Podcast Intro:

Coach of the month, Marcella Fulco, is an MD from Italy who went down the research path to study biochemistry and molecular biology.  Her life path has led her to America to work for the National Institute of Health, marriage, and motherhood, teaching yoga, back to Europe, and now to Yoga Health Coaching!

Join in on this informative conversation where Anna gets the inside scoop on Marcella’s unique journey- transitioning from teaching part-time, leading her course in another language, successes her group members are experiences, her future goals for her business model, and so much more.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why it can be nice to have a small community.
• How to modify the course to another language.
• Where to incorporate your unique wisdom into the course.

Links/CTA:

• Design the Journey You’re Meant to Lead – Lead the Journey for Wellness Pros
• Check out the latest episodes
  • Group Membership Coaching: Difficult Members, Difficult Situations
  • DM’ing to Boost Your Sales for Wellness Pros
• Marcella Fulco links:
  • https://www.instagram.com/marcellafulco_yoga_lifestyle/
  • https://www.marcellafulcoyoga.com
  • https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcella-fulco-616579a/

Highlights: 

• Marcella talks about how saying “yes” to new things led her to now.
• Marcella talks about her MD background and bringing science into her course. 
• Marcello tells us about her training in Yoga for Stress and Anxiety.

Timestamps:

• [4:18 min]- Journey into the YHC business model.
• [8:02 min]- Leading a unique journey from the YHC model. 
• [11:05 min]- Adapting the course to another language.  
• [13:30 min]- Course members’ experience.
• [17:09min]- Growth goals.
• [22:05 min]- Biggest shifts and breakthroughs

Quotes:

• “I started to feel the pressure that now I needed to transfer this knowledge into the world.”
•  “I did the three-month body thrive and it was incredible.  I shot through so many of the limiting beliefs that I had.”
•  “Just experiment for a few days and you’ll see the results.”
•  “Being small, it has benefits because people really know each other and they are sort of becoming friends and really supporting each other in the journey so they don’t feel alone.”
• “I notice that as the confidence grows, the ability to charge more [grows].”

Guest Bio: Marcella Fulco

I graduated with an MD in Palermo, Italy, and right after, during my residency program, I moved to Rome to do research in a laboratory molecular biology. I decided then that my career would be in science and I did a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, which I completed in the States at the NIH (National Institutes of Health), Bethesda Md. I remained at the NIH for 10 years, first as a postdoc and then as a Staff scientist. My family then relocated to San Diego, where I took a pause from working and discovered Yoga, I became a Yoga teacher and a Yoga Therapist.

In 2006 we moved back to Europe, and I live now in Munich, Germany, with my husband and 2 children (12 and 17). I tried to make a living as a Yoga teacher, but it was not so easy, and eventually, I decided to give a spin to my career and I made the leap of faith of joining YHC.

Being At Ease in Multiple Roles 

I am a student, a teacher, a client and a coach. Accepting help AND providing it are both roles that feel good to me. I have coaching office hours at the studio after my weekly yoga class, and when I attend class at the studio I am often still on the mat when I am asked for help. Sometimes before I can help I need a minute to re-group and transition from student or yoga teacher to health coach.  It is my responsibility to see that my needs are met before I try to help others.

Sometimes making the transition between client and coach can be challenging. I have learned that if I create space for myself it is easier to experience the joy of being both student and coach. Independent of the type of client I am working with I have learned that I need to set boundaries to best support ease and success for both of us.

I have also learned that yoga is a core part of both my mental and physical fitness.  I go in part to stop thinking, to let go, and to be present with my body and breath. My personal practice is high on my self-care priority list- it is another technique I use to create space for myself so that I can shift with ease between roles.

The Joy Of Being a Student

I choose to be a lifelong learner. Studies in Ayurveda and Yoga provide a lifetime of learning. My personal practice is an essential part of my morning ritual, but when I practice at home I am still a “teacher” in charge of planning the sequence of poses.  Sometimes I want to let go of decision making and step fully into the experience of being a student. Stepping back into a yoga class lets me do just that.

