Resonance – Episode 9
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
Yoga felt so good that I felt like I wasn't deserving of it. Yoga isn't just stretching. You name the reasons why people don't do yoga, I have heard it all. I don't need you to touch your toes. I need you to show up as you are. Once you drop in, man, the magic happens.
Everyone's really feeling it, like everyone's feeling, you know, that itchy throat, a little bit ill, a little bit off balance. And I particularly find that winter time is one of the hardest times to really start and get fluid movement in our body.
And so today I'm going to be sharing with you why I believe that yoga is for everyone. We all have a place in yoga. In fact, everything we do is yoga. And I will also share with you a couple of my kind of personal experiences and how that then also ties back to stress and helping you live a greater life of clarity, calm, and balance.
Welcome to Resonance, a podcast for ambitious heart-led humans craving more balance, depth, and aliveness in their lives. I'm your host Vik—health coach, yoga teacher, facilitator, and fellow high achiever learning to live in tune with my nervous system, not against it.
This space is here to remind you that you can have it all—the career, the success, the fulfilment—all aligned with your truth. Through honest conversations, expert insights, and practical tools, we'll explore how to work with your body, mind, emotions, and spirit, not against them. And the best part—you don't have to stay stuck in survival mode to get there. Because true well-being is not about being perfect. It's about being in resonance. Let's dive in.
So let's dive into yoga. I mean, I would really love to just have you contemplate for a moment, you know, what you think yoga means, right? Like if you had to pick one word to define yoga, what would that mean to you?
And chances are many of you will think, well, it's movement, stretching, flexibility, on the mat, Lululemon pants. You kind of gotta be, uh, blonde, tall, and flexible to be in a class. No, not really. Actually, I'm really here to prove why yoga is for everybody.
And um, what inspired today's topic is I literally just got back a couple hours ago from teaching a yoga class to a group of complete beginners. Like a few of them may have dabbled in it here and there, but most of them were brand spanking new.
It was at their—like the equivalent of a CrossFit studio basically—and it was part of their little eight-week challenge. So you know, you've got these kind of really active, um, really buff people, um, trying out yoga for the first time. And the shift that I saw between when they first arrived in the room and, you know, there was like a lot of chitter-chatter and nervousness and I guess, um, maybe a bit of prejudice, um…
To then, when they walked out at the end of our hour together and just like how grounded and calm and, like, surprised everyone was at the multifaceted effect that yoga can have on one's—not just physical body but also mind, energy, and emotional body—it was just amazing.
Ah… that's literally part of yoga, breathing. Alright, I mean like how many times do we actually get the chance to slow down and really take that deep breath in all the way to the base of our spine, into the belly, and then let it all go. It feels so good even if it's just one breath.
Imagine like an hour of connected movement. So look, I really believe that yoga is for everybody on many different reasons. And I'll kind of share the non-physical pieces in a moment. But I just wanted to tie it back to what Resonance is all about, and what we speak about here, which is stress, right? Like overwork, overwhelm.
Overwhelm, overwork, burnout—these are all derivatives of stress and an overstimulated nervous system. And yoga really helps us regulate our nervous system. It helps us come back into resonance.
Um, and particularly certain styles of yoga are really good at activating the parasympathetic nervous system. Which, if you've been following along, you would know that is our rest and digest mode. That is when literally our belly can start to digest the food in our body, we start to slow down the heart rate, slow down the breathing, and just feel calmer and better.
So this is kind of my headline as to why I think yoga is for everybody: it regulates your nervous system, it helps you come into resonance. So it's only appropriate that I'm talking about it here right now.
However, what most people don't know is that asana, which is the Sanskrit word for the movement part of the yoga, is only one part of this multifaceted aspect of yoga.
So I guess if you were to find someone who's just done like their first 200-hour teacher training, you know it's like the basic 101 course that someone does, when you ask them, "What is yoga?" they will probably tell you that it means to yoke, i.e. to unite.
And yes, that is true. It's sort of… yoga stands for union of mind, body, energy, emotions, spirit. Just connectedness. Wholeness. All of us, all in one.
And the ancient yogis, you know, I mean we could go and totally nerd out, but we might save that for another episode. Um, and like the movement part was just one part of yoga, one part of connecting to themselves. There's so much more, you know—there's meditation, there is withdrawal of the senses, there's things like not being wasteful or like treating others with reverence.
I mean, it goes on to so many fundamental values that I believe are underlying what it is to be a good human being. And that is yoga to me.
