Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrea Rodrigues
Hi Andrea, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My journey began In 1999 when I enrolled in a Holistic Health Program to become a Licensed Massage Therapist at a small and amazing school called Body Mind College in San Diego. There I was introduced to a whole new approach to life, I met inspiring and profound teachers, I learned about how the body and mind are connected and the psychosomatic approach to healing, health and wholeness for life. I studied Herbology, Iridology, Structural Integration and Rebirthing. While at this school, I was introduced to Tai Chi and Yoga and Meditation, this school and its teachers completely changed my life and the trajectory of my life.
I began to dive deep into Eastern Philosophies and teachings, Buddhism was my refuge as I recovered from a Mormon upbringing ( I was born and raised and baptised into the LDS church, and left when I was about 16)
After I completed my 500hr program and got certified as a LMT (licensed massage therapist) I moved back to where I grew up (in the South Bay) and landed a job at Dubunne Day Spa, and I loved it. I continued to study what at the time was “alternative” healing, I became very interested in Chinese Medicine and wanted to become an Accupuncturist.
But life had a different plan for me.
One of my co-workers was a Yoga Teacher in Seal Beach, at a beautiful studio called OMadawn, and she invited me out for a yoga class. I went, and it became my second home. I fell in love with practice. Having grown up playing soccer (its the only sport I was allowed to play, my dad is Brasilian, first in his family to immigrate to the states, and he would not have me play any other sport, and made sure I dedicated my youth to soccer life, and that I did!)
This studio was run by a chiropractor who was quite the eccentric character, and exceptionally knowledgable in Holistic Healing, and he took me under his wing. Well, I kind of tucked myself under it by volunteering to do anything and everything at that studio…. mopping floors, cleaning the windows, the bathrooms, the lobby, washing the yoga blankets every week, sitting the front desk… you name it, i did it. Eventually I was working with the clients who were seeing the Chiropractor, Dr Ebner. Working in his office and taking Yoga Classes in his studio upstairs.
Eventually, Dr Ebner suggested I study Ayurvedic Medicine (he was also a certified Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist) and simultaneously, life was telling me I should get certified to teach yoga… which was a ridiculous idea to me !!! I was only 23, very shy, riddle with insecurity and DID NOT think that I should be leading any one, I did not think I was a leader at all. But everyone else could see something in me I didnt see in myself, people I trusted and respected…so I went on to enroll at California College of Ayurveda, and do a 5 week Immersive training at the Sivananda Ashram.
At the ashram I took Initiation and received my spiritual name, Dharma Shakti (Righteous Strength)
and once again, the trajectory of my life was about to change
i thought I would go on to build my massage practice out and add acupuncture to my tool box and open a wellness center somewhere…. but life had other plans for me, and I went on to build a successful yoga career, start a yoga movement in Long Beach (Yoga On The Bluff) and open a Donation Based Yoga Studio …which is what I have been doing for the last 17 years
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has been a windy, bumpy and full of potholes!! but its also been amazing exciting and adventurous filled with beautiful twists and turns
lets see….
I got fired from my favorite yoga studio where I had my steady paycheck for teaching a free outdoor class to my friends (the owner thought it was a conflict of interest) right after I came back from Maternity leave
The city park rangers gave me citations (during a class I was teaching) for not having gathering permits for the outdoor yoga I was teaching and I spent over a year working with Long Beach Parks and Rec to convince them to let us keep our free outdoor yoga class – great news, we are 17 years in the making with our Yoga On The Bluff and in good standing with the City, they even have given us some awards!
I had a close friend (who wasnt a yoga teacher, nor a massage therapist, nor an ayurvedic practitioner ) want to open a Yoga and Ayurveda Studio with me, we wrote the business plan based on my experience of being in the industry, having the reputation and established clientele, and she told me we would do a 60/40 split, I would only be getting 40% of the business, so i backed out of the collaboration, she then tried to tell me that Yoga on The bluff was her creation and that it was her thing. Our friendship fell apart and this became a difficult road for me to traverse since we shared many social circles and it was a very known thing what her and I were going through, it became very bitter and required me to do a lot of inner work, healing and belief in my worth and value and skill to overcome the difficulty
I took on a business partner who had no passion or experience as a yoga practitioner, yoga teacher or health practitioner and opened a Donation Based Yoga Studio, eventually we parted ways because she did not believe in the Donation Based business model and she wasnt being honest with me about our business dealings – so I left the business to her and re-opened my own studio in a new location – and pretty much started all over !
