How to Recover From Burnout and Create a Life You Love

Hi, welcome to the Yoga Liberty Podcast. My name is Angelica and I am joined today by Iana Bonson. Bonson, and she's from Canada. She joined my Empowered Yoga Teachers course and that is how we met, um, and I just instantly fell in love with her and felt a real kinship with her. She does some really incredible work and she works with lawyers who want to decrease their stress and get more grounded through the practice of yoga. Uh, Jana was an attorney herself. She still is an attorney, uh, she just does not practice as much attorney law as she used to because she has found a new way that, um, allows her to live life in freedom. And so I'm super excited to have her share her story today on the podcast, and also, um, she's going to share a little bit about what she's been creating. So I'm pretty excited to have her here. Welcome so much to the podcast today. I appreciate you for coming.

Hello, thank you for having me.

Awesome. So let's just dive in. Let's get started right away. Tell us, what was your life like before you started practicing yoga and what brought you to the practice of yoga?

So this was 2015 and I was in my third year of doing personal injury litigation. And still pretty, you know, young lawyer just kind of starting my career. So I was stressed out all the time. And the worst part of being stressed out all the time is that I was just so in it, you know, like a fish, you don't even know that you're in water because you're in it all the time. So the constant just like overwhelm and anxiety and not even being aware of it. And there's nothing you can do about an issue if you're not even aware of it in the first place. And so I've also done undergrad and then law school, like one thing after the next. And so I've never given myself really a break or just a year to come down from the stress. And I guess over my period, like, of that life, it just accumulated. And I was in this space of what the kids call nowadays burnout, you know, really feeling like, this is not the work for me, and I'm just like so at the end of what I can give to my clients and to the firms that I'm working for. And the loudest kind of like voice inside of my head was this persistent, like, nagging sense of, this is not what you're supposed to be doing on this planet with your life. I just like remember that moment so clearly, drafting some mediation memo and just doing, going through the motions, doing all the actions, doing all the things you're supposed to do. And at the same time, having that deep, deep sense of knowing this is not it. Like, you're doing this and it's fine and you're supporting people and helping people, but you're just meant for something so different than this. And, you know, we get these little whispers and little calls over a period of time and then it Really took me a little, like, health crisis to, to, to understand, holy cow, I need to, like, stop this. I need to stop doing the thing I'm not supposed to be doing. And you can be good at it and people can tell you you're amazing. It's not usually the sign that you need to continue doing it.

Yeah.

So You know, I grew up with this, like, a sense that I need to prove myself. I need to get the approval of my parents. I need to put myself into a stable financial position. And this to me was like, this is the path, this is how I'm gonna do it. And, you know, law is so interesting and challenging and it really pushes you and there's like an infinite amount of skills to learn. So it's never dull in that way. And yet at the same time, I just kept feeling this, like, this is not it for you. This is not it for you.

Yeah. Did you feel like, when I, when I got outta college, I have degrees in English literature and women's studies. And when I got outta college, I started working at a battered women's shelter. And then I started working with schizophrenics and I would help them move from the state mental hospital into their own housing. And I remember doing that work and feeling like the system was just set up so wrong and that people were not getting the real support that they needed and that it was just a toxic environment, even though it was meant to be a helping environment. And I just wondered, did you feel that way about the law at all?

You're gonna get me in trouble with the Law Society. You know, from the perspective of like a young associate, I think I was just like so focused on my own performance and how I'm doing and am I doing the right thing. Not whether it's the right thing, but am I giving everything I can give to this file, to this client. So I wasn't really too concerned about the bigger picture, right? And that's also what happens when you're like in so much trauma and CPTSD. You're just focused on like the daily, like what's in front of you. You don't you don't have the energy or the capacity to think critically about anything that's like bigger than you. You're just like survival, right? Day to day. But what's interesting is last year I've had the chance to kind of see how the personal injury litigation operates from the perspective of someone who's been injured, and it's incredibly ineffective. Just the way the legislation is and the way, you know, there's lobbying powers and the powers that be influencing those who write the laws. And yeah, of course I wish it was different. And the legislation is changing all the time. And especially in accident benefits, it's been lots and lots of changes, not for the benefit of people.

Right. And I think it's important to say that you're in Canada. Which is not to say that the system in the United States is better. It's definitely not. It's just different. And in some ways it's not different, but I wanted to make the distinction there so that everyone knew that, you know, we're talking about Canadian law versus US law, because I think the majority of the people listening to the podcast are from the United States. Well, I don't think, I know, because I see the statistics.

That's right.

But I do, Canada is my second biggest place. So there are, hello Canadians, and some of my favorite clients are Canadians. And my favorite ex-boyfriend is from Vancouver. Um, you guys have some like really incredible looking men over there and it's— they're heartbreakers. Uh, and I just want you all to know, please do not date any Canadians, um, unless you want your heart shred to pieces. Uh, anyhow, uh, um, but when was it that you were like, okay, I think that yoga might be a solution for me, or it might help me with my situation? You know, when, how, Yoga step into your life?

