Giving Others What You Need Yourself

Hello There,

Have you been rejoicing at the weather this week or is it just me? The northern hemisphere is finally peaking around to see spring which is so exciting (especially if you are living in a colder climate). I have been taking sunbathing lessons from my kitties and plopping down anywhere in my house that has a ray of sun to soak up. It has honestly been a really nice meditation practice for me. You might give it a try the next time some sun is pouring in through a window, let it seep into your skin, absorb the heat, and take a mindful minute to check in with your body and breathe.

Despite the good weather, this week was a mix of ups and downs battling between expectations and reality. A wonderful therapy session helped to smooth out the bumps and I feel more in line with my needs and my path forward. I wanted to take some time to share with you what I have been pondering about since then. I think we are often giving and serving others in the ways we need to give and serve ourselves. I have noticed throughout my time of self-study around yoga and mindfulness the things I was pulled towards learning about in an effort to share it with others, were the things my own soul needed.

2015 brought me to my yoga mat for the first time when I was in such a disconnected and unregulated state of mind and body. It is hard to look back and fully relate to the pain and loss I was moving through at that time as I am so far removed from those feelings now. I took classes for only 4-5 months before signing up to become a teacher. I had a strong desire to share the work and the experience with others I was going through myself. Similarly a few years later, when I was halfway through a new trauma yoga certification I was heavily involved in healing my own trauma in therapy. Looking back I can see how my own intuition led me to learn more about trauma-informed practices to share with others and open up the path of healing for myself. I am seeing this pattern repeat with my new interest in burnout work. I have been studying the effects of burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue for a few years now and have now realized I need this work for myself as much as I feel compelled to share it.

Do you notice this in your life? Are you pulled to help others in the same way you need help? Have you noticed it is easier to learn about a topic and take action when it is for someone else and the momentum gets lost when it is for yourself? You may be feeling a vibrational pull towards these actions to support others because our inner vibrational need matches.

I'll leave you with this final question- What would it be like to give yourself permission to serve yourself first?

What we seek to give is what we wish and need to give ourselves.

Studio update: In other news :) here is what has been happening around the studio recently.

The burnout toolkit is now available to purchase 24/7 which includes daily yoga videos, journaling prompts, and embodiment practices emailed to you over a 3-day period.

I am leading small yoga groups and lessons in office spaces around town. So far I have been invited to a community mental health center to provide chair yoga for their clients, and in a few weeks, I will be joining in a counseling office meeting to give a presentation on the benefits of trauma-informed yoga to the staff. If this is something you would like to bring to your workplace or clients let me know! We can chat about it and set something up.

I will be opening up evening Thursday class times soon! A little behind-the-scenes sneak peek here, I would like to open this class up specifically for first responders and frontline workers. Let me know if you have any other ideas for class options or topics you would like me to begin offering.

I hope you have a great rest of your day and I will catch you in another email in a few weeks :)

Lots of love from my heart to yours,

Janae 🙏