Sky Swisa | Global Yoga Journey, Healing Trauma & Holistic Wellness

Join Todd McLaughlin for a heartfelt and inspiring conversation with Sky Swisa, founder of Ananda Sky Yoga and a truly global yoga teacher.

With a rich multicultural background spanning Russia, Israel, China, and the USA, Sky brings a unique perspective to holistic health and wellness. From working in the diamonds industry in Shanghai to becoming fluent in Mandarin, Hebrew, Russian, and English, her journey into yoga began at age 14. She later completed teacher training in Navakarna Yoga and studied under legendary instructor Dharma Mittra in New York.

In this episode, Sky shares her personal path through cultural experiences, teacher training, and the integration of yoga with other healing practices like lymphatic massage. Todd and Sky explore how yoga, community, and spiritual practices help navigate life’s biggest challenges — including personal trauma, grief, loss of loved ones, and mental health.

They discuss the evolving nature of yoga practice, the importance of grounding and self-discovery, building supportive community, and adopting a non-judgmental approach to diet and personal growth. Sky emphasizes continual evolution in our practices and perspectives so we can stay aligned with our true selves.

Key Takeaways:

• How a multicultural background and global experiences shape a deeper approach to yoga and wellness
• Integrating yoga with holistic practices for mental and physical well-being
• The transformative power of community and spiritual practice during times of tragedy and trauma
• Why a non-judgmental mindset around diet and personal choices matters in the yoga world
• The value of lifelong growth and updating our perspectives as we evolve

Whether you’re a yoga practitioner, teacher, or simply on a path of personal growth, this episode offers powerful insights into resilience, healing, and living with greater awareness.

Visit Sky: https://www.anandaskyyoga.com/

🎙️ Subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify to support the show!

About the Podcast:
The Native Yoga Toddcast explores yoga, meditation, mindfulness, and personal growth through conversations with teachers, creators, and thought leaders.

https://info.nativeyogacenter.com/8in8-ashtanga-yoga-for-beginners-8-limbs-in-8-days/

Transcript

Todd McLaughlin: 0:33

Welcome to Native Yoga Toddcast, so happy you are here. My goal with this channel is to bring inspirational speakers to the mic in the field of yoga, massage, body work and beyond. Follow us at @Nativeyoga and check us out at nativeyogacenter.com. All right, let's begin. Sky, Welcome to Native yoga. Toddcast, so grateful you're here. I have a special guest. Her name is Sky Swisa. You can find her on her website, Anandaskyyoga.com you can also find her on Instagram at @Anandaskyyoga. Links in the description, go, follow, send her a message. We appreciate it, and I really hope that you enjoy this conversation. We covered a lot of topics on this one, and I'm very grateful for how open and honest sky is with us, and I hope that inspires you as well to tell your story, to speak your truth and to share it all right. Hope you have a great time listening. Let's begin. I feel really honored and grateful to be here with Sky Swisa today. Sky, how are you doing and how's your day?

Sky Swisa: 2:02

I'm very excited to be here. Thank you doing very well. How are you

Todd McLaughlin: 2:06

I'm doing really great. Thank you. I saw you via Instagram, and I was impressed that you blend yoga and you're a manual therapist as well. In relation to lymphatic work. Is that true?

Unknown: 2:20

Yes, I do. I do a lymphatic facial massages. And some people call them like sculpting massages, which is not accurate. It's more like for nervous system and lymph flow. And I think it's a nice complementary to other holistic practices and yoga practice and movement practice in general.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:39

Nice. That's cool,

Unknown: 2:41

but I'm not focusing on that right now.

Todd McLaughlin: 2:43

Gotcha.

Unknown: 2:44

Of Life,

Todd McLaughlin: 2:45

gotcha. Well, that makes sense, because I saw that you have your own yoga studio called a non disguise yoga. Is that correct?

Unknown: 2:52

It's correct, yes. It's located in Southern California, in a small city, a small town called Fallbrook in nor County, San Diego.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:00

Nice, so beautiful there. My wife and I used to live in Carmel Valley, and we had a yoga studio in Mira Mesa.

Unknown: 3:07

Oh, really

Todd McLaughlin: 3:07

for a few years, yeah. So I love that area. Fall. Brook is such a beautiful spot. How did you you have an accent? Where are you from originally?

Unknown: 3:14

Yes. So let's, let's get over that, because everybody asks, and sometimes people like are so curious, but it don't say anything, and then it keeps like beat being there hanging. So I am a Russian Israeli, which might sound in the states like a little bit unique, but actually, currently in Israel I, if I'm not mistaken, we are about like 25% or 20% of Israel is Russians Israeli. So I was born, raised in Russia until I was about nine years old, and then I was able to immigrate with my mom, who was Israeli Jew, to Israel when I was about nine years old.

Todd McLaughlin: 3:54

Amazing. How long did you live in Israel for?

Unknown: 3:57

I've lived there until my early 20s, and yeah, and then I started traveling. And then I got a really cool job in the diamonds industry in China, Shanghai, China,

Todd McLaughlin: 4:09

wow.

Unknown: 4:10

And I moved to China,

Todd McLaughlin: 4:11

wow.

Unknown: 4:12

That was a part of my journey, where I lived for nine years, almost 10 years.

Todd McLaughlin: 4:18

Amazing. Did you learn? Did you learn the language? What language? Oh

Unknown: 4:21

yeah, I'm almost fluent in Mandarin. Wow,

Todd McLaughlin: 4:24

that's yeah, that's incredible. Do you do so, obviously, you speak English. Do you speak Russian?

Unknown: 4:29

I'm still working on my English, as I can hear, but yeah, I speak English. I speak Russian. I'm fluent in Hebrew, yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 4:35

Wow.

