59: Explore the Dark Side: Community Conversations with Steph Wall

“Love and light” is a popular sentiment in the yoga world, but today’s guest would have us give equal weight to supposedly negative emotions like grief and anger.

Today host Rachel ventures into the dark side with yoga teacher and studio owner Steph Wall. Steph explains how the Hindu goddess Kali has encouraged her to explore the power of the dark feminine by embracing messiness, complexity and duality in her practice, her life, and as a guiding principle in her unique yoga studio. She believes that opening to the full range of our experiences, not just those perceived as positive, allows us to connect more deeply to ourselves, and to others.

Listen in to learn why it’s important to acknowledge that yoga can be confronting and uncomfortable, how awkward conversations can facilitate more authentic connections, and hear Steph’s advice for other small independent business owners in the yoga sphere.

“The dark feminine really is the part that society has fragmented off…because it is the part of us that is the untamed, the wild, the mysterious.” – Steph Wall

YOU CAN SUBSCRIBE AND LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ON APPLE PODCASTS. AND BE SURE TO LEAVE US A RATING AND REVIEW!

“What I was feeling was not at all reflected externally in the yoga community.” – Steph Wall

Show Notes:

Steph’s studio, the goddess Kali and the “dark feminine” [2:57]
Thoughts on cultural appropriation [11:37]
Acknowledging that yoga practice can be confronting and uncomfortable [14:44]
Working through dark or “negative” emotions awakens the fullness of life [19:29]
Embracing the complex whole [23:53]
Making space for authenticity and vulnerability in our practice and life [27:57]
Asana practice can connect us with the honesty of our bodies [31:18]
Allowing for complexity and imperfection in our studios and communities [35:20]
Advice for small businesses: Live your values, find your people [43:05]
Advice for small businesses: Is this truly needed in your community? [45:01]
Advice for small businesses: Take time to craft something unique and creative [46:31]
Sneak peek into Steph’s upcoming Yoga Medicine Online classes [49:32]