Tara Stiles - Lead & Lean with Love - Native Yoga Toddcast

Episode Transcript
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Todd McLaughlin (00:33):
Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast. So happy
you are here. My goal with thischannel is to bring
inspirational speakers to themic in the field of yoga,
massage bodywork and beyond.
Follow us @nativeyoga, and checkus out at nativeyogacenter.com.
All right, let's begin.

(01:03):
Well, yeah, I'm so excited tohave Tara Stiles joining me
today on the podcast. Tara,thank you so much. How are you?

Tara Stiles (01:12):
I'm doing good.
Thanks so much for having me.
I'm excited to chat with youtoo. Thank you.

So for those of you that listen to the podcast
with Yulady Saluti, she spoke sohighly of Tara, that it got me
excited to reach out to you Taraand, and get a chance to speak
with you. So thank you for beingso gracious and accepting my
invitation. I know you have abusy schedule. Are you in New
York City currently? Oh, I'm notactually I just got back from

(01:41):
Singapore yesterday. But we'rein Illinois. We got this place
in Illinois a couple of yearsago to be close to family and
kind of support everyone here.
So we'll be going to New York inthe fall for DAISY school. But
we've been here for a couple ofyears, kind of based out of
hometown America. So that's beenreally pretty sweet. Actually.
Wonderful. Not in Chicago. Andit sounds more like in a rural

(02:05):
setting. Yeah, you got it. Youknow, because you know that, you
know, America, a lot of friendsin Europe are like, Oh,
Illinois, Chicago. Yeah, we'repretty far south. So the weather
is actually a little bit warmerhere than in Chicago. But But
yeah, all my family's here.
They're farmers and hangingaround. So it's been nice to
catch up with everybody and justbe together. That's so cool as

(02:27):
how the town that you grew upin. I didn't I grew up a little
bit closer to Chicago, buteverybody is from here. So my
parents got a place down here afew years ago, so everybody's
kind of in the same location. Soit's nice to just be around for
sure. I hear yeah, that's,that's cool. And especially
having farm life is prettyamazing. Do they have like a big

(02:49):
farm? Are they more like cottagefarmers? Are they like, where
they have chickens and veggies?
Are they more of like big timefarmers? I mean, I don't know
how big time but but kind of allof it. My aunt's all my
relatives have gardens andthings like that. So come
summertime and late fall, you'vegot everything and then they can
at all for the winter. And you.

(03:10):
That's awesome. Yeah, they dothe veggies for the personal
consuming. And then they do cornand wheat and things like that.
And I remember a few years agoasking my cousin who's a few
years older than me, she does alot of the big kind of combining
and stuff we get to write along.
But I asked her where the corngoes, you know, after reading

(03:31):
Michael Pollan's book and all ofthese kinds of things. And I
know there's a lot of theproblems with America, but they
found a way to sell their cornfor hard plastics and
windshields. So I thought thatwas kind of cool. Just
everybody's trying to do better.
Yeah, I hear yeah, that's,that's amazing. Are you are you
an organic gardener? Or a Do youhave time for a garden? Or do

(03:55):
you just get to benefit fromyour family, I just get the
better.

Tara Stiles (03:59):
To be honest, I would love to. But you know,
we're not here in the summersall the time. And I'd love to
do. I'd love to actually do agreenhouse, I've seen that you
can kind of buy these pop upgreenhouses. They're becoming
more easy and economical andfun. You kind of pop that up in
your yard now and just want toclick buy these things for a few
100 bucks. And maybe I'll popone of those up at some point.

(04:21):
And, you know, see if I can getthat going. Very cool. What was
it like over you said Singapore?
Yeah, Singapore. How wasSingapore? Yeah, it was great.
This festival called glowfestival brought me out for
about a week and I got to leadclasses there, which was really
fun. And I've been to Singaporea few times. So first of all, it
was really fun just to catch upwith old friends and new friends

(04:42):
and just be back in person withpeople you know, I'm just one of
the millions that are sograteful to just be together
with people and and do yoga andthey had it was a great festival
and I got to kind of feel likethat studio effect. Again. It
was a couple of classes a dayand there was other teachers

Unknown (05:00):
and other experiences and lots of people's. So it was
just really nice to hang aroundand practice and just talk with
people and hug people and thingslike that,

that sounds really cool is was structured
sort of like a Yoga Journal typeconference where you like a
couple of teachers were teachingin different rooms at the same
time and the participants wouldjoin in, or was it that, like,
there was one room, and then youwould take turns teaching with
the other teachers?

Unknown (05:28):
Yeah, it was just one big room and they did this cool
thing it was inside. And theyhad these kind of interactive
screens that were like almostlike a jungle. So they did this
really neat kind of tech thing.
And at first, I thoughteverybody would be overwhelmed
seeing these screens, but theroom was really humongous. So
kind of in the distance, you'dsee an elephant kind of walking
by and things like that. So itwas pretty unique and, and fun

(05:49):
to just hang around and betogether with people for sure.

Cool. When you had a chance to teach, what type
of class did you teach? Did youdo like a Vinyasa flow, or what
is on the forefront of yourspecialty these days?

Unknown (06:11):
Sure, I guess what I've always loved to lead and, and so
will actually was a really coolopportunity to have so many
different time different timeslots, you know, it's kind of
like a regular studio. And theywanted a variety of classes. So
some a bit more energetic, somemore gentle, some kind of in
between. And everything that Ilove to lead is based in
easygoing movement, breath, bodyconnection, this kind of almost

(06:36):
East Asian influence in theyoga, but it doesn't need to
come across that way so much.
But really, the idea of movingwell comes from Tai Chi and
shiatsu and things like that.
But everybody usually says, Oh,that yoga class felt really
nice. Or I didn't know I coulddo something so challenging
without forcing myself or Itfelt nice to move from my center

(06:59):
and harmony. So I usually don't,especially in just an open
class, say, Okay, now we'regoing to be doing tai chi and
Shih Tzu and learning all ofthese things, because I just
think that's, you know, kind oftoo much located in the mind. So
we just move and breathe and,and feel good. And that way.

That's really cool. Do you, when you, what is
your timeline in terms of howlong have you been practicing?
And how long have you beenteaching?

Unknown (07:26):
Oh, gosh, well, I think like a lot of people's yoga
story, I got really lucky,finding yoga was in my ballet
program growing up. So I wasthinking I was going to be a
contemporary dancer. That was mywhole life stream. And my ballet
teacher brought yoga into ourprogram, I guess I was 1718. And
instantly, just like everybodyelse, felt like this is amazing.

