We were lucky to catch up with Tara Durnil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, thanks for joining us today. How’s you first get into your field – what was your first job in this field?

I first started practicining Yoga as a student after the birth of my son in 2013. It was always something I “thought I might enjoy” so I found myself a local studio-PM Yoga- and started taking classes. I immediatly fell in love with the way my body and mind felt after each class. It wasn’t until around 2017 that the little spark started when I heard about another student taking Yoga Teacher Training. I started quizing her on how she liked her training, what did she learn, how much was it, what was she planning on doing with her certification, etc. After mulling it around in my brain for over a year I mentioned to the owner of PM Yoga, Tonya Philips that I was thinking about doing Yoga Teacher Training (YTT). She got very excited and said: YES! Get certified and you can teach here! So once I had that conversation with Tonya, it seemed like all the “issues” about starting YTT just faided away. All the doors opened so easily for me to find my way to YTT that it felt ment to do. Once I was certified I began teachng at PM Yoga and this past year I’ve begun to officialy set myself up as a yoga business.

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

I believe yoga is for Everybody and for Every Body. We’ve been tricked by social outlets that yoga is ONLY for the young, beautiful, skinny, and super flexable people. I believe that every single person can find benefits through a personal yoga practice. Yoga helps us connect to ourselves through our breath, bringing your thoughts to right here, right now, exactly where your feet are. So many of us are overworked, tired, frustraited and overwhelmed. Yoga can help you. I want my students to leave any class feeling empowered, strong, proud of themselves, and physically feeling good!
My teaching philiosophy is I’ll stretch you out, get you moving and then let you rest. We’ll do this together through sequencing that pays attention to modifications for those who want a challenge and for those who might not want to push as hard or could be suffering from physical issue. Through safe sequencing to promote physical health and reduce injury by learning how to adjust a form so it fits into your body- not trying to shove your body into a form it doesn’t want to go into. I prefer to flow a bit slower so each student has a few breaths to align themselves safely for a form and actually feel out that form before moving. I’ve been in classes where the flow is so fast, even me a teacher, can’t keep up.
I hope that eventually my students will feel empowered enough to listen to their own bodies, honor them and themselves by listening to what their body needs- do you need to back out of a form or is your body asking for a longer stretch?
I teach at a few different studios around town, as well as with private clients and local businesses and schools, doing workshops and classes. You can follow my social media pages, where I update weekly on where I’ll be and where we can connect.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

We call yoga a practice, because it is just that- Practice. There is no end date, no graduation from yoga, once a student, always a student. We are constantly learning as an individual and science is quickly following along- which is so exciting to have some scientific proof that the ideas and practicies of yoga are as beneficial as we’ve been saying for centuries. I always tell my new students: Hey, listen. You are learning a new skill. It takes time to learn something new. So remember, just offer yourself some grace and accept that for the first five or so classes, you will probably have no idea whats going on- and thats ok!
We’ve all been taught that if we’re going to do something, we need to be the best. We’ve lost the idea of doing things for pleasure or because we get enjoyment out of the activity. You might not be the best singer, the best artist, the best at yoga, but thats not the point. There are no gold starts in yoga! We are winners because you showed up, you worked hard at a new skill, and you’ll wake up tomorrow and do it again, always learning all along the way!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

By degree I hold a Master of Music in vocal performance from The University of Louisville. My entire life was heading down a path to become an opera singer. It wasn’t until my second year of graduate school did I realize that this would not be a career field I would be able to follow. I had a fiance and young daughter at the time, and I knew that I didn’t want to travel and be away from home for 6 weeks to a few months at a time for young artist programs. It was heartbreaking knowing that I’ve been working for something for so long and it just wasn’t going to happen for me. I feel as a musician I’ve struggled with always having a “perfect” performance. Any time I would make a mistake or not do something perfect, I felt like a failure. Just as I tell my students, let go of that self judgement, be kind to yourself, no mean self talk! So know that I am also trying to practice what I preach, and have also been working to be kinder to myself and learn that I don’t have to be perfect all the time. This goes for singing, teaching and just life in general!
Luckily, I have still found ways to activly sing around the city of Louisville, but recently I’ve really been excited to lean into my yoga teaching. It was a pleasant surprise when I realized how much I could work my vocal training into my yoga teaching. So know that if you’re ever following a particular path, it’s never too late to take a hard left and try something different. It may be the exact thing you’ve been searching for.

Contact Info:

• Website: lifewindyoga@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/life_wind_yoga/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lifewindyoga/

Image Credits
Lunar Theory Photography