## From Downward Dog to Dark Secrets: Yoga Teacher Kandi Neal’s debut Novel
Updated December 12, 2025 02:02PM
It’s not uncommon for yoga teachers to juggle side hustles or full-time careers that have seemingly nothing to do with yoga. Office manager.Physician.Kindergarten teacher. Murder mystery novelist.
Murder mystery novelist? that’s the latest side gig for longtime yoga teacher and debut author Kandi Nealwho self-published Behind the Studio Doors last year. The novel explores a cast of characters with large personalities and complicated relationship dynamics set against the backdrop of a yoga studio.”It’s about love, lies, and betrayal,” says Neal. Also “forbidden romance” and “spiritual scammers.” And, of course, murder.
The book follows Trina,the lead character that Neal based on herself and a friend who owns a yoga studio,as she navigates “quirky studio drama” and “the unspoken realities of wellness culture.” In so doing, the book reveals “the messy, relatable human stories hidden beneath the serene façade,” explains Neal.
“I just thought it was fun and different because it’s the yoga space,” says Neal. “It’s behind the scenes.”
Early in the book,Neal sets the stage for the book’s premise through Trina’s musings: “At thirty years old,I have been teaching yoga for a third of my life. In my corner of the world, it’s almost like a clique. Everyone knows who’s who, and what’s more menacing is that everybody seems to know each other’s business. Of course, there are pluses and minuses, but for the most part, it feels more like a popularity contest than a viable career.”
Neal had childhood aspirations of becoming a writer and started a freelance writing career in her 20s. A couple years later, she started practicing yoga and enrolled in yoga teacher training in 2012. Given her enthusiasm for thrillers and her decade of experience teaching yoga, Neal’s decision to make a yoga studio and its cast of characters the inspo for her story seems the least mysterious part of her process.
Behind the Studio Doors is definitely not your typical yoga book-and that’s a large part of its draw. Writing about deceit and death might be surprising from someone who teaches strength and self-awareness.Yet the underlying message of the book, explains Neal, aligns with the practice’s larger message of “finding calm amidst life’s chaos.”
Q & A With Yoga Teacher and Murder Mystery Novel Writer Kandi Neal
Table of Contents
Neal took a break from leading classes to talk about what her debut book conveys about the yoga community and how she brings the same quiet confidence
Keri Neal discusses her debut novel, “Behind the Studio Doors,” her inspiration from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the self-publishing process, and hints at a sequel.
Inspiration and Character Development
Keri Neal drew inspiration from the character-driven storytelling of The Handmaid’s Tale when developing the characters in “Behind the Studio Doors.” She aimed to create complex characters with relatable motivations, even when flawed, mirroring the dynamic writing and opposition found in the Hulu series. Neal emphasized the importance of backstory in allowing readers to connect with and even sympathize with characters, regardless of their actions.
Self-Publishing as Detachment
YJ: You decided to self-publish your murder mystery novel. Can you share more about that process?
KN: I was really dead set on getting a book deal, and when I realized that wasn’t going to happen, I was like, “Okay, I’ll self publish.”
I learned so much throughout the process of pitching the book to publishers and hearing their feedback, including what I could have done differently or better, so I feel like I’m super armed to write a really good second book.
YJ: Anything else we should know about your first book?
KN: Not to let the mystery out of the bag, but it’s not really a murder. It’s like an accidental manslaughter.
YJ: And you’re currently working on the sequel?
Yes. One thing that I’ve been told by a few people that have read the book is that they really like how strongly I developed these characters. So I feel like it might not take me as long to write because the characters are already established, so I can focus more on the story and not the character development.
Although Neal isn’t disclosing details about her sequel,a potential clue lies on the cover of Behind the Studio Doors. The cover refers to “A Yoga Murders Novel,” suggesting a series is in the works.