(07:50):
And, and then my second thoughtwas, why don't all my friends do
this? Why, you know, I felt likemy family, had these values had
these philosophical ideas aboutlife. But we weren't doing this
physical practice that I feltcould just kind of crack
everything open and really guidelife. So I just wanted to learn
more and share this kind of allthe same time. So that kind of

(08:14):
just kicked me off and learningmore about it. And then at first
kind of casually sharing what Iwas learning with people. And
then more and more things led meto doing that with more of my
time. So yeah, it's thebeginning of my life, my teenage
years ago.

That's amazing.
It's a nice time. That's a fairtimeline then in that, so
obviously, you got introduced toyoga first, can you give me a
kind of timeline view of anorder of different modalities
that you then started to pursueand study?

Unknown (08:50):
Sure, yeah. Yoga was the first big practice for sure.
And then I got to New Yorkpretty shortly after to dance
and do other things. But I wasalways kind of asking people,
Hey, do you do yoga? Where doyou do yoga, if you don't do
yoga, let's do a little bittogether this kind of a thing.
And I think because New York haseverything I was starting to

(09:10):
find shiatsu places, and some Iare Vedic practitioners, and all
of these kind of, you know,modalities one by one. And I
think like a lot of people whohave started to learn one and
then learn the others, youwonder, okay, are these
connected? How are theyconnected? They they don't
appear to be in isolation fromeach other. How can we? Or how

(09:33):
can I live in more harmony withmyself and not just practice to
be more knowledgeable aboutthese modalities, but to
integrate them actually in mylife and to feel better and live
a good life of purpose? And howcan I start to communicate that
in a sensible way to otherpeople if that starts to make
sense to me, so I think I gotlucky again, just being in New

(09:56):
York and, and having thesepeople also just come to my
class. Ask them say, Oh, the waythat you like to touch people
and yoga feels like she got soonI think maybe I should learn she
got to because I didn't like tokind of push people into poses,
I like to kind of just be withsomebody right there and lean a
little bit, oh, if I can maybejust lean on a meridian, maybe
that will be a little bitbetter. So I started to learn

(10:19):
about that. And then my, myhusband grew up doing tai chi.
And he kept saying to me, Oh,how you really like this
easygoing movement within yoganot being kind of fixed in the
final position and having thisidea that there isn't one final
position. He's like, Tara,that's tai chi, and I'm
thinking, okay, maybe Ishouldn't eat cheese. So as you

(10:40):
kind of glide into these things,there's a forever lifetime
practice and study of it. So Ithink that's just what's so cool
about kind of understanding thatall of these wisdoms really can
come together and help you livea better life for sure.

Nice. How long have you been married?

Unknown (11:00):
Oh, gosh. So Mike always gets mad at me because I
forget

to put you on the spot. Take your time. Take
your time doing that.

Unknown (11:12):
We got married in 2008.
Yeah, we had a few. We had likethe city hall thing, just super
simple. And I dragged my familyto this cool kind of hippie
place in Jamaica, because a lotof them hadn't left. America. So
we all kind of just did apretend wedding there. It was
just kind of to get everybodyout of the country and to have

(11:33):
fun and jump in the oceantogether. So that was fun.

Oh, nice. Yeah, very cool. And do you do you
guys have children? Yeah, we

Unknown (11:42):
have one little girl Daisy. She's almost six. So
she's.

Todd McLaughli (11:46):
Congratulations, right? Yeah, you actually have a
moment. She that's cool. I cando a podcast. I hear ya. Does
she travel with you? Well,actually, it sounds like he went
to Singapore alone.

Unknown (11:59):
I did. Yeah. So that one was I mean, it's super far
to go to Singapore. And she'sactually been to Singapore, but
in my inside of my tummy. But,but she's been around with us to
most places, so a lot of Europeand things like that. But yeah,
Singapore was just a little bittoo far. And we're lucky Mike
and I and her are all kind of,you know, we're all together all

(12:21):
the time. So it's pretty easyfor us to decide if one person
is going to go or if we're allgoing to go or who can kind of
hang out with who and she reallywanted to go but we compromise I
said, Well, if I bring you somereally cool, interesting
presents from Asia, would thatbe okay? She said only if you
bring me just have some time.
Just just to myself witheverybody and to be able to say

(12:49):
and Yeah, talk, one go out todinner and, and just have days
with people, you know, justfocusing on grownups too. So
that was nice. Good point.

Yeah, sometimes when the children are around,
we've had this feeling of whenteaching is done, or the class
is over, I gotta hurry up andget home. There's so many duties
to do at home. So I hear you,it's nice to have a little break
like that. I'm, I'm curious. I'mjust starting to get on YouTube
and put content on YouTube. Andso then when I found you on
there, I was like, Whoa, tearhas got a huge following on

(13:23):
YouTube. Can you tell me whatthe how that came to be for you?
Is it something that happenedreally naturally for you? And
you were really early in andjust started putting content up?
And it just started to explode?
Or have you had to work reallyhard at it?

Unknown (13:39):
Oh, gosh, well, yeah, I definitely started at the very
beginning of YouTube, I justthat was my growing up. When I
came to New York, it was still Imean, there wasn't definitely
wasn't social media, there wasemail and flip cams and things
like that. And when 2006happened, I learned about
YouTube. And it was literallyjust funny cat videos and things

(14:00):
like that. So I was starting toshare yoga, and I was thinking
about my friends back home, whocouldn't come to New York and
obviously they couldn't, therewas no yoga studio. So I would
make these short videos justwith my flip cam or with the
camera on the MacBook and uploadthem so I just started there.
And again, it wasn't and itstill is not meant to be some

(14:24):
strategy or even a you know, abusiness or an idea for that. It
was literally just to sharevideos with my friends back

home. Yeah.

Unknown (14:32):
And you know, the people started watching which
was cool. And because it was theInternet back then I didn't know
if those people were real or ifit was just my mom. So it was
that that kind of peoplewatching those and making a
little bit of comments kind ofled me to what felt more real

(14:54):
for me which was work writingfor magazines and making some
books and Having people in thestudio that were starting to
come because they had saw avideo online. So to me that was
real. And the online stuff waslike, okay, that's, that's cool.
But online is exciting for me ifit leads to in person hugging
and doing. So. So once you knowthe in person stuff started to

(15:20):
kind of take over and, and morethings with the studio started
growing, I kind of just stoppedmaking YouTube videos because I
didn't have any time anymore todo that. And it was sort of a
means to do this. I guess that'show it kind of ended up so. So
yeah, I don't really think aboutYouTube so much. But if there's
something to upload, sometimes Ido, but I don't really put any

(15:41):
energy to it. But it's beengreat for me in this way of
meeting people. And I still meetpeople just randomly on the
street that are in their 20s nowand they'll say to me, oh my
gosh, when I was 14 in mybedroom, I was I found a video.
And they would search like yogafor breakups or something and
their boyfriend or girlfriendbroke up with them. And they're

