On today’s show, I talk with a long-term course member and friend, Carrie Seitz. She messaged me and said she was going to be in the Tetons and asked if I wanted to go for a mountain bike ride. Of course I said yes, because she’s so much fun to hang out with. So the day arrived, and we were biking Mill Creek, which is a super steep, 2.5-hour trail.

As we got about a quarter of the way in, Carrie — who just signed up for Yoga Health Coaching — started asking me all sorts of questions. She wants to start working for herself, but she isn’t sure if it’s the right fit for her because she doesn’t really do or teach Yoga. Over the course of our bike ride, we fleshed out some deeper details and ended up having a coaching session after we got back. Today’s episode is a result of that big discussion.

You’ll find this episode super helpful if, while you’re listening, you’re trying to figure out your deeper dharma. Figure out how to tap into it and where you’re going in the next chapter of your life. I’ll guide you through a five-word exercise, and you’ll hear me coach Carrie through it to get a better idea of what it entails.

I rap with Carrie Seitz about Existential Opportunities:

• Why a crisis isn’t too different from an opportunity, depending on how you look at it
• What bhavanas are and how they tie into the client experience
• Why how you show up in life matters
• How the four aims of Yoga help you get your needs met

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Learn how to shift from crisis mode into opportunity mode
• Find out the basics of designing a brand based on your personality
• Learn how to create experiences for clients based on your five guiding adjectives

Links:

• Body Thrive Book
• Have a Wellness Career Conversation
• Living Ayurveda Course
• Take the Changemaker Challenge
• http://www.yogahealthcoaching.com/challenge
• Emotional Equations by Chip Conley

Related podcasts:

• Tap into the Power of Mentoring with Annie Barrett
• Conversation Skills for Influencers with Denise Green
• Corporate Coaching + Instant Implementation with Angus Nelson + The 5 Elements Reset with Wah!
• How to Run a Solid Business with Tina Forsyth…. for Yoga Teachers + Healers

Show Highlights:

• 5:15 — Carrie wants to help people thrive in their bodies, but she isn’t currently working in the wellness sphere. She has a vision about what she wants to start doing, but she wasn’t clear on how YHC could help her until she actually saw the program materials and understood what was involved in the steps.
• 6:15 — In Chinese, the written word for “crisis” is the same as the written word for “opportunity.” They can be one in the same, but it’s all in how we frame the situation at hand. When the universe is giving us a shake-up, it helps to start seeing it as an opportunity. Anything is always possible!
• 9:40 — When we start companies or start providing services, we start “branding” them based on our personalities — to an extent. When we’re at the helms of companies, we’re the faces of them. The experiences we consistently provide by being our best, unique selves are what draw people in. This ties into the feeling experience of bhavanas.
• 13:15 — In Yoga Health Coaching, there’s an exercise that involves choosing the five words that describe everything in your brand, from the experience to the communication. Carrie tries out the process. You can try this out by listing ≈20 adjectives and circling the five that you most identify with. These five words can drive your business decisions.
• 24:00 — What if everything you want is something the universe wants of you? Ask evolution itself what it wants to do with you and to lead you through desire.

Favorite Quotes:

• “When we’re in an easygoing plane in life and things are working together, we keep doing the same things instead of seeing ‘Oh my gosh! I can do anything!… I can develop different habits!’” –Cate Stillman
• “The crisis actually brought me into searching out something that could help me get through it.” –Carrie Seitz
• “Halfway through the course, I realized, ‘This actually isn’t a crisis. It’s an opportunity for something else, something greater.’” –Carrie Seitz
• “If we’re not grounded in our body habits, those opportunities aren’t available… There’s not enough energetic integrity.” –Cate Stillman
• “Our nervous system needs to get away from it all so we can listen to what our mind, body, and spirit are telling us.” –Carrie Seitz
• “Go through an experiential process and be so much more able to guide people through going beyond their own comfort zones.” –Cate Stillman

BIO:

Cate founded Yogahealer.com in 2001 to guide Yoga people into Ayurveda and Ayurveda people into yoga. Built on the value of both personal and planetary thrive and a deep connect to one’s ecosystem, community and body, Yogahealer grew into a team, 2 podcasts a week, regular blogging, an arsenal of courses to guide people into their potential, an a professional community + certification program Yoga Health Coaching.

Cate wrote and self-published Body Thrive: Uplevel Your Body and Your Life with 10 Habits from Ayurveda and Yoga, an Amazon #1 Bestseller in Ayurveda, which helps people who dig yoga take a giant leap forward in their wellness trajectory with Ayurveda.

Cate have had a blast innovating on the edge of a 5000 year old deep wellness wisdom tradition. Tapping modern culture into ancient traditions is what Yogahealer has always been about and continues to become next!