In 2014, Jill decided she was done with her corporate job as a party planner, she wanted to be a full-time yoga teacher. The road to a successful and fulfilling career as a wellness professional was, however, harder than she anticipated.
Feeling depleted, Jill decided to enter, once again, the corporate world. But it wasn’t long before she realized she couldn’t go on living a corporate life. That’s when she entered Yoga Health Coaching.
Two years on, Jill is living her dream life, and is the YHC Coach of the month. Listen to the podcast to learn how living the habits changed Jill’s life and led her to create a successful coaching business.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to transition from a corporate to a wellness career
• How to be comfortable experimenting with your business
• How to turn overwhelm into action

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Learn more about the Find the Money Course
• Jill’s website
• Jill’s Instagram

Show Highlights:

• Jill talks about her postpartum depression
• Jill shares how she is making her program evergreen
• Jill explains how saying no became a superpower

Timestamps:

• 1:24 From corporate mess to a successful Yoga Health Coach
• 10:16 Implementing Easefull Living and the Habits
• 21:50 Experimenting and adjusting your business
• 32:41 Advice for people contemplating joining YHC

Guest Bio:

Jill is a yoga teacher, certified yoga health coach, and soon-to-be mom of 3. Her mothering journey began with burn out, postpartum depression and anxiety, and tons of mom guilt as she fell into the common trap of feeling like being a mom meant being a martyr.
Reconnecting to her yoga practice, incorporating Ayurveda into her daily routine, and connecting with women who were also putting themselves back on the radar were the keys to healing and reconnecting with her own power and desires. Her company Life By The Moon is what came of this transformation from burnt out cog in the wheel to creatrix of a life driven by passion and joy.
She walks with women as they awaken to their innate ability to be energized and vibrant in their bodies, patient and loving with their families, passionate in their work, connected and trusting of their intuition, delighted in the playful curiosity of wondering how GOOD life can be, and choosing a daily experience in full alignment with their own power and desires.

As an engineer- not a natural marketer- I knew that research was my best option for learning how to develop my social media strategy.  I wanted to use planning and organization to help me identify the most effective outlets to grow my business.

There are many options to choose from, and while social media marketing may be inexpensive in terms of cash, it can cost in time and effort. As a one-person business I want to invest my time well and see results. So I decided to dig in.

Get Organized Around Social Media Marketing

My first step to getting organized? I started to read and follow business sites that share social media marketing strategy. Every article I read had ample advice on how to make social media work for you, instead of you working for it.

There were 3 main ideas that stuck with me: avoid overwhelm, understand your target audience, and schedule purposefully. Let’s take a look at each of these strategies.

Spend Time Wisely Avoid Overwhelm

The first concept to consider? How much time do you want to spend on social media versus other marketing?

For an online business, social media reaches a wide audience and can be time well spent. Although Facebook has taken some recent popularity hits, 72 % of American adults still look at Facebook on a regular basis. This is a lot of people.

One strategy you can use to help you get a decent return on your time investment is using data to target your peeps and make sure you are engaging on the right social media platforms. Supporting 6 to 10 social media platforms can take a lot of time, even be a full-time job. If it is critical to your business to be present on all these platforms, make sure that you are getting help. Farm your social media activities out to social media scheduling software, a virtual assistant, or a social media support company to help lighten the load.

However many platforms your business is on, find a way to be consistent, insightful and on target for one, two, three or even 4 channels rather than a vague presence on six or more different social media outlets. Connect to your target audience and build your reputation as a trustworthy expert. You want your community to look forward to your posts, read them, and share them widely.

Identify Your Target Audience

Who is your target audience? Choose platforms based on the people you want to reach. Start by checking in with your community. Survey your email list and your facebook group.  Look into the most popular social media channels and determine which will work best for your community.

It can also be helpful to look to your competitors. Are they using Snapchat or Instagram? Are they getting engagement? Focus in on what you are trying to do and who you are trying to reach as you navigate your decision tree.

For instance, an avatar or target client for my community might be a mature suburban woman aged 45 -70  who has had issues with weight.  She wants to age with grace and come into healthy relationships with food and life. For this target group,  Facebook, You Tube, and Pintrest work well. Snapchat and Vine are not channels this type of client frequents. So even though I like their logos, I won’t be spending much time on their platforms.

Schedule Purposely To Grow Your Business

Many people use a spreadsheet or external support to align posts with business activity. They plan social media activity by the month quarter or year. By posting different types of content at different times, you can  improve reach to your  community, and optimize posts for each platform.

One option you can use to make scheduling simpler is a  Scheduling Tool.  A scheduler is software that allows you to implement automatic posting to your social media platforms. You load the content and schedule the time of the post and the software takes care of the rest. Sprout, Buffer, Hootsuite, Comum.it, and Tweetdeck are all scheduling tools for managing social media posting.  Some of these have free versions with basic functionality to help you get started. Others are paid.

If you are primarily posting from your website or blog, website plugins that share to multiple channels can be helpful. One downside is that most of them share to all sites at the time you publish. Easy Social Share, Social Warfare and Jet Pack are low or no cost and help automate sharing your website generated content and blog posts.

Platform Examples

Here are some examples of today’s most frequently used platforms.

Facebook

Facebook has a number of features that you can use to promote your work. Groups are fantastic for creating community and managing information exposure. You can join groups to see what works, then create your own group to share specialized information, build authority and engender trust.

High-quality visual content (aka pictures and videos) promote higher levels of engagement.

