Putting Your Practice To Work with Anusha Wijeyakumar

Explicit content warning

11/02/20 • 56 min

Over the last few months of recording this podcast, I have received so many questions from you (my incredible listeners) about teaching yoga in a workplace setting, or bringing wellness into your corporate community. And since this is something that I know almost nothing about, I wanted to bring you an interview with someone who had found success in this arena.

And when a friend shared the work of Anusha Wijeyakumar with me, I knew I had found the perfect person to do just that. In this interview Anusha and I speak largely about applying the principles of yoga philosophy to running your own business, self confidence and “putting your practice to work” in your career life. However, Anusha filled me in that if you’re looking for a more step-by-step, “how did you do it” guide, she shares that information in her upcoming book, Meditation With Intention.

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

Understanding Dharma
How to know if you’re in alignment with your Dharma
How Anusha transitioned from a corporate career to starting her own wellness business
Brining trust, faith and divine connection into business
Managing self doubt
Building self confidence through meditation

FIND ANUSHA WIJEYAKUMAR

FIND CORA

For links & resources mentioned in this episode go to www.corageroux.com/podcastepisodes/episode48

Support the show

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

Understanding Dharma
How to know if you’re in alignment with your Dharma
How Anusha transitioned from a corporate career to starting her own wellness business
Brining trust, faith and divine connection into business
Managing self doubt
Building self confidence through meditation

FIND ANUSHA WIJEYAKUMAR

FIND CORA

For links & resources mentioned in this episode go to www.corageroux.com/podcastepisodes/episode48

Support the show

Previous Episode

Working Rights For Yoga Teachers with Kallie Schut

For many years, it’s clear that something has been off with how we work as yoga teachers. In the 10 years that I was a full time yoga teacher, I had countless conversations with fellow teachers who were being bullied by their employer, had their classes cut unfairly, or have simply not been paid for the classes they taught. However, late last year, the world's first union for yoga teachers was created in New York for the teachers who were employees of the YogaWorks studios there. Many yoga teachers, though, are not employees.

Then, last week (early October 2020) something groundbreaking happened. A small group of committed yoga teachers in the UK (Normal Blair, Laura Hancock, Julie Pons and today’s guest, Kallie Schut) created the world’s second union for yoga teachers, and the first for those of us who are independent contractors!

Kallie Schut shares a great deal about the formation of the union (which you can read more about below) However, Kallie also does a great deal of work around decolonising yoga & antiracism training that we didn’t get into in this episode. We’ll be sure to have Kallie back to discuss those topics in the future.
PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS

How the Yoga Teachers Union in the UK began
Organising as independent contractors / gig workers
The benefits of joining a union for yoga teachers
How unions rebalance power in working relationships for yoga teachers
How unions can help create more opportunity for folks who have been traditionally marginalised in the yoga community
Tips for how you can organise in your yoga community

FIND KALLIE SCHUT

FIND THE UNION

FIND CORA

Cora’s Instagram

For links & resources mentioned in this episode go to www.corageroux.com/podcastepisodes/episode47

Support the show

Next Episode

Trauma, Boundaries & The Fawn Response with Jane Clapp

Wow. Ok. This episode was BIG for me personally. And from what I know of working with yoga teachers for many years, I have a feeling that there will be a lot of you out there who resonate with the topics I discuss with Jane Clapp.

Jane started her working life in the wellness industry as a personal trainer, but her career has spanned several decades & multiple modalities, including yoga. Today, Janes work centers around soma and the psyche, and the intersections between psychology, trauma, the nervous system and the body.

In this episode, Jane and I go deep into the fawn response, sometimes called the tend-and-befriend response, and how that pattern can play out in our relationships and life. I share my struggles with setting boundaries, cultivating a healthy fight response, and overall being a people-pleaser in recovery.

I have a feeling this episode might be a game changer for some of you - just like it was for me. I hope you enjoy the show!

PODCAST HIGHLIGHTS