A Journey of a 1000 Breaths
Episode #3: a podcast with Hilary Brown and Kristin Campbell
A Journey of a 1000 breaths to look herself in the eyes
In this third episode of Conversations Beyond the Mat Hilary Brown talks with Kristin Campbell: the founder of Tapasya yoga. With passion and precision and a dose of mama-bear love, Kristin teaches embodied-alignment based Hatha-Vinyasa Yoga. Hilary finds out how she went from hatha to Bikram to alignment to water kefir… Living in the beauty of the British Columbia nature, she brings her love and connection to all things real, natural, down-to-earth in her way of teaching and life. Learn what hot did for her and some stories of the “old days” when it started on the west coast.
Podcast maker Hilary Brown is the founder & creative director of Yoga Moves Training Programs in The Netherlands.
Excerpt from full transcript:
Hilary:
What in hot yoga was it that attracted you? I mean, was it the teacher? Was it the heat? Was it the carpet?
Kristin:
It was the heat, it was the heat. And I’m not somebody who loves hot bath sauna. Hot Tubs I find myself was getting kind of agitated and wanting to get out after a few minutes. And so this was this was strange for me to have this experience where I could stay. But one of the biggest memories that I have from that experience was the mirror. And that was strange to me to be watching, looking at myself, you know, because at that time, the in the backroom dialogue it was look into your own eyes. And I found that very confronting. And I found myself wanting to look away and look at the ground. And I thought, well, this is interesting. What if I can’t face myself for 90 minutes? How can I face the world or anyone else for that matter? And so that, for me was the spark of curiosity. You know, had me coming back to look further into what was that about? And so I kept coming back and I kept challenging myself to look at myself in the eyes, and not just pretend by looking at my third eye, but looking at my eyes and through that experience, I found self compassion and understanding and self acceptance.
Hilary:
When you’re coaching teachers, what would you say is the top advice you’re giving?
Kristin:
Engage with the learning, engage with your practice, like it’s not about what you’re doing or what you’re saying. It’s who you’re being while you’re delivering the message as a teacher embody, embody what it is you’re you’re hoping to bring forth from your students be a leader, because you’ve chosen that seat as uncomfortable as it is like speaking from experience. I used to not be able to even look people in the eye at the beginning of the class. Bikram yoga was perfect, because we just started toes heels on the line. We didn’t have to sit and address everybody before the class began, you know, from the beginning of the class. So for me, that was a huge obstacle.
But then that became my strength. You know, that challenge became my strength. I’ve struggled with, being able to communicate in a way that I feel is as clear as I would like it to be, but then that’s become, in when I’m teaching yoga, it’s become a strength of mine, because I’ve had to work really hard at it. So engaging with the discomfort, like what is that about? Inquiring. Why can’t I make eye contact with people? Why can’t I face myself, and through that experience of engaging and going inward? More my authentic voice and being has come alive? And so that’s what when I’m teaching trainings is what we’re mentoring students and teachers. That’s what I’m hoping to bring forth in them.
So I think that that’s definitely my teaching style, it’s not didactic, it’s very much a conversation, it’s an open dialogue. It’s an inquiry into Who are you? Like what’s what’s beneath this? What are behind these words? What’s presenting for you? So there’s a lot of conversation in my teacher trainings, which some people love and some people are like: Can you just tell me what to do? Alright, and we move on, you know, but that’s just that’s on being my authentic self and I want to empower people to to come to teach from their own experience and to trust that their own experience is relevant and valid. And not just parrot what someone else said of course, as a new teacher, you’re going to pair it over people repeat what your teachers have said so first you need to to be able to experience that before you can integrate and innovate and make it your own.