Meet Irina Telyukova | Meditation and Yoga Teacher, Reiki Practitioner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Irina Telyukova and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Irina, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
Hidden Discipline is the product of the pandemic. I was already a yoga and meditation teacher when the lockdown in California started, and I was focusing on yoga for healing in particular with my project Yoga Beyond Cancer. In March 2020, I realized first that I better dig deeper than ever into my own meditation practice to sustain myself through the sudden and dramatic shifts happening in the world. Soon after that, I started to receive requests to lead online meditation sessions, so I began running weekly free livestream meditation sessions from home. This has become a permanent feature of my business, and I still run those free meditation sessions. The name Hidden Discipline came to me from a poem a couple of years ago, and I finally brought it to life in a website in the fall of 2020. My main goal is to teach people how to be well in the moment, no matter life’s circumstances, by accessing their own healing power. Whether someone is dealing with illness, stress and uncertainty, or a journey of personal transformation, simple tools like meditation can help you be well. I teach people with busy minds how to meditate, I offer online Yoga for Healing sessions, I offer reiki sessions virtually and soon again in person.

What should our readers know about your business?
What I want the world to know is that anyone can meditate, and that our minds hold incredible power to either help us heal, or to keep us anxious, stressed, and ill. Most people are under the impression that they are not “good at meditation” because their minds are busy. But the truth is that we all have busy minds. So I call “I can’t meditate because my mind is too busy” a first myth of meditation. Our thoughts meander and we tend to get lost in them. This is completely natural and normal. I emphasize in my teaching a wholly inviting and down-to-earth approach: when you sit to meditate, let go of any expectations that your mind will empty, of what this process should be like, and of any results. Instead, be just as you are. From this place, you can start to observe your breath. This is all it takes to connect to your own magic. It helps to do meditation guided, especially at the beginning, and right now it’s easier than ever, because we’re all online. And it’s more necessary than ever, because we’re all under unprecedented stress. So let’s take care of ourselves!
If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
COVID aside, my top favorites are: (1) A hike on one of the trails at Torrey Pines; early in the morning, I always see dolphins from there. (2) La Jolla or Leucadia farmers’ markets. (3) Definitely the zoo. (4) Birch Aquarium at Scripps. (5) A dip in the La Jolla Cove, in any season. (6) Windansea Beach is the best beach in town. (7) Mexican food at El Pueblo, especially the one in the gas station in Cardiff. (8) Museum of Contemporary Art – both locations, especially the one in La Jolla, when it reopens from renovation. (9) Drinks at Tower 23.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people have helped me get where I am! Of course I have to thank my teachers, especially Michele Hebert and Mehrad Nazari, of the Raja Yoga Institute in San Diego, who put me on this path of meditation and yoga for healing. Ingrid Yang taught me how to teach Yoga for Cancer Recovery, which I have been doing for over 10 years now. On the flip side, I have to thank so many of my students and clients that I have worked with through the years, who have not only gone through incredible personal journeys of transformation, but have taught me what strength and grace in the face of illness and unimaginable challenges looks like. Sharon Greer and Rich McGowan are just two people I can mention. I also want to give a shoutout to Gloria O’Shea, the founder of the Sean O’Shea Foundation in San Diego. The Foundation has offered yoga and nutrition programs to underserved youth across our region, as well as a program for kids with cancer at Rady’s Children’s Hospital. COVID has altered its work in many ways, but I’ve been honored to be involved with the Foundation for many years as a volunteer yoga teacher. Most of what I do as a meditation and yoga teacher is in the spirit of service, and I am honored to have worked with such inspiriting people and organizations along the way. Finally, big thanks to Yoga Del Mar, my home-base studio that I teach from, when I’m not teaching from my home.

Website: https://www.hiddendiscipline.org/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/itelyukova/

Image Credits
Photo by Shaun Baker. Logo by Brent McCormick.