Master Your Yoga Teaching with MaKenzie Fly

This week, I’m joined by Max Lowenstein, breathwork teacher and founder of The Breathwork Akademy, ranked the #1 breathwork community on Skool—and this conversation went ALL over the map in the absolute best way.

Max has spent more than two decades exploring breath, yoga, consciousness + the nervous system. And after a series of health complications, the practices he had spent years teaching suddenly became deeply personal.

In this episode, we talk about:

🫁 Why Max says “breathwork is a tool of the practice—it’s not the practice” and what that actually means

😳 The wild story of losing his ability to walk + talk—and the breath practice Max turned to for HOURS a day during his recovery

⚡ The difference between breathwork, pranayama + breath journeys and why lumping them all together can be problematic

🧠 Why chasing a temporary “state change” isn’t necessarily the goal—and the TRAIT change Max believes we should actually be looking for

🚩 How even yoga, meditation + spiritual practices can become another way of chasing peak experiences

🌬️ Why “more” is NOT necessarily better when it comes to breathwork—and how Max thinks about finding the appropriate dose for your nervous system

👀 The question Max uses to determine whether your practice is actually working

💸 Why Max believes charging for your work can actually be part of serving someone—and the difference between generosity and giving so much that you burn yourself out

📱 How he spent SIX YEARS giving value on Instagram before monetizing—and eventually built a community that allowed him to spend dramatically less time on social media

This conversation is about breathwork…but it’s also about SO much more.

It’s about the difference between intellectualizing the work and actually embodying it.

Because the goal isn’t to become really fliippin’ good at doing breathwork.

It’s to allow the practice to change the way you show up when you’re no longer doing it.

🎧 Press play and come hang with us.

Connect with MaKenzie
Your Next Class Plan Is Waiting for You - Swipe Your FREE Sample of Theme Weaver Weekly
Design Dynamic Sequences FAST - Grab Your Copy of the Pose Bible Here
Do you want MaKenzie on your show?  Let's get it booked here.

Join Max’s Skool Community - The Breathwork Akademy - here with a 7 day free trial.

#Breathwork #BreathworkPractice #BreathworkTeacher #Pranayama #PranayamaPractice #YogaTeacher #YogaTeaching #YogaTeacherTips #YogaTeachers #YogaEducation #YogaPhilosophy #NervousSystem #NervousSystemRegulation #MindBodyConnection #Meditation #YogaBusiness #YogaTeacherBusiness #Yogipreneur #MasterYourYogaTeaching #MaxLowenstein

Do you feel like you need to create a completely new yoga sequence every time you teach in order to keep your classes interesting?
Because according to longtime yoga teacher and practitioner Matthew Sweeney, constantly changing things might actually be keeping you from becoming a better teacher.
This conversation originally happened YEARS ago inside my very first online yoga teacher program—and fun fact: conversations like this were actually the tiny little seed that eventually became the Master Your Yoga Teaching podcast. 🥹 So we’re bringing it out of the vault!
Matthew and I sat down in Bali to talk about yoga sequencing, consistency vs. creativity, what newer teachers tend to get wrong, and what actually separates a beginning teacher from a more experienced one.
Inside the episode, we chat about:
✨ Why consistency should come BEFORE creativity when you’re building yoga sequences
🔁 What actually happens when students practice the same sequence again and again—and why repetition can reduce anxiety
😬 Why constantly creating brand-new Vinyasa sequences might be entertaining your students more than teaching them
🏔️ How to create an intentional arc in your classes without trying to cram every posture, anatomical action, or idea into one sequence
⚖️ Why your classes should include things you’re good at AND things you’re not so good at
👀 The surprising skill Matthew believes may be the most important skill a yoga teacher can develop
🗣️ The three stages teachers often move through—from talking and demonstrating EVERYTHING to eventually creating enough space for students to practice without you
😂 Why humor can help you stay alive and present when you’ve taught Triangle Pose for approximately the 9,847th time
🧘‍♀️ How repetition gives you the freedom to refine your cueing, observe your students, and become more responsive instead of simply performing your class plan
🚪 Why Matthew loves set sequences with open doors—structure that still leaves room for adaptation, intuition, and choice
Whether you’ve been teaching for six months or sixteen years, this conversation is an invitation to look at your teaching with fresh eyes.
Connect with MaKenzie
Your Next Class Plan Is Waiting for You - Swipe Your FREE Sample of Theme Weaver Weekly
Design Dynamic Sequences FAST - Grab Your Copy of the Pose Bible Here
Do you want MaKenzie on your show?  Let's get it booked here. 
#YogaRetreat #YogaRetreats #YogaRetreatPlanning #YogaRetreatLeader #YogaRetreatBusiness #HostAYogaRetreat #YogaRetreatTips #YogaRetreatMarketing #RetreatPlanning #RetreatLeader #RetreatBusiness #WellnessRetreat #WellnessRetreats #YogaTeacher #YogaTeachers #YogaTeaching #YogaTeacherTips #YogaTeacherLife #YogaTeacherBusiness #YogaBusiness #YogaEntrepreneur #Yogipreneur #YogaCareer #YogaEducation #YogaMarketing #MarketingForYogaTeachers #BusinessForYogaTeachers #OnlineYogaBusiness

Prefer to practice on YouTube? Watch here.
When you catch yourself wishing you were a little less sensitive, a little more flexible, a little more like someone else... this practice is for you.

This 45-minute morning Yin Yoga practice explores self-acceptance and what can happen when you stop seeing every perceived flaw as something that needs to be fixed. Inspired by the story of a cracked pot and the unexpected flowers growing along its path, you’ll be invited to look at yourself—and your practice—a little differently.