Yeah, so there's, there's a million ways to teach yoga, right? Online, in person, but also different venues where you can go and teach. So this is for young teachers who don't know where they should go teach. The classes I started taking were in my condo building. So we had like a gym, and I would just go downstairs, take the elevator down, and a teacher would come and she would teach, I think, 2, maybe 3 classes a week. And I started going, and I realized, like, in that 1 hour, something so magical was happening in my brain and my body. And so I was just leaving those first classes thinking, I don't know what just happened, but something so significant and cool happened because I felt so different in that 1 hour than I feel in the other 23 hours of my life. What the hell is happening? So I was just left with all of this curiosity, but also bewildered because I've never had an opportunity to touch my soul or just be present or shut off my stupid brain. Like, I just never knew what that felt like. And this was my first time doing it and being like, holy cow, what is she doing? Like, what is she doing?

Witch!

So, you know, I left a bunch of those classes thinking, oh, this would be interesting to figure out what is going on. Because I almost like, I would wake up from Shavasana, the final resting pose, and forget who I am, where I am, whether I'm wearing makeup, what's on my head, like what hairstyle, what am I wearing, who's around me. I would just come out of it being like, where did I just go? When I had that health crisis happen at the end of 2015, I put everything in my condo into storage and I sublet it and I went to Thailand on a one-way ticket. And Thailand, and you know, Thailand and Bali, like that area is just so well known for yoga and meditation. And I landed there and I had no plan to like study yoga or It was like a vague inkling, just like a scintilla of like, ah, maybe yoga, okay. And then I stumbled upon a couple of yoga schools on Koh Phangan, and I thought, oh yeah, there was that interesting experience I had with yoga back in Toronto. Let me pursue that. And so I signed up for a yoga teacher training course, and it was really intense. It was a month, and every day it was like 16-hour days in Thailand.

Where, where did you go in Thailand?

So the island is this tiny little island called Koh Phangan, and the yoga school is Samakaruna.

Because I, I, um, I did a retreat, um, in Koh Phangan.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's crazy. Which year?

Um, It was the year that I turned 40. So 10 years ago.

Um, so a couple years before I got there.

Yeah. Yeah. Did you go to the full moon party? No, I did. My sister, I called my sister in the middle of the night.

Freaking out?

The middle of the day to her. I don't know. I was like, I'm at this party in Thailand. I don't really know what's going on. I definitely took these drugs. My sister was like, you're 40, what are you doing? And I was like, I'm having a great time. And I met this guy.

Did you break her heart?

No, no, we weren't together long enough for that. But, uh, I was eating breakfast in the morning after the full moon party, and I looked down and there's this guy swimming in this pool. I mean, he's gorgeous and he comes out and he's like, are you going to finish that breakfast? And I was like, no, you can eat it. And then we went back to my room and, you know, as you do, because my bungalow had air conditioning, because when you're 40, you pay the extra money for air conditioning. But Thailand was like a, like a, it was for me, I don't know how it was for you, but like, it really like opened me up in, in very vulnerable ways because there's a lot of, um, trafficking that happens in Thailand. And the women, the Thai women, are really subjugated and used by Australian men, men from the UK, men from the United States, men from Canada. Western men come in and purchase services with the women. And I understand that, you know, I'm from Vegas. I'm not, you know, sex work is not something that I don't know about, you know. And it's not that I don't think that there's, you know, I don't think there's anything wrong with it, you know, but in this case in Thailand, I felt like there was disparity through equality in there and it made me very uncomfortable and it opened my eyes to something that I'd never really seen in real life before. And for me, um, because I spent a lot of time in Bangkok before going out to the islands, And for me, I felt like that made Thailand a very difficult place, um, and helped me to kind of see the world through a different lens. Um, I don't know if you had a similar experience there. I mean, there were like beautiful things about Thailand, right? It's a beautiful place, right? But it's also very exploited by the West. Um, and seeing that was kind of hard for me. It was like the first time I really saw that. And then immediately after leaving there, I went to Cambodia.

And so that's even tougher, right?

Right. And so when I came back and I landed in San Francisco, I was like, what is this?

It's a wild day, the contrast, especially if you spend like more than just 2 weeks in Asia. Yeah, yeah, I was forever changed by that island. And Koh Phangan is like on this bedrock of rose quartz, right, which is the heart chakra activating mineral. So I think if you're sensitive to this stuff, as soon as you land with a ferry on the island, you really feel the heart chakra opening. And the yoga school that I was at also was a very like heart-focused, heart-based approach. So yeah, I mean, I've for the first time ever in my life on that island, I literally felt the chakras in the body. You know, before I was like, oh, I heard that there are wheels of energy, but what the hell does that mean? But you know, in meditations, I was like, oh my God, and it freaks you out for the first time you like feel that. I called actually my ex-boyfriend at the time who was on the same island with me. But so anyway, that was also part of the trauma and emotional abuse. But anyway, I called him up because he was the only one who like knew about chakras. And I was like, so I'm feeling it. I don't know how to turn it off. What do I do? Like, it's like pulsating and vibrating and it's like this. I was like, well, just keep focusing on the groundedness, on like the bum on the floor and keep grounding, right? Because like an open heart chakra that has no boundaries and is ungrounded is also unbalanced. So I was like freaked out by that sense of the energy center in my body being activated. I was like, what the hell? Am I having a heart attack? What is happening? He's like, no, it's just you're feeling the energy move in your body. I was like, holy shit.

Okay, just your Kundalini rising. It's just, it's just that serpent in your spine. Great.

And that's how people talk on that island. So funny because it's so far removed from just like how this life is, you know, in the West.

Yeah, it really is very different. It is very different. And, um, I think we don't talk about energy and vibration enough. Like, vibration is the highest form of communication, and we can feel it like immediately before, before you ever even open your mouth. When you're standing in a room with someone, you can feel their vibration, which is why the power of manifestation works. Because when I'm vibrating a certain level, I'm attracting a kind of vibration to me, you know?