Attending yoga in a studio or classroom is a great way to get out of your head and into your body. There is a simplicity in showing up, following directions, and moving and breathing in the moment. An hour or two or classroom practice each week is a treat!

One of the challenges I have faced in the past was my resistance to practicing alongside my students. Ego made me self-conscious- I was worried about being less than “perfect” in my poses and often pushed myself into performance mode.  This wrecked my experience and hurt my body.

Now my practice is more focused and precious.  I’m better able to accept the true nature of my body. I don’t take moving with ease for granted anymore.  Instead, I cultivate gratitude for the ability to move. I enjoy moving.

“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.”

–The Bhagavad Gita

If Yoga is not your thing, find a way to engage as a student or client.  I know my experiences on the other side make me a better listener and more empathetic coach.

Give With A Glad Heart

I have learned that I need my coaching relationships to be clear rather than muddy. I want enough information to be able to really help my clients, and enough time and space to coach and follow up effectively.  This means that a quick conversation after class- either one to one or in a small group- does a disservice to my role as a coach and to Ayurveda as health science.

One boundary I have set is that I generally don’t book appointments in person after class. Instead I ask clients to go through my online booking software.  This prevents us from entering into conversations that are not timely. I intentionally don’t carry my paper calendar or phone into class.  When I leave them locked in the car, I can stay mellow at the end of class knowing that I will not need to start “work” while I am still in student mode.

This is a process that works for me. Yoga class is not a place I want to multitask in.  You may be different.  You might prefer to have quick access to your booking software so you can book appointments after class. But I invite you to consider what you might be giving up.  If you are cool with handing out advice after yoga, go for it.  Turn on a dime, give with a glad heart, in ways that feel good and create balance.  Me? I need a little more space and time to feel comfortable and to make sure that my glad heart is ready to help.

Kelly Gardner is “certifiable.” She’s a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Yoga Therapist, a yoga teacher trainer, and a Yoga Health Coach. Kelly excels in building, analyzing, and refining systems, and she wants to learn how to build and offer signature courses. She’s currently coaching the third round of her 12-week yoga health coaching course and is getting ready to launch her annual pass.

For a Yoga Health Coach, the annual pass is the ticket to a good lifestyle. Offering multiple courses means more work for the coach. More is not better. In fact, more is worse. The key is to roll what you already know into your annual pass that so you only need to market and enroll for one course – your signature annual pass. To simplify things even more, you only need to design first next quarter. Let your course members help you design your next quarter and you can be sure you’re providing them with the experience they want.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why one annual pass is better than multiple shorter courses.
• How to design your annual pass based on your particular knowledge and skills.
• Why you only need to design the first quarter of your annual pass.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Kelly’s website
• Kelly’s Facebook page
• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – Kelly is “certifiable.” She is a Licensed Professional Counselor, a Certified Yoga Therapist, a yoga teacher trainer, and a Yoga Health Coach. She’s currently coaching the third round of her 12-week yoga health coaching course and is getting ready to launch her annual pass. Kelly excels in building, analyzing, and refining systems, and she wants to learn how to build and offer signature courses.
• 6:12 – For a Yoga Health Coach, the annual pass is the ticket to a good lifestyle. Offering more courses means more work for the coach. More is not better. More is worse. For Kelly, the answer is rolling everything she already has into her annual pass.
• 13:00 – By figuring out your market differentiator, you can figure out your marketing strategy. If you’re still struggling to figure out what your annual pass should look like, go back and listen to “What Should Be In My Annual Pass?” in the YHC course hub. Each quarter of the annual pass goes deeper into your differentiator.
• 22:00 – After mapping out the annual pass, the next logical step is to organize retreats or live events. For Kelly, the idea of organizing a retreat is overwhelming. She offers her course online and her course members are scattered around the Eastern US. Cate suggests that Kelly have her course members come to her, build the retreat into the annual pass, and invite members to bring a friend who might enroll in the next round.
• 25:50 – When things get hard, get excited for your future members, for their transformation. Kelly’s next step is to detail her A to B transformation and refine her messaging around that. It’s important to speak in the language of the “A”s.
• 31:10 – You only have to design your next quarter. If you let your members help you design it, then they really are getting what they need from it, and you’re not overbuilding it. We’re selling connection, not information. We’re building a container for transformation.

