We recently connected with Kayla Weber and have shared our conversation below.
Kayla, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
When I was growing up, my father unfortunately became among the first of the victims of the opioid crisis. He was in active addiction on and off starting when I was four years old until he died of an overdose in 2006 when I was 15. Growing up with a parent who is an addict is hard enough, but losing them during an important part of your growing up comes with another mixed bag of challenges. I struggled with my grief as I was trying to grow up and experience the normal things that teenagers do. I was fortunate to have a deep connection with nature, my version of religion and spirituality, and an incredibly important group of friends to help get me through the thick of it.
When I was in college I found mindfulness practices like meditation and journaling and most importantly, yoga. I was not taking care of myself in healthy ways when I was in college and I was masking my unprocessed grief with alcohol and socialization. I found hot yoga my senior year and it set me on a much better course towards healing. Although I still had a long road ahead, I was finally pointed in the right direction. Once I graduated with my degree in natural resources biology in 2013 I moved out to the Vail Valley in Colorado to work for an environmental education organization. I quickly found the yoga studio that was local to my new area and signed up for their incredibly affordable first month. Unfortunately I couldn’t afford the monthly membership on the intern salary I was making so I applied to be an ambassador for a work-trade membership. I didn’t hear back from that studio for quite a while, which was ok, I was exploring my new home and discovering all of the things that make mountain life great.
In June of 2014 I got a call that my older brother had gone into a coma and died shortly after that. Grief had rocked my world again, 8 years later. He never sought help or processed his grief in the way I was able to, so he sadly died of complications from drug use. On my way back from his funeral I got a call from my local yoga studio, finally answering my request to be an ambassador. I leaned hard into that community, the practice of yoga, my ability to be close to nature, and that all allowed me to fully lean into my grief this time. About 2 months after my brother’s passing it hit me square in the forehead… I needed to do something to help show the world that there are more than just two options when we are faced with grief and trauma. Growing up in the Midwest I was really only told about two options: Traditional talk therapy or ignoring the problem and masking with substances. It occurred to me that there are so many healthy ways to process big emotions like grief so I set out to gather a bunch and become a resource hub for grievers in my community.
Over the last decade I have become certified in nature and forest therapy, Grief Recovery Method, Mindful Grieving, yoga 200hr including an addition 100hrs of yoga therapy for grief, sound healing, acudetox auricular acupuncture, and peer support services. I traveled up and down my little valley for years offering my services in groups, one on one, events, workshops, and everything in between. All of that was wonderful but I wanted a place to call home so that people could have a home base for all of these resources, groups, and services. I had begun to offer grief groups in the smaller studio room of my home yoga studio and was slowly integrating back into that community after some time off while I gained all of my certifications. Along my journey I encountered so many people that needed help and healing, and I became a much more whole version of myself, too. This continued to fan my fire of purpose to be of service in the healing realm for everyone I could.
In June of 2022 the yoga studio owner casually mentioned she was ready to sell and move on to her next adventure and my mind started racing. I never dreamed of becoming a yoga studio owner, but this could afford me the opportunity to have a home for all of my healing modalities. Things moved rather quickly and I became the official owner of Revolution Yoga January 1, 2023. My underlying purpose has been to help people find the healing modalities that work for them, because it’s not one size fits all. I was lucky enough to stumble on some that worked for me, and I wanted to be able to introduce some of those to others in my community. I want to be an advocate for feeling/processing/healing our past hurts to that we can all live a life of happiness, health, and wholeness and I have my dad and brother to thank for that.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I went into some detail about this with the question about how I found my purpose. Currently, my biggest role is owning Revolution Power Yoga. Since I bought the studio at the beginning of 2023 I have had my hands full learning about this business and how to manage a team of people. I have created more variety of classes, different styles, and hired teachers with different backgrounds and trainings. The changes and variety have been a welcome change to the studio.
I have continued to facilitate sound baths at multiple locations through my transition to business owner because that is the practice I feel most connected to. Sound healing/sound baths/sound journeys are so special because no two are ever the same. Everyone gets something different from each sound bath and the intention is that everyone gets what they need in that moment. The vibrations are incredibly potent during a live sound bath and I love helping people get more balanced and recalibrated. I deliver these as traditional sound baths for 60 minutes with people lying on the floor with props, as aerial sound baths with participants resting in aerial yoga silks, and in collaboration with people who provide reiki, acupuncture, and yoga while I play my instruments.
I am also a facilitator of mindful grieving groups. These groups are for grievers of all stages and they incorporate meditation, journaling, group sharing/listening, and yoga therapy. I love leading these groups because grief is so close to my heart and I truly believe that the mindfulness practices incorporated in these groups have helped me to heal so I feel passionately about sharing them with others.
