The Empress and The Fool

Hey All!

Just a quick (but important) update regarding The Beginner's Mind...
We're moving back to every-other-week! 

Sorry if that's a disappointment for anyone, but please give this episode a listen and you'll understand why. 

Thanks and talk to you next week! 

Until then... Stay Curious! 

Join Sarah as she discussed privilege, "manifestation", and the god-complex that permeates the yoga community with Emily Taggart. 

You can connect with Emily at https://www.bewellyogini.com/ or on Instagram. 

ABOUT EMILY TAGGART
Yoga Teacher, Peacemaker, Mama, Wife, Friend, Student, Introvert, Traveler, Lover of Language….My name is Emily and I am here to hold a safe space for your yoga practice. Each experience you have with yoga should be one that helps you on your path to living well as a responsible citizen of this earth.

I have been teaching yoga in the Sacramento area since 2010. Weaving together practices from traditional yoga and functional movement, each yoga experience with me is held together by a thread of intention and spirit. You will experience an invitation to move and rest at the pace of breath with modifications and props offered throughout instruction.

Specializing in prenatal yoga and postnatal yoga, I offer classes and workshops to support mamas of all birthing and parenting philosophies.

Share your own yoga stories today! Reach out to Sarah via any of the following links:
instagram.com/tbmpodcast
facebook.com/thebeginnersmindpodcast
[email protected]

This week, Sarah discusses accessible yoga with Jivana Heyman. Join us as we explore what accessible yoga is, how modern yoga fails to be accessible, and what we can do to change that.

Jivana is the founder of Accessible Yoga, co-owner of the Santa Barbara Yoga Center, and an Integral Yoga Minister. With over twenty years of training and teaching in a traditional yoga lineage, Jivana has specialized in teaching the subtle practices of yoga: pranayama, meditation, as well as sharing yoga philosophy. His passion is making Yoga accessible to everyone. 

Accessible Yoga has grown into an international advocacy and education organization, and now offers two Conferences per year, trainings around the world, an ambassador program and online Network. Jivana has taught wth the Dean Ornish Heart Disease Reversal Program through UCSF, California Pacific Medical Center’s Institute of Health and Healing, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He has led over 40 Yoga teacher training programs over the past 16 years, and created the Accessible Yoga Training program in 2007. On December 3rd, 2015, Jivana taught Accessible Yoga at the United Nations in Geneva for their International Day of Persons with Disabilities. 

Jivana’s strengths are sharing esoteric and complex teaching in a readily accessible way, and applying the ancient teachings of Yoga to our day-to-day lives. You can connect with Jivana at https://accessibleyoga.org/ or via Instagram and Facebook. 

To join the Accessible Yoga Conference in NYC or to learn more about Accessible Yoga, visit their website. You can also learn about and pre-order Jivana's book on Amazon.

Want to connect with Sarah? Reach out to her on Instagram, Facebook, or directly via email at [email protected].

The Beginner's Mind is created in partnership with Shut Up & Yoga. Check out their books at www.shutupandyoga.com/books or join the conversation via the new Facebook group, Shut Up & Yoga Forum for Modern Yogis.

Thank you to Plum Deluxe for sponsoring this episode. Visit https://www.plumdeluxe.com/ today to order delicious loose leaf teas or join their Loose Leaf Tea of the Month Club for just $10/month! Use the code "TBM10" at check out to save 10% on all purchases. 

This week, Sarah discusses sustainable employment models with two yoga teachers: Liz Buehler Walker of the U.S. and Norman Blair of the U.K. Join us as we explore what it really looks like to make a career as a yoga teacher and how the yoga industry needs to change so we can better value and support our teachers. 

Want to connect with Sarah? Reach out to her on Instagram, Facebook, or directly via email at [email protected].

The Beginner's Mind is created in partnership with Shut Up & Yoga. Check out their new books at www.shutupandyoga.com/books or join the conversation via the new facebook group, Shut Up & Yoga Forum for Modern Yogis.

Liz Buehler Walker

Connecting to my breath and body through yoga has always offered me a way out of denial and into how I’m doing in relationship to reality. Everyone’s vision, path and lived experience is different, and I believe that the vastness of the yogic practiceS teach us how to be in our truth and hold space for others to be in theirs.

Learning is a lifelong process, but some of the people I have studied with are Peter Rizzo of Bhava Yoga (500-Hour Yoga Teacher Training, 2001), Alan Finger of ISHTA Yoga (Yoga Teacher Training Bridge Program for meditation and subtle body, 2008), Mia Borgatta of Lila Yoga and Wellness (Pre-Natal Yoga Teacher Training, 2012), Lara Kohn-Thompson and Beth Donnelly-Caban of Integral Yoga (Pre-Natal Yoga Teacher Training, 2016), Dr. Naina Marballi (Ayurveda Shirodhara Training, 2017), Sarah Tomlinson in the Harish Johari lineage of Yantra and Ayurveda.