(16:03):
standing there with like theirmom. And their mom was like, Who
is this person you're talkingto? And what were you doing with
my daughter online? So, for me,I think it's really wonderful
that a lot of people that hadn'tbeen able to come to yoga
studio, or now people are justso easy at using online can
literally just search around andfind somebody that they relate

(16:26):
to, and give it a try and havethis really profound connection
with themselves. And maybe thatleads to coming to something in
person or connecting in someother way. But But yeah, I'm
really grateful for all of thesepeople that I get to meet now
who have kind of discovered yogain some way from those, those
times that I was alsodiscovering yoga. So that's,

(16:48):
that's really cool. But I'm sureit's gonna be the same or it
will be the same or husband foryou as well. It's just such a
beautiful way to connect. Andthen it kind of keeps, you know,
going like that as long as youare interested in talking with
people pretty

sure that's cool, Tara that's actually
really refreshing to hear.
Because it sounds like the waythat you came at it from that
organic approach. And and notreally trying too hard and more
just the enjoyment factor is isnice to hear. Because sometimes
it seems like now we see allthese courses and things you can
do to like, how do you do it?
And how do you do it? So thatyou're a superstar and that type

(17:25):
of thing? And I liked it. It'snice to hear that. It's been a
natural process for you.

Unknown (17:32):
Yeah, I think anybody that has something to share can
just share it. You know, I thinkthere's so much because it's
just been around for longer,there's going to be that harder
to get in fear mindset, orwhatever it is, I don't know.
But I think it still is YouTube.
I mean, you just put a video.
You don't need to go permissionfor it. So if you've got

(17:56):
something to share, share it. Ithink that's just, you know, the
easiest, easiest way to connectwith people still. So one thing

I thought, Oh, thank you. One thing I thought
that was really cool that youLottie had said was that when
she was searching for yogateacher training program, and
then she reached out to you andyou had just encouraged her like
she thought she had to do aheadstand in the middle of a
room for 30 minutes to kind ofprove that she was worthy. And
you had taken this approach oflike, well, if you are

(18:25):
passionate about yoga, come joinus. And you know, and she had
made mentioned that youencouraged each of the teacher
trainers to start to promotethemselves via a platform such
as YouTube or anything elsethat's out there. Is that
something that you still do withyour teacher train your teacher

(18:45):
training students that arejoining you? Do you encourage
them to learn how to marketthemselves and get their message
out there?

Unknown (18:53):
Yeah, I think it's definitely a really useful part
of the conversation. And nowthat we've grown and people know
about straw and things likethat, it's it's a day that we
spent at the training and it'sthe strangest thing. It's the
time to talk about yourself andhow you're going to do this. And
everybody gets quiet andeverybody, you know, more quiet

(19:15):
than they're normally with us.
And they kind of lean in reallyclose and they have their
notebook and it's time to writedown everything. And hopefully
by the end of it, we figure outtogether that you really can
create your own path and thereisn't one way and you don't need
to have followers in order tohave success. And you can do
things in so many differentways. And I'm happy to share not

(19:39):
just my story of onlines inperson, but so many other
people's stories of whether it'steaching in your local community
to four or five people and thenthose people live an amazing
life and then you can take thosefour or five people on a retreat
somewhere or maybe some of themwant to do A training with you.

(19:59):
And that's enough to sustainyou, whether that's your only
job or you want that to be youronly job or if it's part of your
life in this way. And what I'vereally learned with sharing,
sort of how to get yourself outthere is, it's really horrible
to just have this goal of onepath, which is, you know,

(20:20):
whether it's, you know,following these online courses,
and you must do it this way inorder to succeed and, and it
just seems so devastating. And,and also, yeah, not, not
necessary. I know so many peoplethat are unknown in the world,
but they have these beautiful,happy and also successful lives

(20:43):
and businesses and families andall of these things from sharing
yoga. So it doesn't need to beone way. And we don't even need
to idolize people who are kindof out there and things like
that. I think that sort of, ifthat's part of what you enjoy
about leading, and I'm just abig ham. And I think because I
was a dancer, I'm used to kindof presenting myself this way.

(21:05):
But But that's me. And I don'tthink that everybody is like
that. And it does, it shouldn'teven be a goal. I don't think
it's better than a local yogateacher reaching 10 people, if I
can reach more online, whocares? You know, if you're
helping somebody in a real way,then that's massive. So I think
there's a real value, and justsharing that there's so many

(21:27):
different ways to to be a leaderand to really have a good impact
for sure.

That's a great answer, Tara. Super, that makes
me feel a lot more relaxed.
Yeah, I think it's stressing outabout it. But

Unknown (21:45):
it's like, you know, and it's only gonna get scarier
and scarier, the more and thequicker every other trends get
in. I mean, I'm freaked out allthe time, too. I mean, it's
intense out there. And, and youcan see people it used to be, I
mean, you probably remember this10 years ago, selfies, were
almost embarrassing, okay, ifI'm going to take a selfie, I'm

(22:06):
going to kind of hide into it,or I'm going to do my yoga pose
on the street and kind of hide.
And now it's just commonplace tobe filming every moment of your
life. And maybe for a few peoplethat's healthy. But for the most
of us, that's just not healthyat all. So I think it's really
important to just figure out howyou want to live and know that
that's whatever that answer is,is the best way to live for you.

(22:29):
Sure.

Yes. Great point. I just finished reading a
book called The Myth of normalby Gabor Ma Tei. Have you heard
of that one? I haven't. But I'mgonna read it now. And it's a
good one. And he really isbringing to light how big T
trauma and little T trauma playsa role in our current health and

(22:55):
wellness. And you do get achance to work with a lot of
people and travelled around andsee what different yoga
communities are doing and havingthat online interaction. I'm
curious what what, what are youseeing today in the world in
terms of how much yoga can playa positive role in stress
management and grappling some ofthese challenges of facing

(23:21):
challenging past and how to moveforward today?

Unknown (23:25):
Yeah, well, I think what's so interesting about the
opportunity is, I mean, this iskind of oversimplifying. But we
can do yoga in a way where we'rekind of isolating and
disconnecting and saying, well,that pose is better than this
pose. And if I get there, that'sgoing to be good. So if I can't
get there yet, I'm gonna makethis modification. But tomorrow,

(23:47):
maybe I can get there. And thatwhole mindset is kind of
horrible for healing. In thisway, you may be opening up more
space or flexibility, but it'sreally about I'm not good enough
now. But tomorrow, or the nextday, I'll be good enough and
look at that person over therethat can do it. And if I can
only do that, then I'll behealed, or I'll be better. So

(24:08):
why don't you come over and pushme into that pose, so I can do
it now and all of this stuff.
And obviously, there'sthankfully a huge reckoning
within yoga and all of that kindof pushing and forcing and
struggling. But what I loveabout the opportunity is when
you really start to move in moreharmony with yourself, you feel
good immediately, and youprogress in a way where you're