Make posts shareable- it shocks me how many people don’t- and encourage your community to share your offerings for more exposure and traction. Create, post and publicize events to build attendance. Place paid ads when it makes sense. Live video streaming is a super easy way to share info updates with your followers. Answer questions once a month in a “Facebook Live” of streaming video to help build your following.

Most importantly- keep your personal page separate from your business.  You may not want clients to see a post from your college friend about memories of all-night parties.

Pintrest

In Pintrest you create boards that are used to save posts, blogs and video content. You can then promote and share your boards. Set up a board for each course, or topic-specific boards.  I have one for each of my websites. Think of it as a bookmarking site for ebooks, tip guides, blog posts and recipes you want to share with your community.

YouTube

Videos on YouTube are a way to share personality and expertise as you connect to your community. Video content has a high engagement rate and return on investment.  Look at videos that are successful to help plan the design of yours. Always include useful eye-catching content, your web address, images, tags, and a good title. This is a growing edge for me, so I am spending time watching YouTube videos instead of television.  Share your videos across your other platforms.

More than 93 percent of marketers are actively using video content, and more than 50 percent believe it has the best ROI among all types of content.  – Jawad Kahn

Focus Nets The Most Benefit

Before deciding which social media channels to be active on and what support you need, work out a clear plan and implementation schedule. Define your goals and be consistent. Social media takes time and an investment of your energy in order to build community and create leads to grow your business. Dig in, get organized, and reap the benefits.

Why should we tell our story

Why is important that we have our voices heard and that we come out of hiding? Men, women and children have been sexually assaulted, humiliated, shamed over many generations  and what is the reaction? More shame and humiliation. Why should we stay hidden and let the Patriarchy put us back in our closet of shame?

To me staying silent amid such courageous Truth Telling going on right now is destructive and regressive. Almost every woman I meet has been victimized by actual or attempted sexual assault. To deny these experiences is burying our pain and hurt and sending it down the generational stream to our children and grandchildren. It is unacceptable!

My Experience

I have had my own experience of a near rape in High School. I was lucky enough to have escaped but it left an indelible mark on me. I felt totally responsible for this event and deeply shamed. It was not my fault but I took it on and did not speak about it for many years.

I judged myself.

This was just one of many experiences that eroded my self esteem and my belief in my own talent. This led to an eating disorder and a stream of bad relationship choices.

Yoga, Meditation and Ayurveda to the rescue!

Finding the path of yoga and Ayurveda helped me and so many others heal from this early life trauma. I discovered an inner strength I never knew I had and provided skills to heal my eating disorder. I was literally trying to stuff my feelings of unworthiness and trauma to keep them from surfacing. I was trying to take control of a place inside that was totally out of control, fearful and traumatized.

By practicing yoga and learning about Ayurveda I was able to bring my body into balance with nature. I was able to connect to the deeper essence of who I am… The place that is beyond personality and ordinary mind.

Through the practices of yoga I learned to connect to my Higher Self on a daily basis. By adopting good healthy Ayurvedic habits, my nervous system calmed down and I began to sleep more deeply. I finally experienced a deep self-love and respect for the first time in my life. I was able to maintain a healthy weight without obsessing about my diet and exercise. I was free!

The behavior of the men who took advantage of me over the years is reprehensible to me.

How do we as a society address this total disrespect and violence?

The Root Cause

What is causing this behavior according to the wisdom teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda?

At the root of this behavior of violence and domination is the feeling of being separated from others. The Yoga wisdom teachings call it Mayiya Mala, the veil that shows us how different we are from each other; a different race, age, culture, generation, class, gender, sexual preference.

Otherness is what triggers our feelings of separation. This veil cloaks our true nature which is totally connected to the Oneness in us all.

It is hard to see the beauty and oneness in someone who belittles, humiliates, and disregards your feelings as worthless.

Both men and women are at fault in empowering the patriarchy.

I heard a woman on a podcast last week laughing at how Trump mocked Christine Blasey Ford. She let out a loud, huge, belly laugh as she shared how funny Trump was when he mocked this victim of sexual assault at a rally.

Where do we go from here?

Where do we go from here on finding the humanity in folks with whom we disagree? Since the confirmation hearing of Brett Kavanaugh, many of my students, friends, and colleagues have sunk into a rage and depression about where do we go from here.

Their own trauma triggered, they are anxious and feeling lost as to what can possibly come from this. What is the lesson we need to learn from this darkness?

The Next Generation

As a yoga teachers and health coaches we need to take a stand for the well being of ourselves, our students, our daughters and granddaughters. We need to ask how do we train our sons, husbands, nephews, and grandsons to be sensitive, aware and respectful around women and girls?

We are  called to discover an inner “Source” that will enable us to become resilient and strong enough to stand up to centuries of misogyny and the all powerful Patriarchy.

The practices and wisdom teachings of Yoga and Ayurveda are pathways to help cultivate an awareness and inner strength in both men and women to find a new way forward.

Finding New Leadership

Knowing at a very young age that independence was very important to me I sought out other independent spirits who had non-traditional paths. They were leaders in a new entrepreneurial feminist movement.

I was totally on board. My new friends were women like Molly Fox and Cate Stillman who have blazed new trails of leadership in the wellness and healing professions.

Why should you find your authentic path, your SwaDharma?

Finding the right path is good for the soul. By becoming an entrepreneur I see myself and many women finding their way around the Patriarchy. Being in professions where women excel and hold positions of power, I see women learning to share their power instead of holding others down in order to feel more powerful themselves.

Taking control of your own destiny

When I became a Yoga Health Coach 4 years ago, I began to work with men and women who want to step into their own power and realize their true potential. I am seeing people blossom and grow in new ways. They become more confident and self possessed. They take on skills to help them find their own inner voice and the source of their creativity. I see my students take on new health habits that bring them mastery over how they feel about themselves.

