I've been a longtime listener of A Grateful Life, and if you've spent any time in the yoga or wellness world, chances are you already know Dr. Lauren Tober's voice — thoughtful, grounded, and never afraid to go deep. So when I had the chance to sit down with her for this episode, I couldn't say yes fast enough.

Lauren is a Clinical Psychologist and Senior Yoga Teacher who has spent over two decades weaving together the wisdom of psychology and yoga — and her work feels more relevant than ever. As yoga teachers, we're often holding space for students who are struggling in ways we may not be trained to recognize, let alone support. Lauren's work on Mental Health Aware Yoga is exactly the kind of conversation our community needs more of, and I loved getting to dig into it with her.

In this episode:

• Lauren's journey bridging clinical psychology and yoga
• What "Mental Health Aware Yoga" means and why it matters
• Common blind spots: how yoga teachers can unintentionally cause harm with students who are struggling
• Where the line is between holding space and referring out to a mental health professional
• Trauma-informed teaching — what most yoga trainings leave out
• Patanjali's 8 limbs through the lens of mental health
• Practical first steps for teachers who want to become more mental-health-aware
• Lauren's online Mental Health Aware Yoga training and who it's for
• Living and teaching from Bundjalung Country, and how place shapes her work
• What "a grateful life" means to Lauren today

About Dr. Lauren Tober: Dr Lauren Tober is a Clinical Psychologist, Senior Yoga Teacher, author of Mental Health Aware Yoga: A Guide for Yoga Teachers, host of the A Grateful Life podcast and an eternal student of life. As the founder of the Yoga Psychology Institute, Lauren has spent over two decades integrating the wisdom of contemporary psychology with the timeless teachings of yoga, supporting yoga teachers, health professionals and seekers to heal, grow and come home to themselves. Based on Bundjalung Country in Mullumbimby, Australia, Lauren teaches and travels globally. Her work is soulful without being new-agey, evidence-based without being clinical, and above all, deeply human.

Connect with Lauren:

• Website: www.mentalhealthawareyoga.com
• Yoga Psychology Institute: www.yogapsychologyinstitute.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• Free book: Patanjali's 8 Limbs and Mental Health Aware Yoga → https://www.mentalhealthawareyoga.com/8limbs
• Online Mental Health Aware Yoga Training (starts September 16, 2026) → https://www.mentalhealthawareyoga.com/online

Connect with Andrea

• www.andreaclaassen.com
• Sacred Seasons- https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-seasons

Skill in Action: Protection, Ritual & Embodiment with Michelle Cassandra Johnson

In this episode, I sit down with author, activist, spiritual teacher, racial equity consultant, and intuitive healer Michelle Cassandra Johnson to talk about her sixth book, You Are Protected. We dig into what real protection means (hint: it's not the fear-based kind), the guides and unseen support available to all of us, and how ritual and embodiment are transforming racial equity work. We also get personal talking bees and what an entire life of skill in action actually looks like day to day.

Connect with Michelle:

Website: https://www.michellecjohnson.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillinaction

Connect with Andrea:

andreaclaassen.com

Sacred Seasons

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seasonalandrea

This week I'm getting honest about the week I ignored every signal my body was sending me nine yoga classes subbed in four days, zero rest, and a stumble that finally got my attention. I'm talking about what Ayurveda taught me about pitta season, the sneaky ways we override our own bodies in the name of being helpful, and why slowing down isn't the same thing as giving up. Plus, I share why I'm heading into a weekend retreat completely depleted and framing it as the remedy, not one more thing to survive. I'll report back on how it actually went in a few weeks.

Also mentioned:

Seasonal Strength Fall Edition is live now, and Sacred Seasons my flagship seasonal container opens for the fall round on my birthday, September 17, through the Fall Equinox, September 22. Get on the waiting list today for special bonuses!

Find me at andreaclaassen.com.

The Pitta Wall: What Happens When You Skip the One Thing That Grounds You

Ever notice yourself getting irritable over nothing, feeling like there's never enough time, or hitting a wall of exhaustion right around this time of year? In Ayurveda, this is a classic sign of a Pitta imbalance and late August is prime time for it.

In this episode, I get personal about hitting my own Pitta wall a few weeks ago: the quick anger, the time-scarcity feeling, and the realization that even though I'd been outside all summer, I hadn't been to the one place that actually grounds me on my favorite nature trail. I dig into the guilt so many of us carry around choosing solo restoration over family togetherness, why knowing your grounding practice isn't the same as protecting it, and what I'm changing heading into fall.

