In this fiery episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice, Lauren Leduc explores the solar plexus chakra, or Manipura—the energetic center of personal power, confidence, and purposeful action. Lauren breaks down this chakra’s associations with fire, transformation, self-trust, and discipline, connecting it to yogic philosophy through concepts like Tapas (spiritual discipline), Swadharma (individual purpose), and Karma Yoga (selfless action).

She discusses the signs of balanced and imbalanced Manipura energy, offers powerful on- and off-the-mat practices to build confidence and ignite your inner fire, and encourages listeners to step into leadership with clarity, courage, and compassion. This episode includes journaling prompts to help you align with your purpose and closes with a warm reminder: you have the right to take up space and move forward with confidence.

Whether you're deepening your chakra study or just learning to trust your intuition, this episode is your invitation to burn brightly—with purpose.

Mentioned:

• Lauren’s book: Embody Your Inner Goddess

• True Love Yoga’s 300-hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training

In this first episode of 2026, Lauren invites you into a softer, soul-rooted approach to the new year—one grounded in sankalpa, the yogic practice of heartfelt intention.

Rather than setting rigid resolutions, this episode offers an embodied path of becoming through sankalpa (intention), abhyasa (consistent practice), and vairagya (non-attachment). Lauren reflects on her personal sankalpa for the year—“I am mastery”—and unpacks what it means to align with your deepest truth through gentle discipline and devotion.

You’ll learn:

• What sankalpa is and how it differs from resolutions

• How to align your goals with your heart’s deepest wisdom

• The power of small, sustainable habits (abhiyasa)

• Why non-attachment (vairagya) brings maturity and grace

• How to regulate your nervous system in busy seasons

• The deeper meaning of mastery in yoga and life

Journaling prompts are included to help you clarify your 2026 sankalpa and anchor it in your daily life.

✨ Whether you're craving a more sustainable way to show up for yourself or looking to deepen your practice with intention, this episode will meet you right where you are.

• Abhyasa: A Ritual Practice at True Love Yoga – Sundays in Kansas City

• 200-Hour and 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings – Enroll now at True Love Yoga

• Yoga Practice Journal – Track your consistency and deepen your embodiment

• Explore more at LaurenLeduc.com

1. What quality do I long to embody this year?

2. What feeling do I want to cultivate more often?

3. What inner truth is ready to surface?

From your answers, create a present-tense, affirmative sankalpa—a guiding light for your year ahead.

This special episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice is not just a podcast—it’s a ritual.

Lauren Leduc guides you through a year-end letting go ceremony grounded in yogic philosophy, self-inquiry, and mindfulness. With candlelight, journaling, breathwork, and personal reflection, you’ll be invited to honor the end of 2025 and create space for clarity and purpose in 2026.

Grab your journal, light a candle, make some tea, and settle in. Or listen once while walking or driving, then return for the guided practice.

️ You’ll explore:

• Yogic pillars of Svadhyaya (self-study) and Ishvara Pranidhana (surrender)

• Integration and rest as forms of spiritual practice

• How Abhyasa and Vairagya help us release what no longer fits

• Seasonal wisdom from Ayurveda and how winter supports deep digestion

• Journaling prompts to reflect on what you’re proud of, what you’ve learned, what you’re ready to let go of, and what you’re calling in

Journal Prompts Include:

• What am I most proud of from 2025?

• What version of myself am I ready to release?

• What word or feeling do I want to leave behind?

• What do I want to feel in 2026?

• What dreams are gently tapping at my door?

You’ll be invited to burn, bury, or release your reflections as a physical act of letting go—and then to tune in to your inner knowing to welcome what’s next.

Upcoming Events at True Love Yoga:

• Dec 31: Release, Reset & Renew with Avey & Liz (10–11:30am)

• Jan 1: Breathe, Flow & Set Your Intention for 2026 with Lauren
  Join us to move, reflect, and step into the new year with presence.

Want to go deeper in 2026? Explore our Yoga Teacher Trainings:
Learn more

In this contemplative episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice, host Lauren Leduc invites you to pause and honor the Winter Solstice—a sacred seasonal threshold that marks the darkest day of the year and the return of the light.

Through a blend of yogic philosophy, Ayurveda, and personal ritual, Lauren explores the deeper meaning of this powerful time and how we can align with its energies for spiritual and energetic renewal.

You'll hear reflections on the solstice as a moment of stillness, surrender, and clarity, and how it calls us toward self-study (Svadhyaya), truth (Satya), and trust (Ishwara Pranidhana).

✨ Topics include:

• The solstice as a sacred samita (moment between)

• Yogic concepts of tamas, rajas, and sattva

• Aligning with the Ayurvedic transition from vata to kapha

• Building ojas (vitality) in winter

• Yoga limbs: Pratyahara, Dharana, Svadhyaya, Ishwara Pranidhana

• Warming and nourishing practices for winter

• Rituals for honoring the solstice (movement, meditation, journaling, nature walks)

• Why dormancy is not death—it's restoration

️ Suggested Rituals:

• Candlelit slow flow or yin practice

• Trataka (candle gazing) meditation

• Journaling on what’s gestating in the dark

• Silent tea or meal ritual

• Nature walks at sunrise or sunset

Next Week:
Join Lauren for a letting go ritual to close the year. Bring a journal, candle, and open heart.

‍♀️ Practice with us:
True Love Yoga offers yin and restorative yoga weekly to support seasonal alignment.
Deepen your path through our 200-hour and 300-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings.
Learn more

In this nourishing and timely episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice, Lauren Leduc guides you into the spacious world of Yin Yoga—a gentle, meditative practice designed to cultivate stillness, surrender, and deep awareness.