Unknown: 4:37

Mandarin. In Mandarin, yeah, and I'm trying to work on my Spanish, because, as you know, in San Diego, we kind of like need to, and it's also cool, but it's not that easy anymore. In my age, I guess it was easier, like to catch a new language as as someone much younger,

Todd McLaughlin: 4:55

that's a that's a great point. I'm still, I feel like I've been trying to learn Spanish for like, 30 years, and I'm still. Oh, forever. It's funny, because when I lived in Miami for a little while, and I was like, so excited, because I worked in a restaurant where I thought, oh, cool, I was the only English speaking person, and everybody else knew Spanish. And so I was like, This is gonna be a great opportunity for me to learn Spanish. But then my Spanish, my Spanish was so horrible, and their English was so much better that they didn't want to practice with me. They're just like, butchering it. They're like, Come on, let's just use English. It's so much quicker, so it's easier. So I feel like I need to move to a Latin speak or a Spanish speaking country to really get it like that would be I really want to do that someday. If I could, I'd be so happy, right? Yeah, yeah.

Unknown: 5:36

So are you still in Florida? Yes,

Todd McLaughlin: 5:39

yes. So I do have a lot of amazing Spanish speaking people around me that will will placate me every now and again and

Unknown: 5:46

right

Todd McLaughlin: 5:47

help me practice. Yes, yes, I

Unknown: 5:49

think, like I've heard about your studio, by the way, from few different people who used to practice there, or work there,

Todd McLaughlin: 5:56

really,

Unknown: 5:57

I guess throughout the Dharma community.

Todd McLaughlin: 5:59

Yes, you

Unknown: 6:00

had couple of Dharma Yogi's either moved to Florida, right?

Todd McLaughlin: 6:03

That's right, I know I've been very lucky to have a crew of Dharma Yogi's come come through and move into Juneau, and we've established connection, and they've been incredible with introducing me to all sorts of amazing folks in the Dharma yoga scene. So did you study with dharma? Yeah. Where did you do that? At

Unknown: 6:21

here in New York City. Amazing. Not here, but yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 6:23

so you're in China, you're working for 10 years, and then what you decide I want to go to the USA,

Unknown: 6:30

yeah, just like that. I mean, it was, it happened over time I was there, I had my main yoga teacher there, which is not where my yoga journey started. I think, like, we can, I can share a little bit about that, because that started in a really young age, and I'm having a very dedicated practice of a method called navacarna by Italian teacher Dario colvaroso. And I live, I'm leaving the diamonds industry. It was a little rough, rough on my mental health and stress levels. It was, it was wholesale diamonds for several years, and me and my husband decided to move somewhere. So we went to Mexico, LA, New York City, and pretty much fell in love with California, and his business at that time was even easier to maintain from California, and I could also find myself there in the holistic industry or yoga industry. Somehow also, I was pregnant when we moved, so we just decided to move to Los Angeles, California about six and a half years ago, yeah, and eventually found ourselves, like a little bit, struggling with the faster pace of life and having three children and three private schools. And eventually we moved to a smaller town in San Diego, where I am right now,

Todd McLaughlin: 7:59

amazing. And so it sounds like you moved to LA like 2020 ish, like, right before 2019 so right before covid hit, right

Unknown: 8:09

before covid.

Todd McLaughlin: 8:09

Yeah. And then where did you manage to find time to hang out in New York City and study with dharma?

Unknown: 8:17

So, yeah. So you know, my yoga practice started very early. I was 14, almost 15 years old, in Tel Aviv, living with my mom, going to high school that I didn't really like, and kind of like working as a server in the restaurant, in a Chinese restaurant, funny enough a couple times a week to make something, you know, pocket money. And walking by myself in Tel Aviv in the big city, which was like, just 30 minutes drive from my smaller town, and seeing this Shivananda yoga center. And I was like, What the heck? What is Shivananda yoga center that sounds cool? And 14 and a half year old. Me going in, asking them, like, what's your story? What do you guys offer here? What was the classes are, or when? And they said, Listen, we have next Thursday. We have these eight classes. Course begins of yoga, level one. So it's all the basics you need to know about yoga. And I'm okay. Sign me in. Like, I'm interested. I just sign up. I paid, like, basically all the money that I had at that time, which was probably couple of$100 and I signed up for that. And I remember, and I now like reflecting back a lot, because Dharma yoga center, they have Shivananda very close, like walking distance, couple of minutes from there in New York City. So I visited that center. So I was reflecting back, and I remember, like my first meeting with them, my first class out of eight, it probably was about seven people in the room that signed up for that. And it was two hours practice, a little bit physical practice, a little bit pranayama, a little bit talk, conversation. And about diet and lifestyle. And I remember when I'm leaving, it was about probably 8pm winter in Tel Aviv then, and I felt like, almost probably like some some sort of Samadhi, or some very elevated state where I was so inspired and so, like, it was a I was compelled. It was very special experience. I was captivated by this light of yoga. And I probably told to myself something like, I never going back, like, without that. Yeah, it was so special,

Todd McLaughlin: 10:39

amazing. But

Unknown: 10:40

then life happened. So I finished the eighth course, the eight meetings course, and then, you know, it was teenage me, and I started probably at some point, drinking and smoking and and having, you know, party. So I have had a break from yoga for a couple of years, several years before finding that again,

Todd McLaughlin: 10:59

nice. That's incredible to think about a 14 year old venturing on their own and taking yoga. I love that. Yeah, yeah.

Unknown: 11:10

It was special

Todd McLaughlin: 11:11

not having a parent lead you in, you know, where it was of your own volition and to be inspired about, you know, being in tune with your own breathing and body, and at such a young age, that's incredible.

