It's been nearly three months since I declared myself mostly self-employed. Since then, I have spent quite a bit of time asking myself several questions:
What is my business about?
Who am I serving?
How do I want my business to evolve?
How can I create sustainable, profitable work that feels authentic to my mission?
What even is my mission?!
I suppose these are questions that most business-owners ask themselves, but for some reason, it took me nearly 11 years to really sit down and think about them as if my livelihood depended on it - because now, it does!
As with most self-inquiry, some of the answers I discovered were uncomfortable; others made me cry, they felt so right. And I’ve hesitated sharing my answers for a while because I have wanted to sit with them, to make sure they were still true after a few months of deliberation. But here’s the thing about waiting: If I keep waiting to make sure something is always true or perfect before I act, then I will be waiting forever. Because good ideas, good business models, good missions and visions are constantly evolving. The solution is not to wait until they’re perfect or fully evolved to start; the solution is to just try. And then to keep trying as things inevitably fail and succeed and plateau and then skyrocket and then fail again.
It’s like that assignment I had in 10th grade history, with the artifacts - the assignment that taught me that things evolve cyclically, not linearly; that failure and struggle lead to evolution. The assignment that taught me: If we don’t start somewhere, we’ll have nowhere to go.
Now that I have you clawing at the computer screen in anticipation, I’d like to share my mission with you:
To invite humans to care for their bodies, minds, and hearts, so that they may live more bravely, and love more fully.
What this means for me is that I am shifting my focus away from teaching asana classes (i.e., classes that emphasize posture/ physical form), and toward teaching yoga in its multifaceted form. I love asana, and it is, to me, an integral part of a complete yoga practice - but I do not want it to take up as much energy as it has for the last 11 years. There’s just so much more to explore!
What this means for you is that you now have the option to study yoga beyond asana with me. This means private sessions (and soon, small group series as well!) that invite more space for yogic philosophy, and more emphasis on yoga as a way of living. This also means mentorships, courses, and series, specifically for yoga teachers and dedicated practitioners.
My intention here is three-fold:
To honor and return to the roots of this practice.
To provide further education in the subject of yoga, in a form other than teacher training.
To support yoga teachers in refining and expanding their practice of teaching.
So, dear students, readers, long-time practitioners, if these ideas excite you, I’d love to hear it. If you’re interested in furthering your studies of yoga, in deepening and widening your practice, or in honing your teaching skills, have a look at my new Teacher Mentorship programs, my new Private Session model, or just schedule yourself a phone call with me! And of course, if you’re not already on it, join my email community and follow me on IG if you’re into that sort of thing!
And, thank you. If you’re reading this, it means that you have somehow supported my work thus far, and I am so grateful for that! Cheers to many more iterations and revisions and stages of evolution to come!
So much love,
Abby