So I feel that yoga isn't just on the mat. It's— a lot of it is how you are in the world. It is your way of being. And your practice doesn't end on the mat. Like when you come out of your shavasana, which is the final pose, that meditative pose—that's not it. Like okay, cool, yoga's done, I'm back to my crazy, crazy life.
Like, unfortunately, that is the case for many people. However, if and when you start to practice yoga more frequently, you develop that ability to be grounded and be present in your day-to-day life.
Like, this is why I weave so much of this into my practice. Like if any of you have ever been to my classes or are some of my private one-on-one clients, you'll know that I tend to weave in what we experience in the day-to-day into our practice.
So coming back home to ourselves, grounding to ourselves. It's like, even if the movement may have gotten us a little bit sweaty, or a little bit off balance and wobbly—just like life gets us worked up and off balance, right? Like how do we come home to ourselves? How do we find our centre again and are grounded again?
So I think it's a beautiful practice, not just for the physical body but also for your mind, for your resilience, for your awareness, to develop your consciousness.
And um, I just wanna touch on the prejudice, you know, against yoga. So I've—I've heard it all. I mean, you name the reasons why people don't do yoga, I have heard it all.
I’m just taking a little deep breath myself, because I tend to get really worked up and excited about these things. So, um, when I was teaching this morning is the perfect example. The studio owner who kind of organised the class—I was like, oh, are you gonna join us? And he’s like, no, no, no, yoga’s not really my thing.
And I kind of totally accept that and totally respect it, you know, because, um, as I’ll share in another episode, I do believe that certain types of movement are suited to us individually. We are all so unique. So, like, if yoga is not his jam, that’s fine, right? Um, but what really actually was the core inspiration of this episode was then, at the end of practice, when we had our little chat and little debrief, he shared like, oh yeah, I didn’t realise that’s what that was gonna be like. I actually think that would have been really good for me, and I’ll definitely be joining next time.
And that, to me, was such an affirmation of the fact that yoga is for everybody. Um, and b) the fact that there’s so much prejudice against yoga. Right? Like, one of the guys that walked into class this morning was like, oh, there’s no way I can touch my toes. I’m like, cool, perfect. I don’t need you to touch your toes. I need you to show up as you are.
And, um, there’s another colleague at my day job who talks about yoga and says she can’t do it because she gets too stressed out by the breathing. Which I find really interesting. And yes, as a yoga teacher, you know, the whole… one of the aspects of yoga is to bring breath and movement into a bit of coherence.
But really, the most important part of why we bring breath into the practice is actually to bring your awareness to the breath. To show you how you can cultivate your breath to create more spaciousness in the body, or to lengthen through the spine, to move, to notice how it feels to move with your breath, and let that be a vehicle for you to enjoy the practice.
And yet, where this colleague of mine is, is seeing it as, like, really strict instructions of: now you need to inhale and exhale, and inhale and exhale. And I see that, right? Like, I’ve been to many different yoga classes as well, where the teachers are, like, really mechanical. And I’m like, okay.
It just shows kind of the judgments that are there. And, um, I think we all judge. We always have some kind of preconceived idea or belief of things that we maybe haven’t experienced for ourselves—be it from social media, or from what we’ve heard from other people, or seen on movies, etcetera.
So I just really, I want you to be aware of any judgments that you may have, especially if you’re a beginner, or have never practiced yoga yourself—of what they are, and why that might be holding you back. Um, especially, like, the one that always just kind of is one of my little pet peeves, and I’ve been there for a long time, right? Like, I’ll share a little bit of how I got into yoga in a moment. But, um, when we’re on the mat—and I experienced this when I just started practicing—you’re like looking at everyone else, right?
It’s like, oh my God, how do I look? Like, even this morning the ladies were like, oh, I wanna be on the back, I don’t want people looking at my butt. And I’m just like, no one cares about your butt. Everyone’s gonna be thinking the exact same thing. Because that’s what we do as humans—we’re just in our head all the time.
And part of yoga is starting to bring you out of that inner chitter-chatter that is just nonstop, and actually bringing some more resonance, some more alignment in your body, mind, energy, emotions, and spirit.
So if you think like, oh no, there’s no way I could come, because people will judge me, and um, I’m gonna look this way or the other and raddy-raddy-rah… like, look, first of all, if it makes you feel any better, probably most of the people in the room—unless they’re seasoned practitioners—are also having those exact same thoughts.
So if everyone’s busy worrying about how they look and what others think of them, then they don’t have time to worry about how everyone else looks, right? Like, do you see the contradiction here? I mean, I just think that’s so funny.
And, um, it wasn’t until I really started noticing it for myself, and once I became more aware of it, I was able to drop more into the practice. And then once you drop in—man, the magic happens.
