My journey from cubicle nation to yoga instruction
By Asia Nelson
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
This way of living - this tao - has guided me through many stages of plain old ignorance. Not that I've lived steadfastly to these ideals. Too many times I followed 'shoulds' instead of 'coulds'. But somehow my heart always did - and still does - know what I've truly wanted to become. Let me give you an example snippet from my life:
In 2001 I struck gold by securing the host position on a show called My Global Adventure. For the next nine months I traveled with a television crew to 26 countries for the girl-meets-world adventure series that would eventually air on the Life Network in Canada (now Slice), National Geographic in the US, Sky Channel in Britain, and on 14 other stations worldwide.
When I returned, I was on top of the world. The show was not to continue due to the post-9/11 crash of our funding industries. Still, I kept hearing from agents and industry folk, "You've got a million-dollar resume now." After a year of all expenses paid, I also had a bit of bank account padding. So what did I do?
I retired.
Yup. I was tired from burning through 26 countries in nine months and constant 16hr days of television production. I'd been sick, on Lariam for months on end, and ungrounded as I spun around the world. I needed rest. So I took the first installment of my Progressive Retirement Plan (I've decided that there are things I'll want to do in my 20s, 30s, and 40's that I won't want or be able to do later in life, so I should retire in phases to do them while I have the opportunity).
For the next year I first slept a lot, making up for months of deprivation during the show. Then I nested into a sweet apartment off 17th Ave SW in Calgary that I LOVED. Every morning I'd have breakfast on my patio and watch life wander past. I'd read, go for walks, I took the occasional trip (New York, New Orleans for the Jazzfest) and catch up online with many friends. My time was completely mine.
When I had rebalanced what had been depleted in me, I found I became creative and energetic again. I was writing, building a copywriting business, interviewing for television opportunities, even inventing. I was also gravitating toward yoga. I did Bikram yoga 4-7 days a week for nine months and I took my first teacher training course. The more I dove into yoga, the more energized I was by it.
Eventually I became concerned about my long-term plan and started doing the "what should I do with my life" required reading, journaling, testing, etc. I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to go back into television. I was best suited to be a Communications Consultant and should counter my lack of experience with an MA degree.
Off I went to Waterloo, Ontario. In two years I'd earned my MA in Rhetoric and Communications Design and had a job as an Interaction Design Advisor.
I hated that job.
When I was doing things related to design, I loved it. But that was really about 15% of my job. The rest was project management. I was miserable. I would come home from work and wonder if this was going to be my life, and I'd literally just cry.
So I quit. When I really asked myself what it was I loved, what energized me, and where I wanted to be, I had one answer: teaching yoga.
I did the required work to be sure yoga could be a business as well as a pleasure, and I jumped into the world of yoga instruction as a career. Has it been easy? God no. Has it been lucrative? Hardly - at least, not yet. Have I gotten up every day since quitting my previous job and loved my life? Absolutely. The rest is coming.
I say: explore your opportunities, but when given paths from which to choose, always follow your heart.
If you're looking to go 'from corporate prisoner to
thriving entrepreneur', check out Pamela Slim's blog Escape from Cubicle
Nation - I read it regularly and find it consistently inspiring and
useful. ###
(more on Asia's Pranablog: click here! )