2016 Take Aways
What I did in 2016 : Opened a yoga/coaching space, filled my coaching practice, taught over 200 yoga classes, taught 2 yoga workshops, co-led a yoga retreat, completed Original Medicine Intensive, Completed NBLCT, got started as Ashaya Yoga Assistant on the path to becoming a yoga teacher trainer... and let's not even start on the number of loads of laundry I did!
2016 was a huge transitional year for me and I'm coming out of it feeling very different that how I felt going in. Here's a brief summary of the year and then my two biggest takeaways that are setting me up to start 2017 with clear intention and direction.
I spent the first half of the year immersed in individual personal development work. I discovered things like: Who am I at my core? What is my vision for the world? and How does that become a livable mission - not just in my work but in my whole life? It was great work and the understandings are continuously evolving but I got a new clarity and understanding of myself in this exploration.
Along with those positives I also found serious roadblocks to living my mission. To deal with them I found support in coaches and other healers and sometimes even Animal Guides - yes... I'm totally becoming that person who works with animal guides.. I can't even hide it anymore.
In the second half of 2016 I stepped into my Nature Based Life Coach Training with the hopes that what I learned would fill in the gaps and help me serve in a meaningful way. I also took on an assistant role for my yoga teacher, Todd as he teaches a 200-hour yoga teacher training program. This is ongoing and is in preparation for me to become a Teacher Trainer myself in 2017.
Then in September I had deep personal shifts in the woods that have left me forever changed.
I am literally a different - more alive, powerful, empowered person on this side of 2016 because of the work I did and the people who worked with me.
I feel like the year was too tremendous to go into every single little thing I learned or experienced so I'll give you my two biggest takeaways:
First - Non-Judgemental Loving Acceptance
This isn't anything new... but I experienced this in new ways this year and was able to receive it in new ways this year. It may be the root reason I was able to do so much inner alchemy. You can receive this kind of Acceptance from one person, or from a group of people, or from Mother Nature herself. You may even be able to give it to yourself. Ultimately it will allow you to settle in and be yourself without fear and without hiding who you are. That is one of the best gifts we can receive.
Second - Real Community
Real community means taking risk and being supported and celebrated. It means authenticity and vulnerability and messiness and being wrong and doing right. As an introvert it has been as scary process to repeatedly attempt to engage in community. I started small, with trusted mentors, then went into my coaching group - both places I knew I'd find that Loving Acceptance I mentioned above. Now I'm finding ways to move out into the unknown - being more open and real with my friends, students, and family. The result is that I finally feel connected and supported and I can offer connection and support to my people. The other result is that it's messy! I've had to tell the truth when it was scary. I've had to deal with other peoples' emotions and reactions to me. Hardest of all I'm learning to receive that other people see, accept, and value me. (that is SO hard). The deal with community is that it is incomplete unless we each participate. I need what you have and I have what you need. If we share ourselves in real ways we all get what we need. This is the direction I am turning towards for 2017.
My takeaways aren't rocket science, but they aren't easy to just DO unless you actually have the experience of them. And so I feel incredibly grateful for the experiences of this year that brought me new understandings of Acceptance and Community. (two sides of a coin aren't they?) I feel fortified by these lessons. And I'm ready to go into 2017 a more integrated person. I'm ready to explore and expand in my work and personal lives.
And I'm ready to serve the world and my people.
(and if you're reading this... you're on the list of "my people")
Love