#47 – Yoga is not a magic pill – Yoga in Kazakhstan with Nadezhda Kadenova

Welcome to Episode #47 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast! This week, I welcome Nadezhda Kadenova onto the show. She is a yoga teacher from Kazakhstan. 

My conversation with Nadezhda Kadenova, a yoga teacher from Kazakhstan, was so lovely as we discussed how yoga is an intimate inner experience, and how it’s not a fantasy— it’s a discipline. Yoga is where you learn about yourself and have to actually “overcome yourself” to show up for your practice every day.

If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode that is all about how yoga is not a magic pill, it is a constant self-development practice, then this is the conversation for you.

Tell me more about Nadezhda Kadenova

Nadezhda has been teaching Hatha yoga, pilates, and prenatal yoga in a local yoga studio in Almaty, Kazakhstan since 2019. She has been practicing yoga on regular basis since she her completed my first yoga teacher training in 2013, in Rishikesh, India. She has also studied yoga at Yoga Vidya Gurukul in Nasik, India in 2018 and is currently just traveled to India in April 2022 to do a Prabodh yoga training at Yoga Vidya Gurukul. She has completed fly-yoga training and helps manage a yoga studio in Kazakhstan.

What to expect in the Yoga In Kazakhstan episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast

Here mother was practicing yoga at home, and first learned yoga at University although they didn’t call it by the name yoga. It was referred to more as gymnastics or exercise, so when Nadia started to become interested in yoga books at a young age it wasn’t a surprise. 

Starting when she was nine years old, Nadia found books about yoga at the library. First came to know yoga from books in the library, and as she grew older she got more and more interested in yoga and continued to read copious amounts of books on the path of yoga. She went to Rishikesh to receive her first yoga teacher training. She has returned to India many times ever since. 

She manages a yoga studio in Kazakhstan and loves how the yoga studio community is like a true family, which is something she feels is part of yoga itself. Nadia defines yoga as a lifestyle, and as unity and peace inside yourself. It’s an intimate an inner experience. 

I loved how Nadia says that yoga is not a fantasy, it’s a discipline. It’s something you don’t always want to do. You need to “overcome yourself” to show up on the mat— yoga is developing strong willpower. You work on your habits and on your perception of the world, and on your negative perception of the world. You become more aware of your own reactions, and you realize that you are responsible for everything that happens within you. What you do now is your choice. Yoga is a constant self development practice.

Connect with Nadezhda Kadenova

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https://instagram.com/nadi_kadenova

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Episode #47 of the Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast – Yoga in Kazakhstan Nadezhda Kadenova

[00:00:00] Lily Allen-Duenas: Namaste family and welcome back to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Today, I am so excited to welcome Nadia Kadenova onto the show today. She’s a yoga teacher from Kazakhstan. Who’s also a yoga studio manager there as well. She has been practicing yoga on a regular basis. 2013, when she finished her first yoga teacher training in Rishikesh.

[00:00:23] And since then she’s completed and is still doing other yoga training in India with yoga Vidya Gurukul. She teaches hatha, yoga, fly yoga and prenatal postnatal yoga. So thank you so much, Nadia, for joining me on the show today. 

[00:00:39] Nadezhda Kadenova: Thank you, Lily, for inviting me.

[00:00:42] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. So can we start by just hearing a little bit more from you about how yoga first came into your life. 

[00:00:50] How did yoga come into your life?

[00:00:50] Nadezhda Kadenova: I think I knew about yoga since I was child from different books, even at the library we had they were all books written by even Soviet authors on yoga, not many, but I do remember a couple of them and as I grew older, I got really interested in that, in yoga in general.

[00:01:13] And I just read a lot on that subject, I even read Bhagavad Gita and different translations. When I was about 17 or 18 years old. But now my first training, I got when I was 23 and I was in Rishikesh. I realized that I wanted to explore more about hatha yoga because there are different types of yoga, karma yoga, Bhakti yoga, Jnana yoga.

[00:01:39] And I felt like I wanted to do something with my body to involve it more in a spiritual practice and hatha yoga suits me best for that. I decided to become a yoga teacher first to train myself in yoga and then maybe to teach others. So it was in Rishikesh for the first time. And as you said since 2013, after that course, I started to practice on a regular basis and I enjoyed that very much.

