I spent last weekend in Kingsport, Tennessee leading the sixth weekend of our 200-hour yoga teacher training program at VIDA Hot Yoga. I think I have shared with you guys in a previous post that this is my first all-female training group. While I’m always amazed by how each teacher training group has its own personality and dynamics, this all-female group has been an experience like no other!
IT’S BEEN DEEP! These ladies came willing to dive in on weekend one and it’s been a wild ride. It’s inspiring to see how much they trust each other and how vulnerable they are willing to be with the group. They have challenged me as a leader, and I have learned a tremendous amount from them.
This past weekend we spent time talking about what self-love really means and what self-care really looks like. The discussion ran the gamut from hot baths to practicing yoga to getting enough sleep to setting boundaries to trusting intuition and everything in between. Our conversation was layered, honest and moving. These women have moved me to tears on more than one occasion.
On Sunday one of my TTs shared something powerful that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about. It was something she wrote in her yoga journal while she was on a solo vacation. She’s a mom of four and going through some challenging life circumstances and transitions. She booked a 7-day cruise and took herself on a solo trip for the first time in a long time (maybe ever). I asked for permission to share what she wrote because it’s so powerful. Her response was to “share away” and I am honored to spread her words here with you tonight.
I am so freaking proud of myself this week because I know what it’s taken to lift myself up out of the fog and trust my intuition.
That is beauty.
I trust my intuition because I know the love of the intention behind the choices I make.
That is inner peace.
And no explanation will ever be enough for those who aren’t supportive, but you don’t have to be understood when you understand your own soul.
That is self-love.
That is beauty. That is inner peace. That is self-love. These words are beautiful and these ideas are centered around getting GOOD with ourselves. Love and happiness are an inside job. No thing, circumstance or person is going to do it for us.
One of the greatest gifts of the last few years of my life has been living inner peace and self-love. I knew it from an idealistic perspective before, and I talked a good game about it, but I was forced to really embody it. Most everything I clung to as true and identifying was stripped away. I had to evolve or sink. I had to lift myself out of the fog.
On the other side, I feel that I have become a whole and complete person on my own. I have come to value, appreciate and honor my intuition and the wisdom that it offers. That is something that I was quick to cast off to the side or explain away in the past. My teacher trainee’s words that “I trust my intuition because I know the love of the intuition behind the choices I make” couldn’t be more perfect. This kind of love has made me a happier person, and also a better mother to Finn.
I could keep writing for a long time, but speaking of motherhood…
I am blessed beyond measure.
This little being has been the catalyst to finding the abundant beauty that life offers every single day when you look inside. To feeling peace deep within of my being. To honoring my intuition and deeply valuing and loving myself. I am so lucky to be his mama, and my heart has never been so full.
Being a mom has been incredible. Being a yoga teacher has been a dream job. Writing this blog has brought me more connection and abundance than I ever dreamed possible. But behind all of that I am me and I have to love me to feel whole and complete, and to show up as the mom, teacher and writer that I want to be.
I know this post was a lot. It’s been a long time since I’ve written one like this but I hope it landed or resonated with at least some of you.
What you’re looking for to complete you, it’s not outside of you. It’s within you.
I love you all very much.
Jen