Favorite Quotes:

• “Having more to offer means having more to market. . . . More is not better.” — Cate Stillman
• “It’s really important when things get hard to be excited for your future members.” — Cate Stillman
• “A lot of what people actually want is access. They don’t want more information.” — Cate Stillman
• “I just figured out that the habit course I’m teaching isn’t about the habits. . . . It’s about building the container for them to go be who they want to be.” — Kelly Gardner

Guest BIO:

Hi, I’m Kelly Gardner.  I’m a Memphis girl. I was born and raised in Memphis and my family has a strong history of working to make this city great.  So, I am doing my part as a Licensed Professional Counselor in both Tennessee and North Mississippi. I also serve as a Certified Yoga Therapist (C-IAYT and 500 E-RYT) in clinical mental health settings.  When I am on the road, I am leading yoga teacher trainings as a Senior Master Trainer for YogaFit Training Systems or I am leading personal development workshops. I am currently in the thick of my Yoga Health Coaching certification which builds on my previous Ayurvedic Yoga Specialist training.  And if you need a personal trainer, I’ve got that covered too.
I believe that yoga is great for EVERYONE and I love introducing people to how yoga can change their lives.  (Yes, it can work for you too.)
I am a guide for others to learn how to make strides toward the kind of life they really want to live.  I do not believe that anyone was born to be unhappy and it’s my dharma to help others help themselves. Connect with Kelly on her website and facebook page.

Carly has led three very close friends through her 10-week program, The Habit. She has found that resistance that she could easily coach a stranger through results in defensiveness from her loved ones. Carly acknowledges that part of the problem might lie with her reaction to the defensiveness of her loved ones: she retreats rather than rallying as she would with other course members.

Cate reminds us of the adage: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears” and suggests that perhaps Carly’s loved ones are students who just aren’t ready. Cate’s advice, based on her own experience, is to run your course for the people who want to be there, and occasionally you’ll be pleasantly surprised when old friends and loved ones show up ready and fully engaged. Cate explains that she would actually make enrollment harder for friends and family, taking into account emotional triggers and the possibility of them messing up the group dynamic.

Focus your energy on getting the right people invested and let friends and family fall where they may.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to stop wasting energy on the people who aren’t showing up.
• How friends and family can skew the dynamics of a coaching group.
• How to determine the best structure for your coaching calls or meetings.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Discover more about Body Thrive 
• Body Thrive Book

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – Carly has led three very close friends through her 10-week program, The Habit. She has found that resistance that she could easily coach a stranger through results in defensiveness from her loved ones. Cate reminds us of the adage: “When the student is ready, the teacher appears” and suggests that perhaps Carly’s loved ones are students who just aren’t ready.
• 5:00 – Carly acknowledges that part of the problem might lie with her reaction to the defensiveness of her loved ones: she retreats rather than rallying as she would with other course members.
• 5:45 – Cate asks Carly to take a look at who she invites into her course. It should only be people who want the outcomes of the habits: ease, depth, focus, and more control over their bodies and their moods. Cate’s advice, based on her own experience, is to run your course for the people who want to be there, and occasionally you’ll be pleasantly surprised when old friends and loved ones show up ready and fully engaged.
• 10:58 – Cate explains that she would actually make enrollment harder for friends and family, taking into account emotional triggers and the possibility of them messing up the group dynamic. They also could divert your attention away from your fully invested course members.
• 14:00 – Resistance can lead to disconnection. When resistance arises in a course member, remind her of her “Big 3” desires and then look at which habits are most “out of whack.”
• 17:00 – Cate suggests revisiting the YHC lesson on how to structure a coaching call. Asking specific questions to the group can help direct the focus of the call to where it might be most beneficial to most of the members. With a small group, knowing the individual struggles of each member can be very beneficial in directing the focus of a meeting or a quarter.