[00:02:16] Discovering yoga at the library, as a child in Kazakhstan

[00:02:16] Lily Allen-Duenas: Wonderful. Yeah. I love that you came to know yoga just by going to the library, just by finding books. I haven’t really heard too many people say that before. It’s amazing that your library had so many books on it.

[00:02:31] Nadezhda Kadenova: Yeah. Now that they think about it, it’s quite unusual, but I do remember myself taking notes from the book about shatkarmas about yoga asanas. I wrote them down neatly, all those techniques. And when I was about nine year old. As you asked, I remembered how it was, how it was and I’m pretty shocked myself.

[00:02:53] Traveling to Rishikesh for a yoga teacher training

[00:02:53] Lily Allen-Duenas: I love that you came so young and that you decided, at 23 to go all the way to India and get your yoga training, that must’ve been really brave, were you nervous to make that trip by yourself?

[00:03:07] Nadezhda Kadenova: No, not at all. It was well organized, and Rishikesh. And for me, it was actually my second trip. My first was more about visiting different sacred places in the Himalayan mountains. That’s why it was my second trip. And I was excited about this trip. Didn’t have any fear on the contrary, and it was like five weeks training, intensive training. We didn’t have any personal time for rest.

[00:03:36] Or so these gurus that guru, this lecture, they practice and why quite a lot of information and law practice experience, yoga experience, and God, and it motivated me to continue practicing yoga, but in a more conscious way.

[00:03:57] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I think going back to the root source of yoga in India or Nepal, this is a really powerful experience. And I agree it does forge a relationship with yoga that feels a little bit deeper. I know you just went to India and even just a few weeks ago or a week ago, how did that trip go? 

[00:04:19] Nadia’s recent trip to Rishikesh in the Spring of 2022

[00:04:19] Nadezhda Kadenova: Actually the trip was quite smooth went or went well. It felt really good to be back in India. Haven’t been to the South part of India yet. That was my first experience. I liked the rural area of Nasik and its surroundings. I like the ashram, Yoga Vidya Gurukul, very much. And this feeling of being in India, the source of yoga tradition and this tradition I could smell in the air. I could feel it was on my skin and all I was doing was recharging my batteries. And enjoying the association with such beautiful people, gurus like teachers. So it was really good, but short, only nine days this time. 

[00:05:11] Lily Allen-Duenas: Amazing. I’m so glad you got to go back. I’ve been trying to find a time to go back. Because I had tickets and then the pandemic hit, and I had to cancel my plans and then borders were closed. So it just felt very difficult to get over there, but I know it’s finally opening up, so I’m really glad you went and it was so smooth and so great. And Nadia, I know speaking of yoga studios and ashrams, I know you manage a yoga studio in Kazakhstan. Can you tell us more about the studio and about what it’s like to manage it too? 

[00:05:44] Managing a yoga studio in Kazakhstan 

[00:05:44] Nadezhda Kadenova: This particular studio that I do manage is small and I’m not really fashionable, you know, like it’s not downtown, it’s a normal, quiet district. And it takes quite a lot of effort, to market yoga, to attract people, to try yoga in this particular area. And we have interesting seasons.

[00:06:10] In summer, people like to do a lot of outdoor activities. They have cottage houses and during summer the yoga is not very popular, but autumn, winter, and spring, we can see there are busy seasons for us. It’s spring now. And during this time, We have about 10 different groups in this little studio that I manage to have a Kundalini, hatha, we have fly yoga, Inyengar style, classical hatha yogas, and people really enjoy those who come. And do yoga with us for three or four or five years. They’re really happy with the yoga and have beautiful results, they have improved. Many of them improve their health. Many of them do lead an active lifestyle with yoga.

[00:07:03] Almaty, this is the city where I live located in neon, beautiful mountains. Our yoga teachers often lead groups to the mountains. They invite their students to join them for a trip to these particular point in the mountains. We have a lot of beautiful lakes, a lot of beautiful canyons here. And some of the clients become like a family with us with their teachers. And this is what I think yoga is about. It’s made in beautiful relations relationship and family. Feeling of a family. 

[00:07:45] Lily Allen-Duenas: You said that you feel like yoga is all about family and community and relationships. Could you tell us what your definition of yoga is?

[00:07:56] What is your personal definition of yoga?

