We were lucky to catch up with Dani (danielle) Locastro recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Dani (Danielle), thanks for joining us today. undefined

The most innovative thing I have done in my career is connect the dots of all my creative experiences from childhood to the ripe age of 56. I am a professional textile designer, print maker, fine artist, potter, and lover of life . I started my own company in 2019 called Heartful Yoga to integrate yoga & art processes for cultivating creativity, community collaboration and freedom for self- expression from the soul so there is a place to move with the body and a place to make a mark on our own life through creative play.

My love affair for color, print and textures started at a young age. There were never enough colors in the crayon box. And my hands were always dirty in the mud. The tactile world fueled me as did my ability to drop into the space of child- like wonder and awe. This is the opposite “work world” I had as commercial textile designer. I had to limit the number of colors and techniques based upon price points of commercial production and know how processes affect the outcome of products. I realized early on while working in the 7th Ave chaos – my brain and creativity excelled at both . I was able to step into the process of designing based on cost, timing and type of printing process. And I am a “process junkie “. I love the uncertainty of not attaching to a hard end goal but rather working in the problem-solving ,directing space for many teams of people.

My position as Director of Operations at Design Works Internation for over 25 yrs gave me the ability to teach analyze and lead by example. My team and I had our hands dirty in many unique projects with crazy ass deadlines for runway shows, movies, theater, museum restorations and retail products.

It wasn’t until I did my first yoga teacher training in 2013 that my creative worlds collided as I had to do a soulful project. This project of incorporated textile design, pottery and creative teaching techniques placed me in the pivotal intersection of yoga and art. I used art techniques to teach about yoga and yoga techniques to help with cultivating creativity. These intersections of process led me into making the Heartful Art Making processes for process sake, to spur healing, community connections, creativity and human connectedness . I was orchestrating the creative flow of induvial to be expressed with mark making purposes as a conductor leads his orchestra to make music. Each important to the collective whole. Every yoga -art making workshop is based on a theme to capture the time, the place and the people involved. Later, every print is custom printed and sewn into a product /sold on my website , so that all people can wear this art from the heart ! If I was designing and mfg product for companies like Nike, Tibi and Danskin …. Why shouldn’t I do it for myself and others??

This process turned into my company – Heartful Yoga, LLC

It has been a few years in the making. I have a team of specialized teachers and creatives who have helped me have the honor of conducting these workshops for large music &yoga festivals, art & yoga studios, elementary Schools, wellness Centers, weekly retreats and workshops, non-profits , corporations and private family events.

https://heartfulyogabydani.com/every-print-tells-a-story

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Dani’s energy, expertise, and enthusiasm are a rare gift that help students design their own practice to tap into their own innate power. She is a professional artist, textile designer, entrepreneur, and yoga teacher with a 500 hour-ERYT with additional certifications in Iyengar Yoga Wall, Trauma Informed Yoga, Kids Yoga and Yoga Therapeutics. She is the creator and founder of Heartful Yoga- which integrates yoga and art modalities for cultivating creativity, healing, and self-expression. Each special collaborative art workshop print is which is manufactured into lifestyle products for all to wear, so that “every print tells a story”.

Through the integration of many different styles of Raja Hatha Yoga, Dani’s teachings are compassionate and created for inclusivity in mind. She believes that yoga and art should be accessible to all bodies and identities and works to hold a safe space where anyone can show up for themselves as they are. Dani cultivates individualized practices tailored to her students’ needs, to ensure that the practices are flexible, strengthening, engaging, and serving each student in accessible for emotional and mental wellbeing. She will guide you into understanding the connections of mind, body, and energy through thematic principals; leaving you feeling embodied and connected on a path towards wellness from the roots of the ancient science of yoga from the Yoga Sutras.

Dani’s teaching style runs deep with self-awareness and knowledge of anatomy so you will make connections within yourself for functional movements, expansion of mind and release of stress. Sometimes you think that this is “nothing “and then WOW – by using props as a touch stone of integration and play – your will tap into the “principal of a pose” and the “functionality of the breath” upon the nervous system. She seamlessly stitches together Asana (body work),Pranyama (breathwork), Meditation(mindfulness) and art therapies , so that yogic tools can travel with you off the mat and into your daily life towards balanced living.

Dani truly believes and guides all individuals into tapping into their highest potential. She leads the student to a place of connection to themselves so they can feel comfortable expressing themselves on the yoga mat and onto making their mark on the canvas . This translates into finding their own “voice -mark” with out words .

These marks make the print and the print is sewn into a product. We all have the right to make our mark in this lifetime and express ourselves. The question is do we allow our selves to play in this creative space ? As we age or our children age – we loose the freedom to play for playing space . Imagination and creativity need a place and space to be allowed to move free. Yoga and Art …support each other.

This brand is about the creative potential that lies in each and everyone of us – giving our self permission to use all the colors in the rainbow and draw outside the lines. Say good bye to the black yoga paints and embrace colored prints and patterns.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

Honesty and self-expression have been my inner compass my entire life through professional and non-professional work ethics. I don’t fake something, if I don’t know something. I question people and processes along the path to strive towards a goal and give myself the permission to reroute when needed, listening to where my resistance or peer resistances might lie and listening to the answers to my questions. As a designer, I gave realistic answers and project deadlines to my team and clients with accuracy. Sometimes managing people’s expectations in hearing what was said even if they wanted something different. As a business owner, I know what I am good at and what I am not. I look to work with others so they can shine in their skills and talents. Did I mention I can’t’ stand social media and am looking to outsource that part of my business??

Now as an art and yoga teacher, I give clear accessible guidance so that the student can learn to find their inner compass with their body, breath and creative experience letting go of predetermined expectations of what they think yoga is and what artmaking is or feels like . My approach to realism and honesty has given me a stronghold in who I support and who supports me. My staff and students will tell you I lead by example and vulnerability to be real to deal with all of me.

Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?

I sell custom printed products on my site because of the collaborative art making workshops. I chose to sell these products online because I spent 30 years custom designing and printing other people’s fabrics in NY and LA . Now it has become my time to use my technical professional skills into manufacturing for my Heartful Yoga brand. I chose to use Squarespace and Shopify on my website so I could coordinate the digital fabric printing, apparel manufacturing and the drop shipping with drop on demand orders not to carry inventory. Every time a product is purchased from www.heartfulyogabydani.com the order fulfillment processes happens from my site to my manufacturers in the USA. This knowledge and connections of the textile/apparel pipeline was years in the making, and I am glad to be doing it for my business.

I also enjoy and know I am a highly skilled yoga and art educator so dealing with a brick and mortar retail store is not on my radar. I am currently in the midst of educating additional studio staff at some of the other yoga and art studios I teach at to to understand that their community come together and they can tell their collective print story through their private labeled product sold in their studios as Heartul Yoga unites mind, body & creativity.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heartfulyogabydani.com
• Instagram: @heartfulyogabydani
• Facebook: —–
• Linkedin: Danielle Locastro
• Twitter: —-
• Youtube: —–
• Yelp: —–
• Soundcloud: —–
• Other: —–

Image Credits

Linda Bell Hall
Amy Kubrik