248: Conquering Imposter Syndrome with Brett Larkin

Namaste, it's Sahara Rose. And welcome back to the Highest Self podcast, a place where we discuss what makes you your soul's highest evolvement. If it's your first time listening, welcome. Happy New Year. It is a privilege to have you here. And if you listen every week, what up? Love you. How you shine in 2020 is looking good on you. So in this podcast, we talk about all things spiritual, personal development, self discovery, passion, dharma, which is your soul's purpose. And this is an epic interview to get started if it's your first time, because it is one with one of my really good friends, Brett Larkin, who is a yoga teacher, someone who is so knowledgeable about the yoga sutras in general, and she also has her own online yoga teacher training courses, advanced level courses. And we really dive into all of these things in this episode. And the core topic we really focus on and give you three, actually five easy strategies to help overcome is about imposter syndrome. So imposter syndrome, it's something that is so common these days, you know, I believe because we are stepping into non traditional careers. For example, you know, being a yoga teacher is not really something that you grew up knowing that you may have wanted to be, or a health coach, or Ayurveda practitioner, et cetera. So we don't really know what makes us competent in these things or not. Like where, where do we draw the line? Like, when are we enough to teach it to other people? And back in the day, you know, you know, you had to go to med school and do your residency and do your internship and then you could become a doctor. And now those lines are not so clearly defined for us. And then we're also having people just sharing based on their experience, which no prerequisite is needed for. But a lot of people are afraid to share all of the knowledge, experiences and wisdom that they have because, you know, they don't know if they're ready for it, they don't know if it will be well received. And all of these fears come up. So we really talk about how to overcome imposter syndrome, because what I believe is that a lot of you listening are on a spiritual path, which means you've done a lot of personal development work to even get here, and you've looked at yourself in ways that honestly, most people have not. And just based off of what you know right now can still help someone who's further, you know, newer to the path. So maybe you don't know all the answers, by the way. No one knows all the answers. Nor me, nor Brett, nor anyone that you'll ever meet. But we always know a little bit more about something than someone and doesn't mean everything, but something. So, for example, maybe you've overcome heartbreak and you're able to help someone with that. Or maybe you are really good with, you know, taking care of plants and you can guide someone with that. Maybe you have a lot of wisdom when it comes to the chakras or whatever else, that specific thing can really help guide someone on their path. And really, for all of us, it's all of our dharmas, our responsibilities, our destinies, to share what we know with other people. Because that's how the world goes around. If you look at historically, wisdom was shared orally. If you look at the Vedas, the world's eldest ever recorded texts, originating in ancient northern India over 5,000 years ago, they were orally passed down for thousands of years, until, you know, around like 2,000 years ago, they were finally written in text. But until then, they were orally passed down. If you look at just mythology, shamanism, all these things, they were orally passed down. So if we become, like, afraid of sharing things, we actually are no longer able to spread wisdom and enable traditions to continue. So we have to share what we know. That's how the world has gone on. That's how we've gotten to this point, from a mother sharing to her daughter sharing to her daughter sharing to someone else. And that mother doesn't have to have her PhD to share the wisdom that she's learned in this lifetime. So really, this episode is about uncovering that, about. About sharing what you know, about not being afraid to really step into the leader that you are. And if you're listening to this podcast, you truly are a leader. And maybe you don't recognize that in yourself right now, but 2020 is the year of clear vision. It is the decade of the visionary. And we are in the middle of this huge awakening that's really just begun. And for this awakening to truly catapult and evolve into what it's meant to, we all need to step up and we need to stop being afraid of shining our light. And that could just be sharing a post with our 200 social media followers about something important to us or coming to our offices and being like, hey, maybe we should have, like a meditation in the morning and like, just bring that consciousness there. Or maybe it's to our kids school and saying, oh, what if all these preschoolers, instead of having, like, soda, we had this and we told them where the trees and the plants come from and you know, just in these little ways, that's actually how we change the world. And something that I've been writing about in my book that I'm writing right now, discover your dharma. How to find you'd soul's purpose is it's not necessarily about changing the world, but it's about changing your world. And when you change your world and everything around you changes too. So Brett Larkin is an awesome person to learn about this from. She shares her background going from tech into yoga teacher, into helping other people become empowered yoga teachers. And also we've teamed up to offer $100 off her online yoga teacher training and advanced hour training programs, as well as my Eat right for your mind body type modern Ayurveda program absolutely free for everyone. That applies. So that is why we've teamed up to offer $100 off your online yoga teacher training or advanced hour teacher training through her school, as well as my eat right for your mind body type program absolutely free when you enroll. So you can head over to brett larkin.com forward/sahara. Again, that's brett larkin.comsahara. i mentioned you were referred by Sahara to get those bonuses. And also, another little piece of exciting news that I want to share with you, which is related to yoga, is I'm on the COVID of Yoga Journal magazine right now and it is available in newsstands everywhere. If you're traveling to the airport, you have a family or friend traveling to the airport, ask them to pick you up a copy. It really goes into my story, into my why, into, you know, my upbringing, wanting to become a human rights lawyer and working with NGOs around the world and how I got to the work that I'm doing today. And again, on this topic, overcoming imposter syndrome is definitely highlighted in that feature. So get your copy of Yoga Journal wherever you get your books. There are a lot of Whole Foods is, you know, different stores that sell magazines and take a picture if you read it and tag me on Instagram. My Instagram is at I am Sahara Rose. I would love to share it. I'd love to celebrate with you. I'd love to send you a voice note. I'm sending voice notes back to people and I'm just so honored for all of you to be part of this message, part of this rise of the feminine and taking back our power that has been forgotten and showing all sisters that we are capable of so much more than we could ever imagine. So thank you for being part of this shift. Now without further ado, let's welcome Brett Larkin to the Highest self podcast. Are you calling in your spiritual soul sisters? I'm talking about those people that will sound support you on your journey towards becoming your highest self. Well, doors are opening back up for Rose Gold Goddesses, my sacred sisterhood collective with community, content, events and so much more. We're going to be kicking it off with my absolutely free five day rose Gold Goddess challenge where we embody five goddess archetypes and then inviting you to join this community. So, so many people have met their best friends, business partners and healers that have supported them on their path because frankly, we can't do this alone. We need community. Think of this like your spiritual gym membership. We have my awaken your powers video in there, my talks at Google, discover your dharma course, and so much more available for you for a very low monthly cost. So if you want to join in on this and join us on the free, free Rose Gold goddess challenge, head over to rosegoldgoddesses.com again. That is rosegoldgoddesses.com and I am so excited to meet you in there. Welcome, Brett, to the Highest self podcast. It's so good to have you back.

Thank you. So happy to be here.

And the first question I'd love to ask you is, what makes you your highest self?

So today I'm actually going to say discipline. In the past, I've said my yog. I love coming on your show, so thank you. But today my answer is discipline. Because what I have seen is that it's really the consistency in the practice, in the yoga practice and the meditation that is the big payoff in getting you connected to your higher identity. So I've been getting up every morning at either 5 or 6am to do my kriya to center myself, and I've just seen the benefits. And that requires a lot of discipline. So discipline right now is what's working for me.