(24:29):
moving all the parts of youtogether, which also allows you
to feel something not just feelgood and feel amazing, but you
notice how you feel and then youcan respond to how you feel as
well. And that's what I'vealways loved about leading yoga
in general even before I figuredout I should study Taichi and
the healing arts which likedirectly say this all the time

(24:49):
yoga, for some reason, eventhough the opportunities there,
we haven't heard it so loud.
It's more about you know, yousee the pose and you say okay,
if I can get into that and andsomething good is gonna happen
for me. Or if I can sit andmeditate, then something good is
gonna happen. But when you kindof move around all the positions
and treat the whole practice, asa practice, not just a

(25:11):
collection of individualendpoints, then wow, there's
this huge opportunity to noticewhat's going on with you. And I
just love leading like that,because then I don't have to do
anything. I don't have to say,Okay, this is going to help your
trauma, your ideas, because thatjust makes people think, okay,
am I supposed to be healingsomething or thinking about

(25:31):
something right now, but then,after practice, is my favorite
moment of just kind of hangingaround. And if people want to
come up, or I kind of just movearound and just kind of, am
there if anybody wants to sayanything, but people always talk
about themselves in this reallycool opening way of, Oh, I was
doing this position. And it mademe think of this, or I'm going

(25:52):
through this right now. And Ihaven't told anybody, you know,
and it really just opens up thespace to process and talk and
heal in this very kind of realand normal way. Not an I am
healing myself. It's sort oflike, wow, oh, my gosh, I think
I'm healing myself. So becomes,it becomes possible, for sure.

Yeah, that's a really good answer. Have you had
any challenges in your lifewhere you have been injured, and
you have been able to healyourself?

Unknown (26:21):
I thankfully haven't been injured. And I think that's
basically only because I'mpretty lazy, like, I'm not going
to force. Thinking about when Ifirst started doing yoga in New
York, and there was more of thatkind of really intense
positions. And I'm prettyflexible, because I was a

(26:41):
dancer. So teachers would say,oh, Tara, like put your feet on
your head. And I just be like,No. At that time, it was like,
Well, why are you doing that Ijust didn't want to hurt myself.
I mean, I was younger, so Iprobably wouldn't have but I
just wasn't interested in kindof pushing or forcing. So
thankfully, avoided, that'scool. So far. But you know, I

(27:02):
have gotten close to exhaustingmyself, I think just from pure
excitement of opportunity anddoing things and being busy. And
I think, I don't think I reachedthe point of burnout or kind of
hardcore health concern, but Idefinitely got close. And I was
thinking, Wait a minute, I'mreally trying to help myself and

(27:26):
other people slow down and feelbetter, but I'm moving a million
miles a minute. And I'm, I'mbusying myself, just to distract
myself from something else. So Ikind of noticed that that's my
natural tendency to I love tokind of do and be doing things.
So you know, for me, it comesdown to body position. If I'm

(27:49):
leaning forward, and I'm busy,and I'm doing I need to just
recenter myself lean back alittle bit and then kind of, you
know, command the spaceship fromthere. Yeah. Yeah. Because that
part of it is a constant. Youknow, reflection for myself. But
that's, that's the fun part.

That's cool.
When you do you teach yourstudents and our trainees how to
do hands on assists?

Unknown (28:17):
Yes. So what I love about knowing or not knowing,
but studying Tai Chi and Shiatsuis, first of all, having this
approach of connecting beforeyou actually touch somebody. So
how you move in the space, howyou just are as a person, how
you're standing up and comingdown to the ground, how you're

(28:38):
walking near somebody to touchthem as all kind of in the, in
the, you know, umbrella ofactual physical touch. So I love
that kind of whole exploration.
I mean, I could, I could leadworkshops for days on making
good connection with somebodywithout actually touching them.
And people like, oh my gosh, itfeels like somebody's touching
me, you know, when you havesomebody around you. So I love

(28:58):
that. And then all the physicaltouch comes from the practice of
shiatsu. So it's not so muchlike pressure points and doing
stuff but you know, leaning onsomebody's back or moving them
in a direction so they can makea choice if they want to go
further or back off or changetheir body position, kind of
things like that. And then somemore easier things to do when
somebody's you know, lying downor in a more stable position

(29:21):
where you can lean on meridianswithout somebody thinking, Oh, I
didn't sign up for some shiatsutreatment. But that feels really
nice on my back. I don't knowwhat's going on. So those kinds
of things, but it's really nice,especially now that the whole
conversation has exploded aroundgood touch and bad touch around
how can you actually create agood environment or a safe

(29:41):
environment just through how youare in the space and how you as
the leader are just movingaround and paying attention to
people and and what kind oflevel are you putting yourself
on like physically? Are youwalking by somebody's head or
are you kind of moving around?
are you crawling around a littlebit? So there's so much I love
exploring there that reallyhelps people just understand

(30:05):
basic body awareness where theyare in space and where other
people are. And, you know, youcould have really good
intentions and still mess thewhole thing up. So there's so
much practice, you know, withwith moving around, and then
also with the physicalconnection to. I love it,
though.

That's cool. It sounds like you're putting a
little more emphasis on. Let'sactually have fun. Yeah. And
then dancing around that alittle bit. Like, let's actually
have fun first versus is reallylike serious hardcore, like,
mastery element or maybeencouraging mastery through

(30:41):
lightheartedness. Or

Unknown (30:45):
yeah, I think it's really cool. For me, I love
putting the emphasis on movingwell, instead of trying to get
into a version of an endpoint.
So if you move well, from yourcenter, you know, you can rock
for the back and explore ahandstand. But if you just try
to get both legs up in ahandstand, then after you do
that, what else is there? Youknow, so if you rock forward or

(31:06):
back and have your knees bend,move from your middle, then you
know your body can explore, youknow, she's doing that. And then
all of a sudden, she'sinventing, like opening her legs
and doing all this stuff. Andnobody really taught her that
but you kind of teach thefoundation that moving well. And
that I think makes you feelhappier, it makes you feel light
hearted. But really, thepractice is in this very simple

(31:29):
thing of figuring out which youcan always get better at your
whole life, which is how can youmove yourself better and every
single moment and using theright amount of effort and no
extra tension. And that's kindof a forever fun practice. For
sure it is. I think it is fun.
Anyway, I get excited.

But that's awesome. I even when I watch
your YouTube videos, yourlanguage skill is so like clear
and concise. And, like thecadence and rhythm that you
speak with is really, like Ienjoy just like even if I close
my eyes, and I'm not watchingthe video, like the way that you

(32:11):
talk and deliver is seems reallysmooth. We we do a teacher
training program. And when thestudents are learning, there's
they one of the things I'll hearfrom them is I thought it's
gonna be really easy to talk.
And now that I'm actually tryingto lead with my voice, I'm
finding that all those wordsthat I heard my teacher say I
thought they would just come outautomatically. And it's a little

(32:32):
bit harder than I thought. Whattype of tips and tricks do you
use to help get people to feelcomfortable to discharge
speaking fluidly and fluently?
The way that it seems likeyou've you've gotten good at,

Unknown (32:50):
oh, well, that's nice.
I mean, I'm getting better at itfor sure I look at things I've
done. I mean, because my wholelife doing this has been on
video like 10 years ago, and Ifeel like I'm talking like an
auctioneer.

