Meet Holly Stoumbaugh and Megan Conner of Yoga in the Dark

Today we’d like to introduce you to Holly Stoumbaugh and Megan Conner.

Holly and Megan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Our Podcast, Yoga in the Dark, was started because we wanted to create something that is thought-provoking, funny, informative and pushes the limitations that are found in our yoga communities, society and in our daily lives. We aim to inspire and challenge paradigms while offering our own yogic twist and life experience to what we discuss in each episode. We have been working hard over the last two years, getting Yoga in the Dark ready for publication. With this crazy pandemic we are in, we figured what better time than now! It gave us the push we needed to go for it.

Both Megan and my relationship with yoga is what inspired the title Yoga in the Dark because sometimes the only way through to the light is facing the darkness of our conditioning and our own rigidly held beliefs. To take the yoga “off the mat” is an understatement when you are a survivor of trauma and abuse. It is in the dark crevices of our minds that we shine the light of yoga, and that is where we begin to truly walk our talk. Both Megan and I work hard every day to live our yoga and for the days that are filled with stress, or depression, or anxiety, we bring that to our podcast episodes. We want to normalize the idea that not all yoga teachers are affluent white women in Lululemon pants, no offense meant but you get what we mean. We both love the esoteric sides of yoga but we also love the vast amount of science of yoga and just life in general. You’ll find we bring information and laughter to the table.

Has it been a smooth road?
Megan and I believe that as women who identify as queer, Latina, multi-ethnic, bisexual and feminine, who also hold privilege, and that privilege was not earned by us, it was taken at the expense of someone else, we believe we have a social responsibility to use that privilege to help society while following our passion to create community and worthwhile offerings that improve lives. Yoga in the Dark Podcast aims to foster that in every episode. We are honest about our struggles with our listeners.

Along the way, Megan and I have had some interesting experiences within the yoga community, not all of them positive. There is a lot spiritual bypass, that “good vibes only” mentality, male teachers using their power and privilege to take advantage, affluent white women, toxic masculinity and the obvious discrepancies of where and who yoga is available to, whether that be socioeconomic status, race, and/or language barriers. It is rarity to find even a bilingual English/Spanish yoga class in Denver, which is interesting because Latinos make up for nearly a quarter of Denver’s population. So for us, we feel that Yoga as an institution, is not living up to its true potential.

We also believe yoga studios and yoga practitioners should run their businesses and lives by the very principles we preach to our yoga students. It needs to be reinvented to be more diverse, inclusive, ethical, and transparent. It needs to include more community outreach. We want to help shift that with Yoga in the Dark by stripping away the façade, bringing the wide umbrella of topics that yoga weaves its way into while showing our humanity and working to serve humanity. We also know that part of what we offer to our listeners is the opportunity to connect as we share our life trials with mental health, running businesses, balancing work, relationships, LGBT issues, and having kids. It’s a lot, so Yoga in the Dark helps us create relatability and let people know that they are not alone.

Yoga in the Dark – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Megan and I offer a forum for fostering community with our podcast. We are available worldwide but we really like to support our local businesses. We are proud to offer networking opportunities as we discuss local entrepreneurs, the donation-based workshops we offer at our local interest group The Denver Collective, and also the offerings we attend around Denver. What sets us apart? Hopefully, integrity, but if nothing else, we would say that we offer authentic and life-changing information that has the potential to help someone make positive changes in their lives.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The podcast industry is rapidly growing, we want to see Yoga in the Dark grow as we reach a wider audience, using it as a platform for social justice, health and wellness, integrity and love.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yogainthedark.co
• Email: yogainthedark@gmail.com
• Instagram: @yogainthedarkpodcast
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/yogainthedarkpodcast

Image Credit:
Marla Keown Photography

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