In this episode:

• What a Pitta wall is and why late summer brings it on
• The physical and emotional signs of Pitta imbalance
• Andrea's own story of losing (and finding her way back to) her grounding practice
• The guilt of choosing solo time over family time — and why that tension matters
• Simple Ayurvedic practices to cool Pitta as the season shifts toward Vata
• Andrea's plan for protecting this practice going into fall

Mentioned in this episode:

• Andrea's nature trail practice and 7-year relationship with the land
• The three pillars: movement, mindfulness, mother nature
• Wednesdays with her youngest son starting in September

Connect with Andrea: 🌐 andreaclaassen.com

📩 Subscribe to the newsletter for more on Ayurveda, strength training, and living seasonally

Loved this episode? Leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts it helps this show reach more people navigating the same season.

Here's a draft for the show notes:

Episode Title: Stop Looking, Start Feeling

Peaceful Power Podcast

Show Notes:

This episode starts with cows.

On a recent road trip to Colorado, my three year old was on the hunt for cows out the window. I pointed to some grazing on a distant hill — "Look, there are cows!" — while my husband pointed out the field of them right in front of us that I'd completely missed while scanning the horizon.

It became the metaphor I couldn't shake for the rest of the trip, and for the week that followed.

In this episode, I talk about:

• The cows story, and how often we look ahead for the "right" answer while missing what's already unfolding in front of us
• Why this idea landed so differently for me this week, after our family experienced the sudden loss of my five month old nephew, Mac
• The shift from looking for to feeling into — in gratitude, in presence, and in practice
• What I think yoga is actually for, underneath the poses — not performing your way toward some far-off state, but feeling your way into the one you're already in
• The question I keep asking myself: what's your hill, and what's actually right in front of you?

This one is tender, honest, and a little more reflective than usual. I hope it meets you wherever you are this week.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Our family's GoFundMe for Mac, if you'd like to read his story or support us: Here

Connect with me:

• Website: andreaclaassen.com
• Instagram: @seasonalandrea

What I Learned From a Social Media Break (That No One Talks About)

I didn't take a break from social media with some grand plan in mind. I took a break because I was tired. What I didn't expect was to find out how tired and how much of that tiredness had been hiding in plain sight.

In this episode, I'm sharing what came up during my time away: the subtle overwhelm I didn't realize I was carrying, the constant rolodex of "what should I post next" spinning in the back of my brain, and the noise underneath the noise including AI-generated "women" selling perimenopausal women beauty standards that aren't even real.

I also share a framework that's been rattling around in my head since I heard it in a recent webinar with my longtime teacher Tracee Stanley and her guest, author Shannon Algeo, on the real differences between real-world space and online space — and why our nervous systems know the difference even when we don't.

We talk about:

• The overwhelm I didn't know I was carrying until it was gone
• Why Instagram sends me a "look what you're missing" email almost every day (sometimes two) and what that says about who these platforms are really built for
• What it's like to catch up with a friend when you genuinely don't know what they've been up to anymore
• How online spaces can quietly become an echo chamber, even when you don't realize you're standing inside one
• Why I notice more than ever who shows up consistently, and who I actually feel connected to
• Real world vs. online, through Shannon Algeo's framework: embodied vs. disembodied, synchronous vs. asynchronous, one-to-few vs. one-to-many, and the high bar of entry and exit in real life vs. the low bar online
• What I'm choosing to build instead: shared sacredness, embodiment, stillness, being slow to anger and quick to forgive, connection to nature and awe, and connection to our ancestors and transcendent self

If you've ever wondered whether it's just you feeling the hum of low-grade overwhelm from being online, this one's for you.

Connect with me:

🌿 Website: andreaclaassen.com

Work with Me: www.andreaclaassen.com/services

Before my son does his backfloat, his swim teacher asks him one question: song, count, or silence? He gets to choose every time and more often than not, at three years old, he chooses silence.

In this episode, I connect that small, ordinary moment at the pool to something I hear constantly in my work: a woman doing everything "right" in her training program, still gaining weight, still exhausted, still being asked how many days of cardio are you getting when the real question no one's asking is whether her nervous system has any room left to give.

We talk about:

• Why "more" is almost never the answer to a body that's already in overdraft
• The Ayurvedic concept of swasthavritta — daily rhythm in accordance with your own nature, not a universal script
• Why stillness (yin, restorative, rest) can feel more threatening than a hard workout to a stressed nervous system
• Why health was never just grams and cardio minutes — digestion, the senses, and the mind are part of the same system
• The question I want you to sit with this week: where are you defaulting to someone else's script when what you need is to pause and ask your own?

If this episode resonates, Nourished & Rooted my 16-week 1:1 container weaving Ayurveda, subtle body practice, yoga nidra, and flower essences is built exactly for this kind of remembering. Link below.

🔗 Learn more about Nourished & Rooted: andreaclaassen.com/nourishedandrooted

What 40 Days of Yoga Nidra Taught Me (That I Didn't Expect)

I committed to 40 days of yoga nidra — no skipped days, no exceptions — as the final piece of my teacher training with Tracee Stanley and Dr. Chanti. I thought I was signing up for better sleep and a little more stillness.

What I got was a quiet dismantling of habits I didn't even know I had.