When you go back and listen to it like
you're critical of what am I

Unknown (33:04):
doing? Yeah, for sure.
You know, definitely. But yeah,I feel like now what we lead in
the trainings, the language isthe very last thing, not the
very, very last thing, but Idelay it as much as possible.
Because something that I thinkis really useful is if you can
really do the thing that you'redoing with your breath, body
connection, then you coulddescribe it. And when you're

(33:27):
literally only describing whatyou're doing, then you have a
chance at connecting withpeople. And I think the easiest
mistake to make for yogateachers is telling people what
to think and what to feel. Andthat takes so much time as well.
And yoga teachers often think,well, if I don't tell somebody
how to think and how to feel myclass isn't going to be special,

(33:48):
or it's not going to beconnected or this spiritual
moment. But I found just theopposite. If somebody tells me
how to think and feel either Iagree with them 100% I'm like,
yes, the light is coming down,or I'm like, What are they
talking about, you know, or I'mdisconnected. But if somebody
can guide me through step bystep what to do, and they can
stay open, it helps me stayopen, and all of a sudden, wow,

(34:11):
I'm connecting with myself. Andeven in our trainings, people
that have signed up, they reallyresist this idea of only
describing what you're doingbecause they think that's not
special enough. It's got to bemore and I'm thinking well,
you're, you're the more and ifyou're teaching people literally
how to move themselves well, andwhat you're teaching is the

(34:32):
breath body connection. Well,that's the yoga right there and
everything else is happening.
You know, you are a body, yourmind, you are a spirit. You
don't need to tell somebody nowfeel spiritual. It's like that's
already happening if you're, ifyou're out of the way. So I
think that's, that's it'ssimple, really, when we let

(34:53):
ourselves just describe whatwe're doing because it puts the
emphasis back on Well, what areyou doing, and where are your
bad habits and How are you doingthis in a disconnected way,
because whatever your bad habitsare, you're going to just teach
those and pass those on to yourstudents as well. So really
figure out how to move yourselfwell, and then describe what the

(35:13):
heck you're doing and thensimplify. You know, in a sounds
so cheesy, but like in an ErnestHemingway way, like, say it in
as few words as possible. So youhave this extra space for
awareness practice, and you havethis moment, when you're not
speaking. It doesn't feel likedead space, it feels like you're
holding the room with yourbreath and with your attention,

(35:35):
and then you have more time tojust look around the room and
see how you can be usefulinstead of just saying words for
no reason like I am right now.

No, that's a great answer. I think that's
really amazing advice to justfocus on step by step procedure
and what the movement is versuslike what you're saying and
talking about how you shouldfeel how you should think I
agree with that. 100%. That'sreally cool. I'm, what how was
your experience going throughCOVID? I'm guessing you guys

(36:07):
already had an online presence.
So maybe it could have been anamazing experience, because you
already had platforms in placeto, to work with people online
and at home? How did you do?
First of all, do you feel likeit's over? Like, do you feel
like we've turned that that fullcorner? Are you still feeling
like we're navigating the AfterEffects? Or the current effects?

(36:28):
Where How are you thinking andfeeling about all that these
days?

Unknown (36:31):
Oh, my gosh, it's so nice. I mean, it was horrible
for us, honestly, we missedeverybody. And we had, we were
doing so much in person thatthat all just, it wasn't that
and everybody has the sameexperience. It wasn't that it
all just went away overnight, itwas that we were all kind of
tugged around and postponed andyou know, then cancel, then move
it, move it again, and all ofthese things. And so it was it

(36:53):
was no fun to kind of navigatethat. And, of course, everybody
understood and nobody was, youknow, upset at us for canceling.
So there was those feelingsweren't there. But it was just
sad not to be able to gettogether and things like that.
And yeah, we had all of ouronline things happening. We
started our app then. So wehadn't done that. We had videos

(37:14):
online kind of one at a time andtrainings and workshops, you
could download or just view, youknow, on demand, but we switched
to an app platform, which wasgood, it gave us kind of
something to do. And then youknow, magically, it seems like I
don't know, if you had the sameexperience. But the live
technology just happened to bethere right away. So we did live

(37:35):
classes every day, just because,you know, most of the people
that we practice with, wereavailable to do that. And it
just felt like that kind ofsense of connection. Yeah, so we
did a lot of that. And we did,you know, like basically
everything that we could to justhang out with people online that
wanted to be there. And, andalso, we just spend a lot of
time together as a family to dostuff. So that was a nice

(37:57):
reflection moment for us tosimplify in a way. And we got
this house here in Illinois. Sowe'd wanted to move out of New
York City for a while, but wehadn't kind of figured out a
destination. So it was one ofthese moments where I never
would have thought of oh, let'sgo hang out with family. But
then I thought I want to hangout with family. Let's let's do

(38:17):
that. And that's been really,really nice. So it kind of these
obvious things bubbled up to thesurface, because I wasn't
busying myself kind of inballing around the world to
Yeah, in certain ways. So

good point, do you currently keep a pretty
solid travel schedule? Are youif you had to make a basic
assumption on the percentage oftime that you're able to hang
out in Illinois and joy, thecountry versus time that you're
on the road? Is it half half? Isit like 30%? Travel? And how

(38:58):
busy are you keeping yourselfthese days?

Unknown (39:00):
Gosh, well, now everything, at least for me, I'm
getting invited to things again,which is exciting. And I also
get to do a lot of things thataren't really yoga related going
to business conferences andFortune Magazine and things like
that. And I'll be the one thatcomes in and does like the 10
Minute chill out session onstage. So I really love that
because I get to talk to that'scool, other kinds of people. And

(39:23):
that's really fun for me too. IfI can help somebody who's really
stressed out who's in HR, if Ican help them chill out a little
bit, then everybody that theysupport will chill out a little
bit. So I'm getting invited tothose things and book events.
I'm leading some yoga in NewYork and March and April and
Charleston and some book eventsand things like that. So I'm

(39:45):
happy to be doing unique kind ofthings again and then yeah,
these conferences and things areinviting me and then with Strala
we've been really careful not tooverpack is scheduled to so
we're only doing one 200 hourtraining a year now which is was
a huge change for us. We weredoing like, I don't know, lots
and lots of trainings andworkshops and intensives. And we

(40:06):
have this one in Miami coming upin May, and then Berlin in
September, and the next fall inBerlin for 200 hour. So we're
kind of keeping that supersimple and easy. Also, a lot of
our instructors are leadingtheir own Strahler trainings
now. So we're trying to createspace for them to have success

(40:26):
and communities. So that's beenreally exciting. But then I
thought, Oh, I'm just going tobe at home, what else am I going
to do? But then of course, I'minvited to all of these other
Don Strahler related things,which have been exciting, but I
do have to watch out for, youknow, overpacking my life.
Because that happens to mesometimes.

