Creating a Sustainable and Loving Approach to Yoga, with Brea Johnson

On and Off Your Mat Yoga Podcast

Have you ever done a yoga pose and kinda regretted it afterward? Or maybe you pushed just a little too far in a pose you practice regularly? Or maybe you’ve harshly criticized yourself while practicing? Alright, maybe all 3. Either way, this episode is for you.

For today’s episode, I sat down with Brea Johnson. Brea has been teaching yoga and movement since 2003. As a teacher, mentor, and community builder with a focus on a sustainable approach to yoga, she is known for providing a safe foundation of healthy movement while remaining focused on the heart of the yogic teachings. Brea is also the founder of Heart + Bones Yoga, a global online community and teacher training courses base. I wanted to sit down with her and talk about the idea of a sustainable and loving approach to yoga, especially in a time where so many of us practice and teach online.

MY 5 BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM THIS EPISODE

1- Physical poses are a small part of yoga. If you distill it down, yoga is about getting to know yourself, about allowing your healing to become a service for others.

2- Creating sustainability is investing time, awareness, intention, and purpose in what we are doing now to support our future selves. Moving well now so we can move and feel well in another 20 years.

3- The 4 pillars of sustainable practice: Boundaries, Variety & Diversity, Frequency, Restore & Support.

4- Know and trust your body. It's powerful and resilient. It's smart and wise. If you tune in and listen to your body it will tell you about what it needs, about your appropriate range of motion, your movement red flags, what we need to balance. Your yoga practice is a tool to learn that.

5- What offers us love changes all the time and is limitless. The way you talk to yourself on the mat, a heart-to-heart conversation with a loved one, doing something uncomfortable that helps you grow, etc. It's different for everybody. Give yourselves permission to find it, allow it to be a creative spark in your life, and to change your mind as you evolve.

QUESTIONS SHE ANSWERED DURING THIS EPISODE

• Why Hearts + Bones?
• What was that pain point you saw in yoga you were trying to address?
• What is yoga for you and what do you try to achieve when you teach?
• What does it mean to have a sustainable approach to yoga?
• What are the pillars of a sustainable practice?
• What’s one thing every yogi should know about their bones, joints, and muscles?
• Do you think that this idea of sustainability is a way to practice self-care and self-love?
• How can we bring more loving practices on the mat?
• You say: "Yoga can make us better humans…" I want to hear more about this.

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OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS: RETREAT + GO FUND ME

I’ll be leading an Eco-Luxury Yoga Retreat in Mexico, in November 2021. I heard you, you’ve been craving to immerse yourself in yoga, nature, and community again so you can feel renewed and re-enliven. Many of us are suffering from zoom fatigue. So I’m offering you to hit the beach and the reset button so you can let go of this last year. You’ll find all the info for that retreat at erikabelanger.com/yoga-retreat-mexico.

In parallel, I have launched a Go-Fund-Me campaign. I know yoga retreats are an investment and I know how hard the last year has been. Yoga retreats were in my personal growth, so I wanted to give back. I'm raising money while investing alongside the community to make the experience of a yoga retreat available to students who wouldn't be able to participate otherwise. If you’re able to donate anything you could transform someone’s life. And if you’re in need you can apply for the scholarship. And either way, I’d love for you to share it with the people you love and on social media. That’s a simple way you can directly impact others' lives in a positive way. Find the Go-Fund-Me Campaign here.

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Brea Johnson has been teaching yoga and movement since 2003. A teacher, mentor and community builder with a focus on a functional and sustainable approach to yoga, she is known for providing a safe foundation of healthy movement while remaining focused on the heart of the yogic teachings. Brea is the founder of Heart + Bones Yoga, a global online yoga studio and international yoga teacher training courses. As the popularity of yoga increases along with yoga-related injuries, this approach has made her a sought-after teacher in the yoga and movement communities.

Her website: www.heartandbonesyoga.com

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