And that is something that a lot of people don't like to talk about, the discipline and the daily practice and the sadhana, but that's really what yoga is all about.

There's this amazing Yogi Bhajan quote, and I'm going to get it a little bit wrong. But he basically says at the end of the day, people are going to promise you things. You're going to think all these amazing things are going to happen. You're going to get connected and think great things are going to come your way. At the end of the day, it's just you and your discipline that's all you have, the discipline that sets you up, connecting with that higher identity each day. And I love that there's something so powerful about that. It's something we can control. You know, that's really empowering actually. Right. It's up to us to get up and make it happen. And ultimately that's the only thing we have to rely on in this life. Not even other people. Right. It's our devotion. So love that.

Absolutely. And you are someone that definitely has created and served so much through your discipline, your joy for yoga and just your archetype that you were born with as a teacher. So can you share a little bit more about who you are and how you serve humanity?

Sure. Serve humanity. That's so kind of you to say. I love that viewpoint on it. That's so nice. So for listeners who don't know me, I basically am someone who never thought I could earn a full time living teaching yoga. It was my dream. But maybe like some of you, I was in big time denial. Like even when I did my yoga teacher training, I said I was just doing it to deepen my practice, that I really had no intention to teach. And of course inside my heart was like bursting. Like I was desperate to teach, desperate to teach, but I had so much fear and so much of that fear was wrapped up in mindset and money issues. And, you know, Sahara and I were chatting even before we recorded and you know, that's something that all of us are always trying to up level and struggle with. And I think it's not talked about enough. But I was just so sure that if I pursued my dream of teaching and sharing yoga, I would be penniless, I would be broke. So I stayed in my corporate job and the only real outlet I found to share Yoga was through YouTube. This was early on, probably around 2012, and that YouTube channel grew and grew. It now has 300. I just hit 300,000 subscribers at the time of recording this, which is really exciting for YouTub. And it developed into this whole community, so a membership site. And then eventually my members told me they wanted to take yoga teacher training online, which never would have occurred to me. I was like, really? And then I put all my creativity and my tech background, because I was working in the tech world for many, many years, combined with the yoga knowledge and produced a program that now hundreds and hundreds of people have taken. It's the most interactive, high touch online program out there. So yeah, that's basically me in a nutsh.

I love that and I love your yoga Flows. We have some of them in rose gold goddesses and the Lakshmi flow and the meditation and the Kali one. They're all so good.

Oh, thank you.

I know.

I love getting to share it with more people, so thanks for having those in there.

Of course. So I want to talk about a really big topic that a lot of us suffer from, no matter where we are at, whether we have businesses not have dreams and visions or maybe even afraid of them. And that's imposter syndrome. And I feel like this word is almost as common as anxiety in today, you know, starting this 2020 decade right now. And so many of us have these incredible gifts, passions, ways that we have healed ourselves, but we are so afraid of sharing it because we feel like, well, who am I? I'm not educated enough, I'm not experienced enough. No one's going to listen to me. Someone else is doing it. All of these what appear to be valid points come along, but it really withholds us and the world from receiving our benefits and our gifts that we were meant to share. And I know I'm someone that 100% dealt with imposter syndrome, and I'm sure you have too. So can you talk about what you commonly see with your students and imposter syndrome?

Yeah. I was so excited when this was the topic that we honed in on to discuss because I get this all the time from people too. Exactly what you just said. They're thinking what I thought all those years ago. Why would anyone want to hear what I have to say? There's so many yoga teachers out there. Why would anyone want to hear my voice or have me teach? And this voice is so sabotaging. And like you said, it sounds so valid in the moment. But I have some tips that I'm excited to share with everyone listening that I think will help break that down. And this is something that was huge for me when I was able to overcome this barrier of, like, why me? Why would anyone want to hear what I have to say? Things started unfolding in my business, in my Life, at like 10x speed. So if this is something that you can leap over this hurdle, incredible things await. So one of the things I want to talk about, and I guess we could kind of say this is like idea or tip number one, but you are unique. We really need to focus on how unique each and every single one of us are. And the example I like to use here give is, of course it's yoga related because that's just my background. But sometimes you're in A class, whether it's yoga or meditation or maybe even something nutritional, a fact you've heard something a million times. Like, I had done pigeon pose, I don't know, 500 times. And one day, this one teacher cued pigeon in a certain way. And she talked about our awareness in the posture. She said, notice in your pigeon if you tend to always go too far. And for those of you who can't visualize this, this is like a deep hip stretch, like super stretch for piriformis. It's a little bit painful. And of course, me as like this type A personality. I always go too far in my pigeon pose, and it's kind of uncomfortable to be there. And then I'm like, when is the teacher going to let us come out of this? When is the teacher going? And she cued to that. She talked about that. And it was such an aha moment for me. I was like, wow, this pigeon pose, this stretch is like a microcosm for how I'm leading my life. I'm always pushing myself too far. I'm always thinking that I need to be in the deepest stretch or go the farthest in order for what I'm experiencing to have any validity, when really I should back off. And I use this example because it was that teacher in that unique moment, talking about this posture in this unique way, that it really changed my life. It changed the entire trajectory of my life at the time. I think it helped me get inspired to sign up for yoga teacher training. So one thing that all of you can focus on is that you can be that voice for someone else someone may have heard. Yes, there are a lot of yoga teachers out there, but no one's going to teach the way you do. And you have the power through your unique. You know, we're all different. We all have this unique DNA. And I love tying this back to Kundalini. Sorry, I'm going to go all over the place, Sahara. But a lot of times I feel like this Kundalini or Kundalini Shakti is just translated as like this feminine energy that lives within us, this divine feminine energy. And that's lovely. But what I've been focusing on, and especially in my 300 trainings, is like redefining this word if it serves you as Kundalini as being the uncoiling of our essentialness. It's your you ness. So it's not just the creative feminine power potential in general, it's your creative potential. It's the energy of your soul. It's your highest identity. So when we tap into these yoga practices or meditation practices or talk about raising Kundalini or Kundalini Shakti, it's not just about this general thing. It's about you becoming more uniquely you. You stepping into your incredible innate uniqueness. And that uniqueness has the power to touch people in a way that no one else can. And I'll pause here because I have more to say on this. But does that, like, make sense?

I love that so much. I mean, everyone listening to this podcast is very into yoga, kundalini, all of this stuff. But I love that reframe because it really is. You know, we could put it in the frame of the. Of the feminine, but Shakti is not just something that females have. It's something that everyone has, and it's life force. And in Ayurveda, we say, oh, Jas, Which I feel like is a very similar essence to what you're talking about. It's you in your most radiant, glowy, expressive way. And I think that the only way that we can stand out is to be us. And I think what most of us do to try to overcome imposter syndrome is become like everyone else, which is really doing the opposite of what we need to do.