I have dealt with a lot of “Coat Tail-ers” on my journey, people who I thought were my friends, and who wanted to collaborate and partner, but ultimately they revealed themselves to be the kind of people who like to get their success by coat tailing on someone else’s hard work, grit, authenticity, and commitment to the long haul….the loss of those friendships due to what was revealed was very hard on my heart and soul, I cared about those people, I valued our friendships… but I had to learn how to have boundaries (self respect) and to maintain those boundaries. It takes time to recover from those losses, and it takes courage to stay open and soft hearted after losses like those.
Ive had a close personal friend work for me for many years, over a decade, break my trust with money, honesty, communication and transparency in a big way. I had to part ways, and grieve the loss of a friendship that I truly valued and enjoyed. Deal with the chatter in the community about it, and do my best to stand in integrity, while hiring new staff and deal with the changes and continue on. Ive really had to work on acceptance and forgiveness. Some of us lean in to repair things, and some of us lean away, shut down or run away. I cant control what others do or how they do it, I can only keep doing what I am doing… I have learned that their is a big difference between holding a grudge and holding a boundary. forgiveness allows the hurt feelings the can fuel the grudge to dissolve, and the wisdom from the experience helps us establish better and healthier boundaries to protect our peace, sanity and well being
oh, and there was the pandemic! pivoting over night to the shutdowns and shifting everything online for live-streaming classes, and then reopening in a new beautiful space in 2021, re-opening was a whole challenge in itself….
just to name a few !!!
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We are a donation based yoga studio with a mission to make yoga accessible to everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, age, size, or socio-economic status.
We strive to cultivate an environment of inclusivity and diversity, it is one of our most important values. We put a lot of focus on representation, and so we have a diverse array of teachers that look like and reflect our diverse community here in Long Beach.
We have a strong emphasis on the spiritual aspect of yoga, each teacher bringing their own spirit centered approach to the practice. Our emphasis is more about your overall well being and less about your handstands
We do not label our classes as level 1 or level 2, or advanced, intermediate. Our approach to Yoga is about helping you live a better life, not about doing better backbends. Our teachers are trained to make classes accessible and more of an ALL levels approach.
We train yoga practitioners to become Yoga Teachers, whom we call Peace Ambassadors, as our mission is to propagate the teachings and practices of Yoga, in an effort to contribute to a movement for peace and well being.
Our business model is different from 99% of yoga studios, as the donation a student makes for their class, goes directly to the teacher. So rather than the studio making all the profit from the yoga teachers teaching the classes, the teachers get to keep all their profits.
We are not a Non – Profit, but we run like a Non-Profit business
We also offer a work exchange for students who want to attend but may not be able to afford the $7 minimum donation, because we really want yoga to be accessible for Everyone !!
What’s next?
Currently I am working on building out my coaching business, as a Certified High Performance Coach. Students often find it beneficial to have guidance and mentorship outside of the yoga class. I have a online group coaching that I offer called “The Empowered Way” which is designed to also making coaching accessible, as having a coach is often an opportunity of privledge and not always affordable for people who could really use it.
We are excited for our annual trips to India we launched in 2023, and to keep that going, next one is March 2025.
And our wellness center was a new edition when we opened this new space in 2021 – with some amazing practitioners, I am excited to see that continuing to grow and expand as we are about to add a mental health therapist to the line up of practitioners available to the community
I am also thinking about bringing back a yoga festival I put on many years ago, Mantra Mela!!
and…. there may be a 300Hr yoga Teacher Training in the works !!!!
Pricing:
- $7 minimum donation for yoga classes
- $35 a month for the Group Coaching
- many of our workshops are on a sliding scale basis
- we do offer scholarships for our teacher training program
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.yogalutionmovement.com
- Instagram: @yogalutionmovement and @yogalutiononthebluff and @dharmashakti
- Facebook: yogalution movment, yogalution, dharma shakti
- Twitter: N/A
- Youtube: @jahdharma
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/yogalution-movement-and-wellness-long-beach
- Soundcloud: n/a
- Other: https://www.yogalutionmovement.com/Dharmashakti
Image Credits
Jon Killz
