We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Lea Bender. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Lea below.
Lea, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
My resilience comes from knowing that I am in this for the long game. If I have an off day, or an opportunity that didn’t come through in the way I’d hoped, I take solace in knowing that I am committed to this path for a long time. For this reason, individual setbacks aren’t such a big deal. I know that in doing this work I am following my “dharma” (my life’s purpose). There will inevitably be challenges that arise from time to time but I don’t see them as signs to give up.
Furthermore, the study of yoga philosophy cultivates resilience and trust. For example, the Gita tells us we have the right to our effort but not to the outcome (verse 2.47). The Yoga Sutras lay out a simple formula for a peaceful and productive life: effort (abhyasa) + non-attachment (vairagya). This is easier said than done! But it is very helpful to have these wise reminders.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been a student of yoga in some capacity since I was 15 years old (32 years ago!) As life took me down one road and then another, through several cities, jobs, relationships and creative pursuits, yoga was the constant. Everywhere I went I found yoga, or it found me. Eventually I landed in a neighborhood in Brooklyn where I found a wonderful studio called Jaya Yoga. I would do work/trade there, signing in students as they came into the space with my baby son strapped to my belly, and was often asked if I was a yoga teacher.
Until that point it hadn’t occurred to me to pursue teaching yoga as a job but as I spent more and more time at the studio it started to make sense to get a 200-Hr certification – something many people do to deepen their yoga practice. By that time, my son was 4-years old and our family was going through a painful divorce. The intensity of that heartbreaking situation fueled in me a deep dive into yoga philosophy. I poured every ounce of free energy I had left in me into the training. It’s often a crisis that forces us to to take a hard look at our lives and can help us find a deeper connection with our true nature and our life’s work.
At the end of the training, I was surprised to be offered several teaching jobs in short order. After about a year of teaching I realized I could make as much income as a yoga teacher as I was already making as an Education Director for two non-profit organizations. I slowly let one of those jobs go, and eventually the other. Two years after I finished my first teacher training, I was teaching yoga full-time. Meanwhile, I continued my education whenever possible, studying with some of the best teachers I had access to and obtaining my advanced teaching certification.
I launched Lea Bender Yoga around that time and have been expanding my business ever since. Six years in I am still floored that I have managed to teach yoga as my sole source of income. I earn a modest living but am able to pay my mortgage and expenses doing what I love and believe in. In the past few years I have started to organize and lead more international retreats and expand on my collaboration with others, including people that I have looked up to for years. In 2025 I will take groups to Bali and Costa Rica.
There is another an important aspect of my job. Since 2019, I have been teaching yoga in jails and drug rehabilitation centers. This began with a year teaching a weekly class at Rikers Island, which was far and above the best training I have ever received. When you work with deeply traumatized populations you always get back more than you give.
To be able to offer yoga in the darkest places I can find has become part of my professional mission. My hope is to be able to teach in maximum security prisons and to help train staff in these facilities to be yoga teachers so it can be available to more people who wouldn’t be able to access it otherwise.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
I think learning to trust my instincts and simultaneously to ignore the critical voice. When I first started teaching, that inner critic would say things like “I hope no one comes to class because you have nothing to offer” or would interpret the look of concentration on student’s faces as a look of disgust. Gradually I realized: “Wait, my class is optional, no one is required to come, and yet the same people keep returning week after week, so this critic must be lying!”
The mind lies! If it’s saying mean things to you, don’t believe them. Trust the deeper inner voice that is guiding you towards your truth and your life’s purpose. This voice will guide you in knowing when it’s the right time to take a risk and when it’s best to be a bit more restrained. Developing a regular meditation practice is the greatest aid I can suggest in developing this more refined listening.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
An ideal client is a lifelong student. Someone with an endless curiosity and willingness to try new things and laugh through challenges. I am lucky to have excellent clients and students and always welcome more!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://leabenderyoga.com
- Instagram: @LeaBenderYoga
- Facebook: LeaBenderYoga
- Linkedin: Lea Bender Yoga
Image Credits
The image of Lea teaching at a drug rehabilitation center were taken by David McIntyre.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
