Meet Jasmin McGee

We were lucky to catch up with Jasmin McGee recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jasmin, 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.

From the time I was a young girl, I realized that I was here to be in service to others. I somehow, intuitively, understood this was my purpose, even when I did not have the words, vocabulary, or understanding of what that truly meant. All I knew is that I was supposed to help and be helpful to others in some way or capacity.

As I grew up, a heavy sense of duty and responsibility expanded to encompass my work ethic and influenced how I focused on my work and how I presented myself to others.

I find that being in service to community is soul fulfilling work. To offer my help, support, tools, gifts, and deep care feels right and good to me. And as I continue to grow and expand as a human being, a Death Doula, and as I guide Yoga for Community, the understanding of what being in service to and how this is my purpose only deepens. When it comes to service and being in service to, I do so with unwavering devotion.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a trauma-informed RYT500 through Yoga Alliance. It is my joy to guide Yin Yoga, Restorative Yoga, and Yoga Nidra. I am also a trained and certified Death Doula. I have held space as a Death Doula since my 20’s. I received my official Doula training through Going with Grace offered by the incredible Alua Arthur, a well-known and respected Death Doula. I also have the incredible privilege to be a Veterans Yoga Project teacher and work with the local Wounded Warrior Project team in Houston to bring holistic care and wellness to the amazing Warriors and Veterans who have served this country.

To hold space for all the amazing individuals I am privileged to serve in all of these capacities is a blessing in my life.

I began Snow Poppy Yoga in order to offer Community a measure of peace with my offerings. I have come to realize that over the past couple of years, my “WHY” has evolved. It is still my intention to create opportunities for individuals to find peace with my offerings – an opportunity for them to find peace as they rest, restore, and recharge themselves. However, the evolution of my offerings has shown me that being in service to Community, in all the ways I present my offerings, is with a hope that I can guide the amazing people I serve toward a better quality of life – whatever that looks like for each person respectively.

My hope is that with my offerings, I create opportunities for individuals to find that which they need to live as fully and as well as possible. I do this by holding deep space as I guide my Yoga classes, meditations, breathing exercises, or when I offer support as a Death Doula.

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?

Three qualities that I need on a daily basis to do what I do – to hold space as I do for others – is empathy, compassion, and the trauma-informed training I’ve acquired over the years.

The empathy and compassion come naturally to me. I offer them freely and completely.

The trauma-informed training influences how I speak and what words I use. This matters and is very important as I hold space for individuals who come from all walks of life and who may carry trauma in their bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits. My hope with my offerings is to empower each person attending an offering to create an experience for themselves that they need on that particular day to find a moment of peace, rest, support, release, or to feel safe, seen and/or heard.

My greatest advice is to invest in reputable, trauma-informed training. Understanding what this entails and how to use language to avoid potentially triggering someone as you hold space for them is paramount. Educating oneself is so important and continuing to seek out new and better ways to hold space for others is imperative when being in service to Community as a whole.

Okay, so before we go, is there anyone you’d like to shoutout for the role they’ve played in helping you develop the essential skills or overcome challenges along the way?

I was blessed to receive a solid foundation of trauma-informed training in my 200-hour and 300-hour yoga teacher training.

I had the immense privilege to deepen my trauma-informed training through the Veterans Yoga Project’s Mindful Resilience for Trauma Recovery Teacher Training (MRT). This training took what I had on the foundational level and deepened my understanding of what is required and needed to hold a trauma-informed space for all people carrying potentially all sorts of trauma in mind, body, heart, and spirit.

The information offered in the training and the instructors who teamed up to lead us through the training were top notch. I highly recommend it to anyone who is in a position to hold space for anyone in Community.

It is an honor to be in service to as a Veterans Yoga Project teacher, and I look forward to further my education and training with them to continue to hone my skills as a trauma-informed space holder and become ever better versions of myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.snowpoppyyoga.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/snow.poppy.yoga
• Other: https://veteransyogaproject.org