May 2022 Newsletter
Welcome friends! Thank you for signing up for my newsletter and for being a part of my growing community. Each month I will share with you more of my personal journey and things I am learning, teaching, reading, and loving. My hope is that you will find something that speaks to your heart and leads you toward healing and happiness in your own life. Please feel free to share this email with any friends or family who you feel may benefit from it as well.
What I am learning:
I am learning so much about our voice and vocal health lately and am excited to share a little about what I have learned. As a child, I learned to speak very softly and to hold back from sharing my thoughts and feelings. There were times in my life that someone standing right next to me could not hear me speaking and I was constantly being asked to repeat myself. This was frustrating and embarrassing and caused me to further refrain from speaking and using my voice. When I took my yoga teacher training and began learning and practicing pranayama (breathwork) regularly, I began to notice a difference in my voice. After completing my yoga teacher training, I trained with my yoga trainer to teach a course called “Beyond Breath.” Through this course I began to learn to communicate with myself and others more clearly. I began to find my power within and as my confidence and self-worth increased, my voice began to be heard more clearly by others. As I began teaching yoga, this offered me an opportunity to practice using my voice more often. I found as I taught that my voice grew tired and fatigued easily. I have been working with the amazing Coach Quacee over the last couple of months to help me strengthen my voice so that it may be stronger and clearer as I use it to teach my classes and share my message. I have learned that our voice is affected by our mental and emotional state, by stress and tension, and by how we use/don’t use our voice, as well as several other factors. When we are stressed or anxious, we are not breathing properly and breath is key to having a clear, strong voice. When we have tightness in our throat area due to stress, anxiety, or simply not recognizing how much we are holding tension in this area, the vocal cords and structures of the throat cannot function properly. When we over use or improperly use our voice, we cause strain and damage to the vocal cords. When we don’t use our voice, we lose strength in the muscles and can also lose control over the vocal cords and structures in our throat. I have been learning how important stretching, breathing, and simply using my voice is. This month I did a Cognomovement session on my voice, with my new friend Coral and have seen some great improvements after participating in that (more on this next month). It has been an interesting journey for me and I am excited to see how my voice will improve as I continue learning and focusing on this area. I would love to hear anything you have learned about vocal health or about your own personal journey with learning to use your voice.
What I am teaching:
My 10-day online masterclass “Foundations for a Mindful Life” is available online. It is a self-paced course that can be enrolled in at any time. In this course you will learn simple foundational practices that will invite you to begin living in a more mindful way.
My second session of A Mindful Life Method begins on May 5. This is a more in-depth 6-week online course that will lead you on a journey of reconnection with yourself that teaches you tools to reduce stress and anxiety in your life. My next session won’t begin again until September 8th.
I am teaching breathwork and meditation classes on Vivaya each week this month. Join my classes on May 2, 10, 17, 24 at 7pm. You can join free for 14 days and try out my classes each week as well as many other amazing classes from a variety of teachers.
Every Tuesday morning at 6 am (MST), I teach yoga with one of my dear friends from high school. Each month we choose a theme to focus on and I teach the grounding, breathwork, and savasana (relaxation) portion of the class and Lori teaches the asana or posture portion of class.
Every Wednesday evening at 8pm (MST), I have an amazing group of ladies that join me for a gentle yoga class. We have built a beautiful community of women and I look forward to teaching them each week.
Once a month I host a women’s hiking group for ladies in my local area of Southern Utah. We have had three successful hikes and are looking forward to our next outing on May 14th.
If any of these classes or events are of interest to you, please reach out to me for more information.
What I am reading:
This month with the nicer weather, I found myself on the go more. I didn’t take time out to read a new book but listened to several amazing podcasts and webinars instead. One of the webinars that I learned so much from was “Refining Relational Attunement” by Thomas Hubl and Diane Poole Heller. They discussed attachment styles and injuries as well as ways to heal and form secure attachments. One thing they shared that I really loved related to holding tension in our body from stress and trauma. When we notice our patterns of tension and the way that we respond to stress in our lives, we need to remember that these are intelligent processes-they kept us safe at one time. Instead of being angry or frustrated at our patterns that have kept us safe, they invited us to become curious about those patterns. To notice what we are experiencing in our body, to use grounding and breath to bring us back to the present moment, and to practice compassion with ourselves-trusting that we have what we need within to heal and change patterns with time and loving care.
What I am loving:
A sweet friend gifted me a bluetooth sleep eye mask that I use to listen to meditations before bed. I have really loved how I get a deeper, more restful sleep when I use it. You can purchase them on Amazon for around $20. Have you ever tried one? I'd love to hear your opinion on it.
And finally some exciting news….
I recorded my first podcast with a mentor of mine, Ali Daniels. I completed her business course Path to Freedom and through this program was able to create my own course, the Mindful Life Method. We had a lovely chat Where I shared some of my journey to becoming a coach and yoga teacher and some of the ways I have found healing in my life. Look for the podcast to come out mid-May. I hope you will listen and gain something from what we shared.
I would love to hear from you and learn more about each one of you. Please reply and tell me what are you most interested in these days?
Sending you all love and light,
Jessica ❤