[00:07:56] Nadezhda Kadenova:  I understand yoga as a lifestyle. So yoga is something that keeps you alive. Yoga is that inner balance in the sense to go through your day. To be positive, be empowered, be inspired and to grow internally, to develop yourself in so many ways, both spiritual and material. It’s a unity and peace inside of yourself. Very intimate and in a process is yoga.

[00:08:32] Lily Allen-Duenas: Beautiful. I love that definition as an intimate and inner process. I agree it is all about going inward and learning about ourselves more and more, and going to deeper layers and deeper levels within our own mental processes and our energetic body, all the koshas. It’s definitely a beautiful experience. So thank you for sharing it. So what is some of, what’s like a powerful lesson, you feel like yoga has taught you?

[00:09:02] Something you’ve taken away from the practice or from reading the books or studying the sutras or anything. Is there something really a good, beautiful takeaway or something that’s changed in yourself or in your life? 

[00:09:16] Yoga is not a fantasy; yoga is a discipline 

[00:09:16] Nadezhda Kadenova: What I do understand right now is that yoga is not like a fantasy or some feeling yoga is more of a discipline. Sometimes you don’t want to do it, you know if you do it, if you do your practice, you feel better. And sometimes you have to overcome your own laziness. You have to overcome yourself to stand on your mat to do your regular sequence to your pranayama and to be on the path. So for me now yoga is more of a development, personal willpower. And it’s not a fantasy. It’s really hard work on the other hand because you work on your habits, your perceptions of the world, on your negative reactions because when you practice in yoga, you become more aware of your own reactions to certain things that happened here in life. And you realize that you are responsible for everything that happens within and without you. And what you do now is your choice. So the constant self development practice is what yoga is.

[00:10:39] Managing a yoga studio and surviving as a small yoga studio business

[00:10:39] Lily Allen-Duenas: So Nadia, I still feel like we have talked quite enough yet about your yoga studio that you manage. I’d love to continue to hear a little bit more about it.

[00:10:47] Nadezhda Kadenova: I’m managing a yoga studio, this particular kind of yoga studio, small ones that are allocated not in the top parts of the city, I would say it’s quite hard business. Because now we have so many alternative offers on the market: big fitness centers they offer, quite good programs, as they sound to most of the people at the lesser price, as if we compare with them, those solid little yoga studios. And so the competition is high in cities like Almaty, and you have to put a lot of effort in a marketing and sales department to promote yoga. We use Instagram, we use advertising, but it also comes with a price and little businesses, like small businesses.

[00:11:43] Oh, it is hard to, for them. It’s always hard to survive or to manage well. Main goal is to develop teachers or to find good teachers who will be able to create a long term relationship with their clients. As I said, a feeling of a family, a feeling of connectedness and yoga to be able to transfer real yoga values to every client that comes to us. And that is how we survive, and by inspiring our teachers to teach yoga in a traditional way. And also their qualification is quite important because now your good teacher needs to, or know a lot about anatomy and biomechanics to be able to really help people with their health issues.

[00:12:43] I know, and I keep telling everyone, that a yoga teacher is not a doctor, but most of the people come to yoga, first time and they want to improve their health. I think it’s everywhere. Not only in Kazakhstan this is the common perception of yoga as some healing practice, like a magical tablet from all the diseases that a person has.

[00:13:09] And so both the qualification of the teachers and they are ability to transfer a real true yoga values and to build a firm family relationship within the group, like our two most powerful things that keep like little businesses as ours ongoing, but also I can tell you about Almaty in general.

[00:13:40] What is yoga in Kazakhstan like?

[00:13:40] Nadezhda Kadenova: Yoga is very well-developed in the city and this city is one of the biggest cities and second one is our capital Nur-Sultan. And was renamed recently. So these two cities are known for yoga. So yoga here and there is very well developed. And as for the other parts of Kazakhstan, not really in some cities and towns.

[00:14:12] Maybe one or two teachers like the whole city or in my hometown, for example, it’s in north Kazakhstan, like 50,000 people, not a single yoga teacher there. So if it talks about Kazakhstan in general then I would say that yoga is underdeveloped in Kazakhstan as a whole but, take Almaty for example, here we have half enough of yoga studios and yoga centers and yoga programs.

[00:14:44] So there is a situation. It is hard to manage a studio to promote yoga because of so many competitions. 

