Seeker + Sage

Tribe, I'm honored to present to you the collaboration between the Yogi Misfit Sessions and Fierce Calm.

Each month, we'll bring you a compelling story about how yoga has saved a life, with bonus mini stories on yoga's ability to heal and transform. Fierce Calm is a growing collective of yoga practitioners from all backgrounds and abilities who have each identified with the words 'Yoga Saved My Life' and come together as a movement to inspire & empower each other without judgment and with compassion. This is something that I think we can all stand behind.

Veteran Kris Pace suffered a traumatic brain injury during his service leaving him with chronic pain and PTSD. Yoga gave its support to Kris after experiencing frustration with the Veteran Affairs health care system. Manifesting as a physical practice initially, yoga showed its spiritual side that encouraged him to become a teacher when he didn't want to be. Being vulnerable during class cracked something open within that altered Kris' life as he knew it. 

Stay tuned at the end for two mini stories from Shannon and Tatiana, too!

Learn more about Today's guests:

Kris Pace

krispacefitness.com

Shannon Liebel

Instagram: @shannonlyoga

Facebook: @shannonlyoga

Tatiana Elghossain

IG: @tatiyogini

MUSIC:

92elm x Pold - Flowers

Relax Daily - No.56

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This session is a powerful one and I'm extremely honored to have Marshawn Feltus as my guest this week. Just before his 18th birthday, an altercation he recalls as “senseless street violence” escalated into a fatal shooting and landed him a 38-year prison sentence. During his incarceration, he took his first yoga class that forever altered his life then took the seat of the teacher to lead over 800 men in Ashtanga.

After serving almost 19 years, Marshawn opened up ACT Yoga, the first studio in the underserved Chicago-Austin area. ACT stands for "Awareness, Change, and Triumph."

We sit down and talk about the mental benefits of yoga, and why he finds this practice to be so valuable. Being in an underserved community, he shares his challenges with de-mystifying yoga ("I thought yoga was for skinny white women, like I thought basketball and football were for the brothers."), and how he tries to make this practice sustainable and attainable more than a one-time experience on the mat.

Learn more about Marshawn:

Yoga Service Council

Facebook

MUSIC:

Stereo Cube, Luster

FRIEND OF THE SHOW:

Ohmme: Check out their functional and stylish yoga gear. Use ‘DANNI15’ to get 15% off your order.

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to the Girlfriend Gab Podcast with Danni + Rocky!

Just kidding. But wouldn't that be super fun? Anyway, on with the show...

Rocky Heron is a really good friend, mentor, and a huge inspiration to me--I credit him for giving me the final push into becoming a yoga teacher. As a teacher for the Mazé Method and having gone through trainings with him, Rocky is a huge wealth of knowledge of not only the body and how it moves, but teaching the yoga asanas and thinking critically about teaching.

We also talk about what yoga is to different people--regular yoga vs. irregular yoga, if you will. We all have different frameworks, depending on what your lineage or training background might be, but it's all yoga. Keeping a line of inquiry in your own practice is also crucial; it's one of the best ways to discover your body and to encourage growth within your practice and teaching. What's working? How can you approach it differently?

I hope you enjoy listening in to this session and want to know if you have any takeaways.

Learn more about Rocky:

Rockyheron.com

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

YouTube

MUSIC:

Down by 92elm

FRIEND OF THE SHOW:

Ohmme: Check out their functional and stylish yoga gear. Use ‘DANNI15’ to get 15% off your order.

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For Session 64 I was joined by the female version of me – Lauren Zoeller. She is a true powerhouse who does all the things. She’s a yoga teacher, a coach and a podcaster.

We talk about pouring from an empty cup. This is something I’ve struggled with the past year where I felt like I kept on giving until I almost burnt myself out. Lauren gives great advice on how we can only care for others by caring for ourselves first, otherwise, we will just burn ourselves out and end up running on empty.

I loved her emphasis on getting a morning routine of self-care that is specific and works for you. It’s something I’ve put a lot of effort into and starting the day right with a bit of self-love can make a huge difference to not only you but those around you.

Learn more about Lauren:

Lauren’s website

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey yogis!

By now, we've finished reading book #2 of the Yogi Misfit Book Club, The Four Agreements by Don Ruiz. If you haven't yet finished it--no worries! Keep on keepin' on but there are spoilers ahead!

This session, I've got a few Yogi Misfits on the show. For some of them, it was the first time reading this book, and for a few, the second or third time. We talk about the takeaways from both perspectives. Something that really stood out to me from this book is how you cannot make assumptions, especially where someone is coming from; you don't necessarily know their life experiences and background that shapes their thought process.

Above all, Ruiz lists doing your best. I see this all the time in the classroom--someone gunning to win 1st place at yoga. We also talk about how this applies in our daily lives.

Finally, spiritual warriors. What does this mean to you? How does this show up in your daily life? They share their interpretations on this.

What were some things that stood out to you? Let me know in the Yogi Misfits Facebook group!

Stay tuned for the next book (The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho):

Buy it here.

Keep up with all book club-related things here. You'll be joining the rad kula (community) that is the Yogi Misfits.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tribe, I'm excited and honored to present to you the inaugural session that is a collaboration between the Yogi Misfit Sessions and Fierce Calm.