I feel that my true calling is melding together a variety of modalities to help people feel safe and supported enough to dive deeply into their own journey of self discovery, self healing, and returning to wholeness and joy.
Revolution Power Yoga in Avon, CO is always adding new workshops, ceremonies, and offerings to our event list! Come check out a full or new moon circle, mushroom broth or cacao ceremony, any of our functional yoga workshops, or a sound bath. If you’re really wanting to immerse yourself in sound healing, meditation, yoga, and the beach, myself and Jen Harris will be hosting a 7 day retreat on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica from Oct 13-20, 2024. Daily sound healing, meditation, yoga, optional reiki and acudetox (auricular acupuncture) also available to help you leave feeling refreshed and more deeply connected to your heart and soul.
We are also about to announce our dates for 200hr Teacher Training through Revolution for 2025! Keep an eye out on our socials and website for those!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
The first quality that I think really helped me on my journey was trusting myself. I have had a lot of “crazy” ideas and nudges on my journey that others have not validated me on or have even tried to talk me out of. I’m so glad I didn’t listen to the nay-sayers. Of course there were times I asked for advice and I took it, but most of my journey has been listening to my own inner knowing and following those breadcrumbs. There have been many synchronicities along the way that I paid attention to instead of ignoring and I think that’s been a huge help for me. Listening to your own intuition and trusting yourself enough to act on it isn’t always easy, but it’s important.
I would also attribute a lot of my growth and current success (how I define it) to my dedication to self development. I’ve done a lot of programs, read a lot of books, and done a ton of work on and for myself that has shifted a lot of self limiting beliefs and old ways of thinking. I used to play small, not believe in myself, and thought someone was going to come “save” me in this life. I’ve learned that I have everything I need inside of myself mentally and emotionally, that I am enough, I am worthy of greatness, and that I am my own savior. Nothing happens TO me, it all happens FOR me. With my frame of mind shifted I was able to break through self imposed barriers to find to true happiness, peace, and flow in my life. It’s not comfortable and it’s not easy, but it’s oh-so-necessary if you want to get out of your own way.
The third skill I’ll list here is the true art of asking for help. I used to be hyper independent and thought I could and should do it all myself. What I found is that that only leads to burnout and a sense of separation. When I was brave enough to ask for help I found compassion for myself, deep appreciation for other, a sense of partnership, community, and collaboration. We all have strengths and weaknesses and if we work together and play off of our unique skill sets we not only learn from each other and deliver a strong offering, we also become closer and deepen into our community. Community is something I think our culture has been lacking and I’m definitely a huge advocate for it. I would not be where I am today without the help, love, support, and community I have around me now.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
I have spent a lot of time feeling overwhelmed these past couple years. From preparing to buy the studio, to the actual closing, to learning everything about how to run it, how to manage a large team, and on top of it all making big changes to the classes, team, and even physical aesthetic changes to the studio, overwhelmed is an understatement. One huge thing for me was obviously lists. I made lists, sub-lists, and more lists. Writing down all of the things I needed to do was a good way to get them out of my head and see them in a tangible way so I could make informed decisions about how to use my time. The problem with those lists was that they seemed to only get longer, not shorter.
Someone told me about the concept of juggling glass balls and plastic balls at the same time. Decide what balls are glass and cannot be dropped, and decide which ones are plastic that can be dropped and picked back up again. That helped me categorize my top priorities and those things that could get kicked down the road a bit if needed. I was able to frame my tasks that way and it greatly helped me prioritize. I also had great planning sheets that broke my week down by top priorities for the week, goals for the week, and tasks for each day. Time blocking out my work in this way was a game changer and it helped my overwhelm feel manageable.
The other thing that really helps when I feel that way is to just start doing. Personally, I like to start with some easier, quicker tasks to give me that feeling of accomplishment. When I can cross something off a list I get a dopamine hit to my brain that helps me feel motivated to keep doing things. Starting with the smaller things is like getting a ball rolling down a hill. Once I finished the smaller things for that day, I felt motivated to tackle my bigger tasks. All of these tips and tricks helped my tremendously, but this one is what I lean on the most still to this day. If I feel overwhelmed, I just start doing things on my list and before I know it, I feel accomplished.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.revolutionpoweryoga.com
- Instagram: @revolutionpoweryoga @nurturedbynatureforesttherapy
- Facebook: Revolution Power Yoga
Image Credits
Holly Mandarich, Chad Ronald, Jennifer Weintraub
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