I’ve emailed Kathryn Budig twice in my life.

Once to ask her if she really trained Snoop Dogg (which she did on a TV show for E!) and whether she does flying pigeon poses in her workshops because if she does I would have to bring my hockey helmet. I’m not so good at flying pigeon poses at this point in my life.

The second time I emailed her was yesterday to borrow—a.k.a. “right click, save image as”—the black elephant journal icon on her site. (I don’t like stealing things, so I had to ask.)

I needed a black elephant journal icon for my site and it would take me roughly three to five business days to replicate what Ms. Budig did with the sizing of her icon. I’m computer illiterate so I don’t know how to do this type of stuff.

Both of these emails she responded to within a few minutes, with a nice message to clarify and answer my questions.

This is one of the reasons why she’s booked out for years with seminars and is on the front cover of every major yoga publication. It’s no accident that when someone asks her what she does for a living she can say, “I just got back from Auckland, New Zealand teaching a yoga seminar.” How cool is that to say you were in Auckland? Do me a favor and say the word Auckland three times, it’s a lot of fun!

She’s a hard working gal, I know this because only hard working people schedule things before eight a.m. and respond to emails in two minutes. She’s also an incredible writer and has built a larger following off of her blogs and magazine articles.

Her Monday classes at YogaWorks start at 7:15 a.m. The last time I was in Santa Monica I attempted to go to her class and instead woke up, got up to brush my teeth, looked at my clock, then looked at the door, then looked at by bed and chose the bed as the best available option at 6:30 a.m.

Most importantly her yoga philosophy also translates into life.

1. Take Risks. She’s always encouraging people to take risks in their practice and in life.

2. Have passion for your craft. In an article for Huffington post she said, “Yoga will change your life.” The belief that your passion will change lives.

3. Aim true. She quotes Artemis, “Make my aim true. Give me goals to seek and the constant determination to achieve them.”

I’m a big fan of individuals pursing their passion and being authentic in their teaching. Kathryn’s a great role-model to learn from.

Editor: Lynn Hasselberger

~ Like elephant yoga on facebook. ~