So what is the magic in yoga? The magic is the connection that you get to yourself. I mean, I have been practicing yoga since—technically, when I was about like 8 or 9 years old. Um, that was the first time I experienced yoga. Um, we had it—I was blessed enough in my school to have that available as an elective, and that’s what I felt called to take.
And, I mean, I still think of my yoga teacher to this day. She was an incredible teacher, and mentor, and counselor at school. And to this day, I will never forget when she said—you know, it’s, I guess, like a real yogic phrase, but it applies to all of life. She said, “Change is the only constant in our lives.”
And that sentence, for some reason, has stuck with me throughout my entire life. And sometimes I didn’t know why. Um, I didn’t realize that I would be, you know, a yoga teacher later down the track.
I didn’t realise I’d be like such a fan and talking about yoga on my podcast, but she really sparked that initial excitement in me. However, it took me quite a while in my life to give myself, quote-unquote, “permission” to practice yoga.
You see, I had such a… hmm, damaging relationship with myself. And there was a lot of negative self-talk, and a lot of productivity shame and guilt and just… yeah. A lot to unpack there, you know — years and years of therapy’s worth.
Yoga felt so good that I felt like I wasn’t deserving of it. I felt like I wasn’t allowed to feel that good. So I didn’t practice. And I didn’t practice for a really long time.
I remember we had a teacher in uni. It was actually a fellow student, but she was also a yogi, and I went to a few of her classes. It was like an absolute highlight. But other than that, for many years — you know, I was always really into movement, whether it was the gym or running or whatever else. But for some reason, even though I loved it so much, I just didn’t give myself that permission to practice yoga.
And it wasn’t until after I ran my second marathon, and I just felt, in my body, the constriction and the kind of just… ugh. My body was yearning for some kind of mobility practice.
Like, I always stretched after running or after going to the gym — that was always part of my routine. But yoga is different. You see, yoga isn’t just stretching. In fact, I would argue that yoga actually does a bigger role in improving your mobility, improving your balance, improving your stability. It also improves your strength, again depending on the type of yoga that you practice. But it really sets you up for life.
And I’ll talk about this a little bit more in another episode, but I believe — and this is also kind of what I’ve been taught by even some of my anatomy teachers — that we need movement in three key pillars in order to really stay healthy and support our longevity.
The first is heart-based movement — cardiovascular. It doesn’t have to be super intense, right? Even going for a walk is technically cardiovascular activity.
Then we need strength. So whether you like to hear this or not, yes, you probably do need some kind of weight-bearing movement in your day-to-day practice. Especially if you are older and aging. Especially if you are a woman that’s either perimenopausal or going through menopause. I cannot stress how important it is for you to continue to build your muscles. Because we lose muscle mass, and we lose water as we age. And we need these muscles to protect our bones and ligaments and to keep us mobile.
And this is where the third area comes in: mobility. What do I mean by mobility? It’s our way to move our body freely. Yes, flexibility is a part of that, but there’s also an element of your joints and your balance.
Mobility is like being able to get up without cracking your back, you know, or kind of throwing your back out. Or, for example, if we do balancing practices in yoga — why do we do that? Well, you build stability and mobility in your ankle. Which means that if you’re out on a Friday night wearing heels and you stumble on the pavement, chances are you’re going to be able to catch yourself, rather than tear a ligament or something and be completely out of action for a few weeks.
So I really feel that now, if we kind of get into the 3D physical plane, yoga has a really important role to play. It blends all of these into one.
So I will, I guess, leave you with just a brief overview of the different kinds of yoga that are out there. And know that this is not an exhaustive list — like, there is so, so much available. And I hope that from me sharing this, you will start to see how yes, yoga actually is for everybody.
One of the most common types of yoga that you will find in western society is called Vinyasa yoga, or it’s also known as flow yoga. So that’s what Vinyasa stands for — it’s flow yoga. As the name suggests, it’s a flowing kind of movement.
So, a lot of repetitive sequencing. For example, a handful of sun salutations. There’s generally an open-hip and a closed-hip sequence, some balance, some core, some back bending, and then you’re closing. That’s kind of your yoga 101 class. If there was, I guess, like, the “average” kind of yoga class, that’s what I tend to see most out there.
I will say that now, especially as this gains more and more popularity, I do notice different kinds of Vinyasa. So if you see “dynamic flow” or “power Vinyasa” on a gym schedule, then that means the movements are probably going to be a little bit more intense in terms of frequency and speed. You’ll probably get a good sweat.
Versus if it’s just a standard Vinyasa or Flow class — yeah, you will still get a good workout, and at the same time, it’s more beginner-friendly. For example, the class I taught this morning was a very beginner-friendly Vinyasa yoga class.