Unknown: 11:26

Yeah, yeah, it was special. I had this, like, very expensive Ganesha shirt I bought from them from the center that I really liked, that I was so proud, and I felt, like, really connected. But then, you know, as I said, Life happened, and I had a few years break, and then I found my second teacher in or my like, really meaningful teacher, Dario, who developed his own method that is a little bit beyond the physical yoga postures, and even beyond the traditional yoga philosophy, is Italian guy that left home, also at a very young age, to go to India and found his guru. His first guru, if, if I'm not wrong, was Indian dance teacher that he studied with for many years, and he developed this fascinating method that goes beyond the traditional yoga, combining meditation, breath techniques and mechanics, some sorts of almost martial arts, traditional yoga and dance, Indian dance combined to very powerful sequencing, and it also goes with the moon. So like the practice, and navacarna practice goes with the moon and with what happening around us. So it's not just like, do what you want every day or do the same series every single day, but it's accordance with the moon. So it was very impactful and powerful practice. And also, my first teacher training was there in China with him. Yeah, and then we left, and we moved to LA. We moved to LA, and I have, I didn't have this incredible teacher by my side anymore. It was mostly in China, Hong Kong, Japan. It was a traveling yogi, and it was based in Japan. And I said, like, I need to find a teacher. And as you know, in Southern California, yoga can be so many different things. But for me, it was it I was lacking the discipline and the deeper meaning. So it took me a while to find a teacher, and eventually I stepped to yancy's class. He was on your podcast. Yeah, yes, I stepped to yancy's class. And now, okay, I think I found my LA teacher.

Todd McLaughlin: 13:48

Yeah,

Unknown: 13:48

I've taken some rocket yoga and dharma classes from him, and then I took a psychic development class without really knowing, you know, I just was curious what psychic development is, and would it change my mind or like, what? What is going to happen in a public class? Because usually you don't teach like things like that in a public studio.

Todd McLaughlin: 14:12

Yes,

Unknown: 14:13

but what I loved about it class is it was very special and beautiful. But at the end of the class, he and she said, everything I've learned and passing to you came to me from my guru, from my teacher, Sri Dharma, Mitra. Maybe actually didn't even mention the name, but he said it's from my teacher, from my guru. And I asked him some couple weeks later, who is your teacher? And he said, dharma. And I immediately Googled it, and I booked my first teacher training, so in the US,

Todd McLaughlin: 14:46

yeah, wow, that's so cool. So many Well, first, I really enjoyed meeting Yancy. I learned I thought he was really interesting. I so great that he got a chance to practice with him in LA. And and

Unknown: 15:00

he also came to my studio a couple of months ago for a workshop, so

Todd McLaughlin: 15:04

to be able to keep that connection going,

Unknown: 15:07

I know,

Todd McLaughlin: 15:09

yeah, that's

Unknown: 15:10

amazing, grateful.

Todd McLaughlin: 15:11

And so then what was, what has been your experience, or what was your experience going studying with Dharma in New York and doing teacher training? What was, what unfolded for you?

Unknown: 15:22

So, you know, it was funny enough that I said to myself back then, like probably four years ago or so, I want to take my first American yoga teacher training so I can do it in Hebrew, because my other teacher trainings were in, like Chinese, and Dario was Italian, so with a heavy Italian accent, obviously, and some Chinese translation. So I want to improve my English, and probably also like, do it like, kind of like, see what they teach in America. And funny enough, I went to dharma Mitra, who is Brazilian with not perfect English, but I was so, so happy it it was, in a way, like a beginning of something very unique, because it was, I first did 200 hours with him, and then came back a year later for the 500 hours. I guess it was two years ago, and it was so impactful and beautiful and, in a way, life changing, because I felt for the first time since I moved to the US. Hey, I want to pass this special practice and special knowledge to others. It's not just like for me anymore, just to have a better practice or a better teaching mechanics or knowledge, like I really want to pass this to others and being able to teach, Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 16:47

amazing. And so how long have you had your yoga studio open in Fallbrook?

Unknown: 16:55

So we opened just a little bit over a year ago. So it's pretty new. It's pretty fresh. Congratulations.

Todd McLaughlin: 17:02

How does it feel?

Unknown: 17:03

Thank you. It feels good, as you probably know, and feel as well. It's a lot sometimes, and I'm also mother of three, so it's a lot of work, a lot of devotion, a lot of service, a lot of love. I do feel it is a labor of love.

Todd McLaughlin: 17:23

Yes, 100% there's no question there.

Unknown: 17:27

Yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 17:27

I mean, when people, if people look at yoga studios and go, Oh, the first thing they think is, oh, they're just making lots of money, I guess we have to be very honest and let you know it's a labor of love. I mean, you can earn a living. You will earn a living if you work really, really hard, however,

Unknown: 17:43

yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 17:44

and

Unknown: 17:45

you have now so many this kind of, like movement studio, when you just copy and paste and

Todd McLaughlin: 17:51

yeah

Unknown: 17:51

and do it, like, make it work, and doing all the writings to market yourself and sell classes that are a little bit bringing us a little bit far away from true yoga,

Todd McLaughlin: 18:05

yeah?

Unknown: 18:06

Which, you know, I guess, is self see in a way, but you sometimes don't feel you practice yoga anymore in some some spaces, if I'm allowed, say not in a judgmental way, because it's still better than nothing, and it's still a service.

