I always knew what I needed, but I had to trust the process

When I was growing up, I had this friend, and her mom was a yoga instructor; this was before yoga was “a thing.” I remember wondering what exactly she did as a yoga instructor… like what was that job, where did she teach this, and how were there enough people around that knew about yoga to have this even be a job. I was equal parts fascinated and curious. My parents, family, friends, other adults, and friends’ parents didn’t do yoga or talk about yoga, so I continued to wonder.

Fast forward to the first week of summer session at the University of Florida, they have a gym you can use whenever and all these classes you can take and guess what on Monday and Wednesday nights there was a yoga class and so I thought this is my chance I’m going. But it was the first week of college! So, I tried to get my roommate to join me, asked some friends I knew from home, and asked some new friends if they would join me, but alas, no one wanted to go. But I didn’t care because somehow I knew this was something I was supposed to do, and so I went alone. I left that first class feeling great!

Being away from home for the first time, having to take care of myself, and sharing a room with a stranger, not to mention the actual classes were big, scary, anxiety-inducing things to experience on their own, but all at the same time! I mean, they should really have some kind of boot camp preparedness course for teenagers before they are sent off to college! But what got me through and helped with all that stress, anxiety, and newness was yoga.

I continued to practice yoga as much as I could throughout my college years, and that was about when you started to see yoga studios popping up here and there. But the options were fewer and further between back then, and as a college student, they weren’t always in the budget.

When I became an elementary school teacher after college, it was insanely stressful. I had decided late into my college career that I could potentially want to be a teacher and it would have meant an additional 2 years of college when I had 1-2 semesters left. But I was able to take my remaining electives in education and get certified out of area to become a teacher. Being a teacher anywhere and getting your first teaching job in the county I lived in was at that time very hard, and stressful. This, combined with my degree not being in education, meant a lot more work and evaluations, which equaled a lot of stress, oh, and did I mention I was also planning my wedding the whole first year I was teaching?

So, I went back to what I knew, and that was yoga. I started practicing 6-7 days a week. It was something I waited all day for and looked forward to. It helped manage my stress and anxiety, and I loved the graceful flow of it that appealed to my dance background.

That’s when it was suggested that maybe I might enjoy being a yoga teacher. I thought about it, I researched it, and when I went on a cruise and took a yoga class and was frustrated that I could have done a better job, I decided to pursue yoga teacher training. As it turned out the universe had a plan for me again because the training I was planning to go to wasn’t going to be feasible for multiple reasons and thank goodness, it wasn’t because I wouldn’t have come out of it with an actual recognized by the Yoga Alliance certification.

I found another yoga teacher training program that was close to my house, and the schedule worked. I went to the information session to learn about the program, and when my husband, who attended for moral support, and I left, he, who had never done yoga before said “he made me want to do the yoga teacher training.” And that is the magic that is my mentor.

That yoga teacher training changed my life for the better. I became more myself, I can’t explain it, but it was an incredible growing experience. And so, I started teaching yoga, but it never truly fit. I found myself wanting to do yoga not teach it. I was uncomfortable touching people and adjusting their bodies, and because of my own back and neck problems, I was constantly worried about someone getting hurt.

But the part I loved was the savasana at the end of the class. The time to lie down and receive, to take that time for yourself, and to be able to speak to the clients about something that might make their day better or give them something to think about or think differently about something or someone.

I was always drawn to the meditation part. My degree is in communications journalism. I have always wanted to be a news anchor. I’ve always been very expressive and comfortable talking, and so meditation just seems more natural, a better fit. In fact, when I had my acts of service project portion of my yoga teacher training, I chose to give a group chakra balancing meditation to a group of survivors of abuse and violence.

I continued to work with my mentor in consciousness coaching and developing my own person mediation and mindfulness practice since I took that teacher training in 2009. Even when I was creating The Original HMF Beauty Education business, he said to me in not so many words, you can’t just have this be about outer beauty, you need to show who you are, and your authentic self, or this isn’t going to work. I held back with more of my spiritual side in my business to this point, but the more women I worked with on the beauty side of things, the more I realized how important it was to really support the self-care side of things as well.

Before I started to take my step back, I began talking more and more about self-care and giving small, in my opinion, more palatable options for self-care for the masses. I know some of you reading this hear Meditation and Mindfulness and immediately think Birkenstocks, incense, and crunchy granola. But I am here to tell you and show you it’s so much more than that.

Think of your top 5 business/success stories/people, and I’m going to guess at least 2 have a daily meditation practice because it’s that important! You know that work-life balance everyone talks about and some swear doesn’t exist? Here it is…in 20 minutes a day! Plus, you can do it anywhere for free!

The more women I worked with, the more I saw the need for mindfulness in their lives, then the beauty treatments, the hair appointments, and the lash extensions became the icing on the cake, not the actual cake. The sense of calm and peace made that little annoying wrinkle have less power, and when it got botoxed or filled, it was great, but not the end all be all, or the first of the many things you feel you “need” to do to feel better, that probably only makes you feel better for a little while because you didn’t fix the underlying bigger discomfort.

So with all of that being said, I hope you’ll follow along and join me on this journey. I hope to help other feel better, happier, calmer, and more balanced, and bring all that into the world to make it a kinder, nicer, and happier place to live.

Peace, Love, and cheers to also  being a “high-maintenance hippie”

XX,

Jenna

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