We were lucky to catch up with Angela “Lakshmi” Norwood recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Angela “Lakshmi”, thanks for joining us today. What’s the best or worst investment you’ve made?

In a relatively small town like Bend, many businesses still utilize grass roots marketing (coffee shop bulletin boards, local print newspaper, word of mouth). Since relocated from a larger market to open my business, I don’t think I fully appreciated the importance of these organic networks. So I committed to a lengthy (and costly) marketing and branding process with a local agency. I was fortunate to work directly with the founders, who truly understood my mission as a traditional yoga school focused on the internal arts. Over months of conversation, we formulated a clear mission and message through values exercises and brainstorming sessions. I enjoyed those meetings, and the process of defining my unique offering, and I felt like I was doing something productive while the brick-and-mortar space was being built.

Once Continuum opened, our work together transitioned to collaborating on creative, ad strategy and ad management, which seemed like the next logical step in the marketing process. However, the cost of ad spend and ad management quickly hemorrhaged resources, and I found myself in an unsustainable situation financially. Looking back, I could have saved a LOT of money with a simple website, scheduling software and less ad spend on social media, in favor of a less front-loaded, more organic approach to brand awareness. Important as it may be to establish a digital presence, few committed students actually respond to those ads. I don’t exactly regret the decision (all things in the name of learning) but there are many tools out there today for small, sole proprietors to generate brand identity and collateral, build a website and create marketing structures for themselves. That would have provided me longer term security for the costly overhead of rent.

Angela “Lakshmi”, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

After graduate school in counseling/psychology, I found myself mesmerized by the depth and intelligence of the Shadow Yoga system. Before yoga playlists, online teacher training and sweaty flow classes, yoga was transmitted quietly from teacher to student. That student eventually became a teacher because they had embodied the principles of the lineage, not simply because they had paid their money and attending a month-long training. My first teacher, Mark Horner, was a rare breed of teacher, as he taught the entirety of this ancient science through a roughly 350 hour advanced study program. Our time in the classroom ranged from anatomy and physiology to understanding sequencing to knowledge of the energetic maps of the body (marma, nadi, vayu, adharas) to study of early texts. Through our 18-month training program, we assisted him in the classroom and turned in homework . . . and demonstrated teaching skills in front of him and all our peers. Mark insisted on the development of a personal practice, also known as sadhana, as the foundation of meaningful practice, not to mention potent teaching.

Mark’s teacher, Sundernath, and Emma Balnaves developed the system of Shadow Yoga based on personal research, study with traditional teachers and connection to the Nath Sampradaya (origins of all yoga we practice today), the lineage into which Sundernath was initiated. Through my study with Mark, I was given permission to attend annual courses with Sundernath and Emma during annual study courses they offered in the United States, and eventually was able to travel to continue that study overseas. Before I committed fully to Shadow Yoga, I taught in big box yoga settings, health clubs, school and gyms, and was on regular rotation in 200-hour and 300-hour teacher training programs. However, as my personal practice deepened, mainstream yoga gradually lost its appeal. Low barrier yoga programs definitely have their place, but the ubiquitous drop-in model makes it difficult for students to truly progress. Eventually, the friction between my personal sadhana and my work as a teacher grew untenable, so I exited the industrial yoga complex and turned my attention exclusively toward Shadow Yoga.

In the practice of a lineage tradition, teaching is not a given simply by paying money and meeting certification criteria. Steps were required, commitment was tested and my mindset needed to shift. Eventually, I was granted permission to teach by Shadow Yoga’s founders, and I apprentice-taught under Mark’s guidance for a second time. As a complete, progressive curriculum, Shadow Yoga cannot be comprehensively taught in the context of a modern studio setting. The cafeteria approach, including many different teachers and styles, dilutes the teaching. And so, very early on, the dream of developing a dedicated school was born. After a series of significant life changes, my partner and I moved from the Bay Area to Bend, Oregon and set to work getting a new Shadow Yoga school up and running.

Today we offer classes, courses and individualized asana sessions (a semi-private format where students work at their own pace, with assistance) at our beautiful, serene studio in Bend. While we do rent out the space to various movement groups, I am the only yoga teacher, and we do not sell retail, teacher trainings, or other forms of yoga to bring in revenue. All of this stems from the importance of what is known in Sanskrit as “<i>gurushishyapadam</i>,” or the teacher-student lineage. I am qualified only to teach only what I have worked with deeply on my own, and then guide each person to their natural capacity. Training in Shadow Yoga includes rigorous preparatory sequences that reveal areas of physical and mental obstruction. When approached with patience and diligence, however, these preparatory sequences become a foundation for meaningful change within the individual.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

The art of saying no — or having a clear vision for my business — is one of the most important practices that helped build my reputation within the market. Yoga is popular and ubiquitous in everyday life, and the temptation to add programs, teach in various settings and even rent space out to different kinds of yoga teachers can create pressure on my decision-making capacity. I’ve had moments, mostly driven by fear, when I have considered doing something that would bring in revenue but does not align 100% with my mission. Collaborating with other brands to chase potential students, changing my offerings to appeal to more people and even large-scale networking or marketing events that might increase exposure ultimately draw time and attention away from building relationships with existing students, developing meaningful curriculum and sourcing motivation for my own practice and study. In the long run, these things are more important than paying rent on an expensive space, and thankfully I’ve come to a point where my integrity as a teacher drives every decision.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

One of the valuable outcomes from the aforementioned relationship with a professional marketing firm was utilizing an online social media platform. Because Shadow Yoga is such a unique system of learning, the messaging and social creative cannot really be outsourced to others. I am the product, in essence, and so everything that comes from my brand must be my own voice. But this did not come naturally to me. Initially, I found the process of generating posts, editing images and creating inspiring-sounding quotations tedious and taxing, and it was always the last thing to get done. With practice, and a cache of excellent quality photos, generating a month’s worth of high quality, cohesive posts takes only a few hours. Because we all recognize how social media can make time evaporate, however, I do not keep Instagram or Facebook apps on my phone. I read and respond to comments just like any other administrative task, from my desktop computer, where I have more discipline and control over my time.

One other factor I’ll mention here is my decision to conduct an online marketing audit. This is an audit where someone evaluates your business presence, based on data, across all media platforms you are involved with. Although Bend is a small town, after two years in business I had a suspicion that many people had not heard of my school. While I interviewed many companies and individuals who told me they were experts in SEO, I learned that not all SEO experience is created equal. The small, local agency I found specializes in SEO and ad management, and the information they delivered was priceless. The audit confirmed my gut sense and revealed that my business was essentially invisible on Google search. With their support, we’ve taken steps to rectify that, including hiring SEO management help, learning how to write relevant, algorithm-friendly blogs, sending out regular newsletters and restructuring the company website to make it more searchable. If you’re struggling to get the word out about your product or your business, I highly recommend finding a legitimate SEO firm to help you see behind the curtain, so to speak, and suggest way to become more visible.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.continuum-yoga.com
• Instagram: continuum_shadowyoga
• Facebook: continuum.shadowyoga
• Youtube: @continuumyogastudio

Image Credits
all photos credit to @cyrphotographic