Leadership and Yoga

“Releasing the need to look like you "made it" unlocks your deepest creative freedom.” 
“Sometimes the most impressive thing you can do is to not be impressive at all.” 
Today we talk about the difference between the yoga "celebrity" mindset (focused on status, polish, and external validation) versus the "artist" mindset (focused on process, raw expression, and internal truth). This episode explores why the era of the polished, untouchable "yoga celebrity" is coming to an end, and why the world is starving for authentic artists instead. From overcoming social media comparison traps, to understanding Rick Rubin’s philosophy of decoupling self-worth from output, to true style is actually a quality of your consciousness (inspired by The Gene Keys), and details on the upcoming live Social Media Workshop inside the Patreon community.
Join my social media workshop on Patreon
Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠
⁠Shawna’s website⁠ - mailing list
OfferingTree is an all-in-one business platform for yoga teachers and studios. It handles your website, scheduling, payments, and marketing in one place. Try it free and get a discount with my link here⁠⁠! (My sponsor) 
Sign up for Yoga Trade’s passport: https://join.yogatrade.com/membership
(My sponsor)
Time stamps:
00:00 intro
06:54 animation 
09:25 yoga celebrities inspired me 
10:20 confidence is not a “look”
14:00 Jeff Foster - Spiritual Zombie
23:50 art helps us feel emotions 
26:30 step 1: light
28:25 step 2: nothing to hide, nothing to prove
29:30 behind the curtain
37:00 step 3: subtle feeling body
41:00 step 4: be okay refining
44:00 step 5: style is quality of consciousness 
51:00 step 6: numbers 
53:30 social media workshop
56:52 the creative revival

the feeling of yoga, and some words that try to describe it. stream of consciousness, and musical. this is for my seasoned yogis who want to put words to what yoga means to you, and also for yoga curious people who want to hear about a decade of practice put into freestyle prose and poetry about yoga asana versus the feeling of yoga, yoga philosophy, and what yoga really means.

Patreon: Leadership and Yoga CLUB. To support my work on this podcast, join monthly workshops, meet fellow listeners, and more… Join below. 
https://www.patreon.com/cw/shawnakru 
Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠
⁠Shawna’s website⁠

When I feel impatient, it’s an incredibly disturbing energy because I usually fear that rushing will block my success or sabotage what I want most. But while stuck in a nightmare series of travel delays in Paris on my way to see a close friend, I had a massive breakthrough about why we experience this frustration. I realized my impatience wasn't actually about the lost time or missed plans, but rather a deep-seated fear of disappointing other people and letting them down. Once you shine the light of awareness on the true root of your impatience, that heavy urge to force outcomes starts to dissolve so you can finally step into flow grace. 
Patreon: Leadership and Yoga CLUB. To support my work on this podcast, join monthly workshops, meet fellow listeners, and more… Join below. 
https://www.patreon.com/cw/shawnakru 
Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠
⁠Shawna’s website⁠
OfferingTree is an all-in-one business platform for yoga teachers and studios. It handles your website, scheduling, payments, and marketing in one place. Try it free and get a discount with my link here⁠⁠! (My sponsor) 
Sign up for Yoga Trade’s passport: https://join.yogatrade.com/membership
(My sponsor)
Clara on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamcleer/ 
Clara’s NGO Rights and Roots: https://www.instagram.com/rightsandrootsorg/

Recorded live in Guatemala after co-teaching Yoga Summer School together with the rest of the Cactus Club, my dear friend Kimi Hajian is back on the podcast. Kimi is a yoga teacher based in Prague, teaching classes both in person and online through her app, "Alkimi." This time we get into bhakti yoga, the yoga of relationships, the archetype of Hanuman, and the practice of chanting. Kimi shares what it means to her to stay rooted in the sacred without losing touch with ordinary, "normal" life. That yoga isn't about becoming someone new, it's about becoming more you.

Kimi’s Website

Alkimi App

Kimi’s Instagram

Patreon: Leadership and Yoga CLUB. To support my work on this podcast, to meet fellow listeners, and more… Join below. 
https://www.patreon.com/cw/shawnakru 

Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠

⁠Shawna’s website⁠

Waitlist for Yoga Summer School 2027

⁠Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠

Try OfferingTree for free⁠ ⁠with my link here⁠⁠ (My sponsor) 

Sign up for Yoga Trade’s passport: https://join.yogatrade.com/membership (My sponsor)

Time Stamps: 
00:00 intro
01:22 sponsors
05:57 the cactus club & yoga summer school
08:27 intentional sharing online
13:27 creative process
15:21 daily rituals
21:21 what does yoga mean to you?
23:51 staying rooted in reality
26:46 balancing the sacred and the mundane
28:47 archetypes
32:44 bhakti yoga
38:06 kirtan & voice
40:54 the yoga of relationships
46:19 “yoga is for normal people”
1:09:34 billboard question

This episode is for you if you feel like you’ve been holding yourself back, not wanting to look too crazy. If you’ve been hiding your bad angles, trying to be perfect, or even perfectly “authentic.” What if what you actually need is to embrace the weird, unpolished, wild, extreme parts of you? What if you could stop hiding yourself? 

And what if doing just that could help others do the same? It might be exactly what leads you into the big, meaningful work you’ve been dreaming of, or into your next creative project. It might just help you remember your power. The world needs you to show up as you are: not despite the parts of yourself that you try to hide, but because of them.

“The unique voice is the one that gets made fun of, but it's the one you recognize without even hearing their name…”

Patreon: Leadership and Yoga CLUB. To support my work on this podcast, to meet fellow listeners, and more… Join below. 
https://www.patreon.com/cw/shawnakru 

Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠

⁠Shawna’s website⁠

⁠Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠

Try OfferingTree for free⁠ ⁠with my link here⁠⁠ (My sponsor) 

Sign up for Yoga Trade’s passport: https://join.yogatrade.com/membership (My sponsor)

Time Stamps:
00:00 intro
01:01 tendency to avoid extremes
05:20 noticing & collecting stories
07:26 ujjayi breath
08:36 feeling like you’ve “made it”
12:36 beyond authenticity: let yourself be weird
13:54 stop hiding your “bad’ angles
19:40 big things come from extremes
22:01 sponsors
26:54 stop hiding yourself
29:13 if you can spot it, you’ve got it