Yeah.

And, and it's why when you walk into a room, like some people you immediately synergize with and other people you're like, oh, you know, I don't know if I really wanna be around their energy, you know? Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And through, through social media too, right? You feel that, like I didn't really need to do much research on who you are to know that. You are like a guide for me in this moment for this particular thing. Um, yeah, but I'm learning that not all consumers are guided with their intuition.

No, they aren't. Um, marketing works though. But, um, so you did, you did join my Empowered Yoga Teachers course and decided to Create an online offer. What made you want to go online, um, with your offer? And then why pick this particular course?

Made me go online? Well, I'm working more and more towards freedom just in general, but also freedom to me means location freedom, right? And financial freedom. That's a big part of feeling complete and free. And there's only so much you can— so many people you can help in person, right? And even when it's a giant class of 60 people, how many people out of those 60 can I really genuinely, like, make a connection with? Somehow I realized that online— well, during COVID I realized I started teaching on Zoom, and I thought, oh, this is amazing. People were joining me from Russia before Russia was canceled, from Europe, and it was tough with the times to figure out a time that works for everyone. But I just realized, holy shit, there's so much power in this. They can join from everywhere and I can see each one of them on the screen on my computer and I can have a personal connection with these people. And they're going through a hard time during COVID and I'm here to help them through breath to come back to who they are. And so since COVID I hadn't stopped doing stuff online, and so a lot of students who I met either in Thailand or later in Costa Rica when I taught there found me online and were coming up to me with proposals. I wasn't like, "Hey, would you like this Burnout to Happiness yoga course. No, like people were messaging me and saying, oh, I see that you're doing this. I'm struggling with XYZ. Can we do something about it? And I'd be like, yeah, slap together a course for burnout. And I'd be like, I went through this. I know what it feels like. I know exactly how you're feeling. Please go get therapy as well. Report back and I will support you through restorative yoga. Get a bolster, get two blocks. Let's go. You know, so I just found that so amazing. And at the same time, like nobody in Toronto would've dared, you know, to come to my apartment to do restorative yoga. They'd be like, 6 feet.

Well, it's probably not big enough. Even in normal times, it's your apartment isn't the biggest, you know, like it's not the place where you can impact the most people. And that's the thing about online, right? Is that like, you might not be able to get 100 people in a room, but you can get 100 people in a Zoom room, no problem. Right? Or 100 people can take your course and that's like just not an issue, you know? So what attracted you to sign up for the Empowered Yoga Teacher's Course?

So, I mean, I had this idea like, oh, I will be doing things online, but I had no idea how. So I was missing the how and I was missing the blueprint and I was missing the strategy, which you have and you gave me. So now I just need to do the hardest part, actually implement it. Yeah, but, uh, you have such an amazing, like, step-by-step, like, starting with your niche, starting with the why, starting with what's important, what are we doing, what are we solving, what are the issues we're actually looking at. Um, and it's great. It's really forced me to really zero in on my niche, right? And the first time ever, because before I was like most teachers, um, you know, who think, oh, I'm going to help everybody and end up helping nobody.

So that's a very powerful statement. And I think that it's important to highlight it because I talk to people every day who do not want to niche down to a specific audience because they want to help everybody. And they think that somehow they're not going to be as abundant because they're not, they're not helping everybody. But the reality is, is that a confused mind always says no. So someone needs to to look at your website and be like, oh, this is me, I'm a one-eyed pirate with one leg that sailed on the Black Pearl and lives in Galveston, Texas. You know, like, it needs to be that specific, you know? Yeah. And so when people look at your content, they know that it's for lawyers who are experienced— who are experiencing burnout and want to move into happiness. And you started to create some really incredible content that started to touch on people. And, um, but there was this moment of kind of crisis I remember you having where you're like, oh my gosh, some people are unfollowing me, you know, and, and what does this mean? And so when you started to step into that new role and that new niche, what, what kind of transpired inside of you? And then what happened in your socials as far as like the people you started to reach?

Well, forget about the ones who unfollowed me. I'm not concerned about those. But what started happening is as soon as I started talking about very, very specific pain points and things that I felt when I was a litigator. And I just projected my mind into, if I felt this, then fucking all of them are feeling this. They're just not talking about it. And no one's talking about it on LinkedIn, right? Because on LinkedIn it's about, this is the promotion, I'm a chair of this thing, I'm heading this whatever presentation. So no one's talking about it. There's a lot of shame and guilt associated with admitting stuff like this. Less and less so now because, you know, #mentalhealth is like a big deal now. But I knew people are suffering with the same stuff. And as soon as I started like sharing my story, just saying, this is what I've been through, this is how I felt, and this is where I am now, so many people started reaching out primarily on LinkedIn, because I don't think Instagram is like exactly where the lawyers hang out, um, which makes sense, right? But some do, some of the really cool ones do. Um, yeah, people started reaching out and saying, holy cow, like, this is exactly where I'm at right now. I'm in this job, I don't know anything else that I can do with my life. This all I've ever known. I'm also an immigrant, or I also felt the pressure from my parents, you know, self-imposed pressure of course, but also maybe culturally imposed. And yeah, just people started kind of giving me the feedback that what I went through is also something they're going through. And so, I mean, in their eyes it feels like I totally really get them and their struggles and their issues. And this feels more fulfilling than just saying, you know, come to yoga class because 95% of people are reading that on Instagram are like, oh yeah, I heard that like yoga is about stretching, but why should I care about yoga? Right? But when you start with like, are you in burnout? Have you like not been able to cry in a while? Like, are you in a position where you're working through grief and you haven't given yourself like a second to breathe and be with yourself? And do you want to like tap back into your heart and like feel what trusting life feels like? When I, you know, when I list all these things, they're like, oh my God, yeah, that's me. And then at the end, I'm like, oh, and by the way, we're doing this through yoga and a sound bath, right? They're like, oh my God, that's exactly what I need right now. But if I had started, oh, come to yoga, people would be like, I don't give a shit. I'm not flexible. Right? Why would I, why would I go to yoga? So, yeah.