Some of the other names you may hear out there — and I’m just kind of picking and choosing a couple that are most popular, that you’ll probably see — there’s also Hatha yoga.
Hatha yoga is a really traditional style of yoga where you actually hold the poses for much longer. Rather than kind of flowing and moving through them through specific sequencing, it’s more about the posture itself, if that makes sense.
I personally am not as experienced in Hatha yoga. I’m not trained in it, so that’s kind of as much as I can share. But it is also a very beginner-friendly class.
There’s also Iyengar yoga, which isn’t as popular, but it is out there. That’s really focused on posture and alignment. You’ll probably use a lot of props, spend a lot of time getting into the shape and really staying there. I haven’t actually experienced this class for myself, so it’s still on my bucket list, but in case you were wondering, that’s what that is.
Then there’s Ashtanga yoga. Ashtanga is a strict sequence-based class. It’s probably one of the more masculine types of yoga classes you could go to. And I don’t mean that in the sense of you’ll see more guys than women there. What I mean is that it’s more active, it’s harder, it’s generally a little more on the advanced scale.
The shapes are a really specific sequence — I’m pretty sure they’re the exact same sequence from start to finish, for most Ashtanga classes. I stand to be corrected, because again, this is one I haven’t experienced myself, because I tend to lean more to the Yin side of yoga. But that is effectively what that is.
There are beginner Ashtanga yoga classes out there. I would just really suggest looking for a beginner-friendly one, rather than just going to a standard Ashtanga class. Because from what I’ve heard, it can be quite intense.
Then there’s Hot yoga. That’s a controversial one. It was previously known as Bikram yoga, but then there was a big scandal with Bikram, who was the man that came up with the sequence and used to teach it.
It is also a really specific set — I think it’s like 20 yoga postures — in a ridiculously hot room. And it really tests your mind and body. Not one I have tried, because that one’s also more on the masculine side, but if that’s something that tickles your fancy, that might be something to look into.
Another one — I actually teach Yin yoga as well. Yin yoga is the feminine side of yoga. So if you think like Yin and Yang being polar opposites — your Ashtanga, your Hot yoga would be your Yang, and Yin is Yin yoga.
My goodness, I love Yin yoga. In an hour class, you’d maybe do a maximum of six shapes. You use a lot of props to get really into the fullest, most comfortable expression of the shape. There are many varieties and options available to all body shapes, sizes, mobility availability, pregnancies.
I find Yin yoga is the best way to get started with yoga if you’re curious about it, because it is the most soothing, the most beginner-friendly class you will find out there.
I will also say, with a side note, that it will test you mentally. Because what Yin yoga does is — through the longer holds, like one to five minutes — you start to work into the fascia. Fascia is the crystalline, water-like structure that runs in and around and through your muscles. It is literally what holds us upright. If we had no fascia, we would just kind of deflate and be a little blob on the floor.
When you hold these shapes, you start to release knots, constrictions, and tension. You give your fascia time to rehydrate. It’s like a sponge: when you come into a shape, you’re basically squeezing all the water out. Then when you release into a rebound, a neutral position, the sponge soaks water back up, rehydrates, and plumps again.
So Yin yoga is one of my personal favourites. It’s probably what I enjoy teaching the most, and also what I enjoy practicing quite a lot.
There are also a couple of other types I want to mention. Yoga Nidra — I also teach it. It translates to “conscious and aware sleep.” It’s effectively a way of entering your fourth state of awareness — beyond waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. In Sanskrit, it’s referred to as Turiya, often in the western world as the Bliss field, or Samadhi.
Think of it as: your body is asleep, your mind is asleep, but your consciousness is still aware. You’re still aware of the guidance being led, but your body and mind can restore and relax so deeply. Fifteen minutes of Yoga Nidra can give you the equivalent of one to one and a half hours of sleep. It is incredibly restorative, and I personally practice it most days at lunchtime.
And here’s a fun one: Aerial yoga. That was something I really enjoyed practicing for a long time. Aerial yoga uses a hammock secured to the ceiling with professional rigging, so it’s safe — you’re not going to fall.
I love aerial yoga mostly for the inversions. You can go upside down, fully supported by the hammock. It feels fantastic because you release your spine in ways you just can’t when you’re upright. It’s also incredibly beneficial for circulation, because it gets your blood really moving.
And then as you move through — I mean, it’s not like you just spend an hour upside down. It’s probably like, you know, a couple breaths maximum, especially if you’re a beginner.
