Today we’d like to introduce you to Dana Kaplan.
Dana, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My life’s journey is all about self-acceptance and finding my authentic voice. I don’t think I became aware of this until Yoga found me in 1998. Life seemed pretty crazy at the time, balancing raising 2 baby boys, an adjusting marriage, and a 30-hour/week out of the home job. Getting to yoga classes regularly kept me grounded and helped me to feel OK in my body for maybe the first time in my life. Coordinating breath with movement while doing something that I knew was helping me beyond just the body was life changing. After several years, encouraged by one of my teachers, I went to yoga teacher training and began teaching Hatha Yoga in 2009. Even though I had the teaching tools and a regular practice for over a decade, I struggled with Imposter Syndrome…”Do I really know enough?; I can’t do some of these postures well; I don’t look like a yoga teacher; That student knows more than I do; What if I mess up?”, etc. The debilitating perfectionism and struggle to find my authentic voice was confronting me regularly as a new teacher. I was reminded by my teachers to just stay in the moment and teach what I practice and know. That advice helped tremendously.
I had a moment of clarity though during my yoga teacher training when my teacher, Edely Wallace introduced us to Laughter Yoga. My experience from laughing for no reason in a group was profound. I knew in my bones that this practice was key in helping me transform my perfectionism into self-acceptance. I needed more! The following year I did my first Laughter Yoga certification and immediately started volunteering my time to lead weekly classes. Laughing every day, as a practice, truly helped me laugh at myself, my mistakes, at everything! As a result, my inner critic calmed down and I began to be more compassionate, kind, and understanding with myself and others.
At about the same time, I was introduced to Kirtan, which is the Bhakti Yoga practice of call & response devotional chanting. Bhakti yoga is the yogic path of devotion. I always had a powerful singing voice, but never felt like I used my voice for my own healing or to help others; it was a means of external validation. As such, I never felt an authentic connection to my singing voice (enter Imposter Syndrome again). At my first kirtan (with my dearly departed friend, Wynne Paris) I had no idea what was going on, what it was they were singing/chanting, but I knew something was shifting within me. Wynne asked me to sing with him the next time he came to Florida. And so began the journey into the yoga of the heart. I couldn’t get enough. Over the years I’ve studied with some fabulous teachers, such as David Newman, Jai Uttal, Girish, Yvette Om & Ian Boccio as well as with Nandkishor Muley, a pandit (learned scholar) of classical Hindustani music. But it’s been the regular practice of chanting the divine names that’s been the most transformative in becoming more heart-centered and service-oriented.
After the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando in June of 2016, some of my bhakti brothers (Richard Schooping, Vick DeGiorgio & Steve Prince) and I got together to lead a kirtan to raise money for the families who lost beloveds that tragic night. That’s when my kirtan band To Bring Devotion was born. Some of the players have moved on and new ones joined, but we’ve been leading kirtan throughout Florida and at yoga festivals up and down the East coast ever since. Today, I sing because it is for my own healing and for my connection to Spirit. I realize that it also may help others on their healing journeys. When we chant these powerful names and mantras, we are not only raising our own vibration, but we are also raising the collective vibration. When we are chanting together in community, it is exponentially more powerful, heart-opening and healing.
I continue to breathe, move, laugh, and chant daily because they have been the most powerful tools for my healing and continued growth. I continue to know and accept myself a little bit more every day. I continue to learn to speak up for myself, speak my needs, truths, and desires more clearly from a place of love. This will probably take me many lifetimes to master but am grateful to be on the journey. Community is key. To be in a group of like-minded people with similar intentions allows us to connect at a heart level, to question, to practice, to thrive and uplift one another!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
For me, nothing that is really worthwhile or rewarding has come without challenges. I would say my biggest obstacle has been my own self-limiting beliefs. My sense of not being enough used to get in my way all the time. Trying to whip myself into being good enough was exhausting. I was exhausted. These paths of yoga, which are practices of self-awareness & love, get me into my body, out of my head, and into my heart. It is sheer grace that the inner critical voice as an infrequent visitor today. She continues to transform into a quieter and far more compassionate friend.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
My passion is to bring people together in love & joy. I practice & teach the forms of yoga that I practice to create unity. As an E-RYT 500 with Yoga Alliance, I specialize in teaching traditional Hatha Yoga for beginners and for the more advanced student. My Hatha classes focus on proper alignment & mindful breath work. I also specialize in teaching Yin Yoga. Here I support students in finding stillness, patience, acceptance, and compassion. Connecting to a state of santosha (contentment) is the common thread throughout my classes.
As a Certified Laughter Yoga Teacher (CLYT), I have been teaching Laughter Yoga classes regularly since 2010. I did my advanced training with the founder of Laughter Yoga, Dr. Madan Kataria. I love sharing the joys and health benefits of Laughter Yoga with all. I particularly like the way all barriers of separation melt away as we connect to one another at a heart level, deeply perceiving our connection. Laughter Yoga is accessible to Every Body & is a deep & fun healing practice that releases stress, boosts the immune system & fosters positive, loving, compassionate & accepting attitudes NMW (No Matter What)!
A devotee of Bhakti Yoga (the yoga of devotion), I adore chanting the Divine Names. I lead the Kirtan band, To Bring Devotion, based in Orlando, FL. This beautiful, devotional practice of call and response chanting steadies the mind & opens the heart to infinite love. I combine contemporary, Western rock & pop original melodies with ancient, Eastern mantras.
The healing and joy that these practices continue to give me is the gift that I do my best to share with others.
What do you think about happiness?
Anything in which I am fully present makes me happy. I have serious “monkey mind”! This is why I love practicing and sharing yoga, laughter & kirtan…They are all forms of dynamic meditation that quiet my mind so I am present and in my heart! When we’re in our heart, we perceive our true nature which is love, joy & peace. We are less reactive and more connected to our soul (or higher self).Other things that bring me to this place are: listening to the ocean waves while laying on a beach; hiking in the mountains; having a heart-to-heart talk with a beloved friend; listening to great music; creating music; dancing; laughing; playing a game; playing with a dog or even just looking into the eyes of a dog. I definitely see the true nature of the soul while looking into those puppy eyes. Anytime I can get out of my own way and be of service to others is the most rewarding and joyous feeling.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.YogaYouSmile.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yogayousmile/ https://www.instagram.com/tobringdevotion/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dana.a.kaplan/ https://www.facebook.com/ToBringDevotion
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe_yQAHTzDai6ip2qXd1NTw
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Orlando Kirtan Group: https://www.meetup.com/meetup-group-uduhxrsb/
Image Credits
Andrew Kaplan