[00:14:53] Lily Allen-Duenas: Interesting. So do you feel like the general population, just the citizens in Kazakhstan, the people know about what yoga is. Is there a kind of general awareness or not so much? 

[00:15:06] Is there a general awareness of yoga in Kazakhstan?

[00:15:06] Nadezhda Kadenova: General awareness that yoga is a very good system for health improvement. Mostly physical health improvement and a magical gymnastics that will help you to feel better to move better and just, you have to be active enough to get into this process.

[00:15:31] But as far as the spiritual part, it is not as commonly known as, physical part of yoga. I think it’s the same way in the world. As in, as everywhere in the world, it has the same beautiful like the postures, like on Instagram sometimes is understood as yoga, but this is just a little a little part than not important one to a yoga path.

[00:16:03] Lily Allen-Duenas: Yes. I agree. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. The asanas are just the tip of the iceberg, but I would also love to hear more about Kazakhstan just as a country. Could you tell our listeners more about your country? 

[00:16:18] What is Kazakhstan like?

[00:16:18] Nadezhda Kadenova: Well Kazakhstan is a post-Soviet country. In 1991 Kazakhstan gained its independence. And it’s been 21 years since then during this years. So Kazakhstan did pretty good to my understanding. We started to live better because I remember the 1990s when everyone who lived in post-Soviet countries survive surviving. We didn’t have enough of anything no money, no quality food, no those no, no nothing. After about 10 years and like we had already good schools, we had the money to, buy everything we needed for, to learn, to live a normal life.

[00:17:11] So we started to live a normal life. Now, I think in the early two thousands in this country is really interesting because it’s really big. If you look at the map. The area of the country. I cannot remember. I don’t remember the exact number, but it is really big and very poorly populated. I think we have a lot of, I think we have about 20 million people living in this vast land, this fast wait in the whole Kazakhstan.

[00:17:46] The two main cities have around 1.5 million people. And obviously it is much less than this. And a lot of people also live in the rural areas. I live in Kazakhstan and it seems so ordinary to me. We have Baikonur, maybe, by canola. It’s a starting point for all these rockets. Kazakhstan is also very rich in minerals.

[00:18:21] We have a lot of iron and gold and copper, rare metals and also oil and gas. In Almaty, for example, we have beautiful mountains where we have this skiing resort and snowboarding. And have the biggest skating rink in Kazakhstan here in Madale. It is located to high up in the mountains, and the highest spot for skiing, it’s about 3000 meters above the ground. Also have golden man, I dunno if you’ve heard like an armor or something made of pure gold in one of our museums as air trace of that culture of Tangrai culture. 

[00:19:10] And just one more thing I would like to add about Kazakhstan. The most important and the good thing about Kazakhstan people is that they’re very hospitable people. So everyone who comes to Kazakhstan is received as a king, and every family is very happy to receive guests.

[00:19:29] And you even can come without any notice to any family here in Kazakhstan, and you’ll be received very well. And people here love to feed their guests. So when it comes here, just know you have to be, you have to come and empty stomach.

[00:19:47] Lily Allen-Duenas: You have to be hungry. 

[00:19:50] Nadezhda Kadenova: This is how they show their hospitality, their love, and the people here are very kind. Especially with Kazakh people, they’re very traditional, very kind and they’re generous.

[00:20:02] Please visit our country.

[00:20:06] How to get in touch with Nadia

[00:20:06] Lily Allen-Duenas: So Nadia, thank you so much for sharing all about Kazakhstan. I would love for our listeners to know how to get in touch with you if they want to reach out and learn more.

[00:20:15] Nadezhda Kadenova: Okay. My Instagram is N A D I K A D E N O V A all the same as the same spelling as my name.

[00:20:28] Lily Allen-Duenas: Perfect. Thank you so much for being a guest on the show today. Nadia, it’s been a joy to be with you. 

Wild Yoga Tribe Podcast Outro

[00:20:35] Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. My conversation with Nadia Kadenova, a yoga teacher from Kazakhstan was so lovely as we discussed how yoga is an intimate, inner experience and how it’s not a fantasy. It’s a discipline. Yoga is where you learn about yourself and actually have to overcome yourself in a way to show up for your practice every day. If you’re looking to tune into a podcast episode, that’s all about how yoga is not a magic pill. It is a constant self-development practice then this is the conversation for you.

[00:21:17] Thank you for listening to the Wild Yoga Tribe podcast. Be well.

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