Todd McLaughlin: 18:21

Yeah, you know, the way that I reason that out sky is that I figure we have to hold some sort of baseline. And luckily, like you've had, you have had incredible you've had exposure to really incredible teachers in different places around the world and and so that, and that was a really incredible opportunity for you to explore deeper dimensions of yoga. And I think that when you get a chance to do that, and then we come into where the mainstream is, we have to make it appropriate for the mainstream, absolutely, and that's the way the business model will work. But every now and again, we could get to go a little upstream, downstream or off the mainstream, and catch a few interesting people are interested, and then we got to pull it back in again and and it's hard to do. It's really frustrating sometimes, like, but, but it's like, ultimately, I found it to be extremely grounding at the same time. And because I can go way out there, and I find that the mainstream kind of keeps me grounded too at the same time. So I

Unknown: 19:34

will say, and it's transformative as well. I mean, even the yoga studios, it's now pretty almost proven that some like electronic music while you're practicing yoga can actually bring it to some very cool states of mind. But it's almost like a little trendy to have this, like, really noisy music in an vinyasa class. I'm not sure if you met those, and I'm not against, because, with that said, my studio offers also. Strength and sculpt, which I really believe it's a complimentary to not just like yoga, yoga or traditional yoga. I believe it should go hand with hand together, especially for me woman in my 40s, I feel like I need to lift weights. I need to practice sculpt. It will not serving anymore to just do like traditional Hatha or Vinyasa or ashtanga yoga, or even just Dharma yoga, even though it can be a strong practice.

Todd McLaughlin: 20:30

Yeah, I agree. I mean, and we're definitely evolving as we get older. So, you know, things are just shifting and changing. So I agree 100% Well, it's so great to meet another person on the journey. I, I think, what is something that happened to throughout your life that you feel like was a big challenge that really, really gave you a little bit of a dark night of the soul that then you were able to overcome and Rise, Rise past that challenge from,

Unknown: 20:59

yeah, that's an interesting question. I think that I had some challenges in general, growing up and even being an immigrant child, you know, to move from one country to completely other with a parent who didn't speak the language, who was not belong, who didn't have any family. I think that it was very humbling and learning experience, but something that really shaped my practice and helped me to find yoga again was about 12 years ago, my dear mother decided to leave her physical body, she decided to commit a suicide about almost exactly 12 years ago, in fact, in couple more months. And she she was always very sensitive person, and always struggled with some sort of mental difficulties. And I was in China, I was away and and I was pregnant, six months pregnant with my first child, that I was really eager to have her come to China and be with me. And had this like fantasy of her coming and help me to take care of the baby, and having this like perfect family of me and my marriage and a beautiful baby comes out, and my mom is there, like my helper, my parents, and having all of these beautiful fantasy that has never happened in reality. And yeah, she she decided to put an end to our life, and that was the most difficult thing to me, because how can that happen? This is it just a letter after like a life of me and you? My father was not really present, and she was a single mom and I was a single child, so we were pretty close, and that left me with so many questions,

Todd McLaughlin: 23:08

yes,

Unknown: 23:09

like, who am I?

Todd McLaughlin: 23:10

Yeah,

Unknown: 23:10

and, how is it just so easy, you just end and the life, and that's it, and just living a little love letter and and, how can it be true? So that left me with so many questions about about living and about who am I and how I'm going to parent my child, and also being left with this void of how was I as a baby, and, you know, as a mother, as a young mother, had so many questions, but I had no one to ask, because she was, she was gone now, so I started to have a had a little bit postpartum depression. It was not very severe, because I did, I think, took care of myself. I had some energy work. I was doing an acupuncture and doing all the things. And then at about five months after five to six months after having the baby, I started a very regular yoga practice. That's also how I, a little bit later, met daddy or my teacher in China. And I literally think it saved me. It gave me perspective. Yes, it gave me meaning again, even like just on the physical level. It's like so many of us come to yoga from the physical perspective with some physical goals of feeling better, feeling more vital, losing that extra weight or or just getting stronger. So I started a very vigorous yoga practice combining Ashtanga with I'm not sure if you heard Universal Yoga. Have you heard about that?

Todd McLaughlin: 24:48

Andrew Lapa, I believe, yeah, yeah. He still looks amazing. I never got a chance to practice with him, but I've heard amazing things.

Unknown: 24:55

Yeah. So I practiced with some of his student who was over trained in that method, and it was a. Very, also very special, very transformative method. And then I met Dario, and the moment I stepped into the room, it just was so unique,

Todd McLaughlin: 25:09

yeah,

Unknown: 25:09

and the vibration. It was able to start the class with a specific frequency and keep the same tone with sequencing. There is no talking in the class, only the name, the Sanskrit, name of the posture and the entire class evil chant, so, so in hell, Excel. And it just was so unique. And it really helped me to get out of my head

Todd McLaughlin: 25:36

yes,

Unknown: 25:36

and to realize that life is just so much more than my own little problems and issues, and also, slowly, I became so much in peace with what my mother decided to do that like, you know how to say life is not happening to you. It happens for you, but I really think it just happens. It doesn't happen for you. Life just happens. And and like Dharma often say, like, we just need to learn just to be with it, just to dance with it, and it just happens. And our job is to stay kind, stay present, and, you know, bring compassion to everything we do.

Todd McLaughlin: 26:16

Yes, you know, I first of all, thank you for being really honest about that. And second of all, I'm so sorry for your loss. It's so hard. And third of all, I can really relate, because when I was about 13, my mom attempted suicide, and and she survived it, and

Unknown: 26:39

and you, you were a part of that knowing or witnessing. It

Todd McLaughlin: 26:43

was, it was hidden from me, and I was shipped out to California to be with other family, to try to hide what actually happened. And so it wasn't until later. So I was in that real confused space of like, why am I here? What happened? And no one was talking. And then when I came back later on, it became evident and, and, and, you know, I got to give credit to the fact that my mom then fought to survive and work through some of the demons that were causing her to feel that that was a solution. But she has passed four years ago, and I've gone through so many different emotions and feelings about, yeah, the tragedy of the loss, the anger. How could you do that? And I know now coming to grips with it, that like, you know, understanding suffering, and so I guess, thank you so much for being honest about all that. And I really feel what you're talking about, and it's hard, but I like that you're putting emphasis on how powerful and important yoga practice has been in your life to help as a parent, because now as a parent, one thing for me, after going through that is that I've made a vow I will never ever do that to my kids. I will never, ever choose that as the solution, because after feeling what that feels like, I would just never repeat that. So I think that's one of the greatest blessings out of it. And now, when I communicate with my mom and talk to her, I think I feel like now I understand, you know more I can understand more, but I'm thankful to her to show me that no matter how depressed I get, I will never do that.