Yes. So that is great. And yeah. And, like, what I'm trying to. The paradigm shift here is that, like, my kundalini and your kundalini are different. Like, they're similar. But yours is uniquely Saharanous. When it's activated, it's like making your Saharanis more Sahara. Right. And mine, when it's activated, is making me more divinely exactly who I am. So I love what you said about the pressure to be like everyone else, because one of the things I tell to my trainees all the time is don't be a vanilla cupcake. The whole vanilla cupcake thing. Because I think what happens is we feel this fear of using our voice or putting ourselves out there. So in order to have everyone like us, we stay kind of general. We try to kind of appeal to everyone because we're afraid of getting strong reactions from people, and it's our fear driving that. But here's the thing. Nobody wants a vanilla cupcake. The analogy I always use with my trainees is like, when you are suggesting a yoga class to someone, you're not like, oh, yeah, this teacher kind of just does a little bit of everything and it all gets fit. Like, most yoga teachers who are really big. Like, people love them, people are devotee, hardcore fans. Or it's like, that person turns me off. Right? Like, Forest yoga.

That's who I was thinking of. Exactly.

Right. Like, I was like, not so much, which is fine, you know, but people who love her, love her, you know, and I have. So it's almost. It's so counterintuitive. But it's better to have people have a strong reaction to you than have no reaction or like a meh reaction. Because especially if you want to develop this into a business and serve more people, like, you need to let your inner light shine so your true tribe can find you. If people aren't having a strong reaction to your teaching style, to what you're putting out on social media, then probably your training being too much of a vanilla cupcake and you're not going to be able to attract your true tribe and make the impact that you're really destined to make. Now, the flip side of this is that you're going to get your lunatic raving fans, but you're also going to get those naysayers, those people who don't believe. But what I'd advise you to do is reframe this. Reframe this so that when you know you're getting a little dissent, when you know you're getting a little naysaying, when you know you're getting some unsubscribes on your email, you're like, this is validation. This means I'm on the right track and I'm presenting something that has enough of a point of view that it's activating people or turning them off. And we're not taught to think this way, you know, especially as women like going through life, right. It's like you want everyone to like you. You're supposed to be a good girl, you're supposed to be nice. But what I found is like, it's just keeping so many people playing small, where if we just got over this and saw dissent and some naysaying as like a really positive sign in the trajectory of you and your brand and your business and your mission, that would have so much more people speaking out.

With less fear, 100%. You know, it's so funny because when I first started, especially with Ayurveda, I thought, okay, I had to look the part, spiritual part. And I genuinely, you know, I think a lot of us, especially when we start a spiritual yogic path, et cetera, we go from one identity of mainstream consciousness to this other identity. We dress the part, we look the part, we say the right things, and then you kind of just blend in with this new crowd. And I remember finally when I Had the courage one day to share a torque video of me. And my friend Paul went to this twerk class. He put it on his Instagram and I was like, oh, my God, I could never put that on mine. And I just did it. And I had such an incredible reaction so that I ended up sharing, you know, my twerking and my belly dancing and then my. When I went to DJ school and all of these things. And it was so funny because I put on my Instagram, which I highly recommend people do, asking the people around you, when have you seen me at my best? And. And all of them were like, twerking, belly dance, dj. Like, not like the teachings that I say every single day. But it's the times that I did something that was like so out of the box, that is not what they would expect from a spiritual person that made them see me at my best.

I love that you share that. It's such a perfect example of the other thing I really wanted to make sure to talk about, which is kind of like the second big idea here, which is that whatever you think it is that makes it so you can't be a yoga teacher, a healer, an ayurvedic practitioner, like, whatever your story is, like, I'm too twerky and sexy, or I'm too nerdy and technical, or I'm too into money, or I really like getting manicures. I don't want to be a hippie. Ish. Or whatever your random story is, that's actually your kryptonite. That's what you need to combine with what it is you want to do. So you just gave such a purpose example of this. You combined something that you thought would potentially be maybe a turn off, but something that's so uniquely you and people resonated with it so much more. It actually became a strength. How this plays out for me is I forever wanted to be a yoga teacher, but I was like, I don't want to have dreadlocks. I don't want to get any tattoos. I really want to earn a good income. And I'm very technical and driven and kind of a type A personality. All of those things seemed antagonistic to the yoga teacher kind of identity, and it held me back from stepping into it. But again, when I combined the two, that became my kryptonite. Because I had that technical background and a little bit more business savvy, I was able to put together my website, these trainings, administer this super highly active. I mean, there's so much technology involved in our trainings that make them happen. It's like, no one could really do that. I was uniquely positioned because I had the yoga background and I had the tech background, but I always thought I was just, like, too nerdy and too techy to be able to be a yogi. So for whoever's listening, I'd really start thinking about, like, what is that for you? What's the story going on in your head about why you can't do whatever your next chapter is. Like, you don't know enough about herbs. If it's for Ayurveda, or you're maybe not at your goal weight and you want to help people with nutrition, turn that around and realize that that's actually exactly what makes you uniquely positioned to bring something new into the. That's going to be incredible and transformational.

I 100% agree. And I actually wrote about this in Discover your dharma to lead with your shame. So, for example, a friend of mine named Sa is an awesome meditation teacher, and he still suffers from depression and anxiety. So for him, his meditation practice is instrumental for him, because the days that he doesn't do it, those bouts of depression and anxiety will come back. And most meditation teachers would never want anyone to know that they're still dealing with it because they would think, oh, well, then meditation must not work, because your mental health should be perfect by now. But the fact that he still openly shares that he has these dark and down days, and this is why the practice is so special to him, that makes me want to learn from him even more.

Yes. Such a great example. I love that. And then I guess the third thing that I wanted to share a little bit is about this idea of mastery and the idea that owning your power as a teacher is about the level of belief that you have the authority to have mastery. So stay with me here, because I'm going to break this down. Imagine that you're walking into a party and you're starting to get kind of, like, weird looks from people, and you right away feel that, like, oh, people are kind of, like, whispering. This has all happened to us at some point in our life, right? And you're like, wow, I don't really feel welcome here. Like, people are kind of, like, looking at me weird and whispering, and you feel very awkward. And what do you want to do? You want to leave the party, right? Very different from when you go to a party and people are like, hey, what's up, Sahara?

How are you?

Welcome. Let me get you, like, some kombucha. Let me get you a Drink, like, you know, whatever. So now change this, flip this around, that your mastery, because we all are masters, you must believe this. We are masters at our deepest level. Your mastery is showing up at the party. And what's happening for most of us right now is that it's the party where our mastery shows up in these moments and we're like, I don't know if that's really mastery. I don't really know if you know, like your mastery does not feel welcome and so it exits the party. So it leaves. Right? So this is why we really need to focus on the level of belief we have that we have the authority to have mastery. Because the moment we believe, the moment you believe that I have the authority to be a master, the moment I believe in that possibility, the mastery that you've always had becomes accepted by the rest of your system. Right? When you're constantly instead second guessing this innate intelligence or not acknowledging it, your experience is going to be that your mastery stays hidden because it doesn't feel welcome at the party that we're talking about.

