The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
381: Making Yoga More Inclusive with Billie Smith
How can we make yoga more inclusive? How do we make movement more accessible by adopting a different approach to yoga poses instead of a one-size-fits-all approach? What does it mean to teach in an anti-diet, queer-affirming way? Billie Smith shares their insights.
Billie is a queer yoga/movement teacher, trauma/abuse/ED survivor who is disrupting the norm and going against the grain. They are dedicated to eliminating diet-culture, spiritual-bypassing and other excluding narratives from the yoga spaces they create, and helping their students learn to check in with how they feel instead of how they look. Through group classes, one-on-one sessions, and workshops, Billie leads with an open heart and strives to hold safe, inclusive space for folks seeking to move their bodies for emotional health, increase mobility and strength, and feel good in their body for longer.
In this episode, Billie shares how they ended up doing work to combat diet culture messages and how they help people start checking in and listening to their bodies. They also share deep insights about letting go of control as teachers and how we can better empower our students to make the decisions that are best for them and their bodies in the moment. Billie also shares some tips on how we can create more inclusive yoga spaces and reflects on how social justice ties in with yoga.
[0:07] Shannon briefly shares why she is so excited about this podcast!
[3:53] Shannon gives a shout-out to the sponsors, OfferingTree and Shannon's 20-hour Yoga for Pelvic Health Training.
[6:02] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Billie Smith.
[12:59] What does Billie do and who do they do it for?
[16:27] What led Billie to start on this journey of making sure their yoga spaces are inclusive and against diet culture?
[21:33] Shannon and Billie discuss the common perception in yoga classes that the teacher knows the student's body better than they do.
[24:12] One thing we can do as teachers is really reflect on what is the goal of each pose, and consider how else we can achieve the same benefits without the pose having to look a certain way.
[26:49] Why is it such a gift when a student approaches a teacher thinking that the teacher knows more, but the teacher uses the opportunity to invite the student into a moment of self-inquiry?
[30:49] Sometimes, we may have trouble letting go of control of what our students should be doing in our classes. What is Billie's advice to the teacher who may feel upset that a student is not following their lead?
[36:58] Shannon pops in with a message of thanks for OfferingTree.
[39:14] How can we make our classes more inclusive and accessible even if we don't have the lived experience?
[46:48] What are Billie's thoughts that anything to do with social justice is out of our scope of practice as yoga teachers?
[51:19] Get in touch with Billie via their website or check out their podcast, Rebel Movement Podcast.
[54:13] Shannon shares her key takeaways from this episode.
[56:48] What's next on the podcast?
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 265: Teach LGBTQIA+ Inclusive Yoga with Gabi Parkham
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 199: Creating Inclusive Yoga Spaces Erin Ajayi
Anti-Oppression, Inclusion and Accessibility in Yoga (Podcasts & Articles) Resource
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 219: Yoga for Abundant Bodies with Dianne Bondy
Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree, and Yoga for Pelvic Health 20-hr Online Training with Shannon Crow.
"The more I learned, the more I didn't want to go back to teaching in ways that I learned were not feeling very inclusive."
"There are so many ways of adjusting how we approach postures that are not blaming the body for things that the body didn't do wrong."
"If you think of it more of as an experiment, it's giving the student the power to make the choices about what feels best. It's sending the message that there's nothing wrong with their body. And it's also not a big deal if the posture is not fitting."
"The thing that's gonna make the most impact is the actions rather than the words."
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast
380: Yoga for Stress Management with Radhika Mukhija
We all live incredibly stressful lives, dealing with pressure from work, families, friends, and the political climate, on top of multiple crises around the world. It can all add up and leave us feeling stressed, burned out, exhausted, and overwhelmed. How can yoga and Ayurveda help us manage this stress?
Radhika Mukhija is the founder of Holistic Prana. For over a decade, she has guided women on a regenerative journey to wellness, helping them connect with their innate wisdom, embody their true selves, and create fulfilling lives. With experience in health, life, and executive coaching, Radhika merges ancient and modern science to create a holistic approach that blends ancient wisdom with clinical sensibilities, including neuroscience and biohacking.
Radhika shares how her mother’s cancer diagnosis inspired her to embark on this journey. She explains how she defines stress, the symptoms of chronic stress, and how yoga and Ayurveda can be useful tools to alleviate this stress. Shannon and Radhika also discuss creating consistent routines and rituals to nurture ourselves, finding balance, the role food plays in our well-being, dealing with “un-yogic” feelings like rage and frustration, and more.
[0:21] Shannon shares something she recently re-learned.
[3:51] Shannon gives a shout-out to the sponsors, OfferingTree and Shannon's 20-hour Yoga for Pelvic Health Training.
[7:20] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode - Radhika Mukhija.
[11:07] What does Radhika do and who does she do it for?
[11:50] What got Radhika started in doing this work?
[16:23] There are many different types of stress we experience. How does Radhika define stress?
[20:03] How does stress manifest or show up? What are the signs we might be experiencing chronic stress?
[22:49] How can we balance everything that is going on in the world - social justice movements, the after-effects of the pandemic, bearing witness to a genocide - on top of all the stresses of daily life?
[28:11] What are some of the practices that Radhika shares to help people return to a place of restoration, peace, and balance?
[32:29] Shannon pops in with a quick note about creating memberships and how OfferingTree can support you in that!
[35:10] How can we distinguish between unplugging or going inward as a form of self-care to be able to be effective out in the world, versus something that is just ignoring things that are stressful?
[48:04] How does Radhika introduce new practices to people knowing that they need to check in with themselves about what they need and people often don't like to be told what to do?
[53:14] Connect with Radhika via Instagram or learn more from her via her courses and upcoming book!
[58:07] Shannon shares her biggest takeaways from this conversation with Radhika.
[64:18] Join the Facebook group to become part of a supportive community of yoga teachers and do leave a review for the podcast too!
[65:39] Shannon shares a message from a podcast listener.
Practical Embodiment - Self-Paced Online Seasonal Living Course
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 360: Nature Meditations with Ray Zott
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 309: Four Seasons of Business with Shannon Crow
Eating Disorders Education and Anti-Diet Podcasts
048: Eating Disorder Education for Yoga Teachers with Tabitha Farrar
338: Eating Disorder Informed Yoga with Jennifer Kreatsoulas
292: Taking Diet Culture out of Yoga with Jessica Grosman & Elyssa Toomey
The Connected Yoga Teacher Podcast Episode 377: Cultivating Contentment with Mary Flaherty
Gratitude to our Sponsors, OfferingTree, and Yoga for Pelvic Health 20-hr Online Training with Shannon Crow.
"There's good stress and bad stress."
"How do we just shut the noise of what people are telling us to do or what the books are asking us to do and how do we really get in tune with our inner wisdom?"
"How do we balance all of this? We need to begin with ourselves and what we can control... it has to come from a place where we, not just our body, but our mind is in a state of balance and homeostasis."