In today’s episode, we dive into a rich and inspiring conversation with yoga teacher Uma Subramaniam. Uma shares her journey from growing up in India—where yoga was a natural part of daily life—to her years in the U.S. financial industry, and ultimately, to rediscovering her calling as a lifelong student and teacher of yoga. Through her story, Uma beautifully illustrates how yoga is not just a practice, but a way of being—one that guides her understanding of purpose, balance, and self-awareness.
In this episode, we explore:
- Roots in India: Uma’s early exposure to yoga through her father and how morning practices by the sea taught her stillness, breath, and focus.
- A Spirited Beginning: How she describes her young self as a “Tasmanian devil,” and how yoga offered her a grounding foundation even as a child.
- Life Choices and Transitions: The story of her arranged marriage, her studies in international business, and her move to the United States.
- Returning Home: Her family’s decision to move back to India—to care for her parents and reconnect their children with their heritage and culture.
- A New Chapter: Uma’s choice to leave the corporate world and return to yoga as a path to healing and wholeness—ultimately earning her master’s degree in yoga and opening six yoga studios.
- Yoga as a Way of Life: Uma’s belief that yoga is life itself—that its true purpose is to help us understand who we are and why we are here.
- What’s Next: Her excitement about the upcoming Yoga Teacher Training with Betsy and Kimberly, launching in Iowa City in January 2026.Bio: Uma’s early experiences with yoga started at the age of 10 with her father, and strictly adhered to traditional yogic principles that included practicing before sunrise on an empty stomach. An Arts graduate with a specialization in English Literature, she later went on to pursue an associate degree in International Business. She worked as an Internal Auditor for one of the top banks in the US and lived in the US for over a decade. When she moved back to India in 2008, she turned back to yoga for personal practice and soon decided to teach. She has a Master’s Degree in Yogic Sciences, a Master’s degree in Vedanta (philosophy) and is a Yoga Alliance Registered ERYT500 Teacher, RCYT(Children’s Yoga) and RPYT(Prenatal Yoga) certified teacher from the Yoga Academy.
Uma designs her classes to work slowly into classical practices beginning with awareness to spine, breath and the mind space. “I like my students to experience transformation with even a simple 30 minute practice”. She considers herself still a student, a teacher and therapist, a believer in yoga, naturopathy, ayurveda and natural, holistic and wholesome treatment of the human body and mind. Her happiness and satisfaction lies in her students improving steadily and in having strengthened their interest and belief in yoga, and holistic treatment of their body and mind. She is happiest when she is also able to encourage them to inculcate this new-found way of living among their family and friends.
With experiential knowledge of different schools of yoga (Sivananda, Satyananda, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Yin and hot yoga), and having watched the yoga industry bloom around the world and particularly in Bangalore, Uma helps lead your way to the many options and offerings yoga has for the discerning seeker.
Heartland Yoga Teacher Training: January 2026
This hatha training, co-taught by 3 experienced teachers, will prepare you to not only teach yoga but will introduce you to scientific research in psychology, neuroscience, and mindfulness to offer trauma informed practices to support mental health and healing.
Link for more information: https://dryogamomma.com/heartland-ytt-2026/Past Episodes You Might Like with Kate & Betsy About Yoga and Embodiment:
The Heroine’s Journey: Reclamation of the Feminine
Meditation: The Royal Road to Self
Episode 90: Michala Boehm: The Wild Woman’s Way to Embodiment
Today’s Episode sponsored by:
Want to do your own Heroine’s Journey with Dr. Betsy?
Consider joining Reclaim: A Heroine’s Journey with Betsy. This 10-week online course takes you on a journey “in and down” (the feminine path) to reclaim your lost feminine parts, heal your wounded masculine parts, receive initiation from the Goddess, and return a changed person. This course runs during the darkest days of the year, which tends to be the best time for depth work according to Dr. Betsy. This course begins November 2025. For all the upcoming detils visits https://dryogamomma.
com/reclaim-heroines-journey- of-transformation Want to go on retreat?
Want to join Betsy in Costa Rica in May 2026 at her favorite retreat center to help you reorganize your inner space using yoga, meditation, energy medicine, and hypnosis? All the details here!
To join the Tend Her 4.0 Course on Hope (It’s Free!), visit here: https://dryogamomma.com/
tend-her-4-0-hope/
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