But as you move through aerial yoga, with the support of the hammock, you get access to shapes in much deeper and different ways than perhaps you can if you don’t have one. I don’t know if that really makes sense. I highly recommend trying it out. It’s so much fun.
And there are all different kinds of aerial yoga as well. So that’s one on my bucket list too — to train in and maybe have it at my future retreat venue at some point. But one step at a time.
So that is a little overview of the different types of yoga. And these are just the most popular ones, right? I hope by now you understand why yoga is for everybody. You can find what works for you.
And let me tell you the most important — the most, most, most important thing: every teacher is unique and different. Just because you had a bad experience with a teacher or a specific practice, please, I beg you, don’t rule it out.
I have had bad experiences with teachers all the time. Like, I went to one just the other week where literally I came out of the class feeling like, oh God, if I was brand new to yoga, this would probably really turn me off. So I just wanted to name this, because we’re all human.
And I’m sure that when you’re ready, and when you start looking, you will find the teacher out there. I am contemplating perhaps offering some online yoga classes as well. I don’t know yet if that is something you would be interested in. Please send me a DM on Instagram. I would love to hear your thoughts, because it is something that’s been kind of percolating through my mind.
But either way, even if it’s not me — if I’m not your person — someone out there is. And just because one class that you tried and went to maybe didn’t quite vibe, doesn’t necessarily mean that you won’t find your person. I think they definitely are out there.
I personally, these days, actually go for the teacher, not for the class. So there are specific teachers that I gravitate towards, and from each different teacher I receive different things.
Like, there’s a teacher who I really love to play with inversions with, and she taught me how to do arm balances. So I know when I go to her classes, I can do a lot of more funky, advanced stuff, because she holds that space really gracefully.
And then there’s another teacher who really weaves in the native New Zealand Māori practices into her teachings. She teaches to the maramataka, which is the Māori calendar system. She also grew up in a yoga community, so she has so much wisdom. Every shape has a story. Every shape has a breath practice with it. Oh my God, I just love her classes. She’s probably by far one of my favourites. Eridani — if you’re in Auckland, check her out, she’s amazing.
There are other teachers that I come to when I need some nurturing. There’s a yoga teacher who I really love doing Yin with. He’s a man, and his voice — that baritone, soft, soothing voice — I feel cradled and held and just like I can really let go. I really love doing Yin yoga with this teacher.
Or there’s another one who teaches really anatomically, really focused on alignment. Oh my goodness, there’s just so much out there.
I really hope that if anything, this episode maybe inspired you to reframe your thinking about yoga, and to understand that it is for everybody.
And this is the final note I’ll leave you with, that came to me as I was sharing the different types of yoga with you: posture. So many people avoid yoga because they think, “Oh well, I don’t look like the girls on Instagram. I’m not flexible, I can’t move like this.”
It doesn’t matter. Posture-based yoga — or what we call in the community “aesthetic yoga” — I personally find is actually quite toxic.
I have been taught, and I know most of the teachers here in Auckland (and I’m sure they exist around the world as well), teach functionally. What does that mean? Functional yoga means meeting your body where it is.
The way my anatomy teacher taught me is that, depending on our bone structure and the way our body is built, one shape will be really easily available for one person and completely impossible for another. Or it will feel really good on one body and horrible on another. Or one side will be different to the other.
We are so unique. So please, if this is what’s been holding you back, stop worrying about what you look like. We all actually look different.
In one yoga pose, especially in my Yin practice where people really drop into what feels good, you will look around the room and you will see that same shape in 20 different people — 20 different variations of that shape. Because we are so unique and so special.
So I guess that’s what I’ll leave you with. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Clearly, I’m very passionate about yoga. I could nerd out about it for days. It’s definitely not the last time you’ll hear me speak about it.
But in the meantime, I would love to hear from you. What is your personal opinion about yoga? Which of the practices I mentioned speaks more to you? Are you more intrigued by the slower, soothing practices, or are you more turned on by the movement and the more masculine styles, like Hot yoga?
Tell me. DM me. I would really love to chat and hear your thoughts. Because I think if everyone in the world practiced yoga, we would have a very kind, very loving, and very wholesome world to live in. I genuinely believe yoga is for everybody. I hope you do now as well.
Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for listening, and I hope to see you next time. Bye for now.
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The link is in the show notes below, or through the link in my bio at LVNHealth. Because presence isn’t something you have to earn — it’s something you get to return to.
The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working within the LVNHealth brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences, and stories, and part of Resonance is learning to take what aligns and gently leaving the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply passionate about wellbeing, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational purposes only. Resonance does not substitute personalized medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. Always seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical, emotional, or mental health concerns.
