We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Terri Kaiser a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Terri, thank you so much for opening up with us about some important, but sometimes personal topics. One that really matters to us is overcoming Imposter Syndrome because we’ve seen how so many people are held back in life because of this and so we’d really appreciate hearing about how you overcame Imposter Syndrome.
This was and still is an obstacle I am challenged by. I’m a late bloomer, not starting to reach until I was 54 years old, and not starting my own business until I was 56. There are so many amazing practitioners who have been building their careers for 20 or 30 years. I can totally get in my head about this, and that’s when my biggest obstacle becomes ME! Imposter Syndrome creeps in making me feel like I’m not good enough and that I don’t know as much as everyone else does.
Comparing myself to others in my field (not competing, just comparing) can leave me feeling lost, very often wanting to give up because I don’t think people would want to come to “me” when they could go to “them” and get “that”…does that make sense? I don’t see dead people, read minds or see the future. I’m not a big moon, astrology or numerology person. I can’t read your toes or your palms or even coffee grounds. But I can read your face. Your eyes. Your smile. Your body language.
I can understand what’s in your heart and do my best to inspire, motivate and cheerlead. I hug…like a sincere, I’m so happy you’re here hug. I can offer you a judgment-free zone, where you can feel safe, accepted, and loved for who you are right now in this moment. I can offer you passion in my practice, and. promise that you’ll always feel welcome. Is that enough? I don’t know. Maybe not for some, and I’m learning that’s okay. We all have different gifts to offer. The gift I offer to all of you is my whole heart, and whatever comes from that. Every person is different. Every person’t needs are different. Every person’s perspective on how they would like help in healing is different. It’s taken ma w while to accept that it’s okay to just be me. Because that allows you to just be you. And I love how that brings us together, creating the perfect team to heal and balance and move you down a more positive path in your life!
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I have a heart-based business called Breathe AZ Yoga Nidra and Sound Healing. Every private session, and every class I guide whether in-studio or virtually, is all about filling you with love and acceptance from my heart to yours. And it’s also about helping you learn to love and accept yourself, just as you are, without judgement, baggage and all. My desire and intention are to help you release stagnant energy blocks, limiting self-beliefs, negative thoughts and destructive patterns and behaviors that are holding you back from being your most joyous, successful and loving self using the modalities of Yoga Nidra and Sound Immersion. (Very often called Sound Healing, Sound Bath, Sound Journeys, etc.)
Yoga Nidra is both a state of mind as well as an effortless sleep-based meditation where you are gently guided through body awareness, breathing techniques, imagery and positive, loving intentions to help re-direct and change patterns of negative thoughts, behaviors, and limiting self-beliefs. In addition to the above, Yoga Nidra can reduce stress, anxiety and panic, releasing happy neurotransmitters called Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, and a calming mood stabilizer called GABA. Yoga Nidra can also reduce the production of the stress hormone called Cortisol which, when reduced, can lead to many health benefits in itself!
My Sound Immersion classes include an assortment of intuitively played Alchemy, Crystal and Tibetan singing bowls, chimes, gongs and more for the ultimate experience in relaxation and restoration. This type of meditation also has incredible benefits! In Sound Immersion, you are being bathed in vibrational frequencies to assist in releasing energy blockages, reducing stress, anxiety, panic and detoxifying at a cellular level. It can also assist with sleep, lucid dreaming and a better sense of connection with your higher self.
Once you begin to release the negative, focusing on gratitude and whatever amazingness you hold in YOUR heart, you’ll feel open and expand with beautiful, powerful loving light energy that will help you to manifest all that your heart desires! I truly believe that we attract whatever we focus on and think about intensely, so I use the principles of the law of attraction to assist in guiding you down a more intentional, positive path in your life! I want you to know that YOU have the ultimate power to heal yourself, to slow your life down by taking a moment to breathe, to listen, to see and to just “be”. It’s so important to me that you know how beautiful you are as an individual, and to know that I’ll always be here to remind you of that, even when we’re not in a session.