So, yeah, like solid on who it was that you were speaking to actually helped you to find the right people for you.

Yeah. And the issues as well. So not just, you know, demographics, cuz there's a ton of lawyers, but my guess is that like 80% of them couldn't, couldn't give a crap about getting to a better state within themselves. I think a lot of people are very content with relying on coping mechanisms like drinking and, you know, all kinds of other things. So I think a lot of people aren't like, I think what you call problem aware, right? Like they're not aware that this is an issue or they're like in active denial about the issue. So not all of them are looking to do something about it. And those are not the people I wanna work with either. Yeah. I wanna work with people who are like, I'm feeling the pain. I'm ready to do something about the pain because I felt this long enough and I'm motivated to start implementing changes.

Yeah. So, and that's what's getting solid on who you're speaking to. Will do for you. You know, it will attract the people to you that you truly want to work with. Like, you know, in my marketing, I kind of go against the rules of typical marketing oftentimes. And, you know, like the gurus who say to say certain things, you know, and, and I instead, like, they'll say don't tell people that it's hard, tell people that it's easy and that it's all done for them. You know, and that's how you sell people on your products, right?

But I don't get people who don't want to work, who don't want to work, right?

I know, like, I want hard workers because I'm a hard worker. So, and I become frustrated with people who aren't hard workers. So in all my, my marketing, I'll say like, this is hard work. You're not going to come to this easy. It's just, it's just as hard as becoming an attorney. It's just a different kind of hard, right? It's still, it still takes that same focus and effort. And really, like, you know, you're spending 4 years in law school. But learning how to do digital marketing is like getting a whole nother degree.

Oh yeah.

You know? Yeah. And learning like how to craft and create content that really connects with people and talks to their pain points, like you said, that takes like creating more and more content. Like, I don't know if you noticed, but the more content you create, the better you get at creating content.

I think that's how it's supposed to work, right?

But people don't— people, what I see is that, and we were just talking, I had some people over for dinner last night, and, um, she's a friend of mine that's a very big influencer, and we were talking about someone else who is always like poverty mentality. I don't have enough money. I don't have— there's not enough for me, you know. I don't have enough money. And, um, she decided to go off of Instagram and I had made a recipe from one of her recipe books last night that she had sold on Instagram. And we were talking about how incredible her recipes were and like how great her recipe book was. But at some point she decided that like social media was toxic and she just got off of all of it. And I'm just like, there, the realm of opportunity for you online is so much larger. And the amount of wealth that's available to you online is humongous. And there are people making insane amount of money. Doing like just filming things in the corner of their house with no, you know, with no, um, no special equipment, nothing fancy, not even a tripod, you know. Like, they're like just— they're getting rich just by, by just doing the next right thing and not being afraid and believing in themselves and not seeing social media as a toxic place but seeing it as an avenue in which to reach your ideal audience faster, quicker, and more. Because this is an unprecedented time in the world. Like, when I graduated college in 1999, the internet had been around for like 2 years, and I got my first email address. And, um, we would log into the internet and it would still be like, I remember, you know, and so like an AOL and, uh, yeah, yeah. America Online way back in the day. And, and this kind of stuff was just not available, like the lives that we lead, like the ability to do what we're doing right now, recording this podcast. This was not accessible. And there's just so much that's available to us. And I think what we need is a restructure of our mental state when we think about social media. So instead of being a consumer of social media, we are a producer. You know, that being said, I also consume a lot of TikTok.

When you were saying your friend felt it's toxic, to me, if I'm veering into that direction, to me that means consume less, create more. Create, put it out, respond. Do not look at other people's shit. That's where I feel like I'm seeing the toxicity, right? I'm not as Instagram famous to get like hate comments yet on my own shit.

One day, one day you will. One day. You know what, the thing about hate comments though is that that just means you've reached enough people for somebody to not like what it is that you do. And so that means you're reaching a broader audience because at some point you're going to hit someone that doesn't like you for whatever reason. They're having a bad day, or they're just a person that likes to be mean on the internet. You know, I— when I owned the yoga studio, I put an ad out for the studio, and a friend of mine's husband commented on it and was like, why would you go to this yoga studio and spend all this money when you could just go to the gym and get it included in your membership for $20 a month? And I contacted my friend and was like, I can't believe your husband commented that on my ad, you know, like, that's so rude. And, and she was like, oh, he just likes to be like that. He thinks it's funny.

And also there's an opportunity for education, right? Like, well, this is what you're getting at a gym and this is what you're getting at my studio, and this is why you would go to a studio rather than to a gym. Well, but yeah, some people just love it.