By stepping into power in your own life you can encourage your kids, grandkids, elders step into their own Swa Dharma. Everyone who steps onto this path affects the well being of everyone around them. It is magical!

The Next Right Step

In order to heal our society we need to share power and authority with both men and women.

We need to share the wisdom teachings of yoga and Ayurveda with the next generation and empower them to step into their own “True Path”.

We need to train the next generation of girls and boys to respect each other and not get caught up in trying to fit in by compromising what we know is right for ourselves and our bodies and hearts.

• Teach them to recognize true intimacy is not only physical but emotional.
• Train our young boys to have emotional intelligence and not objectify girls and women.
• Choose leaders who are awake and want to empower women and men in new roles.

The economies of countries who educate women are much stronger. Women will educate their children and help our society to evolve.

This will free both men and women to to step into their true path.

Let your voice be heard. I welcome dialogue about your own experiences of finding your own voice and true path.

If you are looking to empower yourself and become more independent, I highly recommend the path of a Yoga Health Coach. If you are currently a yoga teacher and struggling financially this will give you more financial freedom and autonomy. Studying with Cate Stillman had been immensely empowering to me and so many others.

“Embrace your suffering and let it reveal to you the way to peace” Thich Nhat Hanh

As a Yoga Health Coaching enrollment coach, Grace Edison hears a lot of different versions of fear getting in the way of stepping into potential. On an evolutionary path, fear arises because inevitably, a part or parts of you have to die in order for you to step into your potential. When we realize that fear is normal and that fear can be a good indication that we’re where we need to be, it becomes easier to navigate through the fear.

A lot of wellness pros find themselves repeating the same patterns rather than advancing on an evolutionary path, and sometimes they don’t even realize it. Yogahealer enrollment coaches, like Grace Edison, are experts at recognizing those patterns and helping potential course members recognize them too. Recognizing the patterns and being willing to change them, even in the face of fear, creates a peak performance mindset that can catapult you into your evolutionary journey.

Are you ready for an evolutionary journey? Talk to Grace!

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why fear arises when you’re on an evolutionary journey.
• How many wellness pros get in the way of their own professional growth.
• What steps you need to take to get out of your own way.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Yoga Health Coaching
• Join The Fall Yogidetox

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – As a Yoga Health Coaching enrollment coach, Grace Edison hears a lot of different versions of fear getting in the way of stepping into potential. On an evolutionary path, fear arises because inevitably, a part or parts of you have to die in order for you to step into your potential. When we realize that fear is normal and that fear can be a good indication that we’re where we need to be, it becomes easier to navigate through the fear.
• 4:55 – A lot of wellness pros find themselves repeating the same patterns rather than advancing on an evolutionary path, and sometimes they don’t even realize it. Metrics are useful indicators of where you are: income, impact, network, and integrity metrics are particularly useful.
• 10:25 – Because Grace speaks to yoga health coaches before they decide to enroll, and she is able to witness their growth through the program, she has a unique advantage when it comes to determining what makes a person successful in YHC. It simply comes down to the person’s ability to recognize that they are in a repetitive pattern and to be willing to change that pattern, no matter how much fear they experience. This creates a peak performance mindset.
• 15:33 – The role of Yogahealer enrollment coaches is to make decisions from a peak performance mindset. Part of that involves pointing out how, where, and when people are getting the way of their own potential.
• 23:00 – Thinking that you need to prove you can do something before you get help with it is a common way of getting in your own way. It’s a backwards way of thinking. If you align to a proven process, like Yoga Health Coaching, you’ll prove it to yourself along your growth path. And if you’re with a group of people going in the same direction you want to go, your growth will happen so much faster.

Favorite Quotes:

• “The more you’re in a peak performance mindset, the better able you are to take risk. So rather than it feeling risky, it feels like stepping into potentiality. It feels like stepping beyond and through the patterned self.” — Cate Stillman
• “Like Marcus Aurelius said . . . , the obstacle is the way. Where you’re in your own way, that’s the way.” — Cate Stillman
• “No one ever got out of their own way alone. Ever.” — Cate Stillman
• “Before it’s a skill set, it’s a process. . . . It’s developing a process. It’s breaking down the inertia of the old pattern and the old way of doing things.” — Grace Edison
• “The quickest way to evolve is to get with a group that’s going in the direction where you want to end up.” — Cate Stillman

Guest BIO:

Grace Edison lives in British Columbia, Canada. She’s a mom of twin 8 year olds, a Yoga teacher, studio owner, and Yoga Health Coach — and she also works for Cate Stillman in Admissions at Yogahealer! More than anything, she loves to make people laugh and has a not-so-secret dream of doing stand-up comedy. Grace has a strong passion for empowering others to take their health and wellness into their own hands. She loves building authentic relationships, making people laugh, and creating supportive communities. After a long-standing relationship with severe depression, Grace has found deep relief through the habits of Ayurveda — and much credit is due to Cate and her Body Thrive program. After taking Body Thrive several times and jumping into Yoga Health Coaching, Grace came aboard the Yogahealer team.

Integrative medicine is an approach to health care that addresses the full range of factors that can affect a person’s health: physical, mental, emotional, environmental, etc. Ayurveda is the perfect complement to allopathic medicine, which focuses very little on the prevention of illness and disease. While health care in the United States is starting to offer more wellness-based services and alternative healing modalities, the delivery is hit or miss and far less meaningful than the work we do as yoga health coaches.

