The Mentor Sessions

Is yoga exclusively connected to Hinduism? What is the caste system and why would a western yoga teacher need to understand it? How much of yoga’s complex history do modern yoga practitioners and teachers really understand?

In this powerful and thought-provoking conversation, I welcome back Anjali Rao — yoga educator, activist, and author — to unpack the intertwined histories of yoga, caste, patriarchy, and colonization. Drawing from her new book Yoga as Embodied Resistance, Anjali challenges us to explore how caste hierarchies and colonial legacies still shape modern yoga spaces, language, and access to practice today.

Anjali brings a decolonial and feminist lens to the history of yoga, asking practitioners and teachers alike to hold space for complexity, discomfort, and nuance rather than rushing toward easy answers.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• the origins, structure, and enduring legacy of the South Asian caste system and the material and spiritual inequalities it has perpetuated.

• a discussion on how caste hierarchies and Brahminical dominance are reflected in today’s yoga spaces—often unconsciously

• a nuanced look at the relationship between yoga and Hinduism

• how colonialism and capitalism have "flattened" diverse traditions into rigid categories, leading to oversimplification and erasure of nuance in both yoga’s history and present-day understanding

• practical advice for teachers and practitioners on recognizing signs of exclusivity, and steps teachers can take toward expanding inclusivity and embracing discomfort

• an introduction to the work of caste abolitionists

Learn More From Anjali:

• Anjali’s website

• The Love of Yoga Podcast

• Follow Anjali on Instagram

• Yoga as Embodied Resistance — Anjali Rao

• Yoga As Embodied Resistance: Reading Circle

• Trauma of Caste — Thenmozhi Soundararajan

• Annihilation of Caste — Dr. B.R. Ambedkar

• Accessible Yoga Association

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up.

If you’ve ever dreamed of owning a yoga studio, or you are curious to hear what experts are saying about the yoga industry and its future-- this episode is for you!

In my first “podcast swap” I had an awesome conversation with Michael Jay, a long-time teacher and yoga studio consultant who is also known as @YogaBizChamp.

Michael is a Certified Business Consultant who helps yoga studios open with impact and grow with intention. With 13 years of studio ownership under his belt—including surviving two recessions and eventually selling his profitable business—he now coaches studio owners across the globe through every stage of their journey. Whether you're launching your first space or trying to regain control of a growing studio, Michael brings real-world strategy, a marketing mind, and "in the trenches" support that meets you where you are. He also hosts the Yoga Biz Champ Podcast, the go-to resource for studio owners who want honest talk, real advice, and a solid game plan.

Together, we explore the evolving yoga industry, the role of studio owners in elevating their teachers, and why having a clear point of view is more powerful (and sustainable) than trying to be everything to everyone. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• how yoga studios have shifted from community-led to franchise-driven — and back again

• why teachers fresh out of training aren’t always ready for studio life (and how to mentor them well)

• the difference between “niching down” and developing a true teaching point of view

• why your yoga studio is only as strong as the teachers who represent it

• how community studios today can compete with franchise studios

• real talk about industry changes, competition, and what makes studios sustainable in 2025 and beyond

Learn More From Michael:

• Visit Michael online 

• Follow Michael on Instagram

• Yoga Biz Champ Podcast
  
  

This episode is sponsored by OfferingTree!   Sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor to get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan).  With OfferingTree, yoga teachers put their schedule on a personally branded website where students can book classes and even pay or donate online. 

If I were to ask you what the purpose of asana is, what would you say? Would you say it was to feel better in the body? To build strength and flexibility? To prepare the body for meditation practice? To help people connect more deeply to their breath and themselves?

These are all beautiful answers!! 

But if you gave a very specific movement cue or alignment principle when teaching asana, and I asked you what the purpose of that was, what would you say?

I think many of us value clarity and specificity in our teaching, but because of the way we were trained to teach movement, we fall into highly dogmatic or aesthetic based cueing even when that doesn’t honor our values. 

Today’s podcast episode is a deep inquiry into the purpose of asana, especially as it applies to teaching movement in a specific and precise way. 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• a long list of priorities to choose from in your asana teaching

• why it is so problematic that yoga is sold as a healing practice and taught as a performative practice

• how this question shows up differently in group classes and private lessons

• what true co-creation with your students looks like

• what I prioritize in my movement teaching and why

• how I recommend you move forward in this inquiry
  

Download The Ultimate Marketing Checklist for yoga teachers from our friends at OfferingTree.