I love that. Yes.

Yeah. Right. So this is so critical because when you believe that you have this authority within you, so it's like you almost don't even have to focus on the master. Like, you know, say you want to be a yoga teacher, you don't even have to work on being a yoga teacher yet. Just work on the level of belief you have that you have the authority to be a master. If you can work with that, what will eventually get established is this incredibly nourishing feedback loop and this reflective feedback loop that just like becomes delicious, right? Because you're sharing and your mastery is showing up and instead of second guessing it every other sentence, you're embracing it. And then it's like slowly you prove out to yourself that this has been part of you all along and it becomes your new identity. So I just wanted to share that about believing in the authority, because that is a game changer for anyone listening. So you can just work on that first step.

I love that. And I think a lot of us feel like, oh, well, to become an expert in something, you have to get a PhD in it and write multiple books on it. And like, only then you can become an expert. And that kind of was the way that it was in the old paradigm before we had the Internet. The only way that you could even have access to certain types of information were to go to university for it and have access to those teachers because it wasn't available. Just like on the World Wide Web. But now that we have this, we have so many tools, so much information. I mean, the average person today, in one day gets more information than what a person did 100 years ago over their lifetime. So we have tools available for us from, you know, online trainings, masterclasses, membership courses, just articles, blogs, videos, YouTube channels, podcasts, like, all of these ways that you know and people listening to this podcast are ready on that path. But if you just, like, take everything you've already learned and give yourself credit for it. We've gone to multiple universities of whatever it is that we were passionate about at that point because we've taken in so much information and so much knowledge. Now where it really comes to is that level of mastery of being able to teach it and share it with other people. You could be born with a gift for something. Like, Adele was born with a good voice, and then she has to go through her training to make it the voice that we all experience today. So it's like. Like finding that thing that your dharma is leading you towards that you're naturally excited about. Maybe you're naturally a bit better at it than other people because you're just set up for it and then giving your all to it to learn about it to the point that you're able to teach someone who may not have been born with that.

Yes. So true. And I want to add into this, too. It's like, there's two types of knowledge, right? There's like. Like the intellect, which is 100% important that you develop. Right? That's why I have a training. That's why Sahara has her amazing master classes. It's like, take those. But there's also a different kind of intelligence that's, like, unique. And I think of it as being, like, curled in your DNA that you can. You know, there's like. There's no course you need to take except your belief in your mastery to start to unlock and uncoil that. I'll give an example here to try to make this more concrete, but there was a woman in my 300 training who was asking about if she should discount her. I can't remember if it was private or a workshop or something, but if she should discount for a while because she's a newer teacher and she already was planning to teach for free to friends for a certain amount of time to, like, you know, kind of build up her experience. And what I told her, I was like, after you teach your friends for free for, you know, a while and really build up that experience, I'm not sure if I would start right away then also with a discounted price. Because here's the thing. If you're able to really give incredible value to that private client, like that's where the, that's the level of transaction should be about the value. It shouldn't be because like I'm a junior, you know, like, you know, in like hair salons, there's like the junior stylist and then like there's like a clear hierarchy. I'm like, with what you're doing, it's really about the value that you're giving to this one individual person. And if you think you can really provide high value after you've got your experience doing this free stuff, I think you should charge the full amount. And I gave this example of another really dear yoga teacher friend of mine. I went on the first yoga retreat that she ever hosted. She had never done a yoga retreat before, ever. Okay. It was incredible. And it was not because of all her experience leading retreats retreats, it was because of her. Every aspect of her was infused into this retreat. From the way that the booklet we got when we arrived, like the welcome booklet, the food, the music, like every little detail, like she just put it was her, it was like her genius. When you're in your zone of genius, it's like it didn't matter that it was her first retreat. It was incredible. And I've attended a lot of her retreats since. Honestly, that first one was kind of my favorite. Right? Like they've all been incredible. So I think we a little bit need to shift away from like, yes, experience is important, but it's not the only factor. There's something else at play when you're in your zone of genius.

So true. And I think that oftentimes, like, here's a little, a little inside note, we're often our best when we start doing something because we want to give our all. Like it's so new and so exciting for us that your first yoga retreat, you're like, like you're going into every detail because it's like this whole new territory and maybe you're a little bit nervous about it too. So you go above and beyond. Or I remember when I started doing health coaching and Ayurveda consultations, like I would, I would talk to them for however long they wanted to talk to me. I was like, here's my number. Text me whatever you need. Because I was so new to it that I felt like I had to over deliver. And I was still learning so much so sometimes we're actually at our very best at the beginning.

Oh, I love that. Yes, 100%. Because your passion is so high. So I mean, in that instance, like, you know, the yoga teacher giving this private, like she's going to give the best private ever. The value is going to be huge, you know, compared to maybe a teacher who's been doing this like 20 years. Like, okay, another private. Right. So this is where it's like we need to be just careful whether it's discounting our fees or discounting the value that we add to something. It's such a great point, Sahar. It's like, you know, early on we're on fire because we're so passionate in those moments.

So I think where a lot of people get stuck is like, okay, I know I'm supposed to be unique. I know I'm supposed to be different, but what if I genuinely don't know what makes me different?

So my answer to that is to start experimenting and to get into action. That's kind of like my answer to everything. Yes, I'm third chakra dominant, but it really, really works. I remember when I was really young in college, I did an internship at Prada. I was like the girl in the devils where Prada. Everyone was much nicer than that movie, by the way. But I like really wasn't into it. It was really funny because this other girl was an intern with me and she was like freaking out every day about the clothes that we got to touch and the fact that we were talking to Vogue every day. And I was just like, I just wasn't into it. Right. And it was so amazing because my boss, at the end of my semester or whatever it was, she was just like, you know, I really don't think you're into fashion. And I was like, you know what, I don't think I am either. And she was like, like, well, it's so great you did this internship to find that out. Yeah, it was. And she was genuinely like, so kind about it. And I think, you know, that's how we learn. Like at that stage in my life, I was like 19 or something. Like, I didn't, I didn't know what I was interested in, but I tried a fashion thing and yeah, guess what? Like, it was. It's kind of like going on dates with someone. Like, there was no chemistry. There was no there there. I was not interested in pursuing a relationship where I feel like people can get stuck. Or like the person you just described is like, you need to get out of your comfort zone and just start trying different stuff. And you'll know the minute you're in action trying something, you'll be like, this feels good. This doesn't feel good. What happens that blocks people in this whole exploration is it's like the dirtiest word in the English language for me right now. Perfectionism. Perfectionism. They're like, oh, well, I'm not going to try something because if I'm going to do a fashion internship, it needs to be perfect. It needs to be at Vogue and I need to know everything about fashion before I start. And I need like six outfits that are, you know what I mean? Like, we make it so hard for ourselves. Like, I can't just put a YouTube video up. I need to buy a DSLR camera and I need to have a beautiful website first. And I need to, like, people just make it so hard and challenging when it really doesn't need to be like, you could just throw a video up on your phone and yeah, maybe it won't be the breakthrough video that makes your YouTube career, but it will give you a feeling of like, oh, yeah, this whole posting a YouTube thing, it feels right, I want to do it again. Or this feels totally wrong for me, right? So it's like, we need. You need to get yourself to get into action. But letting go of the perfectionism, like, think of it as like a bunch of little tests you're running, like little experiments. No pressure to start to see what feels good to you.