Unknown: 28:32

Yeah, I know. I

Todd McLaughlin: 28:33

know. Yeah,

Unknown: 28:36

I know. Thank you for sharing. Todd,

Todd McLaughlin: 28:37

yeah, all right.

Unknown: 28:38

And I experienced something very similar when I was 11, and the family tried to hide from me and but I was more involved, so I saw this scenario in my eyes, so it was a little bit harder to hide. But I know what you're talking when the family tries to protect you, but you completely aware and in the know that something is wrong, something is off. But yeah, my mom fought for about 20 years, which is a lot and a lot of that for me. And I know I was loved. I know I was cared for as much as she could. And I also know that some of the things she has experienced as a human in this world, as a very ultra sensitive, almost angelic human, is way beyond what I can imagine, because I love life. I love being around people. I love also my alone time, and I struggle with many different things, such as add that as a yoga to the owner and a parent. It's like a lot, however you can just imagine, right? Oh, my goodness, it's interesting, right, isn't it?

Todd McLaughlin: 29:56

Yes,

Unknown: 29:57

but with that said,

Todd McLaughlin: 29:58

yeah.

Unknown: 30:00

I don't think I've never experienced the deep pain and disconnection from this human world as she did. She truly suffered if, after so many years, she couldn't resist anymore. And she said, like, this is it? This is the end. I'm going to do it. And it's something that, like, I know it's it had to be her choice, and I only you know we can be responsible for ourselves as much as we we could, but we can't really blame it on ourselves to be responsible for others. And I had to be, be in peace with that. But I just know that the things she felt and been true, I have not been there,

Todd McLaughlin: 30:42

yeah,

Unknown: 30:43

those points in those blues and downs,

Todd McLaughlin: 30:46

yes. Understood, understood well, how you know when I Well, let me try to steer us in a little more of a different direction, just so that Yeah,

Unknown: 30:57

absolutely,

Todd McLaughlin: 30:57

we can balance the absolutely, yeah, the intensity with because right away, I want to keep going down more intense, I know. Because as I look at the world right now, I'm like going, Oh my goodness. But nonetheless, let me back up a little bit, because as the day that we're recording today is March 4, we'll probably, I'll probably release this sometime in April, so maybe it'll be a whole month from now. But yesterday was the full moon, and it was and I'm fascinated by the fact that you have, you have connection to Israel, you have connection to China, and now you have connection to America and and, and you know, even beyond, I'm sure, and so I have students here in the studio that are from Israel, that are from China and from all over the world. And so with the moon, with the full moon yesterday, I guess we're coming out of a two week period of the Chinese New Year, going from the New Moon to the full moon of the lunar new year. And so there was all this talk yesterday about like, with this full moon, that it's, like, very transformative, and we're going through a blood moon eclipse, and, like, all this information about the moon and and the intensity of what's going on and how we can process it, and some of the direction that I heard was just, they really grounded. Just remain grounded. There's going to be a lot of information coming our way, and we're going to be easily pulled all over the place and maybe made crazy by it, but if we can somehow stay grounded. So I'd like to hear from your side of the coin or what you're thinking in relation to what are the main techniques that you're employing right now to remain a strong, grounded mom and wife and partner and studio owner,

Unknown: 32:44

that's such a good question. Todd, I'm as a yogi and as a human being, I just love being alone and as much as I love community, as much as I love my children and my husband and my friends. I don't have that many friends, but I have some. Especially since the yoga studio, I have more and more. But I thrive when I have this one hour, two hours per day, or you can call it a treat, once a week, maybe full day, half or half a day, just to be alone, just go for a little walk, or even just to go to feed my chickens. We have a very sweet, only two chickens there, but we have a backyard, and just like going outside, I really feel grounded when I'm going barefoot. In fact, when I did the Dharma yoga teacher training, and it was, you know, busy Manhattan, I will or flat iron in New York City. I would go barefoot in the middle of the summer and just go to this, like, tiny piece of land in or a park and just stand there for like, 60 seconds. I know sometimes I don't know. Maybe it doesn't work for 60 seconds enough, but I just feel grounded, just being myself and being having this connection to nature. In some level, it can be just being outside for 10 minutes and gaze at a sunrise or sunset, but that grounds me without any fancy meditation techniques. Pranayama grounds me and feel makes me feel more connected. I would practice primary humming, bee breathing whenever I feel like a little bit scattered in my mind or messy in my mind, or too many like exhaustion, overwhelm or like thoughts coming at the same time, and I also love Jodi Spence and meditations,

Todd McLaughlin: 34:45

cool,

Unknown: 34:46

these few things

Todd McLaughlin: 34:47

I

Unknown: 34:48

not I'm not perfect. I don't do all these things every single day. I do try to be outside and barefoot every morning, and I have the red light, which I also use for. Face. And, you know, for my treatments, when I do them, and I like to just go to them, my little office room and or treatment room, and put the red light on me and put some meditation. It's typically Joe Dispenza, and just like, hang there 20 minutes with no interruptions, that is like my nice, perfect grounding, self care, yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 35:25

very cool. All great ideas. I love all them. Thank you. What are you noticing from your community? When I went on your website, I really like your website, by the way, when I went on your website, I saw that you're welcome, that you had, I think one of the workshops you have coming up is like a women's circle of that nature. How can you tell me a little bit Are you involved in that, or is that something that somebody else is leading and you're renting your space or use it, letting them use your space. And can you talk a little bit about what your intentions are with that type of work?

