We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aylin Pashaian a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aylin, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?
I started dancing when I was 7 years old. As a dancer, you learn to keep your head up, shoulders down, relax your face, smile and tap into your emotions. You want the audience to really see your embodied movement, paired with dancing your heart out which could only happen if you tap into your emotions and show up confidently. You also have to be disciplined, show up on time, show up fully ready and do the work. As a ballet dancer, I had some strict teachers, but all those teachers taught me many things which I’m super grateful for.
Growing up, I have developed my confidence and self-esteem by being in many different communities and living away from home, London, Armenia and LA. I was able to sharpen some of my skills like: learning how to connect with people smoothly, hold space and share the parts of me that might be a bit vulnerable without having to hide them, which is a talent itself that I’ve mastered throughout the years.
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?
As an entrepreneur, creator and lover of nature, I’m always fine-tuning things. I did a dance training with one of my dream dance companies in LA back in August of this year, ‘Jacob Jonas’ and since then I have been super inspired to choreograph, create and collaborate with other artists and participate in different dance and artistic projects, so I’m focusing on that more than before.
I grew up as a dancer and movement enthusiast and always loved colors, fashion, dressing up and bringing people together, so creating communities. I studied graphic design and then moved to London to do my master’s in Marketing with my best friend. Working in production, event management and collaborating with international talents, taught me so much about the world of branding, digital and print design, film and creativity.
Currently, I mainly work on my pop-up yoga studio ‘Westside Yogis’, teaching yoga & meditation, taking my ‘Joyful movement’ method to different places locally and internationally. Joyful Movement is a method I’ve created: a combination of guided movement, partner movement (dance with curated music) and visualization meditation. It is a very transformational embodiment method and participants seem to love it, so I want to share it with more bodies and souls.
Other than that, I’ll be recording my meditations and hoping to start my podcast before the end of the year. Follow ‘@westside.yogis’ on instagram for updates on all the happenings.
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?
Communication, Honesty & being Open.
To elaborate, I feel human connection is one of the most beautiful things in this world. Society has taught us that a lot of things are taboo and not a norm, therefore some people think that they don’t belong or fit in. So, learning how to communicate is so important. Being a good communicator will bring the right opportunities to you and will help you understand things better and easier, understanding the self and others. Finding the right communities and being surrounded by good friends all come from being able to connect in a variety of settings aka society and recognizing certain energies that are not aligned with yours and walking away from those kind of people and places. Remember that you always belong, but value who you are and spend time with people and go to places that value you.
Being honest will always win. No matter what the situation is, even if your voice is shaking, be honest as the right people will appreciate it and the ones who don’t will drop along the way naturally.
Finally, being open means having an open heart, but with boundaries. The only way to experience magical connections, ending up in magical places and saying yes to things that feel good and exciting is being open, otherwise we will miss out on the possibilities that the universe provides.
Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?
I love creating with other practitioners, artists and creators. It’s so beautiful to come together and bring our creations and passions together. I’m looking for dancers with different backgrounds, yoga and meditation teachers and other entrepreneurs. So, if you are reading this and this sounds like you, then please feel free to DM me on instagram: @adorn.your.life or email me at: adorningyourlife@gmail.com
Contact Info:
- Instagram: Personal: @adorn.your.life Yoga studio:@westside.yogis Food brand: @chialicious_venice
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aylinpashaian/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/westside-yogis-los-angeles
- Other: Google business page: https://rb.gy/hsjhmh
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
