We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Siva Taswell-Woods a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Siva, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
The mission of Siva Kali LLC/Devoted To Serve Wellness is to focus on ensuring inclusivity by accessing services to help empower people reach optimum wellness through self-care and inner awareness. I believe a huge part of this can be done through yoga which not only stretches the body, but it also stretches the mind into a journey of calmness and focusing inward. With my business, I continue to bring awareness to help people understand that they are not required to look a certain way, not required to have a particular body type, and not required to be flexible to practice yoga. My mission is meaningful to me because people often tell me they are afraid to take a yoga class because of something they have seen, heard regarding how hard yoga is, or have even experienced a lot of pain during a yoga class based on the aforementioned and that saddens me. Everyone is different and unique in their own way. If you have breath in your body, you can do yoga!
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My story began prior to me being born. My Mother practiced yoga while she was pregnant with me and my Biological Father (now deceased) practiced yoga most of his life in India. When I was born, they named me Siva after the Hindu God Shiva who was the first yogi. My middle name is Kali, Hindu Goddess who is a symbol of Mother Nature, creativity, and nurturing. Of course, none of this made any sense to me as a child. However, as I grew older, I knew that having a unique name with such a powerful meaning, me not being born in India (born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Miami, FL) along with witnessing first-hand examples of my Grandparents and Mother having servant hearts, my purpose in the world had to make a huge impact of helping others. Therefore, I always knew that I wanted to have a career that would afford me the opportunity to do that.
I am a proud graduate of Our Lady of the Lake University where I received a Bachelor’s degree and a Master’s degree in Social Work. I have been a Licensed Social Worker since 2007 working in the medical field and school settings. I currently work full time as a high school Social Worker, prn as a Hospice Social Worker, and an Adjunct Professor at a local university. However, when the pandemic hit during the middle of my divorce, I not only had to do something to care for me and my daughter’s mental health, but I also felt a strong desire to help people access services to empower them reach optimum wellness through self-care and inner awareness for their own mental health as well. I considered myself a yoga dabbler (one who does yoga on and off) which I had done most of my life. However, I started practicing more when I moved to San Antonio over 20 years ago. I am even blessed to say that I took yoga classes from Esther Vexler who was considered the “Mother of Yoga” in San Antonio and the oldest yoga practitioner in Texas and maybe even in the United States; she was in her 90’s when I took those classes with her; she passed away at 98 years old.
During the pandemic, I decided to become a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT) and attended Total Harmony Yoga school here in San Antonio, TX where Sharon Ballenger was my teacher and mentor. I completed a 200 hr training program in September 2021. Upon my completion, I began teaching Yin Yoga at Total Harmony Yoga classes. Unfortunately, the yoga studio suffered a huge loss due to the pandemic and closed. At that time, I decided to take a leap of faith, registered with the National Yoga Alliance, and opened up my own yoga business, Siva Kali LLC/ Devoted To Serve Wellness where I began teaching yoga classes virtually for individuals and organizations. However, with the world “opening back up”, I have now been focused on teaching group yoga classes, private yoga sessions, and yoga for organizations all done in person.
I believe what sets me apart from others is that my brand focuses on the original foundation of yoga which encompasses the needs of the individual person, mental health, and inner/self-awareness which are all important to me rather than focusing on the level of flexibility (especially pushing past your level of comfort), yoga Sanskrit terms, being trendy, doing a lot of yoga poses (especially without modifications), special dietary restrictions, or a certain religion. Yoga is NOT supposed to be painful and it is NOT a religion; these are common misconceptions. I am certified to teach any style of yoga. However, I am known for teaching gentle yoga, yin yoga, restorative yoga, and chair yoga which all incorporates relaxing breathwork, calming the mind, and relaxing the body through simple flowing sequences to warm up the body using slower gentle paced movements with and without modifications.
What I am most proud about is my daughter. Despite everything she has been faced with dealing with, she will be graduating this year with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology to help make a difference in the medical field. I am also proud of myself for not giving up on starting my yoga business. Helping others become the best possible version of themselves mentally and physically matters so much to me. My heart is full of joy when I know that I have made a difference in someone else’s life. One of my favorite responses that I have heard since starting my yoga business is that they feel more relaxed and the pain in their body has either been reduced or even eliminated. I will forever have a servant’s heart in all that I do.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Firstly, the college that I attended right out of high school lost their accreditation after my first year; thought I wanted to be a Nurse. Through the ups and downs of transferring credits to several colleges/universities and trying to discover what career path I knew was preordained for my life, it took me 16 yrs. to obtain my first degree and thankfully only one year for my second degree. Next, I was able to be a stay-at-home Mom by becoming a consultant through an amazing company called Premier Designs Jewelry (direct sales company). This company afforded me the opportunity to not only earn an income to help my family, but it also gave me an opportunity to give back by hosting fundraisers and being a leader to other individuals wanting to provide for their families as well. Unfortunately, Premier closed due to the pandemic and my marriage ended around the same time. Then, when I decided to attend yoga school, I was doing better mentally since my divorce. However, I was limited physically due to being diagnosed with frozen shoulder after injuring my shoulder playing pickleball (LOL). I not only had so many doubts about practicing yoga while having an injury but was afraid of attending yoga school even though I had been doing physical therapy to resolve the injury. Lastly, the pandemic was one thing to struggle with but never thought the world “opening up” would also affect my virtual yoga business as well. Many people were wanting to do more in person yoga. Therefore, I have learned to be even more flexible as a business owner than ever before. The list goes on and on about my bumps along the road. However, these “BUT GOD” moments, increasing my faith, having a positive mindset, having a strong village of prayer warriors, working hard, and persevering through difficult times has made me stronger and has created me to be the resilient person who see today. Being a resilient person is a constant reminder for me about how far I’ve come and as long as there is breath in your body, challenges will come. However, things will get better if you just keep pushing forward.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
As an entrepreneur, it is important to continually look for ways to improve as an individual and a business owner. Over the past couple of years, I have taken some Mastermind workshops and hired a business mentor; Kamilah Antoine @positively_devoted. She guided me with not only taking a leap of faith in starting my yoga business but also provides ongoing feedback on how to effectively run a small business all while maintaining a positive mindset.My favorite books through these workshops were all by Author John C. Mawell: *15 Invaluable Laws of Growth
*Sometimes You Win Sometime You Lose/Learn
*Everyone Communicates Few Connect.
Favorite Quote from John C. Maxwell: “Your Life Doesn’t Have To Be Perfect To Inspire People. The World Needs To See You Be Human, Not Perfect.” @MasteringLawOfAttraction 
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/devotedtoservewellness
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/devotedtoservewellness
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/SivaKaliLLC
- Other: If you have any questions or are interested in pricing information for yourself, group, or an organization, please do not hesitate to contact me at: [email protected]