Unknown: 35:56

So actually, I, I always wanted to be a part of women's circles, or so women's tribes, or, like, having all these girlfriends or sisters around me, because I don't have, like, any physical connections with like, I don't have sisters, and now that my mom is gone, I miss it even more. So I always, like, kind of craved this, you know, womanhood around me and but it never really manifested itself. If it makes sense, I would go here and there to woman circle. And sometimes it was a little transformative. Sometimes I didn't come back from some reasons. And then, just before I opened my studio, I was like thinking, Should I do that? Or is it like too scary? I don't know anyone in this town. What? What if nobody comes or, you know, I had so many doubts and thoughts, but deep inside, I knew, like, just something that has to happen. And just before that, I hosted my first woman circle in my backyard at sunset. It was, I believe it was a new moon, and about 20 women showed up. It was a free woman circle, and I got it some a little meditation, a little movement, and little share. And then we shared some food or Chai, and it was really beautiful. And then I said, like, if I had to open my studio, we will have this space when women can simply come together, maybe even with your pajamas or something super simple. It's not about taking fancy photos and uploading to Instagram. It's going to be about simply being you and spending time with community, with other people, without any expectations of certain movement. And we have another partner and a friend of mine, dear Zala. She's a Muslim, beautiful woman, and she organized us, and we collaborate. Sometimes I bring a guest, sometimes she will bring a guest, and we typically just do it together as a little partnership at the studio.

Todd McLaughlin: 37:58

Yeah. Incredible. What type of feedback did you receive? Or are you receiving?

Unknown: 38:03

Yeah, people, if I think that one of the best things that come out is people saying, we had a break now for a little bit, and then we had a sound healer who who offered one, and we will come back to it after the end of like, beginning of spring, official, beginning of spring in a couple of weeks. But the biggest and nicest feedback, I think that keeps me feel, how meaningful it is, is people just feel heard and seen as they are, without needing to perform move doing some like crazy yoga postures, they simply can come and, you know, be in community and chat, and, yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 38:47

yeah, amazing sky.

Unknown: 38:49

Simple aspect,

Todd McLaughlin: 38:50

I hear you, you know, I like the fact that you have a good friend who's Muslim, and you have and you have Jewish background. Can you talk a little bit about how you believe that no matter what our backgrounds are, faiths and or religions and or color and or creed, can all honor each other and live peacefully together?

Unknown: 39:20

Yeah, I think, you

Todd McLaughlin: 39:21

know, I believe that. I believe that. And I people would tell me, they'd be like, No, that can't happen. There's been war and fighting forever. And I'm like, Well, yeah, but don't you want to

Unknown: 39:31

try? Like, shouldn't we know it's the illusion, it's a part of the illusion, and this separation is a part of this big illusion. We got plight, and I think that the source is the same thing, right? Divinity in God is the same. And there are actually so many similarities between these biggest religions, Christ and I. In Jewish religion and Jewish God and Muslim and Allah. It's, you know, it's a lot about love. And I think that, by the way, I'm half a Christian, half Jewish. My dad is from a probos Christian church, and my mom is Jewish. That actually went even more and more extreme and Orthodox as she, as I grew up, she became very orthodox and big believer of of this lifestyle, but she also loved Osho and she loved, yeah, she actually was a little Yogi inside, and I was resenting that as a teenager. I was like, ah, that's like, a lot of nonsense, mom. I don't really want to hear about all that. Then when I started my yoga journey, it's like, it just all made sense, right?

Todd McLaughlin: 40:52

Yeah, that's class.

Unknown: 40:55

But I think it's just all the same to me. And at the studio, by the way, we have a photo of Shivananda, we have a picture of Dharma Mitra, and we have a photo of Jesus, and I will probably add some more yogis and Yogi females photos soon, but I think just all connected and the source is The same. We have different interpretations, different opinions, different lifestyles, but the source is so much the same, so much rooted in love.

Todd McLaughlin: 41:27

Yeah, agreed. Well said, Yes, I do agree

Unknown: 41:33

for you, like being in a studio where there is diversity as well. Oh, it

Todd McLaughlin: 41:37

feels amazing. Oh my gosh, yeah. Like in this morning, I taught a Mysore Stanga class, and we were all joking around. I have one student from Israel, and she's teaching us Hebrew. So we were we were learning different things we could say in Hebrew. I have students that are from Peru and from all over Central and South America. So we will trade words from here and there, and work with Sanskrit words, and I feel like just kind of have fun together, and it's real simple. So, so, yeah, I think that's what's amazing about the yoga community, because it's a little less I mean, now yoga can get extremely dogmatic. It can get kind of Orthodox. It can get like an orthodoxy style Yoga. But I think the general gist in yoga is that it's like a neutral ground. In my opinion, it just feels very neutral ground. So then anybody can come in. I don't think it treads on the toes of any believing individual. So we have people of all faiths that are coming in. I think that it's interesting in relation to using Sanskrit like I remember at one point I was doing the opening mantra for Stanga, and I had a student, and this is right after 911 happened and and she came up to me and she said, Oh, is that the chant that the people that were flying on the planes that hit the Twin Towers were chanting? And I said, Well, actually the Sanskrit language and Arabic are two different languages. So, no, it was most definitely not, most likely not, however, right?

Unknown: 43:12

It's funny, right? Funny question.

Todd McLaughlin: 43:14

Yeah, interesting, right? Just the association that any foreign word that I don't understand means it's got to be bad. It's got like, I'm scared. I'm scared. So I don't know. I just think that yoga opens the mind, and it helps us to be open minded about learning and then, and then the fear that we have of like, I won't be able to learn that, like we encounter that on everything, like with movement, like we'll see a pose, and we'll think, I'll never be able to do that. But then, if we keep working on it before you know it, you can do it. Or, like, a language. I don't understand that language, but you kind of immerse yourself on before you know you understand it. So I don't, I think that's what, for me, is what's really beautiful about yoga,

Unknown: 44:35

yeah? And when you don't have this, like, entitles and attachments to to all the things you know, like I can't do that, or I have to do that, or if the room is not set in a certain way, I'm not going to practice there. Or if the instructor does too many mantras, I'm not, you know, supposed to.