As we shift into the more introspective yin season of the year, Lauren explores how yin yoga can support your nervous system, balance an active lifestyle, and help you reconnect with your inner landscape.

You’ll learn about the roots and philosophy of yin, its physical and energetic benefits, how it differs from restorative yoga, and how to create a sustainable yin practice both at home and in the studio.

✨ Topics include:

• The Taoist and yogic influences behind Yin Yoga

• What happens in a typical yin class

• Yin vs. Restorative: key differences

• Meridian theory, chi, and chakra integration

• Yin for athletes, creatives, and burned-out humans

• How yin supports emotional processing and spiritual connection

• Simple yin poses to try at home

‍♀️ Practice prompt:
Try legs up the wall for 5 minutes with deep breathing. Set a timer and notice how you feel after.

Journal prompt:
Where in my life am I being asked to soften?

Classes at True Love Yoga:
We offer Yin Yoga 4x/week: Sundays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.

Go deeper with us:
The True Love Yoga 300-hour Advanced YTT includes in-depth yin study, meridian theory, intuitive teaching, and more. Begins January 1, 2026.
Apply here

In this rich solo episode, Lauren explores two foundational teachings from the Yoga Sutras: Abhyasa (consistent, sustained effort) and Vairagya (non-attachment or surrender). She shares personal reflections on how all-or-nothing thinking shaped her early adult life and how these twin teachings have helped her find steadiness, balance, and purpose.

Lauren breaks down how to embody both concepts on and off the mat, including:

• Why both effort and surrender are essential for growth

• The dangers of over-efforting without release

• What Abhyasa and Vairagya look like in modern life

• How to recognize when you're leaning too far in one direction

• Why self-study (svadhyaya) is key to balance

She also shares exciting announcements about her 2026 teaching schedule at True Love Yoga, including:

• Her new weekly class Abhyasa

• Quarterly Vairagya Yin + Myofascial Release workshops

• Monthly Lila creative full practices

• Upcoming 200-Hour and 300-Hour Yoga Teacher Trainings

✨ Want to deepen your practice in 2026? Visit trueloveyogakc.com or reach out directly to Lauren to chat.

️ Journal prompt:
Where in your life could you show up with more commitment?
Where could you soften your grip and surrender?

• Join True Love Yoga

• Try the Yoga Practice Journal

• Fall Challenge Info

• Lauren on Instagram

In this episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice, Lauren Leduc dives into the Prana Vayus, the five vital energy currents within the subtle body that influence our physical, emotional, and spiritual experiences. While many are familiar with the chakras, fewer practitioners explore these foundational energetic flows—yet understanding them can transform both your yoga practice and your daily life.

Lauren explores:

• The definition and origin of prana and vayu

• Each of the 5 Prana Vayus:

  • Prana Vayu (inward + upward, heart/lungs, intake)

  • Apana Vayu (downward + outward, pelvic floor, elimination)

  • Samana Vayu (inward + centering, navel, assimilation)

  • Udana Vayu (upward + outward, throat/head, expression)

  • Vyana Vayu (circulating + integrating, full body, coordination)

• How to feel and work with each current on the mat

• Practices to cultivate energy balance, intention, and inner alignment

• Ideas for integrating Vayus into your teaching, breathwork, sequencing, and daily living

Whether you're a student, teacher, or simply someone seeking more clarity and vitality, this episode will help you deepen your understanding of subtle energy and reconnect to your inner wisdom.

‍♀️ Want to go even deeper? Lauren’s 300-Hour Advanced Yoga Teacher Training begins in January 2026 and includes full training on subtle anatomy, energetics, and yogic philosophy.
Learn more: trueloveyogakc.com/yoga-teacher-training

• Prana = vital life force; Vayu = wind/movement

• The 5 Vayus represent directional flows of energy in the body

• Awareness of these flows enhances physical, emotional, and spiritual balance

• You can work with the Vayus through asana, breath, meditation, and intention

• Knowing which Vayu is deficient or dominant can guide self-care and practice

• You don’t need to memorize them to begin noticing energetic shifts

• Subtle body awareness creates a more integrated, intelligent yoga practice

• The Vayus can inform decisions, boundaries, digestion, voice, and vision

• Teachers can use the Vayus to sequence, theme, and assist more effectively

• Each Vayu has a role in our healing and wholeness

• Join True Love Yoga

• Try the Yoga Practice Journal

• Lauren on Instagram

This Thanksgiving week, Lauren invites you into a gentler, more honest expression of gratitude—not a list, not a platitude, but the embodied art of presence and savoring.

In this solo episode of Deepen Your Yoga Practice, you’ll explore yogic teachings like:
Santoshya – contentment
Ishvara Pranidhana – surrender
Abhyasa & Vairagya – disciplined presence + letting go
️ Pratyahara – withdrawing from overstimulation

Lauren shares personal reflections, seasonal wisdom, and gentle invitations to slow down—especially during the holidays. She also addresses the complexity of Thanksgiving as a holiday, honoring its historical context and encouraging thoughtful land acknowledgment.

✨ Topics include:

• How slowing down activates the parasympathetic nervous system

• Why savoring is a deeper form of gratitude

• Mindful eating as a spiritual practice

• Accessible yoga and journaling rituals for the season

• Thanksgiving classes at True Love Yoga

‍♀️ What are you savoring this week? Let us know on Instagram or Spotify comments.

Studio Schedule: https://www.trueloveyogakc.com/schedule

Journal prompt:
What am I rushing through in my life?
What’s asking me to slow down and savor?