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Line and balance of like when to know to share something with a broader audience? Do you mean.

Yes, when you should share, like, how much education and inner knowing should you have before you start sharing something and teaching it to others?

The way I've always gauged this is the reaction I'm getting from the person in front of me. And a lot of times that person might be online, like even in a Facebook group or a comment, but I think often we forget how little other people know. And I don't mean this in like a bad way, but it's like if, even if I'm not an expert meditator, but I've been meditating for the past year, I still know so much about meditation compared to someone who's never done it before. And in fact, I can actually relate to and help them way more than the person who's been doing it 10 years because that person's totally forgot what it's like to be a beginner. So for me, what has always helped is if I'm talking about something and I feel like someone's having like an aha moment or they're like, wow, this is information I Didn't know. I stay really focused on, like, wow, I'm clearly helping someone, so I'm going to share more. This is a really big paradigm shift that, like, we can all practice instead of it being about me, me, me, do I know enough? When do I know enough? When am I qualified enough? It's like, am I actually serving someone? If I'm serving someone who's in a place way earlier in their journey than you know, where I am, that's all that matters. I'm being in service. So all of a sudden, the paradigm shifts from it being about, like, my qualifications, which is so egocentric, right? It's all about me, me, me, me, me, to just being like, if I'm able to really help someone who's struggling in a place where I've been before, that's it. Just like my experience. Having been through that before or being a beginner at that before qualifies me.

So true. And yeah, we definitely, I think we go home for Thanksgiving and we realize how much we know. Taught everyone a class on yoga, meditation, all the things compared to people who've never even heard of these words. You know, maybe they've just seen it on tv. So I think that you're completely right that we can. We're always going to be a step ahead of someone, and those are people that we can share. And at the same time, don't let that stop you from also learning from people who are a step ahead of you. I think we always, always, always need to remain students. And I'm someone, I'm definitely solar plexus chakra dominant too, and can relate. Sometimes I can be so quick to like, oh, my God, I'm so excited about something. I want to teach it to everyone and like, to be like, there's still a lot more for I can teach and still remain as a student. So I think a lot of us.

And that's like a great thing you're saying too, is like, it's not like an either or. It's like, because I think we fall into this, like, listening to you, I'm like, we fall into this place where it's like, either I'm the expert and I know everything, or I'm not qualified enough. Like, let that go. You know, Let that go. Like, I'm doing additional advanced Kundalini certifications right now. Now I look back on some of the Kundalini yoga that I've already taught and put out on YouTube and I'm like, I would have done little things slightly differently. I look down on the comments of that video. This routine has changed my life. I've been doing this every day for the past 90 days. I'm like, wow, okay, so I would have done some things differently, but, like, if I hadn't put this video up when I did, even though in that moment I knew I didn't know everything about Kundalini Yoga, actually, I probably never will. But I knew a lot more than everyone on the Internet who was searching for beginner Kundalini Yoga, and they love that routine. So it's like, we can be in both spaces. We can be in the space, and I feel like that's the space I'm always in of educating everyone else with as much knowledge as I have. And then I'm also an eternal student. I've had to go back in some of my yoga teacher training material and change little things as I work with more advanced teachers, refine my Sanskrit pronunciation of a few key words, and I'm not ashamed. Just like, hey, everyone, you know, like, I just found out, like, this word actually is pronounced this way. Let's all change the way we're saying it, you know, and. And I think people are attracted to that authenticity. They're attracted to the fact that I'm someone who's humble enough to. To come back, and I'm always learning. I'm constantly striving to improve. And it's like, that's why you should study with me at the end of the day, you know, is because I'm constantly, you know, evolving my own knowledge and. And my whole community benefits from that. The same with all of you listening, right? You can be a teacher and a student at the same time. In fact, the best teachers, I think, are absolutely.

And we have to realize that if you're listening to this podcast, we are really at the brink of this entire new paradigm shift. I mean, still, in the mainstream culture, we're not talking about these kinds of things. We're not talking about overcoming imposter syndrome and connecting to your highest self. And Kundalini Yoga, that's. That is not what, you know, they're talking about on cable television. So the fact that you're even here listening shows how curious and excited and perfect you are to be someone, to be guiding this into your community. You know, I was just in the South a couple weeks ago, and it was so awesome to see how many people are bringing in yoga studios, teaching meditation, teaching sexual healing in communities that are very, you know, church or evangelical dominated. And they're even getting, you know, a response from People, that's like, I would. I used to think this stuff was satanic. And because of you, you've opened my eyes to a whole new realm of connecting to myself that I would have never before. So there are so many opportunities for us to teach, whether it's just in our. Like, the more you feel like your community is not ready for it and all this stuff would never work where I live, the better suited you are to be the person that brings it there.

Yes. I love what you said. I feel like everyone listening to this podcast, you guys are the healers and the leaders. We are going through a massive shift right now. Like what Sahara said, especially the energy of it. With the new decade and everything Yogi Bhajan talked about in Kundalini Yoga, this shift that is happening, everyone is going to start having this awakening. And when you think about it, it's like, we're the first, what, 100,000, 500,000? Even if we're the first million people on the planet, it. It's like we're the leaders of this. We're like the people with the flag. You know, those tour. The tour guides who have the flags to lead people around. Like, that's what I tell my trainees. I'm like, that's us. That's us. Like, we are the leaders, right? Because we're going through this much earlier than, like, there's going to be a whole wave. And that's why when people are like, there's too many yoga teachers, I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, we need, like, reinforcements. Like, we need, like, triple the number of people. Like, just when you see, like, yoga is growing into everything now. It's in nursing homes, it's in businesses. Like, even if you just look at, like, keywords around yoga, which I do a lot for my business, like, everything's just growing, like, year over year over year. The interest, the number of people who say they're doing it. It's like the same with Ayurveda. I'm sure it's just a symbol. Absolutely.

This meditation, herbal healing, shamanism, divine, feminine, all of these topics that, you know, that we're all so interested in. Interested in. These are going to be the topics that are, like, I don't know, what is super mainstream today? Like, totally.

Yeah.

Hip hop music, you know, or something that, like, everyone does. Like, yoga, I feel like, already has pretty much there. Like, I know 9 out of 10Americans has, but there aren't enough people still because there's so many communities that don't have access to it. So we need more people stepping up as leaders.