With the implementation of new laws and fear of malpractice, nurses have lost touch with what their scope of practice encompasses. It encompasses teaching and educating the public.  Nurses CAN discuss diet, lifestyle, supplements and medication. So nurses can educate in line with what we learn in Yoga Health Coaching. For nurses, Yoga Health Coaching is a fulfilling return to the reason why they got into nursing in the first place.

Yoga Health Coaches in the medical field can start to bridge the gap between Western medicine and Ayurveda, between a treatment-based system and a prevention-based system. What we learn in Yoga Health Coaching demystifies ayurveda and makes it accessible to everyone.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why Ayurveda is the perfect complement to allopathic medicine.
• How teaching patients about Ayurveda will  help future generations.
• How Yoga Health Coaching provides nurses with the structure to effectively educate patients and client about the foundations for health.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Join The Fall Yogidetox
• Yoga Health Coaching
• Body Thrive

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – Integrative medicine is an approach to health care that addresses the full range of factors that can affect a person’s health: physical, mental, emotional, environmental, etc.
• 2:15 – Annette Schellnbarger worked as a bedside nurse for over a decade. She discontinued her work a couple of years ago in order to complete her training as an Ayurvedic Practitioner. She sees ayurveda as the perfect complement to allopathic medicine, especially in the area of mental health.
• 3:55 – Nancy Plunkett has been a hospital nurse for over 22 years. What she noticed about allopathic medicine was how little emphasis was placed on prevention. As a yoga health coach, she now feels a sense of fulfillment because she is able to help people prevent illness and disease. Her fear is that as an R.N., she’s not able to treat or diagnose anything, so she’ll have to be careful with how she approaches her patients.
• 6:30 – With the implementation of new laws and fear of malpractice, nurses have lost touch with what their scope of practice encompasses. It encompasses teaching and educating the public.  Nurses CAN discuss diet, lifestyle, supplements and medication. So nurses can educate in line with what we learn in Yoga Health Coaching.
• 10:00 – For nurses, Yoga Health Coaching is a fulfilling return to the reason why they got into nursing in the first place. Nancy is hopeful that she and other Yoga Health Coaches in the medical field can start to bridge the gap between Western medicine and Ayurveda, between a treatment-based system and a prevention-based system. That will require educating and collaborating with medical doctors.
• 18:10 – Teaching patients who are being treated for disease or illness about the wisdom of ayurveda will help that wisdom filter down to future generations who may be able to avoid the disease process. What we learn in Yoga Health Coaching demystifies ayurveda and makes it accessible to everyone.
• 25:35 – If you are in a medical field, Yoga Health Coaching provides you with the structure to teach your patients or clients the foundations for health. While health care in the United States is starting to offer more wellness-based services and alternative healing modalities, the delivery is hit or miss and far less meaningful than the work we do as yoga health coaches.

Your Favorite Quotes:

• “There are so many laws, and we have been put in such a place of fear that we have lost touch with what is our scope of practice. And our scope of practice involves teaching and educating the public.” — Annette Schellenbarger
• “We have to allow people to be in charge of their health because what we’re ultimately doing is teaching them how to become self aware.” — Annette Schellenbarger
• “This is the fulfilling part of Yoga Health Coaching for me is that I can do what I was supposed to do in the first place, what I was taught to do.” — Nancy Plunkett
• “Imagine if we can teach those people who are acute about disease prevention, then in another generation or two, that knowledge will carry down.” — Paige Pearman
• “As a nurse . . . , I have worked with very, very ill people. And 80% of the reason why they’re there, even the cancer patients, were due to lifestyle and food choices. Every single one of them. And so ayurveda to me was like this lifeline.” — Annette Schellenbarger

Guest BIO:

 Paige Pearman is an Ayurvedic Health Counselor through the California College of Ayurveda and Yoga Health Coach.

Internationally known Clinical Ayurvedic Specialist, Marma Therapist, Herbal Rasayanist, Registered Nurse, Massage Therapist, and Registered Yoga Teacher, Annette Shellenbarger, is the original founder of Chandra Ayurveda.

Annette brings long-term balance and health to her clients that range from next-door neighbors to yogis in Europe. Annette is also a leader in bridging Western and Eastern healing modalities, and restoring Ayurveda to its authentic, spiritual and most effective roots, and is an innovator in applying Ayurveda as a complimentary system of well being, wellness and health.

Annette works with western doctors to support clients and provide a well rounded, holistic system of healing. Annette teaches and lectures at yoga studios, hospitals, community centers, and has a successful online program teaching Ayurveda to medical professionals, health coaches, yoga teachers, Registered Dietitians, and functional medicine doctors.

Nancy Plunkett is a registered nurse, yoga teacher, yoga health coach, yoga nidra facilitator, Take A Breath facilitator, and facilitator on yoga sailing retreats.

How do you stay in touch with your role as a flagbearer for thrive? I reach into my community for support, remember that leading the way is not always easy, and touch the place deep inside that knows this is what I am meant to do. All the jobs, trials, illness, growth and learning have made me who I am- a strong teacher, healer, coach and a flagbearer for my community.

Carrying The Flag

I sometimes compare being a health coach to being a world level olympian. I feel a thrill when I watch the US Olympic team enter the stadium during the opening ceremony. Before each Olympics the team bestows the honor of carrying our country’s flag. Flag bearers are members of the team as well as leaders chosen by teammates and coaches for their exceptional qualities as people and athletes. Yoga Health coaches have a lot in common with high level athletes- more than you might think.