That's amazing.
Tara, I bet can in relation toyou coming to Miami, I was
really excited when I went onyour website to reach out to you
to do this conversation. And Isaw that you guys were going to
be in Miami. So I thought well,that's that's good serendipity.
And I'm curious if if I wantedif I could or can come down and
meet you guys in person. Can Icome for a day? Because my

(41:07):
schedule? Is that possible?

Unknown (41:11):
Yeah, that'd be awesome. Hotel, to be been
living there for about 10 yearsjust doing first we used to just
bring down people from New Yorkfor a weekend retreat, like a
yoga class and go in the pool.
Again, kind of a big Yeah. Andwe're doing a training there.
But yeah, come on down for theday or whatever, whatever you
feel like, that'd be nice.

That would be cool. I would love that. In
relation to you mentioned thatyou utilize hatha yoga or
teaching posture and movementpractice and, and then we have
these different branches likebhakti yoga and karma yoga, Raja
Yoga, are there other branchesor avenues that you really

(41:55):
connect with or that you utilizeon in your daily life?

Unknown (42:02):
Oh, gosh, I think what's been most appealing to
me, at least in the last 510years has been the tai chi and
the shiatsu and really seeingthat if I focus on moving
better, and connecting my breathand body together, my yoga gets
better. I mean, I'm actuallystronger. When I do yoga, I get

(42:23):
less tired when I'm doing it.
And I can actually it kind of isthe foundation for anything else
I want to practice in a way Ican meditate. And it feels
easier to sit there. And I'm nottrying to just you know, sit and
meditate. But if I'm doing thisbreath body connection when I'm
crawling out of bed and standingup and you know few moments of

(42:43):
these little practices here andthere, those practices just
helped me with with the yoga,which is my most fun thing, I
think, because with yoga, youcan, you know, you can move your
body in all these differentdirections, which feels really
good and helpful and all thedifferent areas. And I think
that's one lakh about tai chi,it's a great practice for your

(43:04):
life. But it's mainly thepractice of it is mainly
standing, but the philosophy ofit connecting your breath and
body together, shifting yourweight before you move, you know
this back to go forward down togo up all of these kind of, you
know, skills of it can can helpwith everything. So I like to
practice a little bit of Tai Chijust to figure that out again

(43:25):
everyday in my body. And shealso was just leaning on myself
in different ways. And then Ifeel like I'm good to go with
the yoga and with the justregular movements of life and
things like that.

That's cool.
Can you explain a little bitmore like when you say, leaning
on myself in different ways inrelation to shiatsu, I've always
envisioned shiatsu as a form oftherapy where there's someone
receiving shiatsu from the giveror the practitioner. But the way
you said that it made me thinkthat you lean your body maybe

(43:59):
against the edge of the doorjamb or you lean your body on
like a foam roller or likefigure out ways to do self
shiatsu. That is That was myvisualization. Is that correct?
Or yeah,

Unknown (44:15):
that's, that's all totally right on. I mean, I like
to call it just for myself DIY.
You know, you don't have anybodyhandy to deal with. But you know
what I learned from our teacher,Sam Berlin, he's, you know, a
great shiatsu practitioner andteach her to is any kind of more
pointy place on your body, likeyour elbow, your thumb to any
soft place and there's meridianseverywhere. So you can't really

(44:36):
do it wrong. And it's easy tokind of do this in your yoga
practice, too. I mean, if you'rejust sitting cross legged and
you lean your forearm on yourthigh, it's going to feel useful
or nice in some way. And thenthere's really easy places. I
mean, the feet are really easy,like the center of your foot
below the ball of your foot,that kidney meridian you can
kind of just sneaky lean in withyour thumb. When you're just

(44:58):
sitting down or doing pigeon orwhatever, and then oh my gosh, I
feel more energized, what'sgoing on and kind of just doing
these things here and there, Imean, movement also just
activates your meridians. Sothat's useful. But any of these,
you know, you can lean on anobject like a couch or a foam
roller shore, but even just withyour own body, like elbows or
thumbs, or you know, kind ofsides of your forearms onto your

(45:22):
body somewhere, just you know,any, any way where it kind of
feels intuitive and nice isusually useful. And then I think
it's kind of cool. If youexperiment, play around and say
what's going on, on that part ofmy leg or that part of my back,
then you open up one of thoseacute acupuncture charts, you're
like, oh, that's going, that'sinteresting. And yeah, maybe it

(45:43):
relates, maybe it doesn't. But,you know, you can't really do it
wrong, unless you're reallyaggressively, you know, pushing
yourself or, you know, beingbeing mean to yourself in some
way. But these gentle liens arejust really nice. And I think
it's just such a good metaphorto to, to lean on yourself and
lean on the floor. And, youknow, even back to back leaning

(46:04):
on a partner, you know, noticingthat you don't have to hold
yourself up with your, your willand your ego and without your
breath biting connections. It'ssuch a relief in a way, you
know, just leaning on myself, Ifeel less alone than if I'm
just, you know, doing yoga,trying to kind of balance myself
without help, you know, you getmore help, if you believe

that's such a nice way to think of that. Like,
if I'm stressing out, I feellike I'm alone. Just lean on
myself a little bit. I mean,it's, there's a song about that,
right? Lean on me. But it's sotrue. I mean, awesome. Yeah,

Unknown (46:46):
I learned. I mean, I think I, you know, I take all
the shiatsu trainings with Sam,and then I come up with these
weird ideas. And I asked him,like, does leaning on yourself
make you feel less alone? Andhe's like, doTERRA? Like, are
there meridians everywhere inyour body? Yes, Tara. You just
do it a little bit. And then weall kind of figure out these
things, which is cool. Or youfigure out new things that you

(47:09):
haven't thought of yet, or, youknow, just it's all meant to
help you and your life. So Ithink that's why it's super
cool.

That's awesome.
I'm reading a book right now.
About chakras, the chakra systemby Otto Dania. And I have to put
her name in the show notes I'msorry, on a debt, her last name.
Have you studied? And or are youlike the chakras are everything
when you come across that sortof information? Does it intrigue

(47:38):
you? Or what? What are yourthoughts about that whole part
of yoga? Yeah, I mean, I

Unknown (47:44):
think it's obviously real. I believe in it, for sure.
I think it's a real thing. Ilike relating to it through
things that are also real. Solike, you know, shiatsu, I think
is a great way for me to relatethrough the chakra is in Tai Chi
practice and yoga practice andthings like that. So I've I've

(48:04):
kind of just naturally steeredaway from more workshops that
are not that they're not basedin reality, but kind of go off
on different philosophies or newideas and things like that. Not
that they're not real, either.
But I just like to base it intosomething that I can touch and
feel and experience and, andhave a real idea about it.

