2010 was an epic year for personal transformation through unexpected changes. In January, my 6 year romantic relationship had ended, in June, I was let go of my corporate job, and finding employment shortly after, I was let go again in November. Around Fall of that year I began to think about becoming a yoga teacher and following the second corporate lay-off I listened to the synchronicity and enrolled.
With more free time on my hands, I dedicated myself to yoga teaching training. The other yoga teacher trainee students had all dropped out of the program before it started, so much of my yogic philosophy learning took place in a one on one setting with my teacher. Our intimate discussions of the Yoga Sutras led to valuable personal insights. During the entire training program I gained a whole new level of clarity as well as had several opportunities to meet my true self (sometimes a pleasure and sometimes not so much).
After earning my certification I began teaching various types of yoga classes and discovered my favorite to be those classes with a more heartfelt energy to them. Students then began sharing with me the positive changes they were making in their lives and attributed much of it to coming to class.
I started teaching yoga for stress relief and opened the class as a forum for students to come together. Experiences were shared and students would connect and transform as they allowed themselves to be vulnerable in a safe space:
"Breathing deeper and more fully has increased my energy all day."
"I feel stronger and more able to communicate my needs with confidence."
"I realized how much I hated my job and how it was making me sick, and I now have the courage to quit and pursue my art for a living."
"When my boss annoys me, I use breathing techniques to get me through it and I am able to let it go."
"My relationship with my daughter has improved since I am able to clearly communicate my needs to her and I have more patience, awareness and flexibility with her needs."
"Being fully aware of when I become angry or upset helps me to just let the negative emotions pass."
What was remarkable to me about hearing these stories is that not long ago I shared some of the same experiences. There was a time in my life when I worked 11 hour days at a mundane job and felt overwhelmed. Within my corporate cube I thought about owning more of my life. I especially craved to have more free time to pursue travel and my creative passions. I didn't know it at the time, but what I was really asking for (and what I was entitled to) was claiming my personal power.
This was all leading up to my epic year of change in 2010 which paved the way, creating space for a new type of day. After yoga teacher training completion I was able to secure some sweet teaching gigs. After meeting my lovely partner in late 2010, we discovered a shared interest of travel, creativity and adventure as well as being minimalists at heart. We began planning for a simple life of open-end travel with a loose itinerary and flexible boundaries.
In September of 2012, we left our comfortable home, sold our belongings and set out to explore. Since then our travels have opened up an entire range of adventure. This includes volunteering at a goat dairy farm, helping to build a cob house, becoming certified to teach English as a foreign language and teaching it to newly arrived refugees in the U.S., dancing while listening to an amazing high school band play on the streets of New Orleans, taking one of the most scenic North American train trips from NYC to Canada, and nestling as temporary locals by renting an apartment within unique communities such as Austin, Brooklyn, and Montreal.
There seems to be no upcoming end of our travels in sight and what started as an adventure has become a lifestyle and in the event you are wondering, no wealthy relatives or other financial support is involved here. (-:
In September of 2012, we left our comfortable home, sold our belongings and set out to explore. Since then our travels have opened up an entire range of adventure. This includes volunteering at a goat dairy farm, helping to build a cob house, becoming certified to teach English as a foreign language and teaching it to newly arrived refugees in the U.S., dancing while listening to an amazing high school band play on the streets of New Orleans, taking one of the most scenic North American train trips from NYC to Canada, and nestling as temporary locals by renting an apartment within unique communities such as Austin, Brooklyn, and Montreal.
There seems to be no upcoming end of our travels in sight and what started as an adventure has become a lifestyle and in the event you are wondering, no wealthy relatives or other financial support is involved here. (-:
There are a lot of contributing factors to how I reached this time in my life, and I am still extending beyond myself and learning, now more than ever. It always leads back to learning how to listen well and venturing down unknown paths, physically and energetically, which takes strength and courage.
This is the inspiration for the life skills guidance that I am reaching out and offering to others.
Learn more about Lion's Heart Yoga Life Skills Coaching here.
Read our travel blog, kept by my partner and I, and started a few months before leaving home: www.thefarmerandtheyogi.com
~Deborah
This is the inspiration for the life skills guidance that I am reaching out and offering to others.
Learn more about Lion's Heart Yoga Life Skills Coaching here.
Read our travel blog, kept by my partner and I, and started a few months before leaving home: www.thefarmerandtheyogi.com
~Deborah
