"You need to just get out there and do it and celebrate the wins. And if it's messy that's okay because you're trying it out with people that lights you up. Trust that you can do it and that you can grow." - Ashley Sondergaard
Learn how to do more of what you love by listening to stories from other yoga teachers, healers, and coaches about how they first got started.
Discover what they did to first make money, how they actually got started, and how they overcame their struggles like fear and burnout along the way.
Today we hear from self-care coach and host of the Yoga Magic Podcast, Ashley Sondergaard, who you heard from in Ep. 224 - Cultivating a Life of Self Compassion.
Ashley felt the desire to help people with their self-care…maybe become a self-care coach or something. The fear part of her told her “it's a silly idea” and “there are already so many people doing that already” but she went and did it anyway. Today, she lives her desire of helping cultivate self-care.
This episode is about how she did it - how she overcame the fear, how she started and lessons learned from other challenges encountered.
Whether you're someone who's feeling inadequate, hating your job and trying to find your purpose, Ashley’s story will be of great value to help you move forward!
In this episode, discover:
How to create a life of doing what you love without having to give up what you aren’t willing to do.
How self-compassion pushed the button for Ashley to start chasing her dream of becoming a self-care coach
A deeper understanding of how to break-free on the chains and challenges of self-resistance and use it to your advantage
About Ashley Sondergaard
Ashley Sondergaard is a self care coach, yoga teacher, astrologer and host of the Yoga Magic podcast. For 9 years, she has studied yoga, meditation, astrology and mindfulness practices that prioritize self-care and self-discovery. After having her two girls, Ashley discovered the hard way that taking care of yourself first is the only way to take care of others. Today, she supports her students & clients in up leveling their everyday routines into magical self-care rituals.
Finding your purpose and what you're willing to sacrifice for your dreams.
Following your dreams doesn’t mean that you need to give up absolutely everything in your life. It’s just as important to consider what you’re NOT willing to give up (ex. spending time with your kids in Ashley’s case) as it is to consider what you ARE willing to give up (ex. socializing time with friends). Listen to [10:58} for more.
See below for more key nuggets and takeaways.
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Key Nuggets: Doing What You’re Meant To Do
1. What is your calling right now? [5:50]
I feel called to educate and empower women, especially mothers to prioritize themselves first. I've seen firsthand what it looks like to put everyone else before ourselves and what it also looks like to prioritize ourselves and how that makes everyone’s lives much fuller. There's so much more love to give when you're in a place of fullness as a mother, as a female.
2. Tell us about how you built your podcast [7:45]
A couple of years ago my husband asked me what I wanted to do and I answered “I want to help people with self care”. The idea seemed silly but it kept coming back. It kept knocking at the door and it got so loud that I was like “okay, I’ll do it today!”. I bought a mic and started recording.
3. How did you start? [12:58]
I was teaching yoga and managing yoga studios for about 8 years. We got requests all the time for private classes, things like Bachelorette parties, private workshops and stuff but the studio that I worked for didn’t do those requests. So the business idea for yoga for brides and weddings came to me and I stepped back from a leadership role in the studio to do it. That idea actually didn’t work out! But I hired a coach who helped me hone into my brand Yoga Magic where I can help people with their self-care.
When I started coaching, I opened up programs and a mentorship program with a few sessions at a pretty reduced cost. Doing those initial sessions, I learned a lot about just believing that I could do it. We all know there's so much impostor syndrome as entrepreneurs, coaches and astrologers. There's just so much of that! When I started wellness coaching, I opened up programs and a mentorship program with a few sessions at a pretty reduced cost. And from there, they were so awesome and helpful and I learned a lot about just believing that I could do it. We all know there's so much impostor syndrome as entrepreneurs, coaches and astrologers. There's just so much of that! [19:06]
4. Did you have a formal plan of how long you were going to do this for? [26:00]
Income wise, there's some reality in not necessarily knowing what's coming in. I do have a timeline that's like, this is going to be a thing or it's not, and I'm okay with that. That plan to me is kind of non existent because I just know it's going work. It's like I have a limit but I know I'm not going to need it.
5. How did you get your expenses covered? [27:36]
Luckily, I do have a partner who's able to help with the expenses and I do consider my role, my job as a mother to be extremely beneficial to our family and so that feels like a really good balance. I know that not everyone has that amazing privilege of sharing the expenses. The mindset for me has been challenging because sometimes I feel like if I'm not making the exact amount in contributing to the family in some way, then I'm not winning.
6. What was one time when you really wanted to quit? What helped you keep going? [32:32]
When we were all in lockdown and my kids were at home full time and I was trying to work full time while my husband worked in a nursing home and the reality for him was really scary. When that was happening, the reality for me was that my job should be on the backburner. It just had to be and the kids needed to be taken care of. I could've just easily said that I don't want to do this anymore but I didn't. And when things came back online and the doors had opened up again to the outside world, I was so much more hungry for it. I think I would have felt really burned out in that evolution of business. But because I had this forced slow down, I was just like, Yeah, let's go!". And so it was a gift in the end.
7. What’s was one of your first successes? [30:50]
It’s not tangible but when I started to connect with people on the podcast, especially people that I admired, I felt that fire. I felt that magic. And it was so good! It was just like a dream! That felt so in alignment. Those moments are just beyond anything I could've really imagined! That exchange of energy with these people was like another step forward to me. And they gave me the confidence to continue doing this work and now I get to be that person to others and that's just so amazing!
8. What’s your biggest resistance and how do you respond to it? [35:03]
I love to organize since I'm very Capricorn moon. We like to get business done, but sometimes I tend to organize instead of doing things. I could make a list of my day for an hour, and then not actually do most of the things on the list and that's my resistance but I know that about myself and I've been working on it.
9. What do you do to check back and make sure that this is still the path for you (i.e., that helps you decide that this is all worth it? [36:06]
It’s a gut feeling. It’s an intuition check. For me, I feel the joy and I feel that intuition come through in my gut. It's that excited feeling when you're anticipating something that you can't see. That's when I know I'm still on the right path.
11. What is a book, podcast, person, or teacher you would recommend?
Book: Happy Pocket Full Of Money by David Cameron Gikandi
Book: Top 5 Regrets Of The Dying by Bronnie Ware
Resources:
Book: You were Born for This By Chani Nicholas
Connect with Ashley:
Website: www.ashleysondergaard.com
Instagram: @ashleysondergaard.yoga & @yogamagicpodcast
Listen to Ashley’s podcast Yoga Magic with Ashley Sondergaard and explore the world of self-care and self-discovery
QUOTES:
"I was looking at what I wasn't willing to give up. I got really clear on that fact that I don't want to give up my role as a super engaged parent, as a mother who loves to mother. That's something I'm not going to give up. " 11:20
"Celebrating those wins and yet you got to just get out there and do it. And if it's messy that's okay because you're trying it out with people that lights you up. Trust that you can do it and that you can grow." 20:15
"We are all in different seasons and different cycles of life and this is just my time to grow and build and to see things coming into play." 29:14
"Keep doing it and keep being consistent." 16:53
"And when I got really clear about the sacrifices, the things that I was willing to give up in order to chase my dreams, the direction became that much clearer." 11:38
"I learned a lot about just believing that I can do it." 19:36
"If it doesn't light you up, don't force it just because you started it and you feel like you have to finish." 21:27
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