(48:26):
Because it's, you know, it is areally interesting understanding
of of your body and how thingswork. And we've all had that
experience when we you know,you're lined up in, you know,
whether you're standingsomewhere and having a feel good
moment, or you're doing yoga,and you're like, oh my gosh,
something just happened, I'm alllined up. And I feel like I'm in
a channel of something. So Ithink it's really cool,

(48:49):
especially when you find a goodbook, or a good teacher that
understands these things andisn't kind of messing around.
really abstract can be a veryabstract concept. And we know
there's lots of, you know,people that are predatory out
there and in our in our kind offields, but you know, there are
a lot of really good teachers,you know, famous and not famous

(49:09):
as well, that can really helphelp us understand all of these
things a little bit easier.

That's where I was kind of wondering where you
see the connection andsimilarity to Meridian therapy.
And in terms of points along theline all either, like connecting
the dots in some special way inreal and also, I guess, with the
chakra system, there's like onecentral line. And obviously we

(49:38):
have noddy's and we couldprobably say that the whole Nadi
system and the meridian systemis the same thing. So I
definitely see the connectionthere. I was just curious what
you've learned over the years inrelation to the shiatsu Meridian
therapy and into likeunderstanding those sorts of
lines and how you translate thatand When say you are teaching a

(50:02):
class and you are going to usehands on touch? Do you like
Intuit some sort of like lineconnection? Or are you working
off the line say like, if I lookat a book and I look at the
line, and I can kind of see thatthere's a line that goes like up

(50:23):
the back of the leg, and itconnects around the hip and goes
across the, this channel alongthe front of the body in some
way. And, and but then when Iactually go to palpate it or try
to find that on someone, I findthat I have to try to what am I
feeling? Like? I think I'll askmyself, like, do I feel
something it you know, or is itmy imagination? And what what

(50:47):
has been your discovery? And Iknow, it's probably a daily
thing, but I'm curious, whatwhat, what do you lean on? When
trying to figure all that? Yeah,well,

Unknown (50:58):
what I've learned is, it's, you don't learn anything,
just doing something once Imean, having somebody around to
just practice on I'm so happy tohave Mike because I've taken you
know, Sam's workshop, likehundreds of times, but every
single time, I'm not great atit, you know, I like learning
about it. So I get better. Andthe fact that I get better, I

(51:18):
think that that's really cool.
And again, having somebody topractice on. Because the
interesting thing aboutconnection is it's not, I'm not
doing something to the otherperson. And if I think that I
am, it's just manipulation, it'snot going to work and maybe a
mechanical thing, but it's notgoing to be a useful thing for
either of us. And that's how,you know yoga teachers and body
workers burnout, like, we thinkI'm going to go and help this

(51:40):
person over here, get into theright position. But if you can
kind of lean next to somebodyand lean on them, and then you
make a connection with yourself,make sure you're kind of cozy
and Okay. And then you kind ofjust put your attention on the
other person, has theirbreathing changed. Have they
adjusted themselves is somethinghappening? And if they are, you
know, showing signs of beingmore relaxed, and something has

(52:04):
changed, it doesn't need to bethe something has changed, but
just are they? Is theirbreathing deepen, are they
moving around a little bit in acomfortable way, then then
something's happening. And forme, it's, you know, I feel like
I have a little bag of trickswith shiatsu, especially in
final relaxation, if somebody'stold me before class, they're
really anxious, you know,there's this place on the

(52:25):
underside of your of your footwhere you can kind of I can lean
away from somebody, and it helpsto kind of tune off that busy
part of their mind. And I know,okay, if their breathing has
changed, and they're movingaround a little bit, usually
after class or kind of Liga,those little girls are they come
up and they say, I've neverswitched off before, or maybe
they don't say anything, andthat's fine, too. Or, you know,

(52:47):
just just knowing little trickslike that, again, if somebody's
kind of depleted on the energy,like knowing where that kidney
meridian is, and just leaninginto it, sometimes you can see a
big reaction, sometimes not abig reaction. I mean, the worst
that can happen is somebody'slike, Oh, what are you doing?
Like, why are you leaning on me?
And then I know that I've like,my approach was wrong, or I just

(53:08):
miss judge the fact that theywanted to be connected with in
that way. So, you know, it's aforever practice, for sure. I
mean, even in Singapore, I wastalking with a girl before and
she was telling me how stressedout she was, and is definitely
my mistake, because I wasthinking, Oh, I'm going to come
to her at the end and do likethe foot thing. And I came to
her at the end and did the footthing. And she like, jumped a
mile and she said, Oh, I'm sosorry. I'm like, No, it's my

(53:29):
fault. It's like, you have to besorry, it's my fault. Because I
was too excited to go and helpher you know, so it always works
when you're, you know, it's ait's not a hard thing, but it's
something to get excited about.
I think just practicing makinggood connections and like the
where you touch people, I mean,it's, it's obvious, it should be
obvious, you know, I'm not goingto come and touch somebody's

(53:51):
belly or I'm not going to touchsomebody's probably not going to
touch somebody's front of theirbody so much but the back of the
bodies a lot easier place or youknow, their pack or you know,
their hips or something likethat. So, you know, if you can
kind of start to practice inthese easier places in the yoga
context, then when you havesomebody that you're more
comfortable with at home, justplaying around and maybe you can

(54:12):
connect with their belly andtheir heart in the middle and do
a more kind of curious, youknow, more shiatsu kind of
practice, but I think it's, youknow, even just in a casual
setting, putting yourself nextto somebody, you know, we've all
like put our hand on somebody'sback and figuring out Okay, is
it appropriate to put my hand onsomebody's back? Am I pushing
them down? Or am I comfortingthat? What am I we've all had

(54:33):
good touch and bad touch likethat. So you know, we can
practice it off the mat. We havea better chance of doing it
right on the mat with more ofthe time. Thank

Great point.
All good points. That was Thatwas excellent. Good answers.
Good answer. Thanks. Thanks.
Thanks. I had someone this is abig question. I am a licensed
massage therapist. Well, I hadsomeone in a yoga training
situation, say, but Todd, you'relicensed massage therapist. So

(55:06):
you're allowed to go up andtouch people in a yoga class.
But is it? Is it legal for me totouch someone in a yoga class
and the way that I? I don't. SoI apologize to you and the
listeners, I don't know theexact black and white rule, at
least in my state like, but whatI do understand or what I get a
sense of is that if it's if Iasked for permission, and

(55:29):
there's consent, and you makeeye contact, and you say, Yes,
I'm okay with you, you know,either putting a hand on me or
helping me in this pose, that atthat point, I kind of lean I
lean on that, that that's whereI say it is okay, or isn't okay.
Like, if you've receivedconsent, have you? Have you come

(55:50):
across this in your trainingsand or in discussions in the
yoga world? What are yourthoughts on this?