In this episode, I'm sharing what actually shifted after 40 straight days of subtle body practice — not the highlight-reel version, the real one. Why my favorite trail stopped being the only place I could exhale. Why I started saying no faster. How I learned to lead a yoga nidra without a script, and what that took to get to. And the strange, mundane ways a sadhana shows up in your life — right down to your coffee routine.

In this episode:

• What yoga nidra and subtle body work actually are (and why they're different from a typical meditation practice)
• Why I stopped needing to "escape" into hours of nature to feel okay
• How the practice changed what I let in — media, mentors, my own pace
• The moment I could finally teach yoga nidra without a script
• Why clarity doesn't come from thinking harder — it comes from getting still enough to notice what's already there

Mentioned in this episode: Tracee Stanley & Dr. Chanti's Yoga Nidra Teacher Training → https://www.traceestanley.com/courses

Ready to get still enough to hear what's true for you? Nourished & Rooted is my 16-week 1:1 container for exactly this kind of work Ayurvedic consultation, subtle body practice, flower essences, and yoga nidra, built to help you hear your own inner wisdom instead of managing your to-do list. → https://andreaclaassen.com/nourishedandrooted

3 Day Pitta Challenge

https://andreaclaassen.com/3-day-mini-cooldown-challenge

Seasonal Strength

https://andreaclaassen.com/seasonal-strength

Why Your Daily Life Is Already Sacred Peaceful Power Podcast

What if the most powerful spiritual practice you could have isn't something you find it's something you're already living?

In this episode, I sit down with Tracee Stanley yoga nidra teacher, author, and one of the most grounding voices in the modern wellness space for a conversation that felt less like an interview and more like a permission slip. We talk about why so many of us have disconnected from the rhythm of our own lives, and what it actually looks like to come back.

This one is for the woman who knows she needs to slow down but hasn't figured out how to make that real.

In this episode, we explore:

• Why daily rituals don't have to be elaborate to be transformative
• The difference between going through the motions and actually showing up to your life
• How slowing down isn't a luxury it's a form of attention and devotion
• What it means to treat ordinary moments as sacred ground
• Practical ways to anchor yourself in ritual, even on the hardest days

About Tracee Stanley:

Tracee Stanley is the author of the upcoming book Living Ritual: Infuse Each Day with Purpose and Spirit (St. Martin's Essentials August 2026) and the bestselling books Radiant Rest and The Luminous Self. Tracee is the founder of Empowered Life Circle, a sacred community and portal of practices, rituals, and Tantric teachings inspired by more than 30 years of studentship in Sri Vidya Tantra and the teachings of the Himalayan Masters. Tracee is devoted to sharing the wisdom of yoga nidra, rest, meditation, self-inquiry, nature as a teacher, and ancestor reverence. Tracee holds certificates from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Advanced Eco-Therapy, New Thinking, Best Practices, and Emerging Modalities, and a certificate in Advanced Ecopsychology. Tracee is devoted to illuminating the magic and power found in liminal space and weaving devotion and practice into daily life.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Living Ritual by Tracee Stanley — Preorder the book here to join her 16 day free course
• Learn more about Tracee's work at https://www.traceestanley.com/

If this episode resonated, share it with a friend who needs a reminder that her life exactly as it is is already enough.

Andrea Claassen Bio Andrea Claassen is an Ayurvedic Wellness Counselor, RYT 500 hour yoga teacher, and personal trainer who has been in the wellness space since 2007. She specializes in helping women both on and off their yoga mats, find their inner strength. Her mission is to help women learn how to slow down, tune in and connect to their inner wisdom. The three pillars she focuses on are movement, mindfulness & mother nature through an Ayurvedic lens. You can hear more from Andrea on her Peaceful Power Podcast where she aims to deliver actionable takeaways for you to live a more holistic lifestyle. Connect with Andrea on her website at www.andreaclaassen.com More from Andrea Free: 5 Day Stillness Challenge https://andreaclaassen.com/sacred-stillness-challenge Seasonal Strength: https://andreaclaassen.com/seasonal-strength

Pitta Season Is Here: How to Cool Down Without Checking Out

Summer is Pitta season in Ayurveda — and as a fellow Pitta, host Andrea knows exactly how provoking it can be. Solo parenting, work, meltdowns, errands, bedtime: it's all go-go-go energy that heats up both Pitta and Vata.

In this episode, Andrea shares the real (not aspirational) practices keeping her grounded this summer: afternoon yoga nidra, quiet morning moments with the Yoga Sutras, sitting barefoot in the grass, saying no to an overstuffed calendar, reading for pure pleasure, a rosewater spritz, and sparkling water as an actual treat.

This is cooling down without checking out staying present and steady, even in the heat.

🌿 Learn more about Andrea's 1:1 Yoga & Ayurveda coaching, Nourished & Rooted: andreaclaassen.com 📲3 Day Pitta Challenge: Join Here, It's Free