Favorite Quotes:

• “Wow. I have wasted a lot of energy worrying about the people who aren’t showing up.” — Carly Banks
• “I’m really excited for you to focus on the people that are invested. And to focus your energy on getting the right people invested and letting friends and family fall where they may. . . . ‘Cause the group is sacred.” — Cate Stillman

Guest BIO:

As a working mom of two, Carly Banks knows how easy it can be to put yourself last. For years she showered herself in “shoulds,” feeling guilty for not taking care of herself, and wishing she had more time.

Sometimes, there just isn’t more time. But there is always a different perspective.

Instead of focusing on how far away she was from big goals and big habit changes, Carly switched her focus to the little goals, and little habits she could create with ease. With this change in perspective, step by step, Carly has changed her entire life. Connect with Carly on her website, Facebook and Instagram.

When your family notices the self empowerment that is the product of the habits of ayurveda, they start to get curious about what you’re doing. Alexandra’s partner started to embrace some of the habits that she teaches to her course members and she wanted to figure out how to involve their 11-year-old daughter. What Alexandra has found is that letting your family follow your lead works better than making rules or forcing your habits on others. For children, everything is still an exploration.

As they grow older and are more influenced by their peers, parents have to be consciously creative when it comes to redirecting their attention and values.

Alexandra’s family has embraced family meetings. Family meetings provide a format in which every family member has an equal seat at the table. For Alexandra’s daughter, that meant understanding that with an equal voice, she also assumed an equal level of responsibility and mutual respect. To Alexandra’s delight, she has observed her daughter exhibiting her own values, and she knows she is giving her a strong foundation from which to grow.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• How to incorporate family values and family meetings into your home life.
• How to introduce your children to the habits of ayurveda.
• How couples can use the “family meeting” model to improve and strengthen their relationship.

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• Alexandra’s website
• Body Thrive
• Yoga Health Coaching
• Values Workshop

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – When your family notices the self empowerment that is the product of the habits of ayurveda, they start to get curious about what you’re doing. Alexandra’s partner started to embrace some of the habits that she teaches to her course members and she wanted to figure out how to involve their 11-year-old daughter. So they started having family meetings.
• 5:00 – Family meetings provide a format in which every family member has an equal seat at the table. When interest in the family meetings started to wane, Alexandra employed Cate’s values workshop to help her family see each other in a new light. For her daughter, that meant understanding that with an equal voice, she also assumed an equal level of responsibility and mutual respect.
• 10:00 – One of the values that Alexandra had identified for herself was nurturance. She recently found her daughter exhibiting that value. Alexandra also has weekly one-on-one values meetings with her partner that she feels helps recalibrate their relationship on a regular basis. Carly also prescribes one-on-one time with her husband that has saved her marriage.
• 15:30 – Carly is also involving her kids in the practices of ayurveda. What Alexandra has found is that letting your family follow your lead works better than making rules or forcing your habits on others.
• 20:10 – For children, everything is still an exploration. As they grow older and are more influenced by their peers, parents have to be consciously creative when it comes to redirecting their attention and values.

Your Favorite Quotes:

• “What an incredible gift that you’re giving your child. Your empowering her to make her own decisions and to reflect on what she really wants in life. And you’re letting her have a seat at the table. You’re inviting her to be seen and heard, and you’re letting her know that she has a voice.” — Carly Banks
• “It’s not about striving all the time, but about finding an even keel.” — Alexandra Kreis
• “To think that this is what my kids consider to be normal, versus what other kids consider to be normal in a day, it just fills me up. I feel like I’m really giving them a strong foundation to grow from.” — Carly Banks

Guest BIO:

Alexandra Kreis is a yoga teacher, ayurvedic lifestyle consultant, wellness masseuse, and yoga health coach. She lives in Berlin, Germany with her partner and their daughter. Since childhood, she has always felt happiest participating in the community while engaging in spiritual discovery in her private time. In the community, Alexandra experiences herself through the reflection of others, while ensuring that she makes time to connect inwards and maintain her roots.

