I am excited to bring you this months 10 questions blog post, my first with an international guest :)…
I met Lisa through Instagram and was introduced to her wonderful Podcast with Aimee Pruitt , another Yoga teacher and Ayurveda Therapist: The Radiant Warrior Podcast, which I have been avidly following ever since. There is so much wisdom in the conversations they have with each other each week and life lessons and coping strategies and honesty – I feel like I have really got to know them as friends by listening and also joining their Radiant Warrior Community on Facebook too :), they are most certainly kindred spirits and women who I feel proud to be connected to, so I was delighted that Lisa was willing to do this collaborative blog post with me when I asked in exchange for her fabulous Worrier to Warrior Workshop, which I am currently working through week on week and thoroughly enjoying 🙂
It really is a wonderful thing about being part of the yoga community is that you can connect with people all over the world through it and you know that you will find common ground. I hope one day to meet these ladies in person but for now I am very happy to be their social media friends in the best way 🙂
Here’s the interview:
Hi Lisa, thank you for collaborating with JamJarGill.com…
Q1. Can you start by telling us a bit about yourself and how you came to start your yoga therapy business? How did you get your idea or concept for the business? What was your mission at the outset?
For over a decade, I’ve been committed to my daily yoga practice because of how calm and uplifted I felt afterward. I’ve been studying the science behind why yoga works for a long time, eventually turning to the depth of yoga therapy studies. Therapeutic yoga builds on what we can receive and teach in a typical yoga class, in that the client is given practices personalised for their individual constitution, body type, tendencies and wellness goals. Because the practices have helped me to heal a long battle with disordered anxiety, I have been passionate about helping others to soothe their nervous bodies and minds and reclaim their courageous hearts through the empowering skills I now have in my therapeutic toolbox.
Q2. What style of yoga do you practice and what is your reason for this choice? What have you personally got out of it?
Now that I practice yoga therapy, my personal practice varies based on what I need. A “practice” or a daily “sadhana” (dedicated spiritual practice) can include elements like specific breath techniques to either calm or invigorate, appropriate movement to reduce stress and increase vitality, self-study, contemplation, meditation, chanting, visualization and more. The fun part for me is crafting an experience that offers me (or my clients) what is needed to support the body to come back to balance. The gift of yoga is that when practiced mindfully and appropriately, it can offer physical strength and flexibility, support the systems of the body, enhance energy, focus, emotional reactivity and ultimately invite a reconnection with our “true essence”, or a deep sense of contentment. Yoga has offered me all that and more.
As for my public online classes, I refer to them as “hatha” yoga, which refers to the physical practice of yoga including postures and breath led in a specific way for the highest good of the student. It takes an experienced teacher to craft a hatha yoga class that will be beneficial for many kinds of students. It’s important to have a knowledge of modifications and to always offer choices and time for rest.
Q3. What are the health benefits of yoga from your perspective?
The health benefits, when practiced in an appropriate way, are endless. Yoga supports the body in overcoming states of dis-ease and moving back into homeostasis. The system of yoga was invented to help people ease the suffering in their minds, meaning, the practices offer our busy, wandering minds something to focus on- like the breath, our movements, mantra and more allowing the mind to learn to become less reactive and turbulent. This focus invited us to open up to more present centred thinking, which is the doorway to true contentment. In our busy, modern lives most of us are living in the future and may need to relearn how to be “in the now”. The art of being present is a powerful skill for promoting health and wellbeing. The meditative aspects of the practice also help us to release what we are holding onto in the unconscious mind, so we can experience more freedom from the limiting beliefs we carry about ourselves and our lives, ultimately stepping into a more alive and loving way of moving in the world.
Q4. How did you come across yoga in your own life?
When I was suffering with chronic episodes of panic and anxiety, I heard that yoga helped with those challenges. I was living in San Diego at the time. Yoga was huge and there were world-class teachers guiding classes in wonderful studios. I finally got up the nerve to walk into the right yoga room and after class, I felt better than I had for years. The attention I had to pay to new movements forced my mind to be present, the full breathing calmed my nervous system and the movements helped me to release built up tension in my body. I became a committed student; the more often I was moving and breathing in therapeutic ways, and deeply resting in savasana (the rest after class), the more my nervous system and mind was healing.