Yeah, I don't, I don't think that you can really combat with the haters because they're not going to come back with a reasonable answer, you know, like they're, they just want to be hateful. And so they're never coming back with understanding. And I just have gotten to a point now with, you know, having done this for so many years that I just like delete and block immediately now. Like that stuff used to really bother me, but I just delete and block it. Like it's my PR and I don't want to have negative PR, you know, especially like if it was legitimate, but this guy like was just trying to be mean. For no reason, you know, just, just to be mean because he thinks that's funny.

Um, and you'll run into people like that, you know, you'll run from your real life. That's really odd, you know.

Oh, right.

Yeah, that's different. That's—

this was a long time ago. This was like, let's see, I still owned the studio, and I want to say I was still in the garage, so it would have been like Prior to 2015— can you believe it's going to be 2025? Oh my gosh. So 2015 was when I opened the big studio, so it was probably like, you know, it's over 10 years ago. So back then things were still a little bit different too. Um, I think, you know, it's interesting, social media, and I know this isn't really like on topic, but It's interesting that social media has brought out a side of people that's so negative and so like their inner cruelty. Um, I find that really fascinating, you know, like why, why don't we use things to elevate ourselves? Why don't we use this to like make the world better? And, you know, and certainly there are people that are doing that, but why isn't that like the default? Have you seen that? That movie on Netflix, um, The Social— it's like The Social something, and they talk about Myanmar and how Facebook like brought down the government. Oh, it's fascinating because people are wired to repost the negativity. It's like how our brains are default. And so then social media algorithms are— they go in and they, they say, okay, well, this is keeping people on the app longer, so we're going to promote this more. And people like naturally drop into their fears, they naturally drop into their negative sides of themselves because it's easier or something. And, and the algorithm, which isn't run by people at all, you know, the people of Facebook, they didn't have any idea that these people in Myanmar were having like this breakdown, right? They don't even speak the language there. Like, they weren't purposefully reposting these negative things. It's an algorithm that's doing it. It's a computer that's doing it, you know. And so I think we need to become very aware of how we are vibrating and what are we putting out there and, and how are we consuming social media. And I think also that It's one of those things where yoga can be a, a great mirror, and it can hold up to you like, this is what you're really doing. What is it that you want to experience? What is the choice that you want to make? You know?

Yeah, I think, you know, like, being human and we all have these tendencies. I think in occult they call them like lower, lower desires, right? So like, you can give in to that and you can spend the life eating chocolate and having sex. But as you develop and as your consciousness develops up the chakra stalk, you start considering like what you just said. How am I spending my time? Which wolf am I feeding, right? Am I feeding the algorithm of kindness, or am I feeding the algorithm of bullshit, right? And daily, that's the same choice. Like, the choices you make in every moment is the grooves in your brain are getting deeper, right? The choice in kindness and empathy that you're making over and over and over again, it's easier to make that choice. Or are you practicing being nasty? You're gonna get really good at being nasty if you keep practicing that, right? And I see that in me as well. You should see like the shit. I'm not afraid to like disturb some influencers either. There was a comment I made, 300 people liked it, but then also there was like just as many haters, right?

Right. So I was, I was like, I think we're really moving the needle here. One day when you have the joy of going viral, uh, my, my friend She, she made the perfect metaphor for going viral. She's like, it's like getting a free Tesla, but there's human turds in the backseat. Because you get so many new followers, you know, like I had a video go viral earlier this year and it got like a million views and I got thousands of new followers and it was incredible. But the comment section was brutal. Like, I had to stop looking at some point, but I just got to the point where I don't— there's two things that I do. One, I don't comment back to negative comments if they're like clearly comment. I just don't comment back because all you're—

this is the banana video, the banana reel. Okay, okay, she will link it down below.

Um, you do exactly what I was talking about. The, the thing is, when someone puts a negative comment, it's like a section of their day. They never think about you again. They put a comment that's negative, they keep scrolling, they're not paying attention to you. If you respond to their comment, you're drawing them back into your world. So there's no point to respond to their comment because they'll never think about you again. If— and Instagram has this incredible feature that you can block people from commenting. So they can see all your stuff, they can see all the comments, but if they try to comment, it'll say like, does not work, tap to retry. They have no idea that you've blocked them from commenting. So I use that feature quite liberally. I think I've 30—

That has opened my eyes on a few things.

It's on block. I have 390 people on that list.

Uh, wow.

