Pooja Virani Yoga

02/06/2025

Getting off this platform soon…

Find me on 🔵☁️

10/15/2023

This gave me all the feels 🥹

Teaching yoga as a career in this day and age is hard! 😮‍💨💸

For millennia, yoga teachers were monks, hermits, and recluses from society. They didn’t need to make money to survive or feed themselves or their families. They begged for food or had their students work together to meet the needs of the community living and learning together.

It’s challenging to make yoga a career that pays the bills 💵 like
🏡 Rent or a mortgage
🎓 Education loans
🚗 Car payments
👶 Children
🥗 Food
✈️ Vacations

For years, I struggled to pay the bills as a full-time teacher and Pain-Free Movement Specialist 😫😖

Despite having multiple graduate degrees and engaging in several business consulting gigs every year, my income was way below ⬇️ a livable wage

I was desperate to do better. I considered getting a part-time job at Instacart, Target, The Game Store, Barnes & Noble, Uber, anything to make more money!

I paid fake coaches and gurus lots of money 💰 to make me “successful”

But it didn’t work. My daily life was still a struggle and a huge source of stress and low self-esteem 😔

I thought that my struggles with money were a personal failure instead of realizing they were a problem with the yoga industry overall, and it’s exploitative, commoditized, and appropriate manifestations in today’s world

That’s why the words of this yoga teacher of over 20 years stuck with me

Who else has ever felt this way?

Comment below 👇

[ID: Two quotes on a yellow and white background read, “I have a husband who supports me, the most I ever made is $25k in a year!” and “It’s such a struggle, I dream about getting a job at Costco!”]

08/20/2022

Reposted from Is chronic pain or tightness preventing you from exercising, moving, or sleeping the way you would like to?
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One of my private clients recently shared with me that after one of our yoga sessions her pain fell from an 8 (out of 10) to one and that her posture was better when she walked and stood. Another told me that he has completely stopped taking sleep medications at night or substances to wake him up in the morning. Because of yoga, he feels more alert, energized, and focused, and his new business is killing it!
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My goal is to help people live joyful lives without pain, tension, or anxiety. To achieve this goal, I combine yoga with rehabilitative exercises, functional fitness, life coaching, and more. Whether you're new to yoga, an athlete or experienced yoga practitioner, or a desk worker in need of a strategy to get moving, my Rehabilitative Yoga program can help you live life the way you want to with strength, flexibility, and mobility.
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Plus, my program is currently on sale for 30-50% off. That's my biggest sale ever! 😲😲😲
DM me before this offer expires ⏲️
[ID: Pooja, a brown-skinned woman with a short haircut, helps a student bench press dumbbells with proper form. Pooja is wearing red leggings and a blue shirt.]

08/20/2022

⭐️Are you addressing truth and healing in your yoga class?⭐️
The burden of Diversity, Inclusion, and Representation is placed on the shoulders of marginalized groups from BIPOC to LGBTQ+ to disabled to fat people ✊🏾🌈♀️
So often I hear yoga teachers say that their classes are open to all when their classes are mostly made up of white, cisgender, middle to high-income students 😡
To them my response is, you may not be actively prohibiting marginalized students from entering your classes, but are you excluding them by not taking the steps to make them feel and welcome? 🤔🧐
When we intentionally or unintentionally exclude people who are not like us, we miss out on interactions with diverse perspectives and the heart of a yoga practice - unity with all humankind ❤️🌍❤️
How are you creating braver yoga spaces? 👇
[ID: Three white rectangles with blue borders read "It's time for reckoning with truth and healing for marginalized groups and people in the mainstream who have missed out on these groups' contributions and cultures for so long.]

08/20/2022

08/20/2022

06/26/2022

Have you ever felt excluded from a yoga class? 🛑🚫

❓ What would have made the experience more welcoming for you? ❓

[ID: Three white rectangles with blue borders read "Yoga has the potential to be an inclusive practice, one that reflects the cultures that gave birth to it and the diverse communities which keep it alive today.]