Yoga health coaches are flag bearers for health. Carrying the flag is an honor in the military- the flag bearer carries a symbol of identity and hope rather than a weapon. As yoga health coaches, we bring our community hope and concrete tools to identify and align with wellness. Awakening to the true freedom and power we have to change people’s lives for the better is a gift. Share that gift and lead your community towards the victory of vibrant health.

“Being nominated to carry the flag at the Opening Ceremony is one of the greatest honours that has ever been bestowed upon me. – Todd Lodwick 2014 Winter Olympics flag bearer

How Yoga Health Coaches Carry The Flag

Yoga health coaches choose to wave the flag of health to direct others onto the path of thrive.  Since most yoga health coaches are householders, they make every-day life choices based on habits of health like the 10 habits of Ayurvedic Dinacharya taught in Body Thrive. They prioritize health in the same way Olympic athletes build their lives around optimizing performance. They embrace habits that deliver capability and health. Yoga health coaches lead and teach from a place of passion to help members of our community thrive.

Waking up every morning and embracing a daily structure in support of a goal takes a lot of dedication, hard work, and consistency. It has to spark joy. For a yoga health coach it is all about embodying the habits and authentically sharing insights to teach others. Being a health coach springs from a deep desire to help yourself and others.

World Class Athletes wake up passionate each day and work hard to achieve their fitness and performance goals. Internal fire and desire fuel the path of an Olympian and a health coach. Athletes who excel in their sport and demonstrate a high level of personal excellence might be chosen to be a Flag bearer.

“Do activities you’re passionate about – which make your heart and soul feel perky – including things like working out, cooking, painting, writing, yoga, hiking, walking, swimming, being in nature, being around art, or reading inspiring books.” – Karen Salmansohn

Yoga Health Coach Flagbearer Characteristics

Often the first things we see when we look inward are our faults. Here is suggestion: forget the term “fault” and instead identify opportunities to get better at what you love to do. Athletes analyze their performance using video and slow motion replays. With the help of their coaches they identify where they need to place their focus to get to the next level. Look at yourself through a similar lens and honor your desire to excel and serve.

Do you see great characteristics and mad skills in yourself? I am sure that your peers and clients do. When I interact with yoga health coaches -and I know many- I see amazing qualities in action. Check out  the coach of the month to meet a someone with these capabilities. While none of our coaches will be standing on the podium with the national anthem playing any time soon, they earn the right carry the flag of health everyday. As Yoga health coaches you live what you teach, you lead your community, and have you have some amazing abilities.  

You are able to:

• See and plan with a long view.
• Orient towards defined goals and success
• Take consistent steps to actualize goals
• Practice integrity- and expect it in your clients
• Shape lives with dedication and discipline.  
• Hold space for client progress
• Grow & evolve in leading your community

Which of these strengths do you see front and center in coaching your community? Celebrate and tap it for success.  Where are you focussing your energy in your desire to become a better coach? Reach out and get some extra training to keep refining your gift.

Each Olympic Games or world cup is over within a couple of weeks.. The walk and work of vibrant living goes on. Are you a flag bearer for thrive?  I’d love for you to share a victory in your journey as a health coach in the comments below.

In Yoga Health Coaching (YHC), we learn how to teach our own versions of Cate Stillman’s Body Thrive course. But some yoga health coaches, like Heather Stoken, take it one step further and create their own unique courses using the basic business structure of YHC.

Heather had studied some healing modalities and knew she wanted to make an impact on other people’s health, so after completing the Living Ayurveda course, she enrolled in Yoga Health Coaching. After completing YHC and becoming a certified yoga health coach, Heather took some time to reflect on where she wanted to take her work.

While she continues to teach the 10 habits of Body Thrive, Heather’s program caters to people working in the airline industry: pilots, flight attendants, and even frequent travelers. Catering to that niche meant changing some of the structure and languaging from a yoga or ayurveda perspective to something more mainstream that her course members could easily understand and relate to.

The business skills Heather learned in YHC set her up for success. The YHC community gave Heather the support and inspiration she needed to create a business that aligned with her values.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How Yoga Health Coaching teaches us a totally customizable business model.
• How the YHC community provides support and inspiration.
• How you can create a business that aligns with your unique knowledge and values.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Body Thrive Book
• YHC Have a conversation
• Heather website
• Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 0:55 – In Yoga Health Coaching (YHC), we learn how to teach our own versions of Cate Stillman’s Body Thrive course. But some yoga health coaches, like Heather Stoken, take it one step further and create their own unique courses using the basic business structure of YHC.
• 2:10 – Prior to the birth of her son two years ago, Heather taught reading and yoga. After her son was born, she was a stay at home mom. She had studied some healing modalities and knew she wanted to make an impact on people’s health, so after completing the Living Ayurveda course, she enrolled in Yoga Health Coaching. After completing YHC and becoming a certified yoga health coach, Heather took some time to reflect on where she wanted to take her work.
• 4:40 – While she continues to teach the 10 habits of Body Thrive, Heather’s program caters to people working in the airline industry: pilots, flight attendants, and even frequent travelers. Catering to that niche meant changing some of the structure and languaging from a yoga or ayurveda perspective to something more mainstream that her course members could easily understand and relate to.
• 7:04 – The business skills Heather learned in YHC set her up for success. The YHC community gave Heather the support and inspiration she needed to create a business that aligned with her values.