And then, um, the other thing I do is that I try to remember that I'm reading their comment in my tone, not in the tone in which they wrote it. So I try to read it in a different light, in a different tone. And I think, is there any way this could have been written in a way that was positive? It just comes back. Because you can't read tone and written communication is the, like a lower form of communication, right? Nonverbal is one of the highest. And so when I read it in that way and I try to respond, if it's possible to see it and it could be potentially like a genuine question, then I'll respond back to that person with a genuine caring answer and some emojis. And if, if they respond back nasty, then, then, you know, then, yeah, then they get on the block list. But if they, they respond back with kindness, and that actually happens a lot more than you'd think, like a lot of people respond back and are like, you know, oh yeah, I didn't think about it that way, or oh wow, thank you for answering my question, you know, and it becomes like an engaged question. I did have somebody the other day who got upset about— I just, you know how you do a hook and you're, you're doing a short— it's a 30-second video, you guys. It's 30 seconds. I cannot possibly convey everything about a posture in 30 seconds. It's highly edited for your watching, and there are tricks that are happening to keep you watching longer, you know, and the hook is to draw you in. So I had a hook and it was like, This is how I teach revolve triangle to women's bodies, right? And somebody was upset that I said women's bodies. She's like, can it be everyone's body? And how do— what if this doesn't work for everyone? And I'm like, okay, well, so I took the— I'm like, okay, maybe she meant it was nice. You— maybe she meant it in a nice way. She's just having a conversation. And so I said, well, I can't convey everything in a 30-second video, but I chose that because boobs, because I am a woman and I'm going through perimenopause and this applies to me and this is my body and I'm sharing how to align this pose for that particular person, right? And she was like, oh, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe next time just say for menopausal women. And I was like, I can't do that. I cannot possibly think of every single thing every single time I film that might possibly offend one person and, and create video that way, I would create nothing. I would create nothing. And she ended up blocking me, which kind of surprised me because I was like, wow, that's interesting because I'm just being honest, you know, and, and that's reality. And that's the thing is that a lot of people won't create content because they're so afraid of offending someone or not getting it perfect or not getting it right. And something that you said me before we got on the call today was that, that I had told you was that done is always more profitable than perfect, right? Like, when we just get it done, it's always going to reach somebody. And maybe not everybody's going to be happy, and that's okay. You cannot please everyone. You just cannot. Which is also why niching down is really important too, because then your audience looks at what you're making and they're like, oh, this is for yoga teachers. Like, I exclusively, exclusively make content for yoga teachers. I don't make content for beginners. I don't make content for, you know, men even. Like, I make content primarily for female yoga teachers. Like, honestly, if I'm going to be really honest about it, because those are the people that I enjoy working with.

Poor Danny.

I know, he's our only man. He's been on the podcast though. He's amazing. We love him. But, you know, are men who are very in touch with themselves. Um, I just think men aren't really that drawn to me. It's not part of my energy, and I'm okay with it. I'm old now. I used to be bothered by that, but now that I'm old, I don't really care.

They're hilarious.

So tell us about your offer that you created and what it is that you, you have available and how people can get it.

Right. So what I have available for download is a set of meditations. And please indulge me here for a second as I explain the name. So in litigation, when you go into a mediation, you prepare a mediation brief. These are meditation briefs.

I love it.

I love it because they're brief, they're short, and they're meditations for a lawyer at different stages in their day. So there's one which is my favorite right now. It's a meditation specifically to help you transition from office work into home.

Mode.

So, you know, I noticed myself, like, now I'm working from home, so my desk is over there, and then I practice yoga over here, and then I sleep over there. It's all just so interwoven and connected, and there's very little physical boundaries between all of that. So it's really tough to, you know, turn off your brain and then go spend time with your partner and, like, really be present with them. So I myself do like a very brief breathing exercise for myself to transition and to be like, oh right, I remember who I am and what's important to me and what my values are. But yeah, so this is a guided meditation and it helps you to transition and to prepare for that time with your loved ones. Because what I see also is a lot of lawyers really stay in their heads even when they are, you know, off the clock and they're not billing anymore. You can also like almost see the wheels still turning as you're speaking to them, glazed over. Like, no, but it's really tough to turn it off. And, uh, we often put, you know, the, the issues back into the unconscious mind for the unconscious to continue to work on it, right? So it makes it tough to be really present for the people in front of you, um, in the evening when you're off. And then the second Meditation is to transition into sleep. So another common issue that I've heard from lawyers is that I continue thinking about my files late into the night, or I continue like answering emails and I have a hard time just like really shutting it off and then shutting it off here so that I can transition into sleep. So that meditation takes you out of the brain into the body, and it uses Yoga Nidra principles to move you through body awareness awareness. And then there's a few other exercises that really help you to calm down through the breathing and through the awareness. And these meditations are, you know, specific to a lawyer, to someone who does this kind of work, because you can find all kinds of meditations on YouTube for free, right? But as I went through those myself, I was like, this is not doing it for me, because I can tell it's not made for me.

And there's a commercial in the middle of the meditation.

No, I have the premium, so none of that.

No, not for me. There's always like a commercial in the middle of my meditation on YouTube.

Oh, that's been lost on my thing because I'm like, oh, the commercials.

You know, there's nothing worse than like being in the middle of a meditation and then hearing Dr. Gundry come on, oat milk is really bad for your body. You know, you're like, yeah, it takes you out a little bit.

Yeah, so these are commercial-free, professionally sound-engineered, super high quality. Yeah, these are specifically for someone that is experiencing these issues of being in the mind too much, not being in the body enough, or numbing out throughout the day and then not being able to like like, you know, feel what's true for me and what does the body need and how can I honor the body and myself. Yeah. And they're coming, you know, from someone who's gone through this and who's experienced it. So they're really specific to someone who's a lawyer.

Honestly, it sounds like something I'm very guilty of is just never turning off the shop brain. Whenever I go out with people, I'm always talking shop. You know, after this, I'm actually— a friend of mine's taking me out for lunch for my 50th birthday. And she's my real estate agent. She helped me get— broker my deal when I opened the studio. And she's helped me with all my residential properties, like everything. And we always just talk shop, you know, like I'm— wherever I go, I'm just talking shop, you know, like, when do you think this is going to open? Where— how should we do this? What do you think about this? What strategy do we have for this, you know, and like anytime I'm with another business person, I'm like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you know, like, I, I, one of my teachers who works for me, she had like a thing at her house for me for my birthday. And, you know, 'cause 50's a big deal. So there was a lot of like little parties that happened. And, um, I sat down with her and we're gonna have a glass of wine. And she was like, now the first rule is that we can't talk about yoga at all. And I was like, what? She's like, we're not talking anything about business all night long. And I was like, well, what do we, what do we talk about?

