, and this new audio source of information, inspiration and education designed to support those on the yoga path. 

Learn more about Heartwood Yoga Institute and our yoga programs at www.rytcertification and join our blog at Heartwoodwisdom.com.