Tara Stiles

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Tara Stiles – Life, Career & Inspiring Quotes


Learn about Tara Stiles — model turned yoga innovator and founder of Strala Yoga. Explore her journey, philosophy, business model, controversies, and most memorable quotes.

Introduction

Tara Leann Stiles is an American model-turned-yoga instructor and entrepreneur. Strala Yoga, a modern, accessible style of yoga emphasizing ease, movement, and freedom rather than strict adherence to traditional rules. Over the years, Stiles has published books, launched yoga collections, and courted both supporters and critics for her unconventional approach to yoga.

Early Life and Modeling Career

Tara Stiles was born in Morris, Illinois.

Before embracing yoga full-time, Stiles trained in dance in Chicago. It was through a ballet instructor that she became introduced to yoga. Shape, Self, and Marie Claire, and did advertising work for brands such as Nike, Gap, Reebok, and American Apparel.

Founding Strala Yoga & Philosophy

In 2008, Stiles and her husband Michael Taylor founded the Strala studio in SoHo, New York City.

“Strala” is derived from a Swedish word meaning “radiate light.” not emphasize Sanskrit names, chanting, or strict lineage.

A key tenet of her philosophy is ease over struggle. Strala emphasizes moving in flow, paying attention to breath, and allowing the body to guide movement.

Because of these departures from traditional norms, Stiles has drawn both praise and criticism. Some yoga purists argue her approach dilutes yoga’s deeper philosophy or spiritual roots.

Business & Collaborations

Stiles has turned her yoga brand into a sizable enterprise. Her teaching model includes in-studio classes, online training, workshops, and instructor certification programs.

She partnered with Reebok to launch a yoga line in 2012. Make Your Own Rules Diet, a cookbook, Yoga Cures) and produced DVDs and online yoga content.

Harvard Business School even did a case study on her branding of yoga.

Legacy & Criticism

Tara Stiles’ biggest contribution is arguably making yoga more approachable for people who might feel alienated by rigid, traditional practices. Her brand helped democratize yoga, expanding its reach globally.

However, she’s also been criticized for commercializing yoga and for oversimplifying or reducing spiritual elements.

Her method continues to influence many newer yoga styles and fitness / wellness brands that emphasize flexibility, ease, and self-acceptance.

Personality & Style

  • Casual, accessible voice: She speaks openly, avoids jargon, and invites people to join rather than conform.

  • Entrepreneurial and brand minded: She sees yoga both as practice and a movement, building a global system.

  • Physically inspired: With a background in dance and modeling, she understands body awareness and aesthetics.

  • Polarizing but bold: She is willing to push boundaries, provoke debate, and stand by her nontraditional decisions.

Selected Quotes by Tara Stiles

Here are some of her more well-known quotes:

“You are whole body, whole mind, whole spirit, all the time. When you experience all of you at once, anything is possible.” “Eat like you love yourself. Move like you love yourself. Speak like you love yourself. Act like you love yourself.” “We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds … Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation … we begin to string more of these moments together.” “When you are plugged into you, anything is possible.” “Each exhale allows us to let go of the moment that has just passed.” “There is a big lesson in experiencing uncertainty and calamity with a sober focus – the most chaotic moments are the ones from which we can learn the most.” “You take yourself out of the moment and knock yourself off balance when you judge and think about what you are doing, rather than experiencing and enjoying what you are doing.”

These reflect her focus on presence, self-connection, ease, and letting go.

Articles by the author

We experience happiness as a series of pleasing moments. They come and go like clouds, unpredictable, fleeting, and without responsibility to our desires. Through honest self-work, reflection, and meditation, we begin to string more of these moments together, creating a web-like design of happiness that drapes around our lives.

Tara Stiles

My parents were/are straight-edge hippies. Mom roamed around gardening so we would have fresh food, and Dad was on wood-chopping duty to heat our passive solar home that they figured out how to design and build together. I was the kid with green peppers in my lunch, and I liked them!

Tara Stiles

Living, breathing, and being present is the practice that can lead us to having a full and authentic in-the-body experience. If we can shift our perspective from being separate to being part of it all, psychological hang-ups, insecurities, fears, and disorders dissolve.

Tara Stiles

The mere acknowledgment that 'God is watching' can act as a trap, fueling bad behavior, corruption, and guilt, all remedied by God's forgiveness. No personal responsibility is needed - someone on the outside sees whatever we're doing and makes it all OK.

Tara Stiles

There are people who intensely clutch an idea that yoga is a higher system, not to be lowered to the weight loss or even fitness category. This is the same kind of clutching that has kept yoga part of a tightly knit club for so long since its introduction in America.

Tara Stiles

Friendships naturally shift over life. We have different friends for different times in our lives, and sometimes it's not the best idea to hang on to a friendship to try to make it work if it's an unhealthy connection.

Tara Stiles

The first rule of negotiation is to always be willing to walk away from the deal. The first rule of happiness is to not be attached to pleasing moments.

Tara Stiles

The truth of the matter is if we listened to our bodies and cleared our psychologies, we would inherently know what we need to do to stay healthy, and there wouldn't be a market for diet pills, extreme cleanses, or low-calorie, pre-packaged junk food.

Tara Stiles

Practicing yoga has helped me realize a deeper, grounded way of being in the world. I have learned how to communicate in a meaningful way that makes me smile and have learned the super handy skill of efficiency. Use what you need. Rest what you don't.

Tara Stiles

Balance takes work. Lots of it. There is no endpoint in balance, no goal, no finalization. Balance requires practice, patience, and - most importantly - movement. We often get stuck in our ways and form habits based on our fears and driven by our insecurities.

Tara Stiles