Meet Zahra Haji, the Yoga Goddess

So what is a Goddess, exactly?

Simply put, if you are a woman, you are a Goddess. Yes, even you.

Women are rich, complex, intricate, spiritual and physical beings. We are not linear like men; we are beautifully cyclical.

That’s what makes us goddesses in our own right!

The connection to our bodies, our emotions, and our being as a whole is what helps us actually FEEL our goddess-ness.

As a goddess, we each have a touch of feminine mystique. Sometimes we’re vibrant with energy, sometimes sweet and loving, sometimes fiery and confrontational and sometimes subtle and wise.

It’s this whole package that makes us so powerful and fertile.

I wasn’t always a yoga teacher…

… tuned into my body and walking around with balanced hormones.

Growing up, I had accepted that it was normal to think of myself as emotionally unbalanced.

I understood that there were times of the month when I was a little crazy, a little bitchy. I was a woman, and therefore I was irrational and unpredictable: it came with the territory.

Then I discovered Miranda Gray’s work and Christiane Northrup’s books. They both explained the rhythm of women’s hormones and the ways women are directly connected to the moon phases and the seasons. I was blown away.

It turned out that I wasn’t “psycho”—I was cyclical.

Acquiring that deeper understanding of my body, my hormones, and my cycle changed everything about my relationship with myself.

But it wasn’t until November 2003 that it became undeniably clear there was a greater path for me: that of a teacher.

A Timeline of Zahra’s Story

After analyzing my numbers, Yogi Akal looked at me and whole-heartedly said, “You are a teacher.” I looked at him and assured him that I was no teacher. Rather, I was a marketing executive who had been entertaining the idea of yoga teacher training. He looked at me decisively and repeated, “I am telling you, and you are a teacher.” The logical, account executive, marketing side of my brain was far from convinced so questioning ensued. With the same intensity he persisted, “You are in a yoga school, talking to a Yogi, and you are asking me if you should do yoga teacher training?”.

I knew, in a place far deeper than my mind, that he was right.

I signed up. Without a second thought, I signed up to become a yoga teacher. It’s been days and my mind is still reeling with the commitment I’ve made without doing any research or what I considered at the time to be any rational decision-making. For the first time in my life, I’m about to walk into 500 hours of training (and debt) for an idea I have vaguely entertained.

How Yoga Goddess Got Her Name

April, 2006

It’s April and my first 500 hours of training are now complete. I’m ready to teach my first class. My marketing background wants me to go out of the gates strong and brand myself in a way that resonates with my practice and my way of teaching. My current yogic being and background wants me to ensure the experience feels true to who I am and what I represent.

A friend of my partner’s (during my training) referred to me as “the yoga goddess”. And in a meditation one day, though cliché it may sound, these words came to me, along with a vision of a G represented as a swirl. Fearful of sounding narcissistic, I asked a friend for his opinion and before he could answer, a small, beautiful, white-haired woman approached.

She looked at me with intent and warmly said, “I overheard your conversation and I felt I had to come and tell you something. When you walked in, I gasped and said the goddess Lakshmi just walked through the door.” Willow, as I know her name to be, had answered my question. That evening, I sent a rough sketch of the swirling G from my vision to a graphic design friend. Within days my Yoga Goddess logo appeared, like magic.

With gratitude for these teachings, the Moon Goddess program was born. Through this class, I continue to honour Ixchel, and the other goddess energies that help women connect with their Divine Feminine.

Present Day

Though a great challenge and an intense journey over 12+ years, today I say to you with confidence: “I am a teacher”.