170: A Yoga Nidra Deep Dive + Great Advice For Yoga Teachers with Indu Arora
In this expansive conversation, I got a chance to talk to yoga and Ayurveda teacher, mentor, and author Indu Aurora to explore what yoga truly is — and what it is not.
We started by unpacking one of Indu’s powerful statements:
“The goal of yoga is yoga. Everything else is a side benefit.”
This conversation invites teachers to look beyond flexibility, strength, and stress relief — and into yoga as a state of realization.
Indu draws from classical teachings and the commentary on the Yoga Sutras to clarify that yoga is not simply a practice — it is a state of samadhi, a realization of the unchanging self beneath the ever-changing body, mind, and emotions.
We take a deep dive into one of Indu’s main areas of wisdom, Yoga Nidra and then finish the conversation with some salient pieces of wisdom for all yoga teachers.
In this episode you’ll hear:
why modern practitioners and teachers get stuck focusing on the “fix”
why Yoga Nidra is both powerful and accessible
how to keep Yoga Nidra from becoming robotic
why you should make nature your guru
the power of unlearning
how to choose a teacher
why we both love confusion and doubt
Learn More From Indu
This episode is brought to you by OfferingTree, an easy-to-use, all-in-one online platform for yoga teachers that provides a personal website, booking, payment, blogging, and many other great features. If you sign up at www.offeringtree.com/mentor, you’ll get 50% off your first three months (or 15% off any annual plan)! OfferingTree supports me with each sign-up. I’m proud to be supported by a public benefit company whose mission is to further wellness access and education for everyone.
Yess Yoga is a yoga studio in Minneapolis one block from where Alex Pretti was murdered by Border Patrol agents in January of this year.
In this episode, I’m joined by Minneapolis-based yoga teacher and studio owner Lucia Yess. Our conversation is both heartbreaking and deeply inspiring as we explore what it means to truly live our yoga off the mat, especially in moments of crisis.