Todd McLaughlin: 44:55

You

Unknown: 44:55

know, there are so many attachments, and once we try to let go of some of these attachments and remind ourselves this is just our mind.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:03

Yeah,

Unknown: 45:04

how funny it is that our biggest problems are usually just our mind, creating those this issue for us or to us.

Todd McLaughlin: 45:13

Agreed, agreed. How are you from a parenting angle? How has yoga helped you be a more in tune and listening parent?

Unknown: 45:26

That's such interesting question,

Todd McLaughlin: 45:30

because parenting is tough. Parenting is tough man. Parenting is like,

Unknown: 45:34

Man parenting so tough. It's like, it's like, oh my goodness, um. I, you know, I try to remind myself that my kids are not mine, that, yeah, I'm their parent, and I have responsibility, but my expectations of how exactly they should be or how they should perform, or how they should behave and who they meant to be, I'm just here to serve, to educate them to be responsible for their growth, but they have their own dharma. They have their own path, and I hope to be in service for them, to inspire them to be open minded and respectful and thrive and to love themselves. I really feel it's important for me to teach them to love themselves, especially my daughter, because I feel like girls in this world, they have so many how things should be, how should they look like, and so many expectations. And yoga grounds me. Yoga and my practice reminds me to take a deep breath when I'm feeling like I'm going to lose it, because my son is a little bit losing it. It's not perfect. You know, we have hard moments and having two boys that are very active and very strong personalities, it's not always easy. But yes, yoga and different practices remind me like just Hey, chill and take a deep breath before you response, or before you start yelling. And

Todd McLaughlin: 47:13

yeah, good answer, yeah. I hear you on that. We covered a bunch of different topics without asking you a question, and you can take as long Well, I guess this is a question, but anyway, let me just go for it without you can take as long as you want to respond. Is there anything that you want to talk about, that that I haven't questioned you down? Is there anything that's like, on your heart, on your mind and your thoughts of late, that you think is a an avenue we could go down.

Unknown: 47:54

It's a

Todd McLaughlin: 47:55

harder, harder way to do it. It's easier. It's easier if I just come out and ask you a question, but I think sometimes when I do this, I love to just like, there's got to be something that's really, that's really kind of active for you right now. And I just, you know, I don't know

Unknown: 48:11

if I can pull I know one thing will be probably me dealing with ADHD that I never got diagnosed, and I just found out,

Todd McLaughlin: 48:18

yes, please.

Unknown: 48:19

Slowly,

Todd McLaughlin: 48:20

yeah,

Unknown: 48:20

this is one avenue you can choose, and the second like, it's, it's been like, kind of wild for me that so many yoga teachers and even online people, there is this like thing which being vegan or being carnivore, or going to meat diet or whatever. But these people both from direction of veganism, and I've been vegan for 20 years, but I am not anymore, because I just felt it didn't serve my body anymore. For now, it might change, but just seeing both angles kind of like fight each other and attack each other, both in person and online, like you're doing wrong by going vegan, or you're doing so much trouble for the earth and for yourself and for others by eating meat or it just like so silly, in my opinion, and takes you so much away from your truth being that state of judgment. So I don't know, like these kind of two things, I think I've been just thinking a little bit about recently. But we can also go to any other direction.

Todd McLaughlin: 49:24

Well, though those are great talking points, I think, Well, I agree 100% with dietary stuff. I feel like that's such a personal thing. I've been in yoga clicks or circles where, if you weren't adhering to one specific way, and they've been both ways I had when I took I mean, I know a lot of people discredit Bikram Chowdhury as being a really good or valid yoga teacher because of his actions, but at one point, when I was taking teacher training with him, we were in a really hot room in LA and he was like, you have you have to eat meat. He's like, You have to eat meat. Don't be fruitarian, vegan, vegetarian. And coming in here and sweating like this, you need serious protein. Yeah, to the whole group. Everybody like and so as the person who's looking at yoga going, but isn't it supposed to be vegetarian? Everyone's supposed to be doing vegetarian, right? And so he was so the other side of it, which could have been he was a little bit more from, like, the left hand kind of path of like, eat meat, do whatever drugs you want, like, just live life, have as much sex as you want. You know, take advantage of people. I mean, he took that way too far down the left hand. Absolutely opinion.

Unknown: 50:33

100%

Todd McLaughlin: 50:34

I don't agree, but, but then you have the other side where it was like, No, my gosh, if you eat meat, you're evil and you're bad and you're the worst person in. Whole world, and it's so funny to me that I've seen both sides of it, and I can't agree with you more on that sky that has to be a personal preference thing. And why are we judging other people?

Unknown: 50:52

I know. I mean, if you're the state of yoga, unity, love, you do what's right for you. You inspire people to be healthier. I do think there is a lot of problems in recent years with veganism by having all these brands. I don't want to say specific brands name, but there are so many vegan brands that put so much shit like I'm not sure if I supposed

