Leadership and Yoga

I fell in love with yoga because of a teacher at a dirty studio down the street, because of the ones who taught me to float and fly, and because of the teachers who called me by name before I was sure I belonged.
After interviewing over 100 yoga teachers—from living legends like Sri Dharma Mittra and David Swenson to daily studio instructors—I realized the real magic isn't in theory or instant gratification. It’s in the stories, the trust, and the willingness to keep figuring it out when there is no clear path.
In Part 1 of this mini-series, we’re cutting through the noise and diving deep into three core lessons on Abundance & Trust:
It’s in the living, not the theory 

The relentless energy to figure things out (and why having "no Plan A" might be your greatest creative power).

How to move with trust, drop the fear, and recognize when you already have enough.

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)

Time stamps:
00:00 intro
03:50 Trevor, Kino, Arundhati, Carling & future of the series
05:36 what is this podcast?
06:00 this 100 yoga teachers series
11:00 creative support
12:30 from self-imposed chaos to systems
14:45 airplane game 
17:00 lesson one: it’s in the stories, not in the instant gratification
18:20 David Swenson fired from teaching yoga
21:20 David Swenson’s scrap of paper
24:20 lesson 2: the energy to continuously figure things out
28:25 no plan A, let alone B
31:38 lesson 3: trust and have no fear, mysteriously it works out
34:10 Sri Dharma Mittra on money arriving for his mission
37:50 hermit crab theory of change
39:28 Sri Dharma Mittra on not having students in his yoga class
41:20 scholarship for listeners idea
42:30 enough
44:00 writing prompt

Jada, known online as @flowgogirl, is a yoga and movement teacher as well as a content creator. Her love of movement is a contagious energy, and her passion for yoga and dance is clear in everything she shares. She inspires her students and audience to honor the gift of life through movement and to remember how lucky we are to be able to move our bodies. In this conversation, she talks about where her creativity comes from, how she trusts her body to guide her, her morning routine, and her experience of moving through grief.

Jada’s Instagram @flowgogirl - https://www.instagram.com/flowgogirl

The Sol Space

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
02:03 sponsors
05:56 cultivating an energy of freedom
08:07 on confidence
09:15 what made you start?
10:54 first hot yoga class
13:28 finding motivation to move
14:28 music and movement
16:25 how do you create your flows?
18:00 how do you prepare to teach?
19:01 morning routine
21:13 childhood dreams
23:43 loss and grief
26:49 feeling untethered
28:43 quitting a job for a dream
31:08 social media
33:28 finding inspiration
35:34 creating & connecting online
38:47 what keeps you coming back to yoga?
39:49 teacher training in India
43:02 creativity & trusting ideas
46:22 trusting yourself
48:53 what makes a good leader?
53:16 rapid fire questions
54:17 billboard question
55:44 favorite emoji?

Poetic lessons from yoga on not rushing. If you’ve been living on fast-forward, constantly optimization-obsessed, and terrified that slowing down means you’ll run out of energy or fall behind, this episode is your permission to stop sprinting. We’re diving into the real reason we trap ourselves in chronic busyness, why we’re deeply tired rather than lazy, and how to transition from operating on stress hormones and caffeine to tapping into true creative presence. I share stories from the mat, savasana, alongside reflections on yoga philosophy, the 8 limbs, and why yoga doesn’t take time, it gives us time. Plus, we explore poetic reflections on time scarcity, breaking the addiction to hustle, and five simple ways you can practice "un-hurrying" your everyday life this week. 
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)
STAmina apnea breath hold app mentioned:
https://getstamina.app/ 
Krishnamacharya poetry:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cWwnn_nOU5FHPkqBbPRJnoicHmC6Zbzg57axeYp9M50/edit?usp=sharing 

Time stamps:
00:00 yoga poetry on rest
05:10 animation
07:10 what is this podcast? 
08:30 homework 1: handwritten snail mail
09:40 homework 2: salute the sun 
11:20 homework 3: eat outside barefoot
12:25 homework 4: breathholds STAmina app
14:10 homework 5: sacred moment
18:30 i meditated for 1 year and then fell off
20:30 feeling out of control w/commitments
21:30 how to say yes to less 
23:30 “no time” prose
27:00 Krishnamacharya poetry 
28:30 diamond sutra
32:00 slow down to speed up story
35:30 bigger vision: OfferingTree & Yoga Trade 
37:49 secretary quote story
40:47 grandma me poem

Arundhati Baitmangalkar is a Seattle-based yoga teacher originally from South India. She is the host of the Let's Talk Yoga podcast and owner of the Aham Yoga Studio. Arundhati has a beautiful, tangible way of explaining how to teach yoga philosophy that is both practical and grounded in yoga's roots. She shares her method for measuring "success" in your yoga practice (the "three C's") and advice for teaching yoga with heart. This episode is for you if you're looking for guidance as a yoga teacher or to feel re-energized by your own yoga practice.

Arundhati’s Website

Let’s Talk Yoga Podcast

Aham Yoga Studio

Arundhati’s Instagram - @arundhati_baitmangalkar

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 
02:02 sponsors
07:12 the experience of interviewing
13:44 choosing a mentor
17:59 discernment as a teacher
23:00 tangibly teaching philosophy
28:26 first asana class
31:34 what is yoga to you?
34:11 following the yoga
37:58 what do you wish more people understood about yoga?
46:30 staying close to your values
49:02 balancing tradition and student agency
53:25 yoga is not the spa
55:46 let people meet themselves
59:18 clarity, compassion, contentment
1:07:37 rapid fire q's & billboard question

Today’s episode is about how yoga gives us new eyes to see life, differently. To see things as they actually are, not as we are. Because every one of us has the filter of the ego on every piece of information we take in. We have distractions preventing us from seeing the beauty of what’s in front of us. We have AI and the mental noise preventing us from hearing the extraordinary silence of being alive. The extraordinary state of being present, perhaps for the first time in our lives or the first time in a while.
In an age dominated by AI, constant distraction, and hyper-abstraction, it’s easier than ever to feel disconnected from our bodies and the beauty right in front of us. Yoga is the ultimate form of embodiment, which is the ultimate antidote to feeling disconnection in the digital age of AI slop.
Social media workshop for yoga-inspired people:https://www.patreon.com/shawnakru/posts/social-media-for-167218388?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
Find Shawna on instagram: ⁠@shawnakru ⁠ - https://www.instagram.com/shawnakru⁠⁠⁠⁠
Shawna’s website⁠ - https://www.shawnakru.com/⁠⁠
Yoga Teacher Roundtable free community events & mailing list⁠https://www.shawnakru.com/yoga-teacher-roundtable

time stamps: 
00:00 yoga’s eyes poem
01:00 yoga is about trust
2:25 information overload
03:30 stories and embodiment instead of abstraction (ai is abstraction machine) 
04:05 what ai really is
05:06 living as a machine not a human
06:45 ai fear mongering
07:54 yoga begins with listening
10:15 yoga poem 34
11:30 see through yoga’s eyes