Yeah. And there's not enough people teaching yoga, connecting it to the. The yoga with the big. Why, as I want to call it, like the. The yoga with the philosophy and the, the sutras and the eight limbs and I mean, that's really the meat of, like, what I focus on in my trainings, making it inclusive, bringing in the. The philosophy of it. Right. So, I mean, then. And just everything we're saying, I mean, that's why, like, I laugh when I talk to so many people who are just like, it's too late. It's too late for me to be a yoga teacher. Like, I'm too old. That's another one I get a lot. I'm just like, are you kidding me? Like, there is a tsunami, like, avalanche wave of more people coming into this that need really incredible, mindful, authentic teachers and healers and leaders just more than ever before.

Absolutely. And I want to talk about something you mentioned, which is the Sanskrit pronunciation of words. And this is something that is highly important. And even sometimes I pronounce it in an American English way because I feel like people aren't going to understand it. So I'm just like, Sanskrit, solar plexus, or I just say things in that way. And you reminded me of how important that is to pronounce it in the correct way. So can you share a little bit more about that?

Well, one thing that's really liberating and empowering, I think that I learned recently and again, this is like, you know, staying forever the student. Right. Is that I ended up, like, diving into all of this so much, especially when I was putting together the 300, 500 training, which, you know, is huge and so much deeper even than the 200 training online. And. And basically two yoga masters that I really respect were pronouncing a word differently. So all of a sudden I was like, wait, hold the phone. Because I'd actually already filmed a bunch of content with this teacher. And the way he was saying this word was different from this other person who I really, really respected.

So I was saying, what's the word?

Which is. Right, I'm trying to remember right now. I think it was. It might have been Samkhya. For Samkhya philosophy, there's a couple. And so I asked this other teacher, after I was like, yo, I gave up to him. I'm like, wait, what's the deal? Like, are you talking about the same word as, like, you know, this. This other person? Because I filmed all this Content with him. And, you know, I really trust him. And he's one of my primary teachers. And he was saying this word this way. And you know what he said to me? Sahara, this is gonna blow your mind. He goes. He's like, oh, yes, I've heard it said that way, too. Pending where in India you study, there's different dialects, there's different accents. And this word is often said differently. Just like in America. Like, there's a very distinct Southern accent, right. Which might be different from how someone speaks in Long Island. And it's not like this for every single word. But when he said this, I was just like, whoa, whoa. It was really liberating because I was like, even amongst the masters, right, Depending who they studied from and where in India that person lived, like, these words might be said with, like, a tiny bit of different inflection. And that makes so much more sense than there just being, like, one right way to say, you know, like, some people say potatoes, some people say potahto. Like, we have some words like that. Right?

Right.

So I don't know, I just thought that was really incredible because I was like, wow, it's not so black and white. Like, everything in life, there's these shades of gray. And we just educate ourselves. And I shared that with all my students on a live call. And I was just like, if anything, this should help you hopefully de stress a little bit. It's like, do the best you can with these words and just refine as you go. At least that's been my approach.

Yeah, it's very interesting because I'm very into the goddesses, and. And Goddess Kali, for example, has such different stories from different parts of India. Like, in some parts she's like this ferocious, like, crazy woman. And then other parts, she's like this loving, tender mother. And it shows that even one goddess has so many sides. In different parts of India, they honor her. In some parts, she's she's a black goddess. Some parts, she's a blue goddess. So, you know, we have to see that these cultures shift in different geographic. Even Ayurveda is practiced very differently in different. So I think that that is a really good point to bring up and to also research about where it came from to know that. Because I think it's one thing to say, okay, it's differently pronounced in north and South India versus, like, I'm just going to make up my pronunciation because I don't really give a shit about these. This practice. So I'm going to say it the way that I want which, you know, I think a lot of, A lot of the yoga, at least that I see in LA is so stripped from actual Vedic culture. Like there's a place called the no Om zone. And they're like, we don't say the word om here and like as if that's like a cur. Curse word. And I think it's this balance of honoring the history and the culture and where it came from, and then from that place of honoring, you could add in whatever you want to it.

Yeah. One thing that, you know, I'll just share just in case it's helpful for anyone listening that I try to focus on a lot is just noticing if I'm really coming from like my head brain and my intellect. A lot of the time most of us are because that's how we're raised and conditioned and what we do in society. But what you need to remember is that like your intellectual, it's just a part of the story. It's a very small part of the story. Like our intellect's like looking through a telescope and we just see like a couple stars. Right. When really there's an entire galaxy out there, when we try to think about like maybe more creative or non linear thinking. So our head brain, our intellect is always going to be a problem discoverer. It's going to be like, why is Kali blue here and black here? I mean, that's just like what the brain does. It discovers problems, it wants to solve things and for things to make sense. That's just like what the brain is designed to do from when we needed to survive very early on and discriminate. Is this a tiger coming at me or is this a palm tree that just looks like a tiger with the shadow? So when you realize that your brain is just always going to be looking for problems and seeing the differences in things, you can also just have that awareness. Right. This is just like my intellect. This is my brain doing its job of being a problem discoverer and, and getting really caught up in like, the differences. I can shift just like I'd shift gears of a car and go into my heart brain. My heart brain's actually a problem solver, an integrator. It's the great integrator. Right. It's the fulcrum chakra. And in that place it's okay. And it actually makes perfect sense that Kali's depicted in all these different ways and different colors and means slightly different things in these different, you know, tribes or groups or whatever. So just having that awareness of like the different parts of the way you can process. Process information within your own body I think is really powerful.

I love that, and I do that a lot, too, of just being like, okay, my brain is doing its job. It needs to fix things. Because sometimes, you know, nothing is wrong. And our brains are just like, let me just, like, figure out this thing that happened to me like, 10 years ago to solve. And I think that's such a huge part of yoga to move out of. You know, use that brain for concentration and for solving problems that actually need to be solved. And then dropping into the. The heart and the third eye and all of the other chakras to do their work too. Don't just operate from one headspace.

Yeah, the mind is a wonderful servant, but it's a terrible master. It's always going to focus on the negative, too. Like when we were talking about the vanilla cupcake thing, what do you focus on at the end of the day? Like the one email from the naysayer or the 700 emails from the people who loved your thing. Right. The brain is hardwired to focus on that one email from the naysayer. Knowing that's very empowering. I mean, knowing how the brain works, knowing how the nervous system works, this is a lot of stuff that I really dive into in trainings. Not because, you know, it's. It's just so. It's relevant to teaching yoga, but it's also so relevant to you being able to best operate your body and mind and have the mind be your servant instead of your master.

So I'd love to hear then from your yogic perspective, how can we truly be happy when our mind is constantly looking for things to be unhappy about?

You need to retrain. It's just like training a puppy, right? Like a puppy at the beginning, it doesn't know to pee outside. It's like. I mean, I feel like for most of us, if we think of our mind as a puppy, I like to use this analogy a lot. Like our puppy mind is like peeing on the sofa. It's like chewing your favorite high heel. Right? It's like running around your house or apartment creating a mess, like pulling apart your down comforter. We have no control over the mind now. To think that we can control everything we think is insane. It's too overwhelming. We can't. According to a lot of these ancient teachings we teach, we think a thousand thoughts per blink of an eye, and some of them surface as, like, thoughts that we're kind of like, cognizant of. And you Know, bring up emotions and the others just remain in our subconscious for us to deal with later. It's like this massive. Right. But so, but while we can't. So we can't control the puppy, right? But we can get the puppy be in a crate, like crate trained. Right. Like sleeping through the night, peeing outside. And what we can do in our own mind and how we do this is like we can't control the thoughts that come in. So if I'm having a thought, like my voice doesn't matter or no one wants to hear what I have to say, you can't stop that. I mean, I'd love to tell you that like you can, but really some of these things, these, some scars are like so deeply programmed that they're going to keep coming up. But what we can do is choose the thought we think after that.