I also love guiding sound baths and meditations for corporate events, parties, holidays, family gatherings, etc., as well as working with you 1:1! When we meet individually, I add additional energy work to our sound/meditation session such as Reiki and gentle Cranial/Sacral touch. Everything I do is meant to assist you in releasing those things you need to let go of and receive whatever is meant for you in that moment! My intention is to fill you with love and my wish for you, is that you leave our session feeling lighter and brighter than when you came in!
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?
This is a tough question because I feel like I’m always learning! One of the things I constantly find most helpful is to focus on what I have and what I want, instead of what I don’t have. Inevitably, when I focus on what I don’t have (lack), I usually get what I DON’T want! Does that make sense? For instance, if my attendance in classes are low, I can start to spiral thinking about what I’m doing wrong…why is “everyone else” able to fill their classes…I’m not good at this…”everyone” does it better than me, etc. Do you see what I’m saying? I found that when I focused on lack, that’s exactly what I received! My classes stayed in low attendance, and my private sessions dropped as well.
Luckily, I’ve now become very mindful when I start to spin out of control, and I’m able to turn my thoughts around. My first thought is…thank you for sending me those who are here right now! I bring myself back to the present moment. I open my heart, and turn my thoughts to gratitude for the beautiful studio I’m able to teach in. For my bowls, chimes and gongs. For all of the clients I’ve been blessed with in the past, in the present, and all those I’m about to be blessed with in the future. For the lessons I’ve learned and continue to learn. When my heart is in gratitude, there’s no room for fear or self-doubt! When I focus on what I have and what I want, I attract those who need what I have to offer!
My advice to those who are early in their journey is to remember that thoughts create your reality! So make sure you’re thinking about what you want…not what you don’t have! And always, ALWAYS be grateful for what’s already been given to you!
The other advice I have is to always be YOU. Trust yourself. Noone else can do what you do, the way that YOU do it, so don’t compare yourself to others! You are doing a great job just being YOU!
Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?
Yes! I am sooooo technologically challenged! This creates a whole host of problems for me. I’ve spent so much time at the Apple Store that my kids joke that I must have my own cubicle there!
At this moment I’m having trouble with sending my emails. Google has sent me an email saying I’m no longer able to send out bulk g-mail because it’s registering as spam! I have no idea how to fix this since the customer service at Google is fairly non-existent, so I’m not able to send my class schedule to about 150 people with a gmail address! I’m working on it, trying to stay positive and see the humor in it (but it’s hard!). I know eventually I’ll figure out a mail server to switch over to, but in the meantime, I’m so frustrated!!
Being technologically challenged and having a severe dislike for social media is another sore spot for me. It literally takes me hours to figure out how to promote myself! I look at other profiles that are posting about their meditation and sound healing practices, and their posts are soooooo creative! I have no idea how they do it! I feel like this is a total ME problem ~ if I could turn my thinking around so I wasn’t consumed by how much I dislike social media I might be able to have some fun and open my mind to different possibilities! Working on it…
Lastly, I’ve wanted to start a YouTube channel since Covid! I’ve recorded my sessions, created my opening and closing banners, and watched every video about how to create a channel successfully. The thing that’s holding me back is knowing that until I get to a certain amount of subscribers, listeners who don’t have Premium are going to get advertisements in the middle of a meditation session! I know there’s a million successful channels out there, so I feel like that’s just an excuse so I don’t have to figure out what the fear behind my resistance is!
I guess the moral of my story here is to start having more confidence in myself! I need to trust that I can figure this all out (before I retire!) and be successful at whatever I decide to do regarding all things technology!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.breatheaz.com
- Instagram: @meditatewithbreatheaz
- Facebook: Breathe AZ
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWi_kWj5IDM
- Other:I currently have many of my Yoga Nidra’s on a Virtual Retreat site called Mindful Kawa! This is an affordable self-care website that you can access 24/7! These Virtual Retreats offer a variety of self-discovery, self-development and healing tools such as guided meditations, yoga, nutrition and so much more! Your unlimited access to all content allows you to watch your favorites as many times as you would like! New retreats are added monthly, and are now accessible on Mindful Kawa’s mobile app! For membership information, please visit https://www.mindfulkawa.
com/?ref=e52f02.
Image Credits
Mary Gardella Photography
