Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Shideler.
Karen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I went to my first yoga class in 2008 after a friend “convinced” me to go along with her. At the time, I was really struggling to manage my stress and anxiety levels and was feeling insecure and disconnected. I had always been interested in checking out a yoga class, but I certainly wasn’t courageous enough to show up to something new on my own. I didn’t consider myself athletic or flexible, and I most definitely was not peaceful like all the other people who went to yoga seemed to be! However, I learned very quickly that you don’t have to be “good” at yoga to be “good” at yoga, you just have to be willing to show up for yourself in the present moment. I am still grateful to this day that my friend dragged me along with her because it was that first class that re-illuminated the light inside of me I thought I had lost.
All it took was that one class for me to feel confident enough to show up on my own, and I continued to show up because the more I went to yoga, the more it felt like little pieces of the practice were being carried with me off of my mat and into my life. I maintained a pretty consistent practice up until the middle of 2012 when I ended up getting a full-time job at a law firm. It was an amazing career opportunity that I still feel to this day provided me with a lot of personal growth, but I couldn’t hang in an office setting. I found myself wanting to escape work to go to yoga and one day it dawned on me, what if teaching yoga could be my job, so I decided to save up the money from the measly three months I lasted at my office job and enroll myself in teacher training.
I graduated from True Flow Yoga in Newport Beach in November of 2012 and I have been teaching ever since. I started off sharing yoga anywhere I could: crossfit gyms, spas, people’s homes, pilates studios. I encountered so many different types of people, most of whom were brand new to yoga, and I wanted to help them become more comfortable with their own practice. After teaching at many amazing yoga studios in Orange County and Long Beach, I ended up at Ra Yoga after hearing they were opening a new studio in the area. I had many yoga teacher friends who had been working at the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach locations for a very long time, and I think that longevity speaks to how well they run their business and treat their employees. When I sat down to interview with Jenny, who is one of the owners of Ra Yoga, she asked me what things I valued as a teacher, to which I replied “community, creativity, and authenticity”, and those same things happened to be the pillars of their business. I have been at Ra Yoga Long Beach 5 days a week since they opened their doors in July of 2018. It’s amazing to think that the studio has only been around for a year and a half because the connections I have made feel like friendships formed over a lifetime.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
When it comes to following your passion, I’m not sure “smooth roads” exist haha. For me, my biggest struggle has been believing in myself. I always tell new yoga teachers what we do can sometimes be really scary. I think a lot of people who are drawn to yoga are more introverted because the practice itself is very introspective in nature (even though it’s taught in a group setting). But if you want to teach, you’re going to have to get up in front of a room full of strangers and share it. This idea might sound easy in theory until someone comes to your class and doesn’t like what you just poured your entire heart and soul into. The first few years I taught I put a lot of pressure on myself to behave in a way that I thought yoga teachers were “supposed to”, but what it really meant was that I was denying myself the ability to be human. I finally came to the realization that if I showed up to my classes as the authentic version of myself (who is a work in progress with flaws and all) it allowed other people to feel safe to show up as themselves as well.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
I love all forms of movement! On top of teaching yoga, I also teach more exercise-based yoga/pilates fusion classes and I have two barre certifications from my wonderful friend Kelly Wackerman who has also been featured in Voyage LA! I am a self-proclaimed “anatomy nerd” and my passion for the way the human body works was sparked after I completed a yoga therapy course at Loyola Marymount University. In the last few years, I have had the opportunity to assist and also lead portions of yoga training and am currently working towards leading my own yoga teacher training in the next couple of years.
It is really important for me as a yoga teacher to make sure my classes are as safe, inclusive and welcoming as possible. I do my best to use non-gendered language (growing up in southern California dropping the word “dude” has truly been the hardest), I do not talk about weight loss (ever), I do not I participate in food or body shaming nor do I provide aggressive hands on adjustments. I have found that a lot of the fitness/yoga culture is really toxic in the way it frames conversations around people’s bodies and I want to make sure I distance myself from that as much as possible. I hope that my teaching inspires people to find more freedom in being themselves and that when they leave my class they have a confidence built from the inside out.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Commitment. Lead from the heart without compromise and to your best and fullest extent. Rolf Gates sums it up with one of my favorite quotes when he says “We show up, burn brightly, live passionately, hold nothing back, and when the moment is over, when our work is done, we step back and let go.
Contact Info:
- Address: Ra Yoga Long Beach
3860 Worsham Ave #310
Long Beach, CA 90808 - Website: iadoreyoga.com
- Phone: (562) 420-2929
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: instagram.com/iadoreyoga
Image Credit:
Jon Killz, Shelly Strazis, Villa Visuals
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