It is, therefore, no coincidence that her professional career has brought her into the deeper layers of self-awareness and self-discovery, while assisting others on their own path.

Connect with Alexandra on her website and her facebook.

I give talks at regional Lyme disease conferences and to local support groups to get out in front of my community.  Clear impactful communication supports my wellness career and helps my audience understand the transformation I offer.  I’ve learned that speaking effectively with a large group at a meeting or conference is different than working with people one on one or in a yoga class. I work to improve my delivery, so I can help more people.

Speaking With Large Groups

The way you deliver your message- your use of voice and body language-  can make or break your impact in a workshop or a conference. I learned a lot about delivery while studying voice and singing. My voice coach was very particular about my stance, enunciation and use of breath.  She wanted these habits established, so I could focus on the emotions and message in each piece. By the end of our lessons I was always shaking with fatigue from the work we had done to improve my delivery.

I recently attended an event where a number of yoga teachers spoke- and as I listened to their presentations I was surprised by how uncomfortable many of them were speaking in front of a large group. It made me think about all the training I have done and how it supports my ability to speak effectively to an audience. It also reaffirmed the value of the work I continue to do to improve my delivery as I refine my voice and increase my impact.

8 Ways to Uplevel Your Presentation Skills and Engage Your Audience

Talk About Your Passions

People can tell if you aren’t into your subject matter. You don’t have to know and love every detail- just be honest about what you know, what you are learning, and why it is important to you and them. You want your audience to feel the love.

Know Your “Why”

Understand your purpose in giving the talk. Is it to entertain, to educate or to get people intrigued and excited about how you solve problems? Keep the purpose of your talk front and center in your plan and delivery.

Meet Your Audience Where They Are

Reach out to your audience. Make eye contact, ask questions, do quick surveys, or pass props to engage them. Use language they can connect with, and have simple explanations for any technical terms you introduce. Remember you are speaking for your audience, to help them engage at a deeper level.

Organize Your Information

I use powerpoint or google slides for large groups to me stay on track and on time, but you can use notes, props or speak from memory. Prepare for the unexpected by being organized and anticipating how things might go wrong. I always bring my computer, a thumb drive and a paper copy of my presentation. This means I am ready to continue if things go wrong.

Shake Off the Fear

Does public speaking give you the jitters? Before you begin, do a “check-in.”  Are your palms sweating? Is your mouth dry, or your tongue four times its normal size?  If so- stop. Before you begin, get grounded. Meditate, do some deep breathing, or imagine the audience in their underwear.

“Overall, fear of public speaking is America’s biggest phobia – 25.3 percent say they fear speaking in front of a crowd. Clowns (7.6 percent feared) are officially scarier than ghosts (7.3 percent), but zombies are scarier than both (8.9 percent).”  Christopher Ingraham “The Washington Post”

Actively Manage Pace, Pitch and Volume

Be aware of how quickly or slowly you speak, and learn how to actively vary your pace, pitch and volume.  I had a tendency to speak too quickly and softly. I could see puzzled looks on the faces of the audience as they tuned out.  My solution? I got myself a metronome and used it to practice varying my pace.

Stand in Your Own Footprints

What do I mean by this?  Literally stand and be still! Move with purpose when you move. Minimize the pacing, fidgeting, “sos”, “ums” and “ohs”- they detract from your message.

“There are always three speeches, for every one you actually gave. The one you practiced, the one you gave, and the one you wish you gave.” –Dale Carnegie

Post Talk Review

Make a constructive review checklist. Fill it out after your talk and use your findings to create a plan for improving your delivery. Record your talk when possible and listen to your words and delivery.