Right.

So there's that moment of awareness, that moment of, you know, I like to talk. I won't go into non duality. Right. But. But there's this moment of awareness where we can then choose the thought that comes after is the thought that comes after. Yeah. No one will hear what I have to say. That class I taught today sucked. Or like I'm not going to sign up for training. Or like spiral, spiral, spiral, spiral, Right. Or that next thought can be breath. Wow, I had that thought again. That voice again, again. How interesting. We're shifting into the neutral mind. We're shifting into the role of the witness that recognizes that voice as not being us. Wow, I'm having that thought again. And in some of the workbooks I have for 300 hour, like we literally do this work around charging for yoke because people have so much issue around. I'm sure it's the same in Ayurveda and nutrition, right? It's like people have all this issue around charging money for something that they love doing or that's healing, right. So we have like a thing where it's like anytime I think blank. So anytime I think, think, no one wants to hear what I have to say, I'm going to think blank instead. Blank could be like, you know, my voice is powerful and desperately needed by the people who are waiting for me to serve them. Right.

Love that one.

So we. I'm just making stuff up. Right. But yeah, I know that just came out. Right. But this is like what we can do. So we can't control the thoughts coming at us, but we can choose to stop the thought train, you know, and put it in a new direction.

So. Good. And I 100% had all of those same fears when I was, you know, trying to get my first book deal to write about Ayurveda. And then, you know, I wrote the entire book and I pitched it to 30 different publishers, all which rejected me. And they actually reiterated the same fears I had in my head. So now they were validated to me. No one cares about Ayurveda. You're too young, you're not a doctor, it's never going to happen. Good luck. So I was like, this is a really good place for me to stop because now I have proof that no one is ever going to give a shit about this and I might as well just get a regular job and forget about this chapter of my life. But that thought that came after that was like, imagine how defeated you will feel if you never gave this your all. I always would let that thought guide me to the next step. Even though, though it was not the first initial response, even though sometimes it took me a couple days or weeks to get back to that thought, but that thought would guide me to the next step. And had I listened to the exact same fears that the mind is playing on many listeners right now, this conversation.

Would not be happening 100%.

Maybe I'd be selling you a house because I thought I'd become a real estate agent, which I did not want to do.

That's amazing. Yes. I mean this is when people say things because it used to sound very woo woo to me, like you can choose your reality, right? Like you can, but you can, your internal landscape is something that you can choose. And one of the things I really work on with my students is like to project themselves forward so to visualize themselves three years from now. What are they wearing? What are they saying? What do they look like? What kind of yoga are they teaching? Where are they teaching? Maybe they've written a book. And then to act like that now, like what kind of things would they, that person be saying to themselves? And then we insert that into where you are now so that you can change. This is like the fastest way to up level is. It's really all mindset work, which is crazy because so many yoga teacher trainings don't focus on this at all. It's just like the poses and maybe like a little bit about sutras and chakras and like that's it really. We need to understand that understanding our energetic body, the chakras, the philosophy that Patanjali passes down, down. It's supposed to be used for this work, this mindset work that Sahara and I are talking about right now. That's where the gold is. That's where the transformation is. That's why I love yoga. Right? Is because it's ultimately liberating me from all the voices in my head and letting me choose a new, different response and creating my reality.

Absolutely. Exactly. And it's taking that yoga practice off the mat and into real life. Because. Because every time those fears come up, every time your old former self that may have led with all of the things that may go wrong comes up, that's really when you're practicing yoga. So I think.

Last thing on this.

Sorry, I was just gonna say before.

I forget, I love it. Think about. No, no, like, think about how that voice is serving you. Like, that's another thing that can help you get some distance. Yeah. So, like, that voice that's like, no one wants to hear what I have to say. Every voice that's saying something to you, you Is keeping you safe somehow. It's serving you in some way. Right? So that voice that's like, why would anyone want to hear what I have to say? Well, that's a really convenient thought, because when you think that you don't have to register for yoga teacher training, you don't have to get your butt up off the couch and film your first YouTube video, you don't have to, like, conquer your fear of public speaking, that voice is, like, so in service of you just staying in the status quo. So once you start to see the agenda of a lot of these things that you're thinking, at least for me, it really, it's helpful. It helps you, like, unpack them because you're like, oh, I see. I see your motivation. And then you don't accept it as just, like, the truth. Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off, Sahar.

No. And it reminds me of the story of that we can only reach up for the highest branch available for us. So a friend of mine, Alex Benayan, who's been on this podcast, shared that, I guess a friend of his had met with her son's teacher at school. And the teacher called the mom over for a meeting. She says, I'm a bit concerned about your son. And so she came in for the meeting and she said, the teacher said, we had everyone draw what they wanted to be when they grow up. And, you know, most people drew a doctor or an astronaut or whatever, and your son drew a pizza delivery man, and we aren't really sure why this is his biggest dream. And the mom said, that makes total sense. Sense, because his dad, his brothers, everyone around him is either in gang or in jail. And his uncle is the only person, the man that he has in his life. And he's a pizza delivery man. So that is why he wants to become a pizza delivery man. And it's just such a testament that when we just see, okay, well this is available for me, so I'll just do that. That becomes your biggest dream and your biggest aspiration. But when you have someone who shares with you, you know what, you could also own a pizza restaurant. You could invent your own piz. We don't even need to do pizza. You could do whatever you want. It just opens up your periphery of what is possible for you.

And this is why it's so important to get together in community, right? Whether it's your community, Sahara, or like more yoga focused mine, like get around people, whether it's on Facebook or live calls. I mean, again, this is why I lead the trainings live. They're so interactive because it's a vital part of this whole up leveling and mindset shift that we're talking about. You can't do it in a silo, you can't do it alone. You can't do it just watching videos alone in your house. House. Like it needs to be interactive and real 100%.

And I think a lot of us, we have these dreams on our vision boards and we don't actually do them. So for me, my dream since college was I want to learn to be a dj. And I never did it. And then this summer, even though it was the craziest time in my life, I was moving, I had this book due, there was a DJ school and they had a two month course so I could do it over the summer. And I just signed up for it. And you know, there were so many times that I was driving there, I'm like, oh my God, I have so much to do. Why am I doing? And every single time I walked out of that class feeling so inspired, so elevated, which gave me more, more juice to write from. So I think signing up for something is just a really good way of making sure I will commit to this and I will not let my fears or whatever keep me. Because there's going to be a lot of blocks that come up if you're just trying to learn a skill on YouTube. But when you're signed up for something and there's a group of people that are meeting there and you've paid for it. So if you're not there, you're going to miss that makes you really step up. And now I can DJ any party. So if you want to get down, me too.

