Healing Horizons5 Sep 2025

How to Pick the Right Yoga Class and Start Safely (Even If You’re Not Flexible) | Rachel Lundberg

In this episode of Healing Horizons, host Avik sits down with Rachel Lundberg—founder of Yoga University and creator of the Alignment-Based Yoga Specialist Certification. Together, they explore how to choose the right yoga class, avoid common injuries, and why inflexibility is actually one of the best reasons to start yoga.

Rachel shares how yoga can be tailored for beginners, aging bodies, or those returning from injury, and explains why props, proper instruction, and mindful movement matter more than keeping up with a fast-paced flow. This conversation challenges the myths around flexibility and shows how yoga can be a deeply personal, safe, and empowering practice that strengthens both body and mind.

About the Guest

Rachel Lundberg is the founder of Yoga University and Thrive Yoga OC. A former classical ballet dancer and chronic illness survivor, Rachel has over 30 years of movement expertise. She integrates brain, body, and heart through her Embodied Wise Yoga approach—helping students, teachers, and healthcare providers create safe, sustainable, and healing practices.

Key Takeaways

Choosing the right class starts with knowing your body—look for beginner, foundations, or alignment-based sessions.
Red flags include teachers who don’t observe the room, discourage props, or move too quickly without clear instruction.
Inflexibility isn’t a barrier—it’s one of the best reasons to start yoga, offering both protection from injury and rapid gains in mobility.
Older adults (50s–70s) can thrive in yoga; strength and flexibility improvements can happen quickly, even for beginners.
Fast-paced vinyasa classes can increase risk of shoulder, knee, and back injuries—start slow, build foundations, then progress.
Students should advocate for themselves, ask questions before class, and remember their body is the ultimate authority.
Yoga is more than physical poses—it’s a path of alignment, stress regulation, and reconnecting to your inner wisdom.
Practicing at home or in person both work—what matters most is consistency and finding a supportive teacher.

Connect with the Guest

Visit her online university: Yoga Oak University
Join her live or livestream classes: https://www.thriveyogaoc.com

Want to be a guest on Healthy Mind, Healthy Life?

DM on PM – Send me a message on PodMatch

DM Me Here: https://www.podmatch.com/hostdetailpreview/avik

Disclaimer

This video is for educational and informational purposes only. The views expressed are the personal opinions of the guest and do not reflect the views of the host or Healthy Mind By Avik™️. We do not intend to harm, defame, or discredit any person, organization, brand, product, country, or profession mentioned. All third-party media used remain the property of their respective owners and are used under fair use for informational purposes. By watching, you acknowledge and accept this disclaimer.

Healthy Mind By Avik™️ is a global platform redefining mental health as a necessity, not a luxury. Born during the pandemic, it’s become a sanctuary for healing, growth, and mindful living. Hosted by Avik Chakraborty—storyteller, survivor, wellness advocate—this channel shares powerful podcasts and soul-nurturing conversations on:

• Mental Health & Emotional Well-being
• Mindfulness & Spiritual Growth
• Holistic Healing & Conscious Living
• Trauma Recovery & Self-Empowerment

With over 4,400+ episodes and 168.4K+ global listeners, join us as we unite voices, break stigma, and build a world where every story matters.

👉 Subscribe and be part of this healing journey.

Contact
💼 Brand: Healthy Mind By Avik™
📧 Email: join@healthymindbyavik.com | podcast@healthymindbyavik.com
🌐 Website: www.healthymindbyavik.com
📍 Based in: India & USA

🎙️ Open to collaborations, guest appearances, coaching, and strategic partnerships. Let's connect to create a ripple effect of positivity.

CHECK PODCAST SHOWS & BE A GUEST:
🎧 Listen our 17 Podcast Shows Here: https://www.podbean.com/podcast-network/healthymindbyavik
🤝 Be a guest on our other shows: https://www.healthymindbyavik.com/beaguest
🤝 Video Testimonial: https://www.healthymindbyavik.com/testimonials
🤝 Join Our Guest & Listener Community: https://nas.io/healthymind
🤝 Subscribe To Newsletter: https://healthymindbyavik.substack.com/

OUR SERVICES
🤝 Business Podcast Management - https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/corporatepodcasting/
🤝 Individual Podcast Management - https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/Podcasting/
🤝 Share Your Story With World - https://ourofferings.healthymindbyavik.com/shareyourstory

STAY TUNED AND FOLLOW US!
🤝 Medium - https://medium.com/@contentbyavik
🤝 YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@healthymindbyavik
🤝 Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/healthyminds.pod/
🤝 Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/podcast.healthymind
🤝 Linkedin Page - https://www.linkedin.com/company/healthymindbyavik
🤝 LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/avikchakrabortypodcaster/
🤝 Twitter - https://twitter.com/podhealthclub
🤝 Pinterest -

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(212)

Reconnecting with Your Soul to Navigate Inner Darkness with Dr. MonaLisa Coburn

There is a kind of lostness that has nothing to do with maps. You can have the job, the relationships, the life that looks right from the outside, and still wake up certain you have wandered far from ...

27 Jun 25min

Grief Is Not What You Think It Is: Carrying Loss, Breaking Patterns, and Learning to Set It Down

We are told that time heals. That strength means moving on. That grief belongs to the dead and follows a neat set of stages. But for many of us, grief arrived long before we had words for it, and it s...

26 Jun 23min

Crossing Your Own Healing Horizon, One Honest Step at a Time, With Arky Jones

There is a horizon every person who has survived something hard eventually reaches. It is the line where the old self no longer fits but the new self has not yet arrived. That in-between space, not in...

22 Jun 25min

Healing Has Many Paths: How Inner Awareness Begins Real Healing

There is real relief in hearing healing does not have one shape. If you ever wondered whether you were doing it wrong because someone else's method did not work for you, this is for you.Ellen Edmondso...

11 Jun 24min

Neurodivergence, ADHD, and Rebuilding Your Relationship With Attention, with Kit Slocum

If you have ever felt broken by a system that was never built for you, this conversation is for you. It is for the late-diagnosed adult, the quiet masker, the person who has spent years believing some...

3 Jun 21min

Awareness Over Reaction: Breaking Emotional Patterns in Real Time with Kristen Crabtree

Most of us aren’t reacting to the present—we’re reliving patterns from the past. In Healing Horizons, hosted by Nazish, this conversation with Kristen Crabtree explores how awareness can gently interr...

29 Mai 19min

What On Earth Is Happening: Why We Participate in a Dysfunctional System and How We Transcend It with Dr. Christina Samycia

Most of us can feel that something is shifting. The old systems are creaking, the rhythms we inherited do not fit the people we are becoming, and yet we keep showing up to lives that quietly drain us,...

27 Mai 26min

Healing Through Addiction Loss and the Weight of Unspoken Grief with Katie Rizzo

What happens when love remains after loss changes everything? On Healing Horizons hosted by Nazish, Katie Rizzo shares the heartbreaking journey of losing her son Nicholas to addiction and how grief r...

7 Mai 28min