Power Yoga and its sister practices of Vinyasa Flow and Hot Power Yoga have important roots in India where a unbroken line of gurus (beginning with Krishnamacarya, and his student Sri K Pattabhi Jois), have led Ashtanga Yoga classes for a century. Ashtanga (the eight limbs of yoga), is a highly-structured style of yoga that is based on an individual student’s personal practice and growth, rather than the Westernized power flow yoga which is taught as a group lesson, where students are flowing in sync. Both utilize Sun Salutations to develop strength, discipline and focus.

This episode features Mauren Dinkins, a Florida-based Ashtanga Yoga teacher and studio owner, who studied Ashtanga yoga over many years with Sharath Jois, in Mysore India. She then studied with Ajay Kumar at Ashtanga School Sthalam 8, where she deepened her methodology. While in Mysore, India, Dinkins spent many afternoons in the home of Dr. M.A. Jayashree & Professor Narasimhan learning Sanskrit, the Yoga Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita and Yoga Sutras, as well as transcendental meditation. These two teachers had the biggest effect on her yoga journey, she says, because they explained how to truly live the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

In this episode, Dinkins also shares how she incorporates the Eight Limbs in her daily life, and importance of an individual learning path and practice.

Quick Links

Website: ashtangaorlando.com
Pinterest: Ashtanga Orlando
Instagram: @maureendinkins

What if the reason your students keep hitting the same wall in a pose has nothing to do with their muscles? In this episode, host Becca Schmidt sits down with Dusti Meeks to pull back the curtain on fascia — the body's mysterious, interconnected support web. What is it actually made of? Where does it live? And why are seemingly unrelated body parts secretly talking to each other through it?

Get ready to have some long-held assumptions challenged:

🔗 Flexibility isn't just a muscle game. Fascia wraps around every muscle, bone, and organ in one continuous web — which explains why some students plateau in poses no matter how much they stretch.

🔗 That injury might not be coming from where you think. Many injuries trace back to fascial restrictions in completely different areas than expected. Learn to spot compensation patterns before they spiral into chronic pain.

🔗 The tongue and the toes are connected. Seriously. Discover how the ribcage shapes your breath capacity, how a hip opener can melt away shoulder tension, and why slow, deliberate fascia work often beats static stretching.

Plus: practical ways yoga can support healthy fascia — think cross-body movement, soft repetitive stretches, and intentional breathwork — so you can bring this game-changing knowledge straight into your teaching.

Once you understand fascia, you'll never look at a yoga pose the same way again.

Dusti Meeks, certified Licensed Massage Therapist with 13 years experience including specialties in Sports, Orthopedic, Neuromuscular, Arthritis and Prenatal massage. Currently Head of Therapy at New Dimensions Wellness

New Dimension Wellness Club: ndwellness.com

Additional resources:

TheFloss.com

Fascia – What It Is, and Why It Matters, Second Edition by David Lesondak

Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and Movement by Joanne Avison

A Yogi's Guide to Fascia: What it is, Why and How to work with it by Erin Bourne

Yoga Teacher Talk is back! Join us next week as Becca sits down with Dusti Meeks to talk about all things related to Fascia.