Favorite Quotes:

• “It’s an empowering thing in itself to be able to offer this 10 habit program because Cate Stillman just makes it so available in terms of putting your own personal spin on things. We have the basis of these ten habits, but the way that we offer it . . . we can take it any direction that we want.” — Carly Banks
• “One of my struggles before YHC, being a stay at home mom, was that I felt super isolated. And when I did connect with people, I didn’t necessarily feel like it was my tribe, my people. So it’s super exciting to be in a community with like-minded people that are all working towards making an impact. . . . It feel great.” — Heather Stoken

Guest BIO:

Heather Stoken is a Yoga and Yoga Tune Up® teacher that has been practicing and teaching  for the last 10 years in beautiful Portland, Oregon and on retreats and workshops throughout the Country.

Heather is passionate about her yoga both on and off the mat, and integrates fun as well as anatomical understanding into her teaching. Off the mat, Heather is a mother,  a novice artist and chef, as well as a lover of travel and the great outdoors. Connect with Heather on her Website and Facebook page.

“Please. Don’t turn on the light.”

“What are you afraid of?”

My shadow haunts me.

As I grow my business, my shadow lurks around every corner, asking me difficult questions and feeding my self-doubt. Why do I, as an experienced coach, still doubt my coaching skills? Why is this so hard? Why aren’t people investing in my program? Can’t they see they need to change?

Yep…there’s my shadow. I can’t escape.

Does your shadow haunt you too?

As you grow your business, you encounter your shadow over and over again. But it doesn’t have to be such a struggle. You can choose to step into the light and face the challenges of growth.

What choice will you make? Will you hide in the dark or step into the light?

“You cannot really have authorship of yourself unless and until you know yourself and that means all of yourself”,

Dominique Christina

What is a Shadow?

I was inspired to write this post after a recent Yoga Health Coaching Q&A call with our leader Cate Stillman.

I have limited “book knowledge” of shadow issues. Do I have real world experience? Hell ya!

Here’s a few ways our group of highly self-aware people defines shadow issues:

• “That part of us we’ve rejected, refuse to look at or that is hidden from our awareness. Subconscious.”, Lael Petersen, chief psychologist

• “One that’s hidden in the subconscious mind, and it influences me in day to day existence. When it’s brought into the light, it can be honored, accepted, and then can transform.” Denise Keenan, chief hypnotherapist

• “Fear of success….thrill of the chase and then freak out with follow through.”, Anna Berkelmans, chief rebel and rockstar coach

What Does Your Shadow Look Like?

Have you seen your physical shadow lately? Go for a walk toward the sunrise and take a few rights and lefts and turn around. Observe long, lanky, short and squat angles of yourself. Your shadow self encompasses your fears and your desires, and it can take on diverse sizes and shapes. Each shadow carries a particular energy too.

We have unique perceptions of what our shadow looks and feels like. In our Q&A call, here’s how we responded to the question: “What does your shadow look like?”:

• Lack of self-worth
• Separate, limited
• “I don’t have what it takes”
• Victim mode, fixed mindset
• “I can’t sustain this”
• “I’m unsupported, people don’t get what I’m doing”
• I am fooling people, pulling the wool over people’s eyes (Imposter Syndrome)
• #woundedhealer
• #brokehealer
• #brokenhealer

Is your Shadow Blocking your Potential?

When your shadow shows up, you feel like giving up. “It’s too damn hard!” You doubt your skills, knowledge and strength to persevere. The changes you need to make to grow your business feel insurmountable.

You know you can do it.

Body shaking, gut wrenching, mind blowing. Oh Ya! You’ve entered the shadow world.

How to Illuminate Your Shadow

“The fastest way is complete transparency…it is completely humiliating to the ego.”,

Cate Stillman

Want to confront your shadow issues? Reach your potential? Live a richer life?

I’ve collected 8 practices from our crew and several resources. Go ahead, dare to dance with your shadow. Try one, two or all of ‘em.

1.  Honor The Body Thrive Habits:

Practice what you preach. Your daily rhythm is a potent source of integrated energy, from Earlier Lighter Dinner to Easeful Living. If you’re out of alignment with one or more of the habits, you lack confidence to shine your light on your shadow.

Action steps:

• Budget 20-30 minutes for this practice.
• List the 10 Body Thrive habits.
• Rate your integrity with each one of them (1: Ugh…it ain’t happening to 10: Yes…locked in and automated).
• Invest a few weeks tightening your weak links. You may find a few shadows lurking in the habits you are avoiding.

But, “the habits will only get you so far, you’ll still struggle with it…you’re not going to figure it out on your meditation cushion.”, Cate Stillman.

Next practice, please.

2.  Witness Your Reactions:

“The more you pay attention to your behavior and emotions, the better chances you have of catching your shadow in the act.”

 Scott Jeffrey

1. Do you judge other people for being lazy?
2. Do you cringe when your coworker starts one of her long winded stories?
3. Are you jealous when you hear another coach selling an annual ticket?
4. Do you long to be as efficient as your mother?

Numbers 1, 2, and 3: Yep, criticism, annoyance and jealousy are some of my shadow issues.

But what about number 4: longing or deep desire? Shadow issues aren’t always villainous. You may have some heroic shadows lurking behind your emotional reactions.

Action steps:

• Carry a notepad or your phone with you for a week.
• After you feel a surge of emotion towards another person (cue), note it.
• Ask yourself: How do I engage in the same behavior that gives rise to such disgust or admiration?
• Let your response lead you to what shadow issues you may be denying within you.

3. Illustrate Your Shadow:

If you are a creative spirit or you want to explore your creative side, this practice is for you. Pull out your drawing pad and markers.

Action steps:

• Schedule 30-60 minutes for this practice.
• Give shape, color, texture, symbols and energy to your shadow. What does she look like?
• Draw her opposite. What does your heroine side like?
• Post your picture on Facebook. Sharing your images will make them more real.

