Ep #88: Modern Meditation Attitude with Leah Santa Cruz

This episode discusses the misconceptions and intimidating beliefs surrounding meditation, particularly in relation to its origins as a practice primarily for monks and renunciates. In this episode, Michael interviews Leah Santa Cruz, a meditation teacher who has been living in Bali for the last six years. Prior to teaching meditation, she worked in the tech industry and the startup world, including half a decade at Microsoft. She experienced several waves of burnout and turned to yoga and meditation as a healing path for himself. Initially, she took a yoga teacher training and was pushed onto the path of meditation by her teacher, Steve Ross, a former Vedic monk. Now, Leah teaches people how to guide others in meditation and leads her own teacher trainings. She believes that meditation is a great compliment to yoga and that all who are on the path of yoga should learn more about it. Leah talks about her own experiences with meditation and how their teacher, Dr. Lauren Roche, taught them to perceive meditation as a practice accessible to everyone, including householders, those who have bills to pay and other responsibilities. Leah episode highlights the importance of letting go of control and rigid thinking in order to truly experience the benefits of meditation, which is not limited to achieving pure thoughtlessness, but rather a greater sense of calm and self-awareness. For more information about the Modern Meditation 150hr training, visit: ⁠⁠https://www.elementsofpoweryoga.com/advancedtrainings⁠⁠ (00:00) Introduction (02:27) About Leah (06:11) Meditation years ago vs. today (13:24) Embracing meditation attitudes in the modern day (15:00) Michael talks about his experience with meditation (17:00) Practicing meditation in a chair and the modern body (18:56) What does it mean to meditate? (22:22) Meditation as renunciate pathway (27:20) Meditation techniques (31:00) Looking for peace and rest in meditation (32:18) Difficulty with trying to stop your thoughts (34:21) What is modern meditation? --- About Going Pro Yoga: At Going Pro Yoga, we help yoga teachers become even better by teaching them new skills and giving them the tools they need to make their yoga classes safe, fun, and special for everyone. **Right now you can try Going Pro Yoga FREE for 7-days and sample: All Tools Needed to Master Cueing, Sequencing, and Alignment Video Library of over 75 fully Sequenced Classes, Sequence Chunks, and Flows FIRST EVER Yoga Cueing System with Over 160 poses and Hundreds of Variations Wisdom Talks from over 20,000 Hours of Teaching Experience Anatomy and Injury Prevention as it relates to Yoga. To Learn More, Visit Going Pro Yoga, and⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Start your 7-Day Free Trial⁠⁠⁠⁠! For more information about in-person trainings in Bali,⁠ ⁠⁠https://www.elementsofpoweryoga.com/advancedtrainings⁠⁠⁠