Nov. 4, 2025

Small Moves, Big Relief: A Practical Guide To Returning To Yoga

Small Moves, Big Relief:  A Practical Guide To Returning To Yoga
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Small Moves, Big Relief:  A Practical Guide To Returning To Yoga

Harmony and Russell sit down with long-time friend and teacher Krista Shirley to explore what it truly means to feel at home in your body. Krista recounts a devastating shoulder surgery complication that severed her suprascapular nerve, the long journey through pain and medical dead ends, and the mind-body tools that helped her rebuild function and joy. She shares how meditation, mental rehearsal, pranayama, and small, precise movements became a bridge back to daily practice, and why her Body Mechanics classes now offer a soft landing for people who think yoga is out of reach. The conversation gets real about grief in the Ashtanga community, aging, acceptance, and trusting the work you have already done.

Episode breakdown

  • What it takes to feel at home in your body
  • A candid account of nerve injury, infection, and the “FU door” moment of choosing a new path
  • Mental rehearsal, meditation, and pranayama as practical rehab tools
  • The case for micro-movements, scapular and hip focus, and brain-body connection
  • Aging with practice, releasing performance pressure, and keeping the joy
  • Why “trust the investment” can change everything when you return to the mat
  • Making practice accessible, how Body Mechanics leads people back to Mysore
  • Community, lineage, loss, and what sustains us now

About our guest

Krista Shirley is a Level 2 Authorized Ashtanga teacher, Pilates instructor, and founder of The Yoga Shala in Orlando, Florida. After a surgery severed her suprascapular nerve, she developed a brain-body approach to rehabilitation that became her Body Mechanics method, helping students reduce pain, restore function, and reconnect with practice. Krista teaches Mysore and Body Mechanics classes, offers tutorials on her YouTube channel, and leads retreats, including a July 10–16 program in Lefkada, Greece.

X / Twitter link: https://www.x.com/kristayogini

Instagram link: https://www.instagram.com/kristashirleyyoga

Facebook link: https://www.facebook.com/kristashirleyyoga

YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/@yogawithkrista

Listen to episode 36 with Krista Shirley on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-harmony-podcast/id1508928138?i=1000579088315

or

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2TISeuK3dGPFxL8nsykLzN?si=675435af5b0847a

Health Disclaimer:

The information shared in this episode of Finding Harmony Podcast is for educational and inspirational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician, physical therapist, or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition, injury, or wellness program. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast.

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00:00 - Introduction to Finding Harmony Podcast

01:00 - Introducing Krista Shirley

01:30 - Krista's Journey and Evolution

03:00 - 21 Day Money, Magic, and Manifestation Challenge

03:53 - Welcoming Krista Shirley to the Podcast

04:33 - Reflecting on Loss and Community

09:54 - Krista's Personal Rehabilitation Journey

16:57 - The Role of Meditation and Mental Rehearsal

24:36 - Rediscovering Joy in Practice

32:10 - Aging and Evolving in Yoga Practice

36:22 - The Essence of Asana Practice

36:50 - Reflecting on the Evolution of Ashtanga Yoga

37:33 - The Importance of Consistency and Aging in Yoga

37:52 - Beyond Asana: Embracing All Eight Limbs of Yoga

46:44 - The Journey of Healing and Body Mechanics

53:05 - The Power of Mindset and Personal Healing

01:06:00 - Upcoming Retreats and Resources

01:08:56 - Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Russell A. Case Profile Photo

Russell A. Case

Painter + Ashtanga Yoga Teacher

Russell Altice Case began painting professionally in 1991. However, as a person who wandered from place to place for over a decade, he didn't establish a permanent studio space until settling in San Francisco. In 2016 he has relocated his studio space to Calgary, Canada, where he resides and continues to create stunning works of art.

Russell has been practicing and teaching Ashtanga yoga for more than 25 years. An Authorized level II teacher through Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, a humble and refined teacher, Case is known for his joking spirit, and his perpetual eye toward social justice work. When Pattabhi Jois invited him to his pranayama class in 2007 he considered this distinction to be the highest grade.

First and foremost his work is convincing cynical skeptics to the efficacy of mindfulness practice, and his art work is distinctly post-structuralist as it weaves a range of intertextual connections and cultural motifs through its field of view.

That is to say..
Who are we looking at all these things?
Where does the seer reside?
Who is the one doing the looking at all of these things?

Harmony Slater Profile Photo

Harmony Slater

Finding Harmony Host / Coach / Spiritual Wellness Teacher

Harmony Slater is a Spiritual Wellness Coach whose mission is to support spiritually-curious entrepreneurs with “science-backed woo” to create a deeply fulfilling life and a business they love.

She's a National Board Certified Health Coach, Certified in both Quantum Coaching and in the Mastery Coaching Methods. She's also Certified Ashtanga Yoga Teacher, one of less than 20 women in the world to hold this honour, after training in India for 15 years.

She began travelling to East Asia in 2002 to study Buddhism, after completing two degrees in Philosophy and Eastern Religious Studies. In 2004, I began a life-long love affair with India, spending the next 15 years living there for extended periods of time immerse in Yoga practice, Vipassana meditation, Ayurveda, and Philosophy.

For the past 20+ years Harmony's been focused on sharing these deeper teachings + practices of multidimensional wellness to support women around the world in eliminating midlife burnout + restoring joy, to create a life and wellness business that nourishes both their soul and bank account. She's taught workshops and retreats in over 30 different countries.

She’s the host of the Finding Harmony Podcast, an active Board Member for the non-profit organization Yoga Gives Back, and has been featured in two anthologies on yoga, pregnancy, and motherhood in: ‘Yoga Sadhana for Mothers’ and ‘Strength and Grace: A collection of Essays by Women of Ashtanga Yoga.’

Krista N Shirley Profile Photo

Krista N Shirley

Teacher/Mom

Krista Shirley is a Level II Authorized Ashtanga Yoga teacher and the founder of The Yoga Shala in Maitland, Florida. She has traveled to India more than a dozen times, spending over two years studying at the AYRI/KPJAYI/SYC in Mysore with her teacher, Sharath Jois. Since 2007, Krista has taught nationally and internationally, leading Mysore programs, workshops, and retreats that share the traditional method with clarity and care.

In 2019, Krista sustained permanent nerve damage, which left her so physically dysfunctional that asana practice was not initially accessible. By retraining her brain and body through very simple, targeted movements, she gradually rebuilt function and eventually returned to her practice. This process became the foundation of her Body Mechanics Method, which she now integrates alongside traditional Ashtanga to support students in pain or recovering from injury.

Krista continues to guide students worldwide through Mysore-style teaching, emphasizing the integration of tradition, science, and compassionate self-awareness. She is also at work on a forthcoming book about the Body Mechanics Method and its role in functional recovery.