Finding My Voice
As I have been going through my yoga teacher training program I realize that I am experiencing something akin to stage fright. I find it hard to put myself out ‘there’. Not just with yoga teaching, but with many things in my life. Part of the reason I wanted to take the training was to find my speaking voice.
The other day my yoga teacher Leslie read this quote in class and it really resonated with me.
“Do not feel lonely, the entire universe is inside you. Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion. Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames.”
Rumi
I have been acting small. I don’t think I have a problem with self expression, this typically comes out in my art. I think my issue is with self promotion, I have a hard time tooting my own horn. I also get shy and nervous in front of a large group of people. Maybe I am just a shy person, but that doesn’t feel like the right description either. I can’t put my finger on it exactly.
I don’t seek the spotlight, but I long to share my work with others, and to do that I need to be brave and put myself out there more. I want my friends, family, and neighbors to come to my yoga classes, see/buy my art and products, learn about my work with websites and small businesses, see my home improvement projects, and more.
I have so much going on in my mind, with my businesses, and in my life, up to this point I have not shared a lot of what I do. I am amazed by people that put themselves out there, build their personal brand, and post to social media all the time.
There are things I don’t like about social media, but with all things, it is in how you use it. A knife could be used to chop vegetables for dinner or it could be wielded as a weapon. Social media is the same, it can be used for good, sharing ideas, and events.
In yoga teacher training, they say the most important thing about teaching is to just be yourself, be authentic. We’ve been given all the tools, now we need to go out into the world and figure out how we want to use them.
In order to share all the things I am working on, I think I am going to have to post more on social media. Open up online and put myself out ‘there’ more. In yoga, I give myself little challenges to help myself grow. Like, take 1 yoga class per day for a week or take 3 yoga classes in one day. I think I’ll take the same approach to social media. My challenge will be to share one thing per day for a week.
The first thing I will share is that I am starting a new business call ‘Wander with Direction’. I’ve been noodling on what this business will be for about a year, it is ever so slowly coming into focus. My mission is simple – to inspire purposeful exploration through curated tours, immersive classes, and thoughtfully created or curated products available in my online shop. All the things I love, art, travel and adventures!
The second thing I would like to share is that I created the graphic that is used as a featured image for this article. It was inspired by the Rumi quote above. It made me think of the Orion constellation in the night sky. I took that visual, the quote, and wove it together with the yoga star pose and the chakras to create this graphic. Then, I turned it into a t-shirt!
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