Hi Friends!
 
I am back from my three-week trip! As many of you know, I was away the past three weeks. What you may not know is that I went to Fiji, got MARRIED, celebrated my honeymoon, and also attended Tony Robbins’ Life and Wealth Mastery Seminar.  I had quite a full past three weeks!  I just returned last weekend, and have been taking some time to slowly ease back into my daily life. As I transition from “Fiji time” to life back here in the States, I am taking this as an opportunity to recall where I have been and where I am going, both in my personal and professional lives including with Shakti Vidya Yoga. In this blog, I will share those reflections and my journey with you – how I came to create Shakti Vidya Yoga in the first place, our ups and downs, and where we are heading now.  Perhaps some parts of this journey will resonate with some aspect of your own life’s journey…
 
Some of you have been with me from the very start, from my first yoga teacher training in 2010 to when I taught at Atma Bodha Yoga Studio in Virginia Beach.  Some of you were with me when life threw me a curveball with moving to Northern Virginia, changing jobs, and major changes in my relationships.  And, through that transitional, transformative period of my life, I didn't teach.  Rather, that was a time for me to dive even deeper into my own practices. Deep within me, however, there was always this strong calling to teach and share yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda.  In 2014, when my transformation started to settle and I had done massive healing of my own soul, I started Shakti Vidya Yoga.  It was actually at the end of 2013 that I created our first website and wrote the first blog, which was released on New Year's Day of 2014.  We held our very first workshop that month, “Introduction to Yoga,” out of my parent’s basement.  That is how we got started!  I offered once a month workshops out my home studio at my parent’s home throughout 2014.
 
At the end of 2014, I felt led to give notice at my job and transition to part time with my day job so that I could really focus on learning more about yoga, Ayurveda, and all of the different ways to offer these tools to you. These tools played such a large role in my life, in my own deep healing; healing of emotional wounds, healing through difficult situations such as going to medical school and working in a hospital being faced with really critical decisions and situations everyday!  Yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda helped me through all of those experiences.  And so, it was my deepest desire and is still my deepest desire to share these tools with you as a way to empower you just as I have been empowered by integrating these tools into my life.
 
Our mission at Shakti Vidya Yoga goes even beyond learning yoga postures, even beyond learning an Ayurvedic diet. Our true mission is to empower you to lead a life that is truly aligned with your true nature. To teach you simple and sustainable tools for self-care, so that you may always come to know your true nature and what it feels like to live and create from that most authentic space.
 
The story continues…
In 2015, I went to Costa Rica for an immersive 300-hour advanced yoga teacher training. I came back ready to teach and with a hunger to learn even more!  I signed up for an Ayurvedic Consultant Certificate Program. I was so focused that I completed that 300-hour Ayurveda program within just a few months and was ready to start seeing clients one-on-one. The next 2 years, I bounced around teaching at lots of different yoga studios, still teaching monthly classes out of my parents basement, offering Ayurvedic consultations and I was having a blast!  I enjoyed every single moment and especially enjoyed all of the incredible people that I met and had the opportunity to share these tools with along the way.  I did this until about the end of 2016 - early 2017 when all sudden I developed really bad shoulder pain that would just not go away!
 
And, I had to take a break. I could barely do my own yoga practice. I did not know where this pain came from! But, I knew that I was being called to take even greater care of myself. That self-care and self-love is something that I have been focused on teaching and implementing more and more in my daily life. Now, this pain that arose in my body was a call to take my own self-care to a whole different level. I took some time off from teaching to focus on my healing.  As I started to heal, I honestly was unsure of whether or not I was meant to continue with Shakti Vidya Yoga.  I was feeling quite discouraged to tell you the truth.  
 
Then, I went to my first Tony Robbins seminar called “Unleash the Power Within” last summer.  In one of the exercises at the event, we were asked to consider a question that we have been struggling with. For me, that question was “Should I continue to focus on growing Shakti Vidya Yoga?”  We were led through a heart-centered practice to find the answer from within our heart and soul.  The answer that came up for me was a resounding loud YES! This is my Dharma,  my soul's mission, to share this with you to help you find that inner peace through sharing my journey with you, in all its light and dark, in true authenticity and vulnerability. And, it's a daily practice for me that I share with you; it is a joy, privilege, and an honor.  
 
And so, I say “thank you.” Thank you for listening.  Thank you for tuning in each week as I share my journey with you through my blogs. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be able to do this.  So thank you for listening.  Thank you for receiving and allowing me to share my gifts, my journey, and experiences with you. I hope that in some way, small or big, the things that I share inspire and empower you to live your most authentic, aligned life, whatever that means for the unique and beautiful soul that you are!
 
So, where are we now and where are we going?
We have taken great strides since making that decision last summer to move forward with Shakti Vidya Yoga full swing!  We have redone our website, a couple different times!  As I continue to get more and more clear about the best ways to serve you and learn how to make these tools as accessible and practical for you to integrate right away.  We also started out this year with flying out to LA to participate in the Yoga Expo LA where I taught to a crowd of over a hundred people.  We distributed over 50 gratitude journals at that event, spreading gratitude practice on the west coast! At that time, I was already offering one-on-one sessions online with yoga and Ayurveda but it was really at that event that the insight came to me to create a live online yoga studio. Less than two months later we had our official launch of our live online weekly yoga classes!  Since then, we also had a very successful Summer Solstice Flow online class, where all proceeds of that class went to a charity called Shakti, which is based out of India focused on educating and empowering underprivileged girls.  This event is now available for purchase on our website with all proceeds from that purchase still going to that wonderful organization called Shakti.
 
Additionally, we have grown!  We recently added new teachers, new class times, and a monthly Master Class. I have been recording an Ayurveda online course for you. I started it before my trip and will be finishing it up over the next few weeks with the target launch by the end of October. So, this is going to be a really practical course in Ayurveda.  My intention is that, by the end of the Course, you will have a really simple, effective plan for integrating Ayurveda into your daily life to find greater balance, ease, and comfort within your body.
 
So, that's just a little bit of where we've been and where we are going. I know this blog is a little bit different from the blogs I have been posting and perhaps a little bit longer as well!  But, I hope you enjoyed hearing a little more about our journey! And, if you made it to the end of this blog, thank you!  Next week, I am going to share how during my trip to Fiji, I climbed a 50-foot telephone pole! I was hooked up to a harness, so I was completely safe. I do NOT recommend that you try this at home. But, I am going to explain why I did that and the incredible lessons I learned along the way. So stay tuned for next week.
 
Again thank you...
I love you...
I'll see you next week..
 
Keep Reading:
Surfing the Waves
Fill Your Cup First
New Year, New You