Meet Tara Stiles | Founder of Strala Yoga

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tara Stiles and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was introduced to yoga when I was studying dance at conservatory. I had this big feeling that this practice is something I can use as a tool to help navigate my life in a good direction. That was nice and all for me but I was really taken over by my next thought. Why don’t all my friends do this! Why isn’t yoga easy and everywhere?

I went along dancing and in my spare time exploring yoga wherever I could find a class or teacher and quickly learned there are so many different ideas and opinions about how yoga should be practiced that seemed to be keeping a lot of people from enjoying the practice in a way that felt natural. I feel lucky to have had the original experience with yoga that it is a power from within that is always there and within all of us. The more I started learning about yoga the more I started sharing. People enjoyed how I helped them connect with themselves, but also shared this wasn’t their original impression of yoga, which was rigid and filled with the idea that you had to be flexible, religious, change your name, etc to be involved.

Yoga has come a long way since then but these general misconceptions based in a lot of reality were the fuel for me and Mike to start Strala Yoga. We just wanted a place for people to come to feel better, to practice yoga and feel like themselves. In 2008, funny enough, that was controversial. My desire to help gave me enough confidence to continue. I wanted a place where I could go and do the same. If that place already existed, I wouldn’t have started this. It was really out of a problem I saw with rigidity and yoga that I hoped to be part of the solution.

One thing led to another. People enjoyed what we were offering and Strala Yoga grew. It was never a plan but I’m grateful to be a part of helping myself and others feel better through a practice of yoga that feels comfortable and relatable.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Success for me kind of happed when I was busy being creative and following the momentum of one thing to the next. I don’t really think of success as one thing or another thing that happened. I am more comfortable letting others decide how they want to view me, if they want to at all. Like anyone, I’m more focused on what I’m doing and creating and how I am feeling about all of that.

I’ve always been interested in movement and composition since my early years as a dancer. Exploring this along with the healing arts brings a richness to my experience of practice and leading. Also this constant learning and exploring keeps me interested in what I am doing in an exciting way. I love color and creating art for myself and to give away with a little hat knitting project. It’s a little mediation I like to do and I have something nice when it’s over to give away.

The climb to “success” I really believe is more fun than the success. When no one knew what I was doing I had all the time in the world to be creative and try things. When things got busy and busier, time management takes over. For me there is a process of creating space so I can have time to be creative. I think it would be very easy to slip into a having no more fun state of being when success happens.

I also feel lucky that what the Strala brand is about, ease, softness, connection is also how I navigate my own life and choices. This makes things so much easier than if I imagine I was doing something that required tricks and smoke and mirrors. It feels great to be authentic and have control in this way, be creative and help people feel better, for real.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We just got a house in Southern Illinois close to family, so this is a little break from NYC and our Europe trips. Happy to show you around!

First thing we would go on a canoe ride! We got a canoe last summer and love taking people out for a paddle. We can paddle to a local park and go for a swing. Big and little kids are all invited.

This town has a wonderful local coffee shop that stands up well to all your NYC and LA favorites. Joe Sippers. I’ll take you for coffee of course but also tea, and a warm bowl of soup or a sandwich if you are super hungry. We’ll go back many times for cookies and refills.

The local yoga is also incredible. I’ll take you to meet Barbara Schuette, founder of Lotus Room Yoga, right in town, and a short walk from Joe Sippers. Barb is so strong and incredibly welcoming. Her studio is positive and fun and we’ll go back several times during the week for class. If you are here during our monthly series, I’ll be leading a free yoga class in the town square. You might even get your picture taken for the local paper in that one.

I’ll take you for a short drive to my uncle’s farm. You might get to ride a tractor or a horse or both! Bring your muddin shoes.

We’ll get all our healthy foods from Heartland Health Food, a mirage here in the midwest. The owner Prima Torbeck will whip us up the juice of the week and have some fun samples of her latest delicious snacks. We’ll stock up on produce, all the grocery staples and grab a few yummy treats.

Links

Heartland Healthy Foods
http://www.heartlandhealthyfoods.com/aboutus

Lotus Room Yoga
https://www.effinghamdailynews.com/news/local_news/new-yoga-business-thrives-despite-pandemic/article_b145350a-c56c-11eb-8e72-83ce318a21bd.html

Joe Sippers
https://www.joesippers.com/

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I love this. Everything is a together project. I wouldn’t have started Strala Yoga without my partner Mike. His lifelong background in tai chi informed my feeling that yoga can be more soft and easy. I started learning more about tai chi and the healing arts because of him. Sam Berlind is a friend and master shiatsu practitioner and teacher and taught me so much about connecting with people in yoga class without pushing and forcing anyone into anything. Because of Sam I have focused a lot on shiatsu and healing in how I lead classes and approach yoga and pretty much everything else.

Incredible people have come into my life at just the right time. Deepak Chopra asked me to be in an app with him in 2009 and also invited me to be a part of countless collaborations and is always so generous and kind to introduce me to people he feels like a good fit. Jane Fonda has done the same for me. I am so grateful and feel so lucky.

Our Strala community is responsible for everything I usually get credit for. I’m so lucky to get to lead and practice with such a vibrant group of people and teachers from all around the world. We learn so much from each other and I will never take them for granted.

Website: https://www.tarastiles.com/

Instagram: https://instagram.com/tarastiles

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tarastiles

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TaraStiles

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaraStilesOfficial

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa5OCJkZgtbIkaB1sA86XVA

Other: Feel Better with Tara Stiles podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/uy/podcast/feel-better-with-tara-stiles/id1595613346 Strala Yoga app https://stralahome.com/

Image Credits
Jes Lock W Bali