Well, but there's the question, right? Do you have any points of interest that are in common, that you have in common with this person?

I have no points of interest outside of my work, right?

Like, that's what happens when you monetize your hobby, right? And the thing you love.

Yeah, I've been doing it for 25 years. So it's like really, it's really my life, you know. I don't, I don't think I thought that was going to happen, but you know, I, but all I'm saying is, is that what you just said about your meditations, I resonate with and I could benefit from as well.

Like, oh, and that's the other thing that started, uh, happening too when you asked me about the niche, what happened when I started niching down. I started having all these people reach out to me too who are like, I'm not a lawyer, but like, I feel this too, like, I experienced this too. Or, you know, people were like, I'm a paralegal, but this is like 100% true for me too. Or people like through in accounting and doctors as well. And yeah, that's also been a lot of my like, actual, like, real human clients have been, you know, doctors and people like engineers who are in these like high-stress positions who resonate with the, with the issues we're talking about, right? Because it's less about demographics and more about the psychographics of like, what is their internal emotional state? What is the pain there, right? What are we addressing there? So I guess for people who are afraid of niching down, they can keep in mind this, this thing that like, yeah, even though you're saying this is just for lawyers, you'll find a lot of people who resonate with this too, and it will help them too. And when they reach out to you, you don't have to say no just because they're not a lawyer. And they'll say, oh, I want to work with you because it looks like you get what I'm going through, right? So you can say, oh, okay, come on in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sometimes people will message me and they'll be like, I'm not a yoga teacher, but I really like your classes. 'Is there anywhere I can take your classes?' And I'm like, 'Yes, on YouTube.' You know, which also helps me, right? Because that's another thing I think people don't understand, is that, um, when you're creating content online and you're drawing in an audience online, everything helps. So even if someone can't purchase what you have to sell, them sharing in their stories, them commenting, you know, reposting, like, all those things help subscribing, following, like all those things help to push you out to more people. So it, you know, it doesn't have to be a monetary exchange. It can also be an energy exchange. And, you know, that was— we kind of like didn't finish the point that I was talking about with my friend who got off social media. And I do want to make the final point on that because it's really important, is that she decided at some point she was just going to hit social media really hard. And she did that for maybe like a month or two. And she was like consistently posting and she was doing a great job. And then because she didn't see the sales and the results that she wanted in a couple of months, she quit and decided that she was going to close all her social media and it was just toxic. And I think it's, it's what you were talking about, consuming too much and not creating. But it's also thinking that in just a few months' time that you're going to somehow change everything and be able to pay your bills. This is a career like any other career. Being an influencer, being a content creator, this is also a career, and so it requires putting in the time and the effort, and that is not something that happens in 2 months. And for some people, it doesn't happen in 6 months. Within 12 months, you should have a sale. If you're not, there's something— you need to hire someone to help you to figure it out, you know. And I think that's a thing too, is that like I hired people to help me figure it out, so I got there faster. Mm-hmm. Right? So within 3 years, I'm making a very good living out of my content creation because I hired multiple people who were doing more than me and they told me their secrets. And then that helped me to catapult forward. I actually just hired another coach recently, um, and I'm changing my offers up a little bit in the new year, um, because of that. But because I had, you know, you, I don't know, I'm very goal-oriented. So I wanted to get to a new level. But anyhow, she gave up before the magic happens. That's all I wanted to say is that don't give up before the magic happens. And then I also wanted to bring it back to a point that you made earlier about how you felt like you had to become a lawyer, but there was this inside of you, this, this longing to do something else. And I find it very fascinating that we as humanity, we as society, that we don't think about what is our true purpose? Why were we put on this planet? And what is it that we're really here to do? What fulfills our soul? Because if we fulfill our soul, we will be able to help so many. And I remember when my 20s going through this like period of time where I was like, why am I on this planet? What's our purpose here? Why, what's our meaning? Like, why are we even here? You know? And I realized to help other people. It's all just to elevate each other. That's what the most fulfilling thing that you can do is. And so if we're living in a space where we're doing something that isn't authentically resonating with who we are, you know, that, that is actually going to pull us away. Like, who would have thought that I would make almost $2 million teaching yoga? Do you know what I'm saying? Like, that seems insane. But it, but it's what I really wanted to do. It's what my passion really was. It's who I really wanted to help. And I felt when I opened the studio in Las Vegas, I felt like I was put on this planet to like help people find a space in Las Vegas that, that resonated with their soul and brought them community and hope and love, no matter who they were, you know. And I feel that way about online now. I feel like my dharma is to meet as many people as I can like you so that we can create a place in social media and yoga that's connected with the true roots of yoga. That it's not like, here, look at how beautiful I am, look at how beautiful my asana is, right? Because what we know about asana, the asana that we're doing, is actually gymnastics from a man named Neel Bux, who's a Dutch guy in the late 1800s that the poses and everything that we're doing, it's not real yoga. The yoga is the philosophy. It's the spirituality. It's the connection to higher power. It's the connection to spirit. It's connection to vibration. It's the yamas, the niyamas. You know, asana is really just 15 poses from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. But what the real yoga is, that's what I want to see shared on social media so that 100 years from now, when you and I are long gone, we've made a massive impact on what the face of social media, the internet, whatever that becomes, you know, the holograms, the holiday, right? Whatever that becomes in 100 years, that it's not just like pretty women doing asana. It's, it's so much more. It's like impacting and changing people's lives. And that's why I feel like I want to reach as many people as I can that are ambassadors of that, as many yoga teachers that I can, to, to make that happen. Right.