Todd McLaughlin: 51:15

to say this, yeah,

Unknown: 51:17

they put so much bad shit into their meat, and

Todd McLaughlin: 51:21

there's your kitty

Unknown: 51:21

cat. Yeah. Look, this is the kid puts

Todd McLaughlin: 51:26

his head right up in there. Yeah,

Unknown: 51:28

I love the other kitty in the room, because she's like, all over me. She loves people. So, yeah, there is so much fucking bad stuff in that, and that's a problem because we as we go, as vegans, we want to keep our bodies sattvic and healthy, but then we eat all this processed, so called meat, right, just to get the protein, but we get so much harmful, harmful ingredients into our bodies. From the other hand, yeah, I think eat meat. Eat whatever you need for your body to thrive. I do think if, if I will eat meat, and currently I do for a while, I will make sure, or try to inspire others around me to make sure it's kind of like from a sustainable farm, or maybe small local farm that actually loves the animals that they grow and treat them nicely, and yes, and the first time I have became vegan was at that age, just before meeting shevananda, I was 14 years old, and I was volunteering for a vegan organization called Anonymous in Tel Aviv that was funded by an American family, American Jew family. And we will go to grocery stores and supermarkets in Israel, into gravity, meet this murder, and back then to 14 rebellious year old me, that seems like very smart to to to be a part of that, and to be like a little bit to advocate for animals. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm actually kind of proud I did it because it served, you know, at that time, it was my purpose. I felt like that was my goal, to help this organization. I was a part of this place, probably for a couple of years, and I really now, as as more, you know, I have much more discernment. I see at any direction if you believe in what you do, but you harm others by being judgmental, by saying, like, that's not good, your lifestyle is like, it's not great, you're hurting others. It's it's aggressive and it's not respectful, and that's not the purpose of yoga. I know some yoga studio owners who will not hire someone because they were not vegan, right? And I know some others who don't care about any of that and just want to make their living or be neutral all the time. So like, you know, we just need to let things be as they are without, like, trying to force anything we can inspire by being better, by being more mindful.

Todd McLaughlin: 54:13

Agreed, yes. Thank you so much, Kai. I appreciate you weighing in on that. I think that's a really important one.

Unknown: 54:21

Yeah, and I mean, I feel it's like kind of burning now, because there are so many people that go on a meat diet, on like Carney carnivore diet. That became more and more popular. Include some lots of vegans who vegetarian. People were transforming from that to being, like, completely on the meat diet. And it's not always balanced. And some of them experience after some time like that, some issues, some inflammation. So, but I really don't think like we should be in that space, like, if I'm vegan, I really will hate on all the others who because they are, you know, hard animals. But if I'm carniborn Now, I will look like all these vegans, probably unhealthy, or, you know, not nourished enough, or sick, or, you know, things like that, or kill all the plants and all the tiny animals

Todd McLaughlin: 55:08

I hear. You know, one thing that really helped me understand and form my feelings around this to my own personal balance, was I was in India, and I took an Indian cooking class, and the woman that was teaching it, she said, you know, you Americans, it's like, either you're allergic to this, or you're allergic to that, you can't eat this, or you can't eat that. And it's like, so we're just grateful to have some food, and if we have some rice, and we have this, and this is what we have available for us. And I was just kind of like, that's really fascinating. Like, is that in. Entitlement thing that I get to choose all these different things to be really opinionated about, in terms of my diet, and then, and then, when I hear about monks that take a vow of say, like a wandering mendicant that just comes with a bowl, and if you know whatever is given, they receive and eat, even if it isn't what is their ideal thing. I always think that's interesting too, because then it's just I am grateful I have food. Do I have food today? What's in front of me? And what can I, you know? And I just think that that helps to bring a little balance for me. That helped bring a little balance in there of just appreciating the fact that I have food today. This is amazing. I have clean water and I have food.

Unknown: 56:21

Thank you. Yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 56:22

right,

Unknown: 56:22

yes. Thank you. Just like the simple things, having a roof above our heads, being safe,

Todd McLaughlin: 56:28

yes,

Unknown: 56:29

where so many people experiencing unsafety and just say thanks for the food that we have?

Todd McLaughlin: 56:35

Yeah,

Unknown: 56:36

yeah.

Todd McLaughlin: 56:36

Oh, man sky, well, I am so grateful to have this chance to have you on the podcast. Thank you for being so honest and open with me and just easy to converse with, and for sharing your your perspectives. I really appreciate it. Is there any words of wisdom or inspiration that you'd like to leave us with

Unknown: 56:56

that's such an interesting question? I think that I like how Dharma sometimes says that everything should be updated. He likes to say that. So he sometimes refers this as Actually, why to become a vegan again, if you if you drop that practice and you're not vegan anymore, he would sometimes say, you know, Ayurveda still using ghee and things like that, but everything should be updated. But I really feel like to anything in life, whether we're looking at our practice or at some, you know, biohacking, things we do, or whatever we do, but even our own opinions, everything could and should be updated according to what we are dealing with right now in the world around us, because we are not just like living by ourselves. We believe is a part of our ecosystem. So I feel like even my opinions or my teaching style or my leadership skills or my parenting should be updated right everything around us could be better or or just more refined. I shouldn't say better, but just more updated.

Todd McLaughlin: 58:07

I love that

Unknown: 58:08

what's going on.

Todd McLaughlin: 58:09

Yes, thank you so much. Sky, that's awesome. Yes,

Unknown: 58:13

yes, thank you. You're welcome. Conversation. Thank

Todd McLaughlin: 58:17

you. I really appreciate it, and I look forward when I have family in Southern California, so next time we're there, I will reach out.

Unknown: 58:23

Yeah, I would love to see you, and I'll reach out if I'm in Florida,

Todd McLaughlin: 58:26

please do.

Unknown: 58:27

I've never been to yet, yeah,

Todd McLaughlin: 58:28

please do. It's more sunny. All right. Thank you so much.

Unknown: 58:32

I know. Thank you. Nice talking to you. Bye, bye.

Todd McLaughlin: 58:40

Native yoga, Todd. Cast is produced by myself. The theme music is dreamed up by Bryce Allen. If you like this show, let me know if there's room for improvement. I want to hear that too. We are curious to know what you think and what you want more of what I can improve. And if you have ideas for future guests or topics, please send us your thoughts to info at Native yoga center. You can find us at Native yoga center.com, and hey, if you did like this episode, share it with your friends. Rate it and review and join us next time

Unknown: 59:18

you well, you know, you.