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate.  Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). 

This is a vulnerable episode for me to share, but it was very important to me to record and release this episode because it highlights something I don’t think we see enough: people in positions of power, privilege or leadership openly receiving feedback.

Janie Ganga is a yoga teacher I deeply admire and have worked closely with for nearly a decade. In May of this year, they reached out to tell me something I had posted on social media had upset and hurt them. (Here is the reel that started it all.)

We’ve had several conversations about the situation since, and this episode is the culmination and public sharing of how we worked through that. 

Please listen, share it widely, and let us know how it lands with you.

Janie Ganga (she/they) is an E-RYT 500 Yoga Teacher, social justice activist, and co-owner of Santosha Yoga, an online studio rooted in the Providence, RI community. Certified in I AM Yoga since 2013, Ganga specializes in Private Yoga, Yoga Nidra, and Let Your Yoga Dance, and is completing certification as a Yoga Therapist. Beyond the mat, Janie has organized queer community events for years – creating queer friendly femme-centered spaces in Boston with madFemmePride and co-leading the 2006 Transcending Boundaries Conference, which brought together activists for Transgender, Bisexual, Intersex, Polyamorous, and Kink Rights. As a Professional Member of ASDAH (Association for Size Diversity and Health), Janie is guided by Health at Every Size and is passionate about making yoga accessible to all bodies and identities.

Learn More about:

Janie Ganga 

Santosha Yoga

Let Your Yoga Dance

Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) 

Health at Every Size 

Resources: 

Loretta Ross TED talk - Don't call people out – call them in

Original idea of “calling in” - 2013 Blog by Ngọc Loan Trần

Loretta J. Ross book - Calling In: How to Start Making Change with Those You'd Rather Cancel

Renu Diane Zagoria, creator of I AM Yoga Nidra for Kids 

Chandrakant - Yogacharya in the Lineage of I AM Yoga & former resident of Kripalu Center

Swami Kripalu - who followed the Path of Love

Deana Tavares - MultiDisciplinary Artist & Poet who is always Finding Hope

Jacoby Ballard - his talk “Flux & Fracture: an Invitation to Deepen” and his direct encouragement to Ganga to dive into Loretta Ross’s whole amazing book 

Johnny Blazes - Malden Pride speech

Martin Luther King, Jr. and The King Center - “Hate is too great a burden to bear”

Other examples of “calling in” that shaped Ganga’s perspective include:

• Man Changes His Mind on Trans People - a reminder sent over by Deana about the power of listening and shifting perspective.

• Anne Lamott’s son “called on” his mom after a transphobic tweet - Janie stumbled on this story after she questioned a colleague about sharing a Lamott’s quote. Ganga discovered Lamott had publicly apologized, though the apology received little attention compared to the initial harm.

• Public Enemies, Private Friends - recommended by Janie’s friend Marshall Miller, this documentary highlights dialogue between pro-choice and pro-life leaders in 1990s Boston.

• Accessible Yoga Podcast - hearing Jivana Heyman speak about his own activism and yoga inspired Janie to share her own perspective more openly.

Ganga is deeply grateful to the colleagues and friends who supported their growth, including Stacy, Jyotika, Padma, Megha, her Anti-Racism for White Yoga Teachers book club, and all her students.

OfferingTree is a proud sponsor of this episode and I am honored to be an affiliate.  Visit OfferingTree at www.offeringtree.com/mentor and you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan). 

Today we are going to talk about what it really takes to grow your business as a yoga teacher, what kind of support you need, the people you might hire to help, and how I suggest you go about doing that.

And to help us out with this conversation, I have the Operations Manager of my own business, Jessica Gulley!

Jessica Gulley is the founder of Juggling Logistics and a logistics wizard for service-based solopreneurs who are overwhelmed with the details in their business.  

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• why I hired Jess and what the beginning of our partnership was like

• the difference between a virtual assistant and an online business manager 

• how to know when it is time to hire help

• the kinds of projects a virtual assistant could help with

• how the right support can help a yoga teacher grow their business

Jess is offering Francesca’s listeners a discounted 1-hour Clarity Call OR a 3 Clarity Call package that isn’t available to anyone else but you.

