People often ask, “What did you do before teaching yoga?” The honest answer? Not much. At least not much successfully. With a writing, history, and interdisciplinary humanities degree, I wasn’t exactly on an employment path when I left college. I took administrative, marketing, and sales jobs, never fully satisfied in my work and certainly not on any type of career path.
As Reid an I prepared to get married, his career was stable enough to give me some flexibility to pursue passion projects. I left my full-time sales job and buried myself in any writing project I could find. Seriously, any project, like writing copy for DUIAttorney.com. It paid my half of the bills, and I was writing professionally. But I wanted more.
I remember going to the book store and looking for a book by someone who could be my role model. I was seeking someone who understood where I was in life and could offer real action steps to figure out where I was heading. I found Jenny McCarthy, Maria Shriver, Oprah and the like, and I just didn’t think they could be of much help. I didn’t see myself in them. Then I found my neighborhood yoga studio — independently-owned, female-run, and filled with people who reminded me of myself.
“This is where I belong,” I knew inherently. The idea of The Yoga Harbor was planted right then, alongside my personal goals of having a family with Reid and living by the beach.
This past month, our team gathered at my place to engage in some goal setting with Sara from Get Lit goal coaching. She asked the question: “Describe a moment in time when you felt your soul on fire.”
I wrote: “Right now.” Pregnant and hosting the team from our studio at our house by the shore.
Sara described goal-setting not as a results-oriented process but as a way to find a guiding light, something that we return to every so often to stay on track. This studio has been my lighthouse not just for the past year we’ve been open but for the 8 years it lived in my heart and mind. This baby has been the same for the past 5. Watching them grow into a reality simultaneously over the past year brings me the deepest sense of satisfaction and contentment.
Of course, along the way, I desperately wanted that light to turn the f*ck off! For months at a time, I’d try to convince myself I’d be happy without children, or that I could support Reid’s career and not spend my time on a studio. Sometimes, the convincing worked. But not for long. The yearning would creep back in, keeping me awake at night choosing names for a baby not yet conceived or drawing logos for a business not yet opened. On those nights, I hated that damn light. If it would leave me alone, I could be happy with what I had.
May your guiding light keep you awake at night. May it pester you and create a yearning in your heart that will not go away. May it return to you no matter how often or how desperately you try to cast it off. And, no matter how long it takes, may you someday know the feeling of contentment that comes from stepping right into that light on opening night … or feeling that light kick you in the tummy.
In this season of intentions, may yours be a giant pain in your ass and a giant fire in your soul.
We are honored to support your intentions through classes, workshops, trainings, and – most importantly – smiles. Check out what we have coming up to celebrate how far we’ve come while continuing to reach higher.
Warmly,
Bethany