I'm ready to spin it. Well, this has been so, so fun, so great.

So tell us about your yoga teacher training programs, which are all online, which is so incredible because we have so many, so many listeners from all around the world who live in, you know, communities that don't have a big yoga school structure. So tell us about your yoga teacher, your trainings.

Yeah, well, when I first started this journey, I, I feel like there was this impression out there. I don't know if I had it or it was just like in the atmosphere that's like, oh well, an online training can't be as good as an in person training. And what I've come to discover over the past four or five years is that I think our trainings in some ways are better than in person trainings. And I know that's like a big comment to put out there, but the reason is because you are studying with people. Like in our trainings, you have to upload photos of you in like all the yoga poses and then we look at everyone side by side. So like when you do an in person training, you really only see like the 12 people or I don't know, 20 people who are in the in person training. And you only see like one or two people in each posture. At least that's the way my in person trainings I always take work, right? It's like, it's like, okay, we look at one or two people in Down Dog or Warrior two and that's it. And just because of the nature of it being in person, it's like everyone kind of tends to have the same background or you know, socioeconomic status, things like that. What's so cool about the online format is like you get to see, see hundreds of people in these yoga postures all side by side in photos. And we talk about the anatomy and the detail and the different range of like body types and injuries. It's just, it really prepares you so much better for teaching a diverse student population than just looking at like one or two bodies in person. So you do this live with me. You also have pre recorded videos of me doing this, looking at hundreds of bodies. There's so much content and people, I just really want to make sure they do their research when looking into online programs because over the years what I've seen, because I was very early in this industry, there's so many now popping up, like yoga schools saying promising all sorts of things, but they're a one way experience. It's like you're just going to get some videos in the mail. Some of them are online courses, but mine is the only program that I'm aware of that is really interactive. We model the in person experience in the sense that we are together on interactive conference calls. You practice teach one another in these using your voice. We all have our like webcams in front of our yoga mats. We discuss all the material. So yes, you're watching a ton of videos at home. I ship you a paper manual. That's huge. Every time people get it, they're like, oh my goodness, it's bigger than most in person manuals that I've seen. It's my life's work. And then you're discussing all the topics that we cover in the videos and the paper manual live. So you're talking about the yoga sutras with me and other people from around the world and seeing all the diversity in the anatomy and the bodies, which just makes it so much richer. And we've had again, you know, I wouldn't have been able to say this like four or five years ago, but now I can really say like, our graduates are doing amazing. Like they're teaching at YMCAs, they're teaching at studios. A lot of them have their own successful YouTube channels now, which is really incredible. They're leading retreats all around the world. I think something people don't often think about is that like when you choose to be a yoga teacher, probably very similar to when you choose to be an Ayurvedic practitioner or nutritionist, like you become an entrepreneur. There's not jobs out there for yoga teachers that are like, you're gonna get paid like 60k a year with health insurance. I mean, maybe at some huge gyms and studios if you work your way up. But most yoga teachers are freelancers, they're independent contractors, which immediately means you need to think like as an entrepreneur. And that's always been my background. That's something that's come very naturally to me. So it's in the 300500 program, which is for people who've done their 200 hour training and want to go deeper. A huge section of that training is really focused on the business side and the entrepreneurial side, the mindset, but also just the nuts and bolts, the budgeting. We look at like, you know, all my retreat financials, right? And I like show you how it all break down. Like I'm pretty much an open book and there's some incredible guest teachers in these trainings. One is Sahara Rose who many of you you may be familiar with. But as I've expanded the trainings and especially the advanced 300, 500 training, we have Anadea Judith in there who's the world authority on the chakra system and a Daya Judith PhD. We have Alan Finger, the original co founder of Yoga Works. We have Lauren Zander, she's like a mindset coach who teaches at Harvard and Stanford business schools and coaches like the CEO of Sequoia. She's just incredible. Right? So there's me, but there's also a of lot, lot of other really incredible teachers and it's all at the touch of your fingertips basically through our proprietary system we have a mobile app, you can download the videos, you can watch them on your phone and the programs run live a couple times a year. So definitely check it out if you're interested. And we have a code for everyone who's part of the Sahara family, which is just Sahara's name, Sahara, which gets you $100 off tuition. So make sure to enter that. So super excited to extend.

Yes. And because Brett and I are dear friends who help each other so much in our businesses, we're like yes. So many of our borough school goddesses are in Brett's trainings and vice versa. So we wanted to give my 12 week eat right for your mind body type modern Ayurveda course absolutely free to everyone that signs up for any of her training. So all you have to do is use code Sahara. She has her bridge program as well as her different teacher trainings. You can find out all about it on her website. Brett Larkin.com Sahara yeah, and the bridge.

Program that she's talking about is basically like if you're already a yoga teacher, you already have a 200 hour degree from another school. We ask you to email that into us after you sign up and you get a huge discount on whether it's the 200 hour training, you want to take it as a refresher. I think it's more than 50% off. It's a really great way to take the training at a discounted rate because I have so many people in the programs who did an in person training or a different training or who knows. But they were just really disappointed in like either the scope, the curriculum or the confidence building that the course had. So they end up retaking with us. And so I like to, you know, just give them that discount since they've already invested in a, in a training Previously So that's a great option if you're already a yoga teacher.

Yes. And Brett has been on this podcast twice, guys. So if you want to listen to episodes 43 and 1 30, she talks more about how to, to make six figures as a yoga teacher, how to start your yoga teacher business. So she really is an expert, especially when it comes to the business side. If you're someone that, you know, maybe you feel like you want to reach the masses, you want to have a YouTube channel or social media following, she is the perfect person to teach you that. And that's the biggest thing I see happen with so many of my friends who've done yoga teacher training is, well, I don't really know how I'm going to make a career out of this now.

So.

So if you have done that and that was your experience or you just want to go into it the right way with a career out of it, Brett is your girl.

Yay. Well, I hope that this was fun and informative for all of you. Whether you're thinking of training or not or just thinking of sharing your voice in this new decade, this new time, I really hope you do it because we're waiting for you. I'm waiting for you. Sahara's waiting for you. We want to hear what you're going to create.

Yes. Okay. Well, thank you so much, Brett, for being on the podcast again. We are so grateful for you and all of your wisdom and I'm so looking forward to see all the leaders that are going to emerge from this conversation who are ready. You don't have to wait for permission. It's time to give yourself that permission slip. Thank you so much for listening to that episode. I hope it inspired you to overcome any imposter syndrome that you are facing and maybe become a yoga teacher or, or advance your practice. So again, head over to Brett Larkin.com Sahara to receive $100 off in my Eat right for your mind body type Ayurveda program. Absolutely free. Be sure you are mentioned by Sahara for those bonuses Again, I have that link in the show notes. Brett Larkin.com Sahara and I so look forward to watching you expand into your highest self this decade. Namaste.