Here are the questions I ask myself- or in some cases my host- after I give a talk.

Talk Review Checklist- 4 Questions

1.    Was I clear in my delivery? What one thing can I work on to zero in on my message?  Narrow the topic? Use a pause instead of “um”, “so” or “and”?
2.    How was my pace?  Did I need to slow down? Did I finish on time or was the conclusion crunched? If I was rushed at the end, what section could I leave out or shorten to create space?
3.    Did anyone ask questions?  If not, build in a place for questions.
4.    Did the audience engage?  Was this the right topic for the right community?

What should be on your checklist?  Do a quick post talk analysis, and systematically refine your voice to improve your impact with your audience.  You have the power to evolve the way you speak to reach more people with your message.

Prior to YHC, Dana was making $18K teaching 6-8 yoga classes per week. To try to make more money, she would lead a ton of workshops, but that left her exhausted. Dana now works 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Her evenings and weekends are free to spend with her family, and she loves the freedom of creating her own schedule. Yoga Health Coaching also provides Dana with the freedom to travel because she can work from anywhere.

Dana’s success is due in great part to her ability to understand the value of investing and reinvesting in her self and her business skills. Simultaneously, she’s investing in the growth of the people she can serve. Her goal for next year is to double her income.

With an income that exceeds her basic needs, Dana is able to reinvest in her business skills, design the life she wants to give herself and her family, all while leading others to permanent positive change.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• Why investing in your business skills is the best investment for you, your family, and the people you serve as a wellness professional.
• How Yoga Health Coaching allows you to design the type of life you want to live.
• How income and impact go hand in hand.

Links Mentioned in Episode:

• Dana’s Website
• Body Thrive
• Yoga Health Coaching

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – Carly and Dana live in the same city. Rather than being competitive, they meet up on a bi-weekly basis, share ideas and resources, and collaborate.
• 2:20 – Dana has broken the $100K annual income mark as a yoga health coach! Prior to YHC, Dana was making $18K teaching 6-8 yoga classes per week. To try to make more money, she would lead a ton of workshops, but that left her exhausted. Dana now works 5 hours a day, 5 days a week. Her evenings and weekends are free to spend with her family, and she loves the freedom of creating her own schedule.
• 6:50 – Yoga Health Coaching also provides Dana with the freedom to travel because she can work from anywhere. One of the reasons she set her sights on making more money was so she could travel more, and she has been able to do so this past year. Her goal for next year is to double her income.
• 9:00 – Dana’s success is due in great part to her ability to understand the value of investing and reinvesting in herself and her business skills.
• 11:00 – Inspired by Dana’s success, Carly is setting her sights for her own success higher. She knows that investing in her personal and professional growth is the best investment

Favorite Quotes:

• “It’s a great combination of having the freedom to be in your home and doing your work at your computer on your own time and then also be out in the community and connect.” — Dana Skoglund
• “I’ve continuously realized I need to invest more in being able to share my work with more people. You can’t just be a good teacher to do that. It takes way more than that.” — Dana Skoglund
• “I could continue to just play comfortable, but growth feels way more interesting.” — Carly Banks
• “When we play small, we’re actually stealing from other people because we’re not helping as many people as we could be helping.” — Dana Skoglund

Guest BIO:

Dana Skoglund is a Certified Yoga Health Coach, Yoga teacher, and mother of two rambunctious young boys. She’s been studying Yoga since 2000 and teaching since 2004, and she has over 1,000 hours of training in the styles of Jivamukti, Anusara, and Sridaiva. Her desires to take her health and well-being into her own hands and to learn how to keep her family healthy led her to Ayurveda in 2011.

After implementing daily routines from Ayurveda and noticing the profound impacts they had on her energy and happiness, she began coaching clients into these better body habits in 2013. She aims to inspire others about the importance of health habits in crafting the lives of their dreams. Dana is also deeply passionate about travel, adventure, learning, movement of any kind, and the arts.