4.  Write Your Shadow Story

“When you write, you invite your hidden parts to dance.”

                                                        Dominique Christina

Writing your shadow story deepens your awareness of what’s holding you back.  Describe what keeps you in the shadows. Get full access to it. See it for what it is. When you recognize your relationship with your shadow, then you can make skillful, confident changes.

Action steps:

• Set a timer for 15-30 minutes.
• Ask your shadow the following questions to spark your story:
  • Who are you?
  • Why are you doing this to me?
  • What do you want from me?
  • What are you trying to show me?
  • What do you have to teach me?
• And ask yourself these two questions:
  • How do I sabotage myself in my business?
  • What shadow issues do I need to digest to grow?

5. Make Friends with Your Shadow:

“Without friendliness and self-compassion, it is difficult to look at our darker stuff.”

                                                                                                           Scott Jeffrey

Put your sword away. You will never win the battle against your shadow. Open your arms and greet your shadow with compassion. She is not evil. Your shadow contains unborn, brilliant energy. She may have the key to your next level of growth.

Action steps:

• Schedule a tea date with your shadow during daylight hours, when it’s less scary.
• Ask her the same questions from practice #4. You may be more comfortable speaking with her, rather than writing to her.
• Record your conversation. Listen to it over and over.

6.  Embody Your Future Self:

“Your future self is real and you can see it… Your future self already has it figured out. Make it more real and start acting like it now.”                                            

Cate Stillman

When you envision your future self, you definitely stir up some shadows. I have a tendency to project into the future and I seize up with fear, so much so that I paralyze myself from taking action. Sound familiar?

Instead of running away in fear, step into your discomfort with curiosity. Let your future self tell your current self what to do.

Action steps:

• Schedule 30-60 minutes for this practice.
• Read the following questions first and choose which ones appeal to you most. You can go left brain logical or right brain sensory. You don’t have to limit yourself. Be creative and invoke all your senses.
  • What am I earning 5-10-20 year from now? Dream big!
  • What does my impact statement look like? How many lives am I transforming? On what level?
  • What does the future me look and feel like? What do I wear? What do I smell like? What do I eat? How do I walk?
• Set your timer for 5 minutes
• Close your eyes and envision who you are becoming.
• After the timer goes off, bring out your notepad or drawing pad.
• For the remaining time, Illustrate or author your responses.
• For the next week (or as long as you want) – act, speak, dress as if you were your future self. Write yourself a check for how much you want to earn in the next month. Buy yourself a new piece of jewelry, clothing. Take yourself out to an extravagant lunch, on your future self.

Do you know what I did for this one? I’ve been wearing my grandmother’s ring for a few years and it’s lost a few pearls. After our call, I took it to the jewelry repair shop. I’m replacing the missing pearls with precious stones. The future me does not walk around with missing parts. She is precious and damn worth it!

7.  Explore Your Archetypes:

“We are the utterance of so many unclaimed hallelujahs rushing suddenly forth to bear witness to the birthing of our names”          

                                               Dominique Christina

Your shadow is not unidimensional She takes many different forms, depending on how the light (situation) shines on you and which “shadow expert” resource you consult. One of my favorite resources is Dominique Christina book: “This is Woman’s Work: Calling forth your inner counsel of wise, brave, crazy, rebellious, loving, luminous selves”.

In her book, Dominique provides a creative, yet challenging exploration of 20 different archetypes or “ways of positioning ourselves on the planet, what purposes they serve and in what ways they can hinder us”.  While she considers “Shadow Woman” unique archetype, anyone one of the cast of characters could be hidden in your shadow.  

I relate most to “Shadow Woman” (unborn, underdeveloped, waiting), “Rebel Woman” (persistent, action oriented, stubborn), “Journey Woman” (restless, explorative, flighty), and “Third Eye Woman” (vision, connected, self-doubt). When in-balance, your positive shadow qualities will arise almost without effort. When out-of balance, watchout, your shadow may suffocate you.

Action steps:

• Plan to do this practice over a course of a month or longer, allowing enough time to explore one archetype, one week at a time.
• Follow the google search on “shadow archetypes”
• Choose one resource.
• Choose any of the practices 1-7 to invite in a deeper connection with your shadows.

8.  Seek Support

For some of us, our shadow “can be so deep that you can’t see it or speak it…It’s a sneaky devil. It’s always where you can’t see it”, Cate Stillman.

Shadow work is intense. But you don’t have to go at it alone. Here at Yoga Healer, we have 11 Ground Rules for Dynamic Groups. Our “rules” help attune and amplify our individual and group’s potential. Anyone of the rules can be applied to shadow work and how to apply group support to transform your relationship with your shadow. For this post, I chose: Engage your Edge:

“Growth means moving into new territory. Our growth has and edge; when you’re “all in”, your preference is to be at the edge. By its very nature, the edge is edgy – it’s unfamiliar and uncomfortable, and it leads to more growth. When your engage your edge, you step into new ways of being. Dynamic groups help us explore edges, take risks, and try on new ways of being. They allow us to evolve into emerging identities.”

Discomfort is your cue that you are in the shadow and on the edge of a break through. It’s the “breakdown before breakthrough” as Cate has so aptly highlighted.

We all have shadows, and we may need someone else’s light to reveal our own shadow.

So, connect with your group. Take a risk on yourself. Step into a new way of being.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

You cannot and do not have to evolve alone.

Thank Goddess!

