Leadership and Yoga

In this episode, yoga teacher Nicole Wild shares what she's learned about life and yoga from confronting death: both in the cadaver lab and through working in hospice, being with people in their last moments. She shares how sitting with grief and impermanence are part of her yoga practice, bringing in a deeper reverence for life. This conversation is about fear, discomfort, embodiment, gratitude, and embracing your life (and teaching) as you are, today.

"Allowing space for letting go, allowing space for endings, allowing space for deaths in all forms, whether that's actual human lives or just the little things we have to let go of on a day-to-day basis…doing that work is absolutely a part of the yoga practice." - Nicole Wild

Quote on the fires of the heart mentioned is by Edmund Wilson. View full quote here

Death as a Surprise Party poem from Make Believe by Victoria Hutchins 

Nicole’s Website and offerings 

Nicole’s Instagram: @nicolewildcollective

Book mentioned: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande

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) 

Join YogaTrade Council & take workshops with me (Try it free) And check out jobs on https://yogatrade.com/ (My sponsor)

⁠Ayurvedic consultation with Art, TEND ⁠(My sponsor) 

Time Stamps:
00:00 intro
08:38 the cadaver lab
13:01 fear around discussing death
17:30 griefwork
19:59 what got you into this work?
25:34 hospice work: there is nothing to be afraid of
27:26 being with people in their last moments
30:07 how does yoga help us approach our fears?
32:45 addressing the body and mind as a whole
35:35 the therapeutic process
38:15 yoga can be both confronting & comforting
42:36 yoga and creativity
45:38 what you look for you will find
48:01 you don't just teach what you know, you teach who you are
50:48 how can yoga shape our values?
55:20 rapid fire questions
59:56 the billboard question

Aren’t we all looking for that feeling of energy of waking up happy to be alive? That’s what it feels like when we learn to flirt with our life, to romanticize things enough to pay attention to the details. Flirting with your life is about patience, rather than convenience and instant gratification. It’s about being ornate, not ikea. And when we do this, we overcome numbness and feeling stuck and replace it with creative flow, and freshness. Flirting is about freshness, about putting flowers on our wall even though we know they will wilt. Freshness reminds us that we must allow for constant evolution and change in our lives. We wish to hold onto our inspired, high on life states once we have them, but they must be constantly refreshed. 
This episode speaks to the way that presence itself is a sensual thing, it’s what allows us to connect to the natural magnetism that exists in everything. Let’s talk rituals, solo-dates, exploration and reconnecting with the magic of life.

Substack I mention: How to flirt with your life by Le Secret Club 
Poem by Victoria Hutchins from MAKE BELIEVE
Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠
⁠Shawna’s website⁠
⁠Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠
⁠Ayurvedic consultation with Art, TEND ⁠(My sponsor) 

Time stamps:
00:00 intro 
01:00 romantic. 
03:50 substack: flirt with life. 
07:00 dating myself changed my creative outlet 
08:00 ornate vs ikea
12:30 newness vs freshness
14:15 pain is caused by a lack of love
15:15 the grass is already under your feet
16:30 presence is a sensual thing
18:30 it’s either gorgeous or devastating - Victoria Hutchins
20:50 moods are internal weather patterns
22:00 entropy, Gene Keys 
24:00 vacuum state: black hole to white hole 
26:30 list of ways to flirt with life
29:30 my inspiration bath ritual
32:00 change lighting & levels of energy
34:30 eating slower & savoring 
37:00 TEND - ayurvedic guidance 
39:30 other ways to flirt with your life
42:00 musical poetry on creative urge

5 steps to let go of your embarrassment whether that’s in life, teaching yoga, or creating. Let’s talk embarrassment, fear, perfectionism, how to be confident, self-compassion, awkward people, self-conscious people, and why highly embarrassed people are also often highly judgmental people. Public speaking is a major part of teaching yoga, so let’s dissect in thrilling detail how we can confidently share what we know. 
“The minute that we stop overstating our own self-importance, the embarrassment and tightness of trying to uphold some image of yourself, starts to fade away.” 
Included: Gene key 26 by Richard Rudd: moving from pride to artfulness to invisibility. 