Physically, expect a slow, full-body Yin practice with a more awakening quality, designed to release morning stiffness, create space throughout the body, and help you ease into your day. Rather than trying to push your body somewhere it isn't, this practice gives you time to notice what’s here and work with it.

Perfect for:
✨ A slow, grounding start to your morning
✨ Full-body deep stretching + mobility
✨ Releasing stiffness after sleep
✨ Practicing self-acceptance and body awareness
✨ Days when you need the reminder that different doesn't mean deficient

Theme: Self-Acceptance • The Cracked Pot • Embracing Imperfection
Level: All Levels
Length: 45(ish) Minutes
Style: Morning Yin Yoga

See you on the mat. 🤍

🌿 Swipe this class plan
Theme Weaver Weekly is a class planning subscription for yoga teachers who want a brand-new themed yoga class every Monday, including a complete sequence, playlist, dharma talk script, and full practice video.
https://inspiredflowmonthly.com/

Connect With Me
Instagram:  / masteryouryogateaching  
Website: https://makenzieflyyoga.com/

Access The Yogiprenuer Ad Lab here

Do you have an amazing yoga offer…but feel like not enough freaking people know it exists? 😂

That’s exactly why I started running Meta ads. And after seeing what they’ve done for my own business, I created the Yogipreneur Ads Lab to help yoga teachers learn how to write, create, launch + manage their own campaigns—without a massive budget or handing everything over to an ad agency.

This episode gives you a peek inside Day 1.

In this episode, we chat about:

👀 Why getting more eyeballs might be the next lever to pull once your offer + conversion event are actually working

💰 The mindset shift that changed the way I think about spending money on ads

📱 How paid ads completely changed my relationship with Instagram—and took some serious pressure off organic content

🔥 Why ads amplify what's already there…which means they might reveal something about your offer you weren't expecting

🎰 The “eff around and find out” approach to Meta Ads 😂 and why randomly boosting posts can feel a whole lot like walking into a casino

😵‍💫The 4 barriers I see keeping Yogipreneurs from ever getting their first campaign out the door

If you want more reach, more impact + more income from your yoga teaching offers, turn this one up. And if you want me to walk you through the entire process, Yogipreneur Ads Lab takes you from setup → copy → creative → campaign launch → measuring + managing your ads.

Join The Yogiprenuer Ads Lab Here

#MetaAds #FacebookAds #InstagramAds #MetaAdvertising #YogaTeacher #YogaTeachers #YogaBusiness #YogaTeacherBusiness #YogaEntrepreneur #Yogipreneur #YogaMarketing #MarketingForYogaTeachers #BusinessForYogaTeachers #OnlineYogaBusiness #DigitalMarketing #PaidAdvertising #OnlineBusiness #YogaTeacherTips #YogaTeacherPodcast #MasterYourYogaTeaching

Dreaming about hosting a yoga retreat someday? Before you book the dreamy villa and start planning your morning flows…there are a few things you should know. 😂

Karol De Souza has hosted more than 25 retreats around the world and built retreats into the primary revenue stream of her business. And in this conversation, we're pulling back the curtain on what it actually takes to make retreats work—not just as an incredible experience for your students, but as a sustainable business for YOU.

We talk about:

🧘‍♀️ Why teaching yoga might actually be the smallest—and easiest—part of hosting a yoga retreat
✨ The “work beneath the work” and why your retreat needs to offer something deeper than yoga, breathwork + a pretty destination
🎯 How to find the bigger transformation your retreat is actually selling—and weave it through the entire experience
👀 How she can sometimes fill HALF a retreat before officially opening enrollment
📱 Why only about 20% of Karol's retreat bookings come directly from Instagram—and why relying entirely on social media can make selling feel so damn hard
💰 Are yoga retreats actually profitable? Karol and I share real numbers from our most profitable retreats…and the ones where we basically broke even
🏨 Why the fanciest retreat venue isn't necessarily the smartest business decision—and how your overhead can make or break your profit
📈 The difference between hosting a retreat and building an actual retreat business ecosystem
👶 The very real behind-the-scenes of hosting retreats while raising babies—and why the Instagram version doesn't always show the beautiful chaos 😂
💸 Deposits, cash flow, collaborators, partnerships, refund policies + some of the less-sexy business decisions you need to think about BEFORE booking that dream location

If hosting a retreat has been sitting on your yoga teacher bucket list—or you've already hosted one and thought, “Holy smokes, that was WAY more work than I expected” 😂—this episode will give you a much clearer picture of what it takes to plan, sell, lead, and actually profit from retreats.

Turn it up, and let’s dive in!

Connect with MaKenzie

Your Next Class Plan Is Waiting for You - Swipe Your FREE Sample of Theme Weaver Weekly

Design Dynamic Sequences FAST - Grab Your Copy of the Pose Bible Here

Karol’s Linktree

Do you want MaKenzie on your show?  Let's get it booked here. 

#YogaRetreat #YogaRetreats #YogaRetreatPlanning #YogaRetreatLeader #YogaRetreatBusiness #HostAYogaRetreat #YogaRetreatTips #YogaRetreatMarketing #RetreatPlanning #RetreatLeader #RetreatBusiness #WellnessRetreat #WellnessRetreats #YogaTeacher #YogaTeachers #YogaTeaching #YogaTeacherTips #YogaTeacherLife #YogaTeacherBusiness #YogaBusiness #YogaEntrepreneur #Yogipreneur #YogaCareer #YogaEducation #YogaMarketing #MarketingForYogaTeachers #BusinessForYogaTeachers #OnlineYogaBusiness