Currently I am involved in studies with social change and spiritual leaders such as Michelle Cassandra Johnson, author of Skill In Action, Kerri Kelly, founder of CTZNWELL, Susanna Barkataki, creator of the Honor {Don’t Appropriate} Yoga Summit and Workbook, and Kelley Palmer, creator of Peacefilled Mama and co-founder of The Sanctuary in the City.

I am also developing a Pre-Natal Yoga Teacher Training and Post-Natal programs and continue to mentor yoga teachers informally and as apprentices.

You can connect with me at www.brooklynyogalife.com.

Norman Blair

Norman has been practising yoga since the early 1990s and teaching yoga since 2001. He has studied deeply with teachers such as Sarah Powers, Richard Freeman, and Alaric Newcombe. He loves the way yoga has helped him become more embodied, more conscious, and more focused. His approach is about enabling accessibility, encouraging acceptance and deepening awareness.

He likes (in no particular order) chocolate, Star Trek, standing on his head, resting on bolsters, and going for walks across Hampstead Heath. A philosophy of practice for him is succinctly summarised by cellist Pablo Casals. When interviewed at the age of 93, Pablo Casals said that he practiced for three hours a day. When asked why, he replied: “I’m beginning to see some improvement”.

Norman believes that yoga teachers need to speak out and stand up. That all of us can greatly benefit from co-operation and collaborating rather than wall-building and competition. Norman lives and teaches in London/UK. He has written a book – Brightening Our Inner Skies: yin and yoga – and his website is www.yogawithnorman.co.uk He has a monthly newsletter – to receive it please email [email protected]

In this episode, Sarah chats with Zoë West to better understand what a union is and how unionizing would impact the yoga industry.

Zoë West is a researcher, educator and oral historian whose work centers on labor and migration. Her current research projects focus on alternative labor organizing models, precarity, and sexual harassment in the workplace. She teaches courses on labor, immigration, and oral history at Columbia University and the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies at SUNY Empire State College. As a founding member of Rhiza Collective, Zoë works with organizations to develop frameworks for implementing collaborative research, leadership development, narrative and healing work, and political education. She edited and compiled the oral history collection Nowhere to Be Home: Narratives from Survivors of Burma’s Military Regime (McSweeney’s, 2011; NDSP Books, 2016). Zoë has a PhD in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford.

Want to learn more about the unionization movement?
Follow @unionize_yoga on Instagram or learn more about their work at linktr.ee/unionizeyoga.

Share your own yoga stories today! Reach out to Sarah via any of the following links:
instagram.com/tbmpodcast
facebook.com/thebeginnersmindpodcast
[email protected]

YogaWorks teachers and teacher trainers have come together to form the first-ever yoga union. In this episode, Sarah interviews Markella, Jodie, and Laurel; three of the New York City YogaWorks teachers; about why they are unionizing and what forming a union would mean for yoga teachers and the yoga industry as a whole. To find out more about the unionization efforts, visit them on Facebook or Instagram. You can also learn more about yoga teacher unionization and find resources at Shut Up & Yoga.

Want to connect with Sarah? Reach out to her on Instagram, Facebook. or directly via email at [email protected].

The Beginner's Mind is created in partnership with Shut Up & Yoga. Check out their new books at www.shutupandyoga.com/books or join the conversation via the new facebook group, Shut Up & Yoga Forum for Modern Yogis.

Laurel Beversdorf, YACEP, E-RYT 500, is an international yoga educator, the creator of Yoga with Resistance Bands classes and trainings and Body of Knowledge anatomy and biomechanics workshops, and a Yoga Tune Up® and Roll Model® trainer. Laurel regularly presents trainings and workshops at locations like Kripalu, YogaWorks, and studios around the world. Her classes blend strength training, rehabilitation practices, myofascial release, and yoga. Laurel has written for Yoga Journal, Shut Up & Yoga, and the Tune Up Fitness blog. A Wisconsin native, she lives in NYC with her husband, baby girl, and two cats. You can connect with her at laurelbeversdorf.com.

Jodie Rufty is a Senior Trainer and East Coast Director of Trainer Development for YogaWorks in NYC. She has been teaching Yoga since 1995 and is registered to teach through Yoga Alliance at the EYT 500 hour level and has been certified to teach both by Alan Finger in the ISHTA lineage as well as Alison West of Yoga Union and YogaWorks. Jodie co-founded Amrita Yoga Center NYC in September of 2002 and helped launch Nava Yoga Center in Zagreb Croatia in June 2004. She is also the author of “The Art of Yoga Sequencing” published in 2008. Jodie has continued her education with many teachers including Rodney Yee, Genny Kapuler, Desikachar, and Ana Forrest, completing several Training Intensives in 1998, 2000 & 2003. Jodie now resides in NYC where she continues to study, practice and teach Yoga at YogaWorks as well as privately. You can connect with her at jodieruftyyoga.com.

