Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:11] Welcome to Deep in your yoga practice. I'm Lauren Leduc, the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri, and today's episode is incredibly special because it is our 100th episode. When I started this podcast, I honestly wasn't sure where it would lead. I just knew I wanted to create conversations around yoga that felt really thoughtful and grounded and nuanced and accessible. And over the last 100 episodes, we've explored philosophy, anatomy, nervous system, science, meditation, fascia ethics, history, spirituality, teacher training, and so much more.
[00:00:48] And I encourage you to go back and look through them and find what resonates for you. Now, today I wanted to do something a little bit different than what I've offered. I decided to ask some of the teachers and our 300 hour trainees as well at True Love Yoga one simple question, and that is, what is something you wish your students knew? And their answers were so beautiful and consistent and so deeply aligned that I thought, this is what I have to offer for the hundredth episode, so I'll keep it short and sweet because many of the answers were aligned and congruent and they all point to the same things. So the first thing your teachers want you to know is that you belong here, that every time students walk in the door, they are welcome, and that people are perfect just for showing up or not showing up. Often there is this intimidation to walk into a yoga space. There are feelings of comparison.
[00:01:47] Maybe we don't feel good enough, but as one of our teachers said that one of the deepest misunderstandings about yoga is that you need to become someone else before you begin.
[00:01:58] Maybe you need to be more flexible, more calm, more spiritual, and more fit. But yoga was never meant to be reserved for perfected people. You don't need to earn your belonging in a yoga space just by being you. You inherently belong. Another important point that came up from our teachers is your practice does not need to look like anyone else's.
[00:02:23] They said your practice doesn't need to and probably shouldn't look exactly like the person next to. It's important in a yoga practice to have autonomy, to be able to make choices that work for you, to recognize that our bodies are all different, even the way our bones are shaped and our joints fit together and different injuries we've had and levels of mobility, they're all going to vary among every single person. We have differences in our nervous system. We are in different seasons of our lives. So we love seeing students make choices for them, whether that's resting, whether it's taking a gentle option for a pot posture. Or maybe pushing harder that day because that's what they're needing. Maybe they're using blocks and straps. Maybe they're opting into child's pose that day.
[00:03:12] I think many teachers secretly wish students understood that modifying or making choices within a posture isn't failing whatsoever. It's just participating intelligently. We love when we see our students practicing ahimsa or non harm or a paragraha, a non attachment or non grasping. The goal of yoga isn't performance, it's relationship to the self, it's deep presence, it's kindness, it's compassion.
[00:03:44] It's all of the things that we see when you show up and make choices that work for you. Another important thing your yoga teachers want you to know is that self acceptance is the practice itself. That yoga is an amazing tool for developing, developing self acceptance and that no time you spend caring for yourself is wasted. Oftentimes we can get caught up in perfectionism or productivity culture or in kind of the rat race of self improvement. And we can come to yoga thinking that we're there to fix ourselves. But maybe over time, with care and with attention within beautiful community, we slowly realized that we were worthy of care this whole time. That maybe we can step outside of the burnout, the hustle culture, the addiction to achievement, and become more compassionate toward ourselves, more aware, more accepting. So maybe we were seeking improvement at one point, but what we find instead is this profound sense of acceptance. And I always find that the more I love myself, the more I become that person I respect. I step up to the plate of my own self acceptance, so to speak. Something else your teachers want you to know is that your body is constantly communicating with you. That if you really listen, your body will tell you what it needs. You can tune into your inner awareness. You can use discernment. You can decide, am I going to go for the challenge or am I going to go for the rest? Or am I going to go for something that's moderate and in between today?
[00:05:23] Know that listening to your body isn't always easy. It's also not always instinctive. It might be something we need to learn or relearn, but it can be learned or relearned through this practice, through showing up, through continuing to respectfully listen to our own needs.
[00:05:42] Balance is not doing the same thing every day. We're pushing as hard as we can. Balance is responding honestly to what is needed. Whether that's more, less, or, you know, maybe if it's just right. The next thing your teachers want you to know is that your breath matters more than you think, that your audible breath even is so helpful. Breath is a form of regulation. It creates this sense of communal rhythm and of presence. And when students breathe audibly together, something shifts in the room. The practice becomes collective instead of performative.
[00:06:19] There is this beautiful rhythm, this music, kind of like waves of the ocean.
[00:06:25] And it's this way of participating in class and showing up. And as teachers, we love hearing you breathe. You don't need to do it as loud as you possibly can, but know that an audible Ujjayi breath is such a beautiful thing and it's so encouraging to your fellow student. So here are some things that I hope you know. That yoga doesn't require perfection. Your body is beautiful. It's not a problem to solve. That consistency wins every time over intensity. That you're allowed to change and grow, to let go. And that yoga holds complexity very well. That we are complex beings and it's okay to show up fully and complexly and messily.
[00:07:14] It's all welcome. I think if there's one thing I hope people understand after a hundred episodes, is that yoga is about becoming more honest, more aware, more compassionate and more connected while fully inside your humanity. We get to be spiritual and human, messy, imperfect, beautifully whole. So I want to thank our contributing teachers today. I want to thank listeners and students and this community.
[00:07:45] This podcast has grown because of community, because of your willingness to show up and learn to connect. And I'm so grateful for you for showing up to classes, to conversations, for showing up to yourself. Thank you so much for helping create a space where yoga can be thoughtful and compassionate, imperfect, evolving and deeply human. So here's to the next 100 shanti en. Peace.