To learn more, visit www.jugglinglogistics.com/francesca

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, class scheduling, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months or 15% off any annual plan! 

I started teaching one private yoga client virtually in 2019 when she left Washington, DC for California. But other than her I had absolutely NO experience teaching online when everything changed on March 13th, 2020.  I was slightly ahead of the curve in understanding that the pandemic would be a life alternating experience and that we wouldn't be teaching yoga in-person for many many months. 

I made really quick work of getting all my in-person private students on board to pivot to virtual private lessons and by Monday March 16th I had everyone set up for the virtual lessons in their normal standing scheduled spot. I did not miss a single day of work, or single private lesson in that transition and that is something I am really proud of. 

Then, at the beginning of 2022 I moved to a new area and had a baby. I kept all my clients virtual through that transition and 95% of my teaching is still virtual. And I LOVE it. 

Today on the podcast I’m making the case for virtual private lessons! 

I’ll tell you:

• why AND how to find virtual private clients

• why they are great for your students

• how they can help support your business

• who they are a good fit for (both student and teacher)

• how to get started in offering virtual private lessons

Resources mentioned in the episode:

• 3 Steps to Teach Better Private Lessons Video Series

• two effective strategies for booking private clients TEMPLATES

• The Science of the Private Lesson online course

• Discounted mentoring sessions

• Camera set up

This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)!  OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.

I’ve been teaching yoga full time for 20 years, and most of that time I taught at least 15 private yoga sessions each week; for a decade that number was closer to 25 per week!

I have a lot of experience in teaching private sessions! And when you’ve been doing something that often for that long, you start to develop some specific opinions... or, I certainly did!

Today we are diving into some unexpected hot takes about teaching private clients! 

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• why seeing a student multiple times a week is not great for business

• how encouraging commitment is beneficial for your student AND your business

• why every student should feel like a “difficult” student

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• 3 Steps to Teach Better Private Lessons Video Series

• two effective strategies for booking private clients TEMPLATES

• The Science of the Private Lesson online course

Social media can be a wonderful tool to help us connect with friends, communities or potential students. It can also be a black hole of despair and panic.  Some people say it is necessary to participate and post on social media to be a successful business nowadays.

I don’t think engaging on social media is a requirement for having a thriving yoga teaching business at all, but if you use it right it can be a cheap way to market your services. It is also really easy to waste countless hours creating posts that go nowhere and do nothing for you. This is not what we want!

I’ve been in a good routine with the way I am engaging with social media, and it’s been working for my business without me having to spend hours on the apps. Today on the podcast I’m sharing the things I’ve been doing that make social media both easier for me, and actually useful!

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• why it only makes sense to post on social if it is easy

• how to know your outcome goal

• why you have to pivot to video and some easy ways to do that

• different suggestions for creation schedules 

• my hot take on AI and how I’m using it in my business

Resources and posts mentioned:

• Screen Zen App

• WorkPlay Branding (company that did my photoshoots last year)

• IG post I mentioned

My understanding of the spiritual teachings is that my liberation doesn’t mean anything unless everyone else is free too. The teachings of Buddhism say over and over again that a huge part of our practice is about creating a world where the safety and freedom and happiness of all sentient beings is possible. So from that I take that being engaged in working for a better world is a necessary part of my spiritual practice. 

This is a really dark timeline. The things the American government is doing are truly horrific. I want to stay out of the spiral of despair and overwhelm so that I can be engaged, focused, supportive and actually helpful. 

Today we are taking a deep dive into the 12 things I do regularly to stay engaged without overloading my system, find ways to be helpful and let it all be part of my practice and teaching. Let’s dive in. 

In today’s episode you’ll hear:

• 4 suggestions for staying informed without mainlining the news, because no one’s nervous system is built for that

• a soap box speech about social media and how I recommend you engage with it

• the things I am doing to try and make both my small world and our wider community places better for everyone

• 4 things I do every day to keep my nervous system regulated 

Resources

• Washington Post The Seven Briefing

• New Not Noise, Jessica Yellin’s Substack

• Crooked Media

• Pod Save America

• Pod Save The World

• Screen Zen App

• 5 Calls App

• Journey Into The Bhagavad Gita Book 

• Singing bowl sound bath playlist