Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Danner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Lauren thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

I lead a variety of yoga classes that are for mental wellness. My target clients are tots – 12 years old and 38+ year olds. I lead practices that are meant to be participated in more as a program than a drop in type schedule. My adult classes have a monthly theme that weaves through all of my offerings and classes themselves maybe restorative or extremely vigorous. We focus on completing the stress cycle as well as balancing upward and downward moving energy in the body to feel more grounded and stable. My kids classes combine yoga and open ended art. We read stories that are about mindset, feelings, and loving yourself as you are. These classes promote a mindfulness commotion, learning to speak the secret energy language of the body, and helps kids trust themselves and the choices they make.

Many studios have turned to just a physical work out of yoga or they have even gotten too much off the path of yoga itself by becoming exercises with barely any mindfulness. I have an expertise in custom curating classes for those who attend, we incorporate breath work, mindfulness, movement, and intention. Many times there is journaling for self study and reflection.

I have students who have told me they were just a head dragging a body around until they came to my classes. These types of people start finding profound appreciation of their bodies after years of self loathing and negative self talk. My aim is to help people tame the chaos in their minds and feel more at home in their bodies.

Lauren , 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?

I started practicing yoga 24 years ago. I hated my first class and pouted the whole week afterwards because I thought I should be better than I was. I watched this angry voice inside speaking so unkindly to myself and decided this is exactly why I should go back and practice again. I practiced with my acting teacher at a very challenging time in my life. I was told that practicing yoga would help me learn my own mind and my own physical movements better so that I would develop more truthful characters on stage. The common threads between yoga and acting is radical presence and honesty.

Day after day and practice after practice I discovered ways that I was hindering myself, unearthing mental and physical habits that were causing mental and physical discomfort and holding me back from happiness. The anxiety was powerful in those days, it was not a beautiful awakening process. Like most self growth and self discovery it was messy. I was practicing mostly gentle and restorative classes with a flow class here and there. Slowly I got stronger in my body and my mind. Something still felt missing. So I moved across the country with a job transfer and didn’t know a soul.

I practiced 2 or 3 times a day. I started taking workshops and trainings. I was a Human Resources manager and saw how miserable everyone was so I decided that I would become a yoga in the workplace teacher to counteract stress and physical tension and strain in the workplace. Over time I became more and more curious about how I could help people more and more, better and better. I did training after training to increase my knowledge and got to work at Nike world Headquarters in Beaverton, OR and at a health care facility helping kids and people with chronic diseases process stress and love the bodies they live in.

I am now in South Carolina and work specifically with people in the private setting and small group classes with trauma sensitive practices that drastically improve their lives and their presence in them.

Any thoughts, advice, or strategies you can share for fostering brand loyalty?

One of the hardest parts of having a consistent yoga practice is showing up. That’s it. I hold folks accountable, lovingly. If I haven’t seen them in a week and they haven’t told me that they are on vacation etc. I check in with them. I am a perfectionist, it is something that I struggle with and it gets in the way of my email process. I take so long writing and editing and I know they only spend a few seconds reading what I have crafted!

I am making a pivot in this right now. I value authentic connection. So I am now using Loom to create a video that goes into my emails. I have a teaching point, a recap of the focus for the month and let them know of things happening in the studio. Then I drop the marketing images and the links to register down below! I did my first one this week and it went so well!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ll be honest. I feel like I pivot every other month! When we moved to South Carolina from Oregon I didn’t know that the health culture was so vastly different. Not many people in SC know the benefits of yoga and really think is a bunch of BS. I am finding that I have to do more and more educating on this topic than ever before. It is not lost on me that my niche is the type of people who do not want to walk into a studio.

Currently, I am networking more with therapists and healthcare providers to spread the education about mindfulness, meditation and yoga so that I can get these potent practices to the people who need them the most!

Contact Info:

• Website: www.sculptedlotusyoga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sculptedlotusyoga/
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/sculptedlotusyoga