Action steps:

• Tell yourself right now: “I don’t have to go at this alone. I am not alone.”
• Then reach out to a friend, family, community member, counselor, hypnotist. You want your “shadow partner” to be someone you trust.
• Schedule a check in with your “shadow partner” every 1-2 months (or as often as you want). Ask your partner to reflect on your growth.
• Believe that as you take steps forward on your shadow journey, other people will reflect your new identity.

Can You Dissolve Your Shadow?

Whether you can or cannot dissolve your shadow, depends on who you ask but more importantly what you believe.

Your shadow changes as you shift into new light, new levels of growth in your business. You’ll be able to let go of some of the limiting patterns holding you back. But when you enter unfamiliar territory, your edge, your shadow issues will likely come back. Now you know you are evolving.

Where Do You Begin?

Don’t let all the ideas overwhelm you. Pick one. Dance with it for a week or more.

If the practice stirs up some growing pains, good! Now you know you are in the midst of your shadow.

When you are ready, move on to the next practice. Do as many practices as you want, as many times as you want.

Please. Turn the Light On

If you want to grow your business and enjoy the impact, income and lifestyle of your dreams, you need to know all of you.

Integrity is your intention.

So, flip the switch. Turn the light on.

Have fun. You are designing the life you want.

“Any time you are creating, the universe opens up space for you…the universe will support your efforts to define/create/author your identity”                             

Dominique Christina

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why potential wellness pros often find themselves leading unfulfilling lives.
• What to do when prolonged discontent leads to physical suffering.
• How Yoga Health Coaches benefit from business training and community support.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Body Thrive
• Yoga Health Coaching
• Awake Living
• How to Build a Tribe webinar
• Amarylis facebook
• Amarylis website

Show Highlights:

• 1:00 – All too often, potential pro healers fall into lives and patterns that society deems “normal.” After resisting for a while, Amarylis eventually started following what she thought was the path to a “good life:” college, marriage, a house, a career with a benefits package . . . . But rather than bringing her happiness, Amarylis found herself “checking out.”  There was nothing wrong with her life; it just wasn’t resonating with her; it didn’t bring her joy.
• 4:00 – Later Amarylis realized that she had been depressed and using alcohol as her “snooze button,” as her means of “checking out.” She felt ungrounded and didn’t have a real sense of who she was. For decades, she hit the “snooze button” on her life because she didn’t feel like she was ready to wake up to her own life.
• 5:15 – Amarylis’s wake up call came after the birth of her daughter. She was staying at home to care for her and was forced to confront the fact that she didn’t know who she was anymore. She didn’t know how to live her life, and she knew she was suffering. Her suffering manifested as neurological issues that doctors couldn’t explain. She knew her body was “freaking out” about something and she needed to get grounded, so she committed herself to exercise, despite some deep resistance. She started weight training and it felt amazing to move her body. More importantly, she started to get grounded in herself and wake up to who she was and what she wanted her life to be. Once she started to “undo” the life she had made for reasons that were not her own, everything started to align for her. She stopped drinking, and she began to experience joy.
• 9:50 – Amarylis completed the Living Ayurveda Course with Cate and is now in Quarter 1 of Yoga Health Coaching. Body Thrive changed the way she lived and Yoga Health Coaching is changing the way she thinks about her work and her earning potential. YHC made her understand that she was limiting herself with outdated beliefs about money and the type of work she does.
• 12:55 – Amarylis’s keystone habit is Early to Bed. She has always been an early riser, so getting enough sleep means getting to be early. Waking early gives her the time she needs for self care before her daughter wakes up, which sets her up for a really good day.
• 15:30 – One of the best things about Yoga Health Coaching is that you can tailor your program to a segment of the general population that you want to work with . Both Amarylis and Carly work with new moms. Even though Yoga Health Coaches are entrepreneurs, we are part of a larger community that offers support and guidance.
• 17:25 – YHC also helps us see the value of the work we do so that we have the courage to step outside our comfort zones and price our programs according to the results our members get, which often means a much higher dollar value than we might have placed on ourselves. We also learn how to invest in ourselves so that we show up fully.

Favorite Quotes:

• “Every time I drank, I was hitting the snooze button and saying to the universe that ‘I’m not ready to wake up yet. I’m not ready to wake up to my own life.’” — Amarylis Fernandez
• “Getting grounded in that way helped me started to get grounded in who I am and find the confidence to say, ‘I’m going to have to leave and undo this life that I’ve made for myself for reasons that weren’t mine.’ ” — Amarylis Fernandez
• “When you take that step, and when you do that scary thing and make that scary change and stop pressing the snooze button or stop checking out when the fears to change come up, really beautiful things can happen and that feeling of alignment . . . happens so quickly. — Carly Banks

Guest BIO:

Amarylis Fernandez is a yoga teach, a yoga health coach in training, and a mother. Not so long ago, Amarylis was totally frazzled, ungrounded, and desperate for change. And she realized things wouldn’t change until she did. So she did. Now, Amarylis is on a path to guide women into vibrant living amidst the beautiful chaos children can bring. She spent a transformative month living at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health getting my 200 hour yoga teacher certification. She earned her 85 hour pre/postnatal certificate through the Bhaktishop in Portland, Oregon. She’s trained more than 200 hours in Ayurveda with Cate Stillman of Yoga Healer, and specialized in Ayurveda for pregnant mamas and new mothers through Sacred Window’s Ayurvedic Doula programs. Amarylis believes the transition into motherhood is a wild and wondrous ride that can be aided by yoga in all forms: postures, breath work, meditation, mantra, and help from your tiny guru(s)! She also knows the potent life transformations that occur when the wisdom of Ayurveda is incorporated into daily rhythms. Connect with Amarylis on her FB page and get more info on Suzanne’s website.