Q5. How did you train to become a yoga teacher?
I decided to take my first yoga teacher training in San Diego 11 years ago. At first, I thought I would simply deepen my practice and knowledge base. But when I graduated, I felt compelled to offer the gifts of the practice with others. I also realised it would take lifetimes to learn the philosophy and underpinnings of the path of yoga, so I have not stopped studying, whether it be through the experience of the techniques I practice or in formal trainings. Over the years I have continued my education in the styles of vinyasa, yin and restorative yoga along with being certified in somatic coaching, yoga psychology and yoga therapy. The skills and knowledge I’ve collected, along with what I’ve discovered about myself and the way of the mind informs how I teach. I plan to continue to evolve as a teacher and student for the rest of my life.
Q6. When and how did you decide to work for yourself?
My background was in Radio Broadcasting but when I had my daughter I decided to re-group career wise and look at what I wanted going forward and what fitted with our family life. I was a stay at home Mum for the first couple of years and when my daughter started pre-school I did my yoga teacher training and went from there.
Typically, yoga teachers are independent contractors who teach at various studios, with private clients or online. My work has naturally evolved into a self-run business as my experience and community of students has expanded. I have had several teachers over the years who have modelled to me how to grow a business from sharing yoga. I love creating experiences for clients in the form of workshops and online offerings.
Q7. Can you tell us about your Podcast, what it is all about? What message you want to get into the universe with it? And how you produce it?
My colleague and friend, therapeutic yoga teacher and nurse Aimee Pruitt and I have been teaching workshops and retreats together for a few years and came up with the idea of sharing our offerings in the form of a podcast. We called it The Radiant Warrior because the practices we teach from the paths of yoga, ayurveda and personal development help us cultivate radiance from the inside out. And, as we’ve each been healed by what we teach, me, from disordered anxiety and Aimee from burnout, we feel like this path helps us to reclaim our courageous hearts. It’s been our hope that the conversations we share will inspire other women to learn to speak more kindly to themselves and learn to foster a deep sense of worthiness. We record it on a platform called “zencastr”, my husband edits it and we post it everywhere that podcasts are shared.
One of their latest episodes:
Q8. When and where and what are your classes? And how do you book them?
In the days we find ourselves in now, all my classes and sessions have moved online. I teach several times a week in a digital yoga room on the zoom platform, I offer specialized series to soothe anxious bodies and minds and I work privately with people to offer them the right therapeutic practices to support their wellness goals for their bodies, minds and hearts. Due to the uncertainty of these days, I am offering my work by donation. My class times, more information and some free classes can be found here: https://www.lisadumasyoga.com/take-a-class
Q9. Do you have any book /Web or music recommendations to use with your yoga and mindfulness practices?
Some of my favourite reads have been: Stephen Cope’s books- The Wisdom of Yoga and Yoga and the Quest for the True Self along with Anodea Judith’s work- Eastern Body, Western Mind
Yoga International is a great online source for yoga inspiration and I am partial to the meditative sounds of singing bowls.
Q10. What’s your favourite thing about being a yoga teacher?
It is the greatest honour of my life to be able to share concepts, skills and inspirations to support other people in stepping into their true nature. Yoga teaches that through practices, we can reunite with a part of us that is always ok, or, as I like to think about it, a part of us that has never been afraid. I love facilitating experiences where people can get out of their heads and into their breath and bodies, where they are invited to embark on a journey of self-discovery that may just lead to profound self-acceptance and self-love.
Go on Pin it!
I hope you find this an interesting read, I do hope to expand this section of my blog further to talk to inspiring women from all walks of life to get an insight into their worlds. Please do drop me a line at gill@jamjargill.com if you are interested in getting involved in my next 10 Questions post 🙂