I’d like to share a story about a deeply-moving experience I had during a unique restorative yoga class in 2018 that blended yoga with live music performed by the phenomenal Desirée Dawson (https://www.desireedawsonmusic.com/). As a yoga instructor myself, I have no idea how she seamlessly juggled teaching with singing and playing the ukulele—yes, she was the yoga instructor and the musician!

The experience was unlike anything I’ve ever done before. Because restorative yoga is so relaxing and has long periods of stillness, I was able to deeply listen to the music—feeling the sounds resonate in my body, and really hearing the lyrics.

The writer in me was in awe of her song-writing talent. Here’s a glimpse of some that genius—the first few lines in her song, Wild Heart:

“My bones have been talking to the blood in my veins

My skin has been singing; songs of joy, songs of praise

My eyes have been loving; loving deep, loving hard

Seems like a choir keeps chanting; Wild one claim your heart…”

And while the entire class was thoroughly enjoyable, the most memorable and moving part for me happened at the end when Desirée invited us all to join her in singing the classic, This Little Light of Mine.

Now, this wasn’t advertised as a class that would involve singing; I had been expecting to simply listen. It’s been a very long time since I’ve sung aloud in front of strangers, so I felt some resistance and fear. But, we were all lying on our backs with our eyes closed when we started, the ultimate position for anonymity. So, when Desirée kicked off the song, I joined in along with the others. What took me by surprise was my emotional reaction to singing those lyrics.

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.”

As I sang along softly to the first round, it was like I could actually feel the “little light” in my chest and it was so happy to hear I was going to let it shine. Tears began rolling down my cheeks.

We ended up singing quite a few rounds together, each time shifting into a more active position (lying down, then sitting, then standing) but always with our eyes closed. And each time, we sang with more gusto. By the end, my little light was all charged up and ready to let loose.

How I'm letting my “little light” guide me

Whenever I think about this story, I’m reminded to tune into my “little light,” asking it what it wants to do next. I sometimes get a nudge in a particular direction, head off that way, only to fizzle out (and often feel badly about it). But my “little light” waits patiently, until I tune into it again and receive another nudge. It is always shining inside, even if it gets dim sometimes from neglect.

This year, my light has been growing brighter as I’ve been listening to its promptings and taking action. After much research, contemplation, and experimentation with different tech platforms (mixed in with some procrastination and perfectionism), I re-launched my Calm & Creative Studio website (www.calmandcreativestudio.com), with a focus on Mindful Minimalist Marketing for SOULopreneurs.

Essentially, I'm blending my love of mindfulness and Yoga Nidra with my love of business and marketing, and helping individuals who are doing soul-inspired work to amplify their impact while minimizing the time and energy they spend on marketing.

I know so many SOULopreneurs who are overwhelmed and overworked. They know they need to do some marketing and they try to follow disjointed and often conflicting advice coming from a myriad of self-proclaimed marketing gurus (many of whom probably don’t share their core values). One saying “Do a podcast,” another advising “Go live on social media every day,” yet another proclaiming that email marketing is where it's at, and on and on...

I'm here to help quiet the noise, and provide clarity about the highest-impact activities for individual SOULopreneurs. And the ideal marketing mix will be different for each SOULopreneur—there are no one-size-fits-all solutions.

The ripple effects of small actions

I am grateful for the moving experience Desirée provided all those years ago, and send her much light and love.

This story is a reminder of how one small interaction you have with another person can kick-off a beautiful, positive, long-lasting ripple effect, one that you may never even know about.

It is my hope that through this blog and my other offerings, I may help inspire others to shine brightly too.

Are you letting your “little light” shine?