There are moments in my life that I feel small. Being a person that usually stands out in a crowd at 6'3", feeling small is not the physical identity of my life, but my inside voice softening and being quiet. I had always been quiet and soft spoken, and when someone would ask me to speak-up I would feel frustrated and my inner voice would yell... just listen better.
I have learned, through teaching yoga and graphic design and presenting in front of groups, to project my voice, to reach my voice out and allow it to be heard. It hasn't been easy, and it has taken a lot of practice. Realizing that I have the capacity for many volumes of my voice that I can share with the world.
I feel like teaching and presenting was a gift really. I had never planned on being a teacher, especially when it meant I was going to be in the front of a group of people... speaking. It wasn't until I was challenged in college to speak in front of my classmates about something that I knew, that I finally started to find my voice. The things that I knew most came from my upbringing and living on a ranch in Southern Alberta. Even though I wasn't going to be continuing on in the ranching world, turning into a graphic designer and yogi (later on), was the farthest thing away from the country life.
But as I passionately spoke about the early days of my life and the lessons I had learned from the animals and the land, my words offered me courage. The voice I found was resonating with a different tone. One of sureness and empathy, one of courage and excitement. I found my story voice. A voice that my generations before me had already shared with the world. My Grandmother (my Mom's mom) and my Grandfather (my Dad's father) both shared their ways of storytelling with passion and glee.
My Grandmother told stories of a little elf and faerie world. She would then get out a pencil and sketch out grand mushroom houses and caricatures of the the little characters in her stories. While my Grandfather would recite Cowboy Poetry, as if he'd actually lived the experiences in the poems. Though the poems were by other authors, his world of storytelling made his listeners lean in with anticipation and want to hear more. Only realizing recent years, when I have been hosting storytelling sessions as a part of teaching yoga, that I was following in my family's footsteps. I was finding a familial voice. One that was loud and strong and gave other's permission to find their voices and, maybe in the process, find a sense of healing and calmness in these changing times.
A space near and dear to my heart... my Great Grandfather's homestead in Southern Alberta. A place that offers me the opportunity to visit the land, to speak to it, to listen to it, to be with it again and again.
Visit the doLess Story Sessions to listen and relax into Yoga Nidra.
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