Unknown (55:57):
Oh, yeah, well, I think especially since, and
thankfully, there's been moreconversation about this in the
last, you know, 10 years or soeven five years or so. In
Europe, I remember in a traininga few years ago, the studio that
we rented out, had these newpaddles, and it was like green
red. Yeah, saying yeah,

like ping pong paddle.

Unknown (56:24):
So, and they're, you know, they're kind of comical in
a way and can be really usefulin a way as well. But I think a
bigger conversation is well, howare you going to touch me? It's
not just where and when, but isit? If it's going to be good?
Yes. I would like you to touchme if it's not going to be good.

Yeah, good point.

Unknown (56:43):
You know, I think that comes with, you know, if you're
talking to students, it's, well,where are you teaching? Is it
somebody else's space, andabsolutely, you're not in charge
there, you need to, you need toplay by the rules of whatever's
going on. And if you're notallowed to touch people, but you
want to, you know, there's somuch you can do with creating a
good environment with how youstand next to somebody. So

(57:03):
forget about this desire to goand touch somebody, but create a
good relationship witheverything that you do. And then
touch is just one thing kind ofon the continuum of that. So I
think that's always been myapproach with touch. It's not,
you don't, you shouldn't needconsent for something that
you're doing that's useful. Butif you're doing something that

(57:26):
is questionable, if it's usefulor not, then I understand a
world where you would wantconsent, if somebody's going to
come behind me and like, youknow, pull my hips into their
body. I don't want that. I don'tthink very many people want
that. But that was a very normalkind of yoga adjustment up until
I don't know, maybe it's stillhappening. So it's sort of like,
well, well, what's going tohappen? And how are you going to

(57:47):
connect with me in this way, andI definitely, especially with a
newer group, I'll err on theside of not touching as much.
And if I'm with a group for acouple of weeks in a row, then
that'll get more and more justdepending on what's happening.
But also, I'll notice thatpeople are touching each other
more, they're just sittingcloser to each other, they're
kind of leaning on each other'sbacks a little bit or hugging a

(58:09):
bit more. And if that'shappening, then I'll see that as
a sign where I can go in andconnect to somebody's ankles or,
you know, lower back orsomething like that. But I think
there's, there's this wholething that goes into what what
are you doing in the firstplace? And how are you doing it?
That's much more interesting,then, can I or can't I touch
somebody?

Yeah. Good point. Good point. And, Tara,
I'm just extremely thankful foryou to take time, I want to make
sure I respect your time, and wenetstat an hour to talk
together. And it's getting closeto that point. And I'm just
curious, if you have a visionfor the future, what what would

(58:51):
you like to see if you couldlike if you could just totally
be a dreamer. And we don't haveto worry about like, if we're
being too dreamy. I'm curious,what would you dream?

Unknown (59:06):
Well, I think it's interesting. I mean, not that
I'm, you know, been doing thisfor forever. But even in the
last 20 years, I've seen so muchchange for the positive. And
young people have now come intothis practice for the most part,
and they say, I want to feelgood, I want to feel better. And
I'm here for my mental health,my physical health, I'm here,

(59:27):
let's do this. And that wasn'talways the case. 20 years ago,
it felt like if you were doingthese practices, it was very
serious. And it was very much inorder to be good at these
practices was sort of like I'mdoing yoga in order to be good
at yoga or to show my teacherthat I'm a good students and
things like that. And I reallythink there's so much progress

(59:49):
and why people are coming tothese practices. They're coming
for themselves and to live agood life and to be in their
bodies fully and then put way topractice and say, Okay, how can
I be in the world and use mygifts for good? And what am I
doing with myself? And how can Ijust make that part of my life
and it's normal, and it's notthis separate part of my yoga

(01:00:11):
life, I don't have yoga friends,and then other friends, I'm sort
of becoming a more connected methe whole time. And I just
believe that that's alreadyhappening. And, and so many of
us are excited and trying toguide that change and happening
as well. And it's definitely agroup effort. And it takes all
of us in order to do that, andall these different ways and all

(01:00:33):
these different people. And Ithink, in 20 more years that all
of these practices will be sonormal and easy and just be
practiced in homes and with eachother and more guides and more
teachers. And that can just besuch a simple part of life, like
drink water, do your practice,you know that some night, that's

(01:00:56):
my hope and dream for sure.

Todd McLaughlin (01:00:58):
That is great.
I liked the way you put thatout, because it seems like we're
we've already we've achieved italready. And it's only gonna get
better. Like we're we'veachieved, we've achieved it.
were achieving it. It's stillhappening.

Unknown (01:01:13):
Yeah, you yoga teachers are nice. Now. 20 years ago, I
was scared to death. Most yogateachers, they wouldn't talk to
me. And they just you didn't doyoga teachers and students
didn't have conversations, itjust wasn't like, you go over
there. And I'm going over here,you know. And now everybody's
nice, and everybody wants tohelp each other. And we're just
going to keep that going. Ithink that's awesome.

That is a beautiful message. I really
appreciate you sharing. Thankyou so much for taking time out
of your schedule away from yourfamily and to do this, and I
can't wait to release it. And Ijust really appreciate it. Tara,
i You were so kind and so sweet.
And your reply just it means alot. I think you're giving the

(01:01:54):
example of what it is that yourdream is. So I think it's um,
it's really, I appreciate it.
Thank you.

Unknown (01:02:03):
Oh, you're so nice. You too. I was really excited to
chat with you. And I'm glad wehave a lot in common.

Yes, you Lottie is amazing. Well, I hope that
myself and anyone listening thatwants to join you in Miami that
perhaps will have a in personreunion or chance to actually
meet in person, which I reallywant to try to come down. So I

(01:02:30):
will make that happen. And thankyou, Tara and I look forward to
meeting you in person and yourhusband and I'm excited to see
you. We'll have fun. Cool. Thankyou. Thank you so much. Native
yoga taught cast is produced bymyself. The theme music is

(01:02:50):
dreamed up by Bryce Allen. Ifyou liked this show, let me know
if there's room for improvement.
I want to hear that too. We arecurious to know what you think
and what you want more of what Ican improve. And if you have
ideas for future guests ortopics, please send us your
thoughts to info at Native yogacenter. You can find us at

(01:03:13):
Native yoga center.com. And hey,if you did like this episode,
share it with your friends, rateit and review and join us next
time

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Tara Stiles - Lead & Lean with Love

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Tara Stiles - Lead & Lean with Love