Markella Los started practicing yoga in 2008. After years of faster-paced sports and martial arts, she thought she would find yoga slow and boring. Obviously, she was wrong. In 2015, she completed her first teacher training through YogaWorks under the mentorship of Chrissy Carter and has been teaching full time since. After almost ten years practicing yoga, and only yoga, she developed pain in her hips. More yoga and passive stretching didn't help. Instead, she had to completely rethink her practice, and therefore her teaching, to give her body more strength and stability. This led Markella on a path of discovery, advanced education in anatomy, kinesiology, and biomechanics, and further training. Now she helps people move and feel better while doing the practice they love and in their daily lives. Her teaching style is grounded, light-hearted, and rooted in resilience and exploration. You can connect with her at markellalos.com or on Instagram.

What's all this talk about unionizing yoga? In preparation for this week's episode about the YogaWorks teachers' unionization effort, Sarah wanted to get an understanding of what yoga teacher working conditions really look like and why someone would want to unionize. In this episode, Sarah talks to Effie Morgenstern, Boston based yoga teacher and participant in the class-action lawsuit against CorePower yoga, shares a bit about her experience and why she thinks unionization might be a smart move for yoga teachers.

You can listen to all our episodes and read transcriptions of the full-length episodes at www.shutupandyoga.com/podcast.

Want to learn more about the unionization movement?
Follow @unionize_yoga on Instagram or learn more about their work at linktr.ee/unionizeyoga. 

You can connect with Effie at www.instagram.com/efffervescent

Share your own yoga stories today! Reach out to Sarah via any of the following links:
instagram.com/tbmpodcast
facebook.com/thebeginnersmindpodcast
[email protected]

What is unconscious racism? White people are often unaware of the racist beliefs that inform their interactions with non-white people. In this episode, host Sarah Dittmore and guest April Harter discuss how these unconscious racist beliefs come to be, how they inform white behavior, and what anti-racism work needs to be done to help white people recognize and heal their unconscious racism. Don't worry - they talk about yoga in there too! How does unconscious racism influence the yoga community? And how can yoga be a tool in anti-racism work? Discover all this and more in this week's episode. 

April Harter, LCSW is an anti-racism therapist that helps white people break the rules of anti-racism in order to be authentic in their interracial relationships. Connect with April at aprilharter.com or www.instagram.com/aprilharterlcsw. You can also support her work at www.patreon.com/aprilharter.

Want to connect with Sarah? Reach out to her on Instagram, Facebook. or directly via email at [email protected].

The Beginner's Mind is created in partnership with Shut Up & Yoga.
Check out their new books at www.shutupandyoga.com/books or join the conversation via the new facebook group, Shut Up & Yoga Forum for Modern Yogis. 

Welcome to the new Tea Time Talks, our casual, mini-episodes about all things yoga-ish. Today. Sarah and special guest Emily Taggart talk about a local cult-like yoga studio and discuss how yoga cults are a result of late-stage capitalism. 

You can connect with Emily at https://www.instagram.com/bewellyogini/ 

Share your own yoga stories today! Reach out to Sarah via any of the following links: 
www.instagram.com/tbmpodcast
www.facebook.com/thebeginnersmindpodcast
[email protected]

What are mantras and why do we practice them? What is the history, philosophy, and science behind mantra practice? Join host, Sarah Dittmore, and guest, Shervin Boloorian, as they explore the ins and outs of mantras and chanting.


A Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and recording artist, Shervin Boloorian graduated from Fabien Maman's Tama-Do Academy of Sound, Color, and Movement in 2011. He launched the sound healing program at the yoga barn, Ubud, in 2012 and is the founder of Sound Healing Bali. Shervin is also a recording artist and music composer completing his debut album, Spirit Night by Candlelight: a mantra mosaic, in 2015 and releasing his follow up Sufi and Rumi-inspired album, One with the Beloved two years later. One with the Beloved includes Sufi Zikr mantras in Arabic and Rumi poems in Persian and was endorsed by world-renowned Rumi translator and writer, Coleman Barks.  Both are available for listening at https://shervinboloorian.bandcamp.com/. Based in Ubud, Shervin tours throughout the world. He has presented for various holistic and music festivals, Google Singapore and other corporate functions.  His signature style of Sound Medicine was shared at venues in Japan, USA, South Africa, and ten other countries in 2018. For more information, visit www.soundhealingbali.com


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The Beginner's Mind is sponsored by Shut Up & Yoga. Learn more about Shut Up & Yoga and check out their new books at www.shutupandyoga.com/books.