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) 
Join YogaTrade Council & take workshops with me (Try it free) And check out jobs on https://yogatrade.com/ (My sponsor)
⁠Ayurvedic consultation with Art, TEND ⁠(My sponsor) 
TEND spring sale code for 25% off: SPRING25
Gene keys profile I mention: https://genekeys.com/free-profile/ 
Adam Sandler interview with David Letterman: https://www.netflix.com/title/82014002 

Time stamps:
00:00 intro 
01:00 tulip story
06:30 Myke Towers tomato face embarrassment 
10:00 confidence teaching yoga
12:00 don’t “just jump”
13:00 your best is not good enough yet
15:00 the art of getting over embarrassment 
16:15 freestyle sponsors:
18:50 OfferingTree
20:25 Yoga Trade
22:30 TEND
24:30 5 steps to overcome embarrassment 
26:00 Self-Compassion by Kristin Neff
30:30 defense vs offense in embarrassment 
34:00 step 1: be seen as dumb
36:30 Adam Sandler and David Letterman 
42:00 judgmental people
43:50 step 2: play with contrast
48:00 step 3: face physical fear
49:00 teaching yoga embarrassing stories
55:00 pre-teaching tangible action to take
56:30 step 4: stop restraining yourself
59:00 decisiveness
1:02:00 step 5: turn pride into art, and become invisible 
1:06:00 artfulness quote
1:11:00 invisible, why do we want to disappear
1:12:45 when you make yourself self-important
1:15:00 you don’t need a life ring

This is an immersive special episode, brought to life with music and sound effects. Listen for spoken word and storytelling written by me, Shawna Krueger, on the nature of time and anxiety, sending love to past versions of yourself, healing your past, finding hope in mental health darkness, and finding a way to create and show up as a creator for social media, or as an artist despite your own suffering. 
Today you will learn how to send prayers to YOURSELF, forward and backwards, and I will warn you, this episode is a little bit like the rabbit hole of the red pill in the Matrix. You can listen to it with eyes closed like a guided meditation visualization if you want. Today I tell you my story, from agony to greatness, from sadness to success in a raw, vulnerable way. But this is what my heart felt called to do, this is what I wrote, so here we go. 
Inspired by Richard Rudd and the Gene Keys, and Zach Bush.

Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠
⁠Shawna’s website⁠
⁠Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠
Join YogaTrade Council & take workshops with me (Try it free) And check out jobs on https://yogatrade.com/ (My sponsor)

time stamps:
00:00 intro
05:47 start of immersive special
09:00 dear past self
11:27 into the darkness
14:46 climbing out of the hole
17:46 love letters to your past self across time
22:38 when no one is listening vs thousands are listening
25:08 your dream come true feels like this
28:00 versions of yourself that got you here
33:00 witness your past self fully
37:01 a ripple in time: the nature of time
40:40 how to get out of the insects of the mind
45:00 inspiration is actually you, speaking to yourself

Ashish Arora is a yoga teacher based in Seattle, Washington, originally from Delhi, India, and currently leading teacher trainings and retreats around the world. In this episode we delve into the art of teaching, what tradition actually means in the context of yoga, yoga philosophy, and navigating cultural appropriation as a yoga teacher. Ashish also shares tips for remembering your students' names and finding your teachers. If you're a yoga teacher thinking deeply about why you teach, where the practice comes from, or how to bring more joy into the practice, this episode is for you!

Practice with Ashish

Find Ashish on Instagram: @ashishyoga

Listen to the previous episode with Ashish

Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠

⁠Shawna’s website⁠

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

30-day trial: Join Yoga Trade Council & take workshops with me
(my sponsor) Get a job teaching yoga abroad? https://yogatrade.com/ 

⁠Ayurvedic consultation with Art, TEND ⁠(My sponsor) 

⁠Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠

Time Stamps: 
00:00 intro
01:40 OfferingTree
3:41 presence while teaching
5:33 tips for remembering your students’ names
10:06 growing up in India
15:01 laughter breathwork
17:11 the vastness of yoga
19:20 peacock pose & joy
23:45 finding your teachers
28:16 tradition in yoga
37:40 breath & energy
42:22 what is your definition of a yogi?
46:32 cultural-appropriation in yoga
55:57 what is our responsibility as yoga teachers?
59:55 rapid fire questions 
01:03:17 billboard question