06/23/2022

I received this message from one of my private clients earlier this week
Since we'll both be traveling during the summer, I prepared weekly routines with Yoga, Functional Fitness, and Fascia exercises to keep her Pain-Free!
She was thrilled 🥳 She sent me this message as well as other words expressing her appreciation for the work we've done together
Honestly, the pleasure is all mine as I've learned so much from working with her. Her struggles with a cancer that completely ravaged her body and her lungs and her indefatigable drive to keep on pushing and bettering her body are a constant source of inspiration for me 🤩🏅
She proves that a Pain-Free Life Is Possible, for anyone and everyone 😊🌎
If you'd like to experience Pain-Free Movement for yourself, reach out 📞📩 It's in your grasp, you just need to take the first step 🪜
[ID: A white rectangle with a yellow borders reads, "Testimonial: Thank you for these incredibly detailed plans with lots of choice! You have changed my life!!]

06/19/2022

I am returning to Interfusion 2023!

I will be contributing to creating safer, more inclusive spaces by facilitating internal gender, LGBTQ+, and racial equity trainings for the project team, artists, and volunteers and festival-wide workshops open to ALL including:
⭐ Anti-Racism 101
⭐ Bridging the Gender Divide

Healing, movement, play, and connection are not separate from social justice issues. When addressed through a lens of equity, unity, and innate humanity, they can be powerful tools for our transformation and liberation.

In fact, Interfusion Festival's second Guiding Principle of Inclusion is:

“We are committed to fostering a culture where all feel supported, empowered, and welcomed. We encourage diversity of backgrounds and perspectives with utmost grace and respect”.



[ID: A picture of Pooja wearing teal feather earrings and arms crossed in Eagle Arms is framed by a space purple background that says "I'm guiding. Interfusion Festival. January 12-16, 2023, Arlington, VA.]

06/10/2022

Finally, I'd like to announce...
A 5-day in-person program this fall at Omega
That's right! I'm teaching 5 full days of Pain-Free Movement techniques to relieve your pain and transform your daily movements 🤸🤸‍♀️🤸‍♂️
This 5-day intensive will teach you how to:
⭐ Move with more freedom and joy in your body 😊
⭐ Increase your flexibility and mobility 🧘🏻
⭐ Develop resilience and elasticity 🏋🏾‍♀️
Sign up now! (🔗 link in bio)
[ID: A headshot of Pooja with a blue frame shows her smiling at the camera. She is wearing a white sleeveless shirt and teal earrings. Below her, a caption reads "Finding Freedom in Movement: Pooja Virani. Sep 11-16.]

Sign up now!

https://bit.ly/3s9IBZO

06/09/2022

Are your yoga classes inclusive?
As a LGBTQ+ Indian-American, I know the benefits and challenges of growing up q***r and South Asian in the U.S.
I have not personally experienced what it is like to grow up black, trans, disabled, fat, a non-Native English speaker, etc.
I take the time to educate myself about other marginalized identities in order that my yoga classes and my daily professional interactions and personal actions do not unconsciously exclude folks who face a myriad of microaggressions and oppressions everyday.
Do I make mistakes? Yes.
Do I continuously learn new ways to respect, include, and honor others? Yes.
That's what yoga is after all, union of oneself and all other living beings, a journey from "I" to "we."
Thank you The Yogi Coyote for attending my Body-Positivity in Yoga workshop at YogaCon and your kind words.
Continuous learning and growth, respect and equity, and personal and societal transformation, these are why I do this work.
[ID: Two rectangles with yellow borders read "Pooja's knowledgeable, approachable advocation for inclusive yoga is nothing short of infectious. [She] gave me practical, skillful tools for creating a learning space that fosters respect and equity." - Jack Cushman]

06/07/2022

Have you ever felt excluded from a yoga studio or another space because of your identity?
I have 🙋🏾‍♀️
That's why I center LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, and other marginalized folx in my teaching 🌈
[ID: Three white rectangles with blue borders read "Q***r folx often feel excluded from yoga classes in gyms and studios. They see people who don't look like them or who have very different lifestyles. I aim to create a safe space where q***r folx can practice yoga with other LGBTQ+ people."]