To find balance in the midst of this changeable season, Vata needs deep rhythm. This could look like a consistent routine of daily habits that help set the pace for ease and grace during the coming months. Or it might look like new rhythmic ways of nourishing yourself with easily digestible foods that help ignite your digestive fire while grounding your inner spaciousness.

To tap into your best autumn rhythm check out this simple and versatile soup recipe which includes activating spices and earthy seasonal veggies – a satisfying meal that helps feed your autumn fire.

But first, let’s explore more deeply deeper how this recipe helps balance the vata qualities of autumn.

Like Attracts Like While Opposites Balance.

One of the ways we can balance Vata is by including foods that have the opposite qualities of this dosha. Since Vata is known to be cool, light, dry and rough, the opposite qualities we should include in our diet are foods that are warm, oily, soft, and sticky.

What you choose to nourish yourself with can greatly support balance during this dry windy season, or instead invite the subtle energy of Vata to become sporadic in a way that compromises your health. You may notice when this imbalance occurs with disruptions in your sleep or mood, physical achiness, and spending more time in the restroom. So then how do you avoid this imbalance? To optimize balance add in deep rhythm by eating at a consistent time every day and by choosing foods that offer these grounding and balancing qualities.

Spices and Agni

Agni is the digestive fire within your belly. With strong Agni comes the ability to fully digest and assimilate your food and year-long vitality and health. Spices and herbs are great kindling for this fire because they contain robust flavors that signal the body to produce specific fluids that support your digestion. This is important because autumn is the ideal time of year to boost the immune system which resides largely in the gut.

Seasonal Veggies

Choosing to eat seasonal and local produce helps you attune to nature’s rhythms. In the northern hemisphere think of the squash, tubers and other veggies that are growing close to the ground this time of year. The earthiness of these veggies is very stabilizing for the subtle qualities of autumn and Vata. Now onto the recipe!

Autumn Balance Soup

Ingredients

2 cups of your favorite squash (winter squash varieties need to be peeled)
1 small yellow onion
½ bulb fennel
2 stalks celery
5 baby purple potatoes
2 carrots peeled
1 Tbs ghee (coconut and olive oil also work)
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp coriander seeds
Vegetable broth or filtered water
1 lemon or lime
Your favorite fresh herbs chopped
salt to taste

Directions

Wash your veggies and chop them into large 1/2 inch pieces.

In a large pot toast the seeds in the ghee for 2 minutes or until they begin to pop. Add the onion, celery, carrot, and fennel and sauté on medium high for 2 minutes. Add potato, squash and enough filtered water to cover the veggies. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a soft simmer for 20 minutes or until the veggies are soft. No need to cover the pot.

Let the soup cool for a few minutes then add it to a blender that does not completely seal. I recommend using a vitamix. Blend until it’s a smooth consistency. About 20 – 30 seconds does it in a vitamix.

Season with salt to taste and serve with fresh lemon juice and fresh herbs.
This soup goes well with a side of steamed rice.  You can double and triple this recipe as needed.

As you enjoy the creativity, clarity and spaciousness of fall remember to ground yourself into a new rhythm. Seasonal soups like Autumn Balance are the perfect way to create deep nourishment as we move into the last months of the year.

I’ve wanted to pull out more than a few times. Jump ship. Try something else.

But I stuck with it. I worked their systems.

It’s been hard. Obviously.

My investment- with travel- is around $18 thousand per year. It’s a business investment – paid for by the business. I used to think of it as a personal investment. I was wrong. It’s an investment I make to create the momentum to grow, to help my people to grow, to help myself to grow.

Questioning the Value

Last year at exactly this time I talked about giving up on the bigger goal. I had 3 bad hires in a row. I lost faith in my ability to do this. I was serious about not growing – just staying put.

But in the end, I was more curious about what it took. Why some people made it past the rocky terrain of $1 million to $3 million. Why others, like me, did not. I couldn’t see why I didn’t have what it took. In fact, I couldn’t see, with all my “west meets east meets west” wisdom background, how I wasn’t actually at an advantage.