Each month, we'll bring you a compelling story about how yoga has saved a life, with bonus mini stories on yoga's ability to heal and transform. Fierce Calm is an growing collective of yoga practitioners from all backgrounds and abilities who have each identified with the words 'Yoga Saved My Life' and come together as a movement to inspire & empower each other without judgment and with compassion. This is something that I think we can all stand behind.

I've got Joseph Armstrong on this show, and he shares his story about how yoga profoundly affected him. Having a history of drug usage, he hit a wall with IV meth usage, bringing him to an impasse. With the help of the 12 Step program and ashtanga yoga, he shares his journey of transformation towards a new life.

Stay tuned at the end for two mini stories from Tasha and Maria, too!

Learn more about Joseph:

josepharmstrongyoga.com

Instagram

Tasha Gomes

Maria Waag

MUSIC:

92elm x Pold - Flowers

Relax Daily - No.56

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This session is for both yoga students and yoga teachers alike. On session 63, I chat with Margo Lightburn, a teacher who's been teaching and practicing for 16+ years. We talk about sustainability of a yoga teacher because yeah, it looks like all we do is walk around and say things to students, but there's so much more to it than that. Intelligent sequencing, getting classes to be well-attended, ensuring that we maintain a solid income yet avoiding burnout...these are all different plates that we as teachers spin at any one time. How can all of this be sustainable for any one teacher? On top of that, especially in areas where yoga offerings and yoga teachers are abundant, how can someone stand out as unique instead of being hyper-competitive against each other? We get honest and real, so get ready.

Also, we apologise about the audio quality of the interview. We decided to release the episode as we just loved the rawness of the conversation. Thank you for bearing with us.

Learn more about Margo:

Margo's website

Instagram

Facebook

MUSIC:

Cool Night by Dixxy

FRIEND OF THE SHOW:

Grow Your Yoga Business by Amy McDonald: Take your teaching to the next level and make your yoga business abundant. Amy, who is a rad yoga teacher and buisness coach, has developed a 6-week course that will give you strategies to improve your yoga business. Get all the info + bonus goodies from me and take $100 off through promo codes 'dannifullpay' or 'dannipaymentplan.'

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

My guests this week are Mat and Ash, also known as The Yoga Couple. Based out of the Big Island of Hawaii, they've authored a book called The Inner Work. We talk about this book and the inception of the philosophies behind The Inner Work. Blending Western psychology and Eastern yogic philosophy, this book talks about how to discover your authentic self-realized Self. We get into the nitty-gritty of finding your capital-s Self, and the process that it takes on the journey. Coming together to combine their collective experiences and knowledge, they are two individuals worth getting to know.

Learn more about Mat + Ash:

TheYogaCouple.com

Instagram

Facebook

MUSIC:

Fantasy by Dixxy

FRIEND OF THE SHOW:

Grow Your Yoga Business by Amy McDonald: Take your teaching to the next level and make your yoga business abundant. Amy has developed a 6-week course that will give you strategies to improve your yoga business. Get all the info + bonus goodies from me and take $100 off through promo codes 'dannifullpay' or 'dannipaymentplan.'

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If I'm being honest, my fangirl dreams have come true and Tiffany Cruikshank is my guest on the show! I'm thrilled to have her on and we talk about how she transitioned from an acupuncturist to yoga. Tiffany has a well-known school called Yoga Medicine that provides yoga teacher trainings that fuses anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics to work alongside medical professionals for students'/patients' well-being. I really admire her way of how she blends Eastern and Western modalities together and we dive in to that as well. She even gives some credibility to goat yoga...I hope you enjoy this session as much as I enjoyed recording it!

Learn more about Tiffany:

Yoga Medicine + Seva Foundation

Instagram

Twitter

Facebook

MUSIC:

So Beautiful by Kronicle

FRIENDS OF THE SHOW:

Brett Larkin Online YTT: Have you been thinking about enrolling in a yoga teacher training, but don't have the time? Go through it at your own pace, anywhere, anytime with access to course material for life. Use code 'DANNI' at checkout for $100 off!

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey yogis! I'm starting off 2019 with a twist. Krista Lettko, a marketing guru of the agency Authentic Audience, interviews (or hijacks, as she says) me on the show.

We talk about the business side of the yoga industry, managing your own brand as a yoga teacher, engaging, maintaining, and growing an authentic audience, and the H-U-S-T-L-E that is being a yoga teacher. There's a whole lot that goes into teaching yoga outside of showing up, maintaining continuing education, and getting those prime-time class slots. Hear about my experience, the lessons learned, and what's to come for the next year. 

Learn more about Krista:

AuthenticAudience.co

Instagram

FRIENDS OF THE SHOW:

If you're interested in continuing your yoga journey in yoga teacher training, I am leading a 200-hour training starting this March in downtown SF. Learn more here.

Sewall House Yoga Retreat: Go to www.sewallhouse.com to learn about their amazing personalized yoga retreats.

Breathe in Detroit: Need some rad clothes in your life? Use 'DANNI20' to get 20% off your order.

Rise Bar: Plant-based, all-natural protein bars with no bullsh*t. Get 25% off your order with code 'DANNI25'

WRITE A REVIEW

If you like the podcast, please leave a review or rating on iTunes! Click here for a quick and easy guide on how to leave a review on iTunes.

Don’t forget to subscribe via:  iTunes | Google Play | RSS | Spotify.

See you on the mat. Much love and good vibes.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.