How I Got Here

Introduction

I’m sitting in a Panera Bread cafe, writing, sipping a chai tea latte in Tucson, AZ while my fiancé is out biking. It's 68 degrees here mid-January, and I'm sitting here enjoying every minute of it, thinking: "Am I really one of those people that... blog?" Well, apparently it turns out I am. If you had asked me at this time last year if this was anywhere near where I thought I’d be, I couldn’t have guessed anything close. Since discovering the practice of yoga over 7 years ago, my life has had more purpose in it than I’d ever experienced previously. I was a little lost, pretty far from knowing who I was, and had just left a toxic relationship. I was trying my best, like we all do. Not until I got invited to a class, stepped onto my first yoga mat, did I really begin open my eyes to my life. I realized I wasn’t living a life I had purposefully chosen, and if I didn’t start steering this ship, none of my dreams, goals, or ideas would come to life. My Yoga practice woke me up. I knew what I wanted. I knew it in the inner most chambers of my heart that this was my path. Not who I thought I was supposed to be, or had been asked to be, or allowed someone else to choose for me. I was choosing the path that was authentic to ME for the first time since I was a little girl, reading, writing, drawing alone in her room, perfectly content for hours on end.

Obviously not everyone will come to yoga and begin to spend thousands of dollars on trainings, classes, workshops, and retreats. That is only for the crazy ones that decide to take on yoga as a career as well as a deeply spiritual practice. After practicing for 2 years, I knew I wanted to be a part of sharing the yoga practice. It had already caused so many positive changes in my life, that I was moved to share the practice with others. I’ve always viewed the practice of yoga as a powerful catalyst in uncovering the best versions of ourselves. Most people wouldn’t consider becoming a yoga instructor a ”career”, but I think even when I first started, I was planning to make this lifestyle happen, somehow. For the first time, maybe ever, I found something I was passionate enough about to dedicate time, effort, and money in to. Completing my first training opened another new avenue of creativity, creating classes and sequencing. As I began to grow in my personal practice, in my life, and in my teaching, I started to get more and more creative with my teaching style and my own movement practice. As I discovered (or rather, re-discovered) more creativity, I began to realize how much I value and crave freedom in movement and all areas of my life. I was still bartending for most of my income when I first started teaching. Excellent money, but opposite of the right work for me. I started to ask myself how I could have more freedom in my life, support myself, and still do work that I love. I tried a few other options other than bartending, although nothing quite fit right, and I still hadn’t left bartending completely. I was beginning to really research entrepreneurship and began studying what it required to work for yourself or to be an independent contractor. I thought “What could be better for me than being in charge of myself?” I was constantly trying to figure out to make money as a yoga teacher when someone presented the idea of Massage Therapy to me.

At first, I entertained massage therapy school as a way to deepen my anatomy knowledge in effort to become a better teacher. I actually was not a very “touchy-feely” person in any sense. Something told me to go for it, and I began to see visions of becoming more in charge of my life by having the ability to take on massage clients as well as teach yoga. It was the perfect way to combine my passions and create more of a solid “career” foundation. I took my second big leap, the teacher training being my fist one. There’s a saying that goes- “Once you decide, all the Universe conspires to help you get it”. Basically the same time I decided to start Massage Therapy school, the Universe (or whatever you want to call it) aligned me with my now fiancé. We began our then long-distance relationship the same month I started school. Amongst all this career- searching and growing on the outside, there was a lot of growing being done on the the inside. It took me a long time to process all the things I had allowed myself to be and do before I woke up. There were emotions I hadn’t dealt with, ghosts from my past that caused fear, anxiety( lots of it), doubt, even depression. In hindsight, I see now why I “lost” my creativity. I had covered it all up with what I thought the world wanted me to be, yoga reminded me who I was. I hated the move away from my little beach town with all my friends, back to a small city that I had grown up in, to live with my grandmother while I finished. It was a blessing in disguise, as I really began to write more, read more, and practice yoga more. With more focus on my direction in life, then keeping up with friends and family, I began to really open up to my creative energy. I started to journal and meditate more. I was calmer, happier. There were certainly times I felt lonely, but it was temporary. Other than movement, writing and journaling become my biggest outlet. The idea of a blog was born about a year ago, it only took me a full year to let go of the fear of sharing more of myself. Over that year, the Universe did it’s work. I became experienced as a therapist. My fiancé and I took our first steps together in our dreams as a couple and bought our first tiny home. Then we took another leap and chased an even bigger dream, moving out West.

Isn’t that what the yoga practice is.. Opening up, sharing, taking leaps, un-covering, being unapologetically who you are? That’s what it is to me, so here I am. Ready to share. Hoping to leave a little inspiration along the way, whether it’s sharing my own struggles, or motivation to start dissecting your own choices and figuring out which direction you want to steer your life in. Or maybe just to remind you that you’re not alone in trying to figure out this beautiful game of life. I certainly don’t have it all figured out, but I’m open and ready.

Love,

Kari

PS.. I promise my posts WON'T be this long, had to get this one all out ;)

#R2RandGV #create #makethings #stayhumble #practiceyoga #goodvibes #goodvibesalways