I kept trying. I made a good hire. Then another bad hire. Then another good hire.

Mapping New Habits with Consistent Action

And now I see clearly how by consistently choosing what is hard in the moment- like my daily cold plunges– I have also paved the way for growth for others.  

This week we hired three new team members at Yogahealer. I’m sure they are all good hires. The hiring process was arduous. I wasn’t nervous about the added investment in people. I can see how I’m on the other side of some old shadow issues that held me back as a CEO.

Coming out the Other Side

The hiring I’m doing will free up my time in 2019 immensely, letting me focus on tribe growth strategy, networking, writing, speaking, coaching, and new smaller courses- all within my “zone of genius.” In 2019 I’m leveraging all my strengths, and the strengths of all the Yogahealer individual members, not just some of them. In 2019 I’ll have even more free time, though my calendar is already dialed in with big open blocks and focus blocks.

I’m starting to see the light. To witness the cumulative changes in my thinking, strategy, leadership abilities, team growth.

The reason I write this is: there are hard actions we need to take every day. There are lessons to learn. Weaknesses to alchemize into strengths.

And it’s hard.
It’s not personal, though it feels personal.
And it works.

Stay the path. Growth is real

Developing a whole new curriculum for second-year students isn’t always necessary. Letting the second-year students mentor and lead the first-year students might be a better solution. Year 2 is an unknown product. Year 1 is proven. Don’t sacrifice the known for the unknown.

Another solution might be year-two mastermind groups: mentor-run courses written by the yoga health coach. The curriculum can be original content written by the yoga health coach, or curated content from other sources. Mentors run Facebook groups and setup mastermind groups, exchanging their services for course enrollment.

What you’ll get out of tuning in:

• What happens at the end of an annual pass
• How to continue to serve your course members without doubling your time spent serving them
• How to identify good mentors

Links Mentioned in the Episode:

• • Yoga Health Coaching
  • Body Thrive
  • Lael Petersen website
  • Watch the Masterclass NOW

Show Highlights:

• 0:00 – Lael started the Yoga Health Coaching course 15 months ago. Since then, she has transformed her business, her business model, and her family life. Lael is a therapist who has been working in the mental health field for nearly 20 years. She is preparing to launch her third round of her version of Body Thrive, and she looking forward to establishing a continuity program for her current members after their annual membership expires.
• 4:50 – Developing a whole new curriculum for second-year students isn’t always necessary. Letting the second-year students mentor and lead the first-year students might be a better solution. When course members teach what they know, they hold themselves to a higher standard.
• 9:18 – Year 2 is an unknown product. Year 1 is proven. Don’t sacrifice the known for the unknown. Year-two mastermind groups are self-run courses written by the yoga health coach. The curriculum can be original content written by the yoga health coach, or curated content from other sources. Monthly or semi-monthly meetings can be “field trips” and/or coaching. Mentors can run Facebook groups and setup mastermind groups. Mentors exchange their services for course enrollment.
• 26:00 – The best mentors are those who just want to stick around and keep learning. They are supporting, nurturing and accountable. They are not creators; they are reinforcers. But they can help co-create with you.

Favorite Quotes:

•  “What do good leaders do? They nurture leaders. They turn other people into leaders. That’s what good leaders do.” — Cate Stillman

Guest BIO

Lael is a therapist and YHC in training. She started YHC with BT in May 2017 and then YHC in August 2017. She’s scheduled to take her certification exam Sept 6-7.

Lael has been transitioning her business from traditional 1:1 therapy model to a group/community model over the past year. She is about to start her third round of the habits and currently has sold over 20 year long memberships. Course members are beginning to inquire about what happens after the first year, so Lael is now designing content and structure for those who want continuity.

Lael lives in Portland, OR, is married to her super supportive partner Josh and together they have two girls who are almost 9. Connect with Lael on her website and Facebook page.