Yeah. I guess this is the first time we're talking about yoga and we're actually talking about poses. And so many people like focus right on the shape that the body's making. And to me it's like the least interesting thing about yoga, like what the body looks like. And, uh, yeah.

Yeah. I love what you said about sound healing and, and that being a part of, of it because it's the vibration of the sound moving through the body. But I also love that you're a DJ because that's also sound vibration. And yeah, and, and it literally heals people's psyche, it heals their body, it heals who they are, you know, like it resonates through our, our cells.

Yeah, you know, and And dance and being in circles together and being in drum circles and stomping your feet on the ground is just like such an ancient thing that almost every ancient culture has been doing. Russians for sure. And, you know, now like people are also doing ice dipping and saunas and all that, stealing our Russian content. But no, these are like ancient practices that we've been doing forever. As humanity for a reason, right? And then somewhere in this corporate evolution of the West, we forgot to dance together and gather in circles around fires and drum. And yeah, I love bringing like really old, like Russian-style music into an ecstatic dance. Floor because people don't know what the words are, and that's the best part. You don't need to know. When you know what the words are, if it's like Britney, then your mind goes there when you were 17, right? And, uh, this is new music, this is new sounds, this is like world sounds, usually from like, uh, Central, South America, and it's unfamiliar to your brain and and it's the perfect time to expand into something new, right? And release, release stuff from the mind, from the body.

And the world is better served. Not that there's anything wrong with your path of becoming an attorney, because for sure that was part of it, right? Just like I worked in corporate sales for like over almost 20 years. I worked in corporate sales, right? So it's not that these things were bad, but the world is better served by you living your dream and you living your purpose. Yeah.

And I don't think I'd end up here with yoga if I hadn't gone through the pain of litigation and, you know, the pain, like, of, you know, the child, because, like, all of it formed me. Like, every single experience shaped, like, shaped how I teach and how I show up and what my voice sounds like. And the content of what I teach. So it's all, it was all necessary for sure. And financially, I wouldn't be like, I wouldn't be in your course, you know, I wouldn't be able to afford guidance like yours if I wasn't feeling comfortable financially in the first place to be able to get this help, right? So yeah, yeah, like I wouldn't be here.

Yeah, when I took my teacher training, I was working in corporate and I just wrote a check. It wasn't even like Yeah, it was not a big deal because I didn't— that wasn't, you know, it was a couple thousand dollars. I was like, whatever. Yeah, I made that in half a week, so I'm good.

I didn't even blink because the whole teacher training and living in Thailand was cheaper than my rent in Toronto, right? I was like, this is a no-brainer. I'll take two of these. Give me two. And I did do two. I did like Reiki right after.

I'll take two, thanks.

2 for 1.

I love Reiki. I love Reiki. I love Reiki self-healing. Like, I, I think that Reiki's really fascinating. Um, that's a whole different conversation. Maybe we'll have you back to talk about Reiki, but, um, and network, right? Uh, so I wanna ask you 2 final questions. Um, first of all, if someone's thinking about signing up for the Empowered Yoga Teacher's Course, what words of wisdom would you give them? And then I'll ask my second question.

Um, just do it. Get into it and be prepared to work and be prepared to face yourself and face all the, um, the doubts and, and, uh, and second-guessing that will come. I've learned through, through doing this course with you that your, your business, the way you show up in the world, is an amazing mirror for your own consciousness and your own emotional development. And your business will show you where you still need to do some work. And for me, through this course, it has definitely been like, okay, I really need to like rest a little deeper in the worthiness, in the agency, and in that belief that this is possible, you know. And you reminded me of that. You were like, like, look, I can do it, you can do it. I was like, oh, that's right, yeah. And then I keep thinking of like people less qualified than you are doing the shit you're dreaming of doing. So just go do, put it out there.

Yeah, everybody has a story to share. It doesn't matter, you don't have to be perfect at it. You, you, and you don't have to know everything about yoga. There's no way you can possibly know everything about yoga. That, right? So just share what you do know, right?

Yeah. Your own path, your own experience. How can you not know your own experience, right?

Yeah. So then my last question for you is how does everybody connect with you? How do they follow you on social media? And, um, what, um, you know, what do you, how do you connect with people? How, how do they get to know you? How do they get to be in there?

So a lot of the healing work I do is, uh, with my partner, Dr. Mike. So our website is chairoyoga.ca, so C-H-I-R-O yoga.ca. And the meditations for downloading is also there on that website. And then Instagram is @banzen_yoga. And then YouTube as well, there's— I think it's just Jana Banzen. Yeah, or Banzen Yoga.

It's all in the description. It's all in the description. Thank you so much for coming on today. I really appreciate you. I'm so glad that you joined us. And if you're listening to this podcast, please do subscribe, share it with your friends. Maybe you got a lawyer friend you want to share this episode with, but there are lots of other episodes. Share it with your other yoga teacher friends and broaden your experience. Definitely leave us a 5-star review and make sure to subscribe. We'll see you on the next episode. Thank you so much for joining today, Anna.

Ah, I had so much fun.