We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Yelena Reese. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Yelena below.

Hi Yelena, thanks for joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I believe one of the biggest risks we take is choosing to pave our own path, especially when it “doesn’t make sense” in the context of what you’ve always known, what you found safety in, and most importantly – what brought you validation and success. This is my story – walking away from an established freelancing career that already gave me reasonable freedom, good money, comfort, ease and validation. On the outside it seemed like I found the path that offered me everything I had asked for. And it did. Because up to that point what I was asking for was safety, certainty, stability. Which all serve a beautiful purpose. But as we grow and evolve, our asks become something bigger. For me, the pull emerged as I dove deep into my meditation practice which began to unravel all the beliefs and conditioning that have shaped my life and choices up to that point. It’s like you pull on a thread and the whole tapestry starts to come apart. And not everyone is willing to become undone in the way that’s required. It took time to unlearn and unravel. Choosing to do so has been a big risk but as soon as I recognized that *not* following the thread would pose an even greater risk to my fulfillment, it became an easy choice. I make it every day still. What this looked like at the beginning of this unravel was closing out client contracts that paid well, and leaping before the net appeared. It was taking a long sabbatical, much longer than I had planed for. It was making plans and then letting go of their timeline. It was stepping into the seat of the student all over again and being willing to be a beginner at something and starting anew. It was willingness to discard of things that served me but were no longer relevant on my new path. It’s the risk I can’t not take.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My work and practice as a meditation and resilience coach rests on the fact that we are designed for excellence. I believe that your whole self is impeccably and innately intelligent, designed to excel in all aspects of life. When the nervous system is resilient, when the mind is clear, one-pointed, and confident – we naturally accelerate in our creative capacity to imagine, do and be more.

My work is about teaching the techniques and practice that reveal this innate intelligence – we work with the Technology of Self, through the mind-body-nervous systems, to unlock your peak performance, your visionary mind, and expanded capacity to be a powerful steward of your vision.

5 years ago, this practice found me and shifted the trajectory of my life. It aligned me towards an expanded vision I wouldn’t even dream to imagine before. Naturally, as these things go, it became my mission to share this work as I truly believe it is most foundational and essential in the context of pursuing a meaningful and vibrant life.

I believe there is a new paradigm emerging in how we create value in the world, how we collaborate, and how we relate with each other in social and economic and environmental ways. I believe that the leaders who are paving a new path in their own respective ways are being called to rise to the challenge – which means, resilience, clear and one-pointed mind, a well of inner resource are all essential ingredients to this emerging leadership. This is why I’m so passionate to offer my work to creators of change and entrepreneurial spirits, because I know they are here to create a ripple. I offer 1:1 study and coaching, with in-person retreats emerging in 2025.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the lessons I had to unlearn is separating the sense of personal value from the value that’s assigned and defined by the marketplace. I think when we choose to pursue a service-based business that’s deeply personal to us, we tend to take the business aspect personally, and begin to assign monetary value to our innate sense of worth – which is invaluable. This is slippery ground because if our sense of personal worth is tangled with our ability to produce – and to meet the demands of that market’s definition of success – we’ll never measure up or catch up to it. What this looked like for me in the past is undervaluing my time and stretching myself thin to overdeliver, to produce for the sake of producing, to chasing a version of success that wasn’t mine and therefore left me unfulfilled and burned out.

Have you ever had to pivot?

The pivot I briefly alluded to previously, was when I closed my books on my marketing strategy and copywriting services, to transition to the work I offer now as a meditation teacher and resilience coach. These two things may seem like polar opposites and I remember when they felt worlds apart, and like I had to cross a difficult bridge and then burn it. What I learned about the process of choosing to pivot (or in my case, it felt like it chose me) – the biggest challenge is stripping away the identity to discover the truth of who you are and how you want to serve. I think most people are called to pivot from a place of wanting more purpose, and from a deeper why – because without that deeper why, the challenge of it may not feel worth it. What’s interesting is when I look back to a decade ago, the path I was exploring back then was so closely intertwined to the path I am on now. It’s almost as if I took a long detour to get here, when it was already in front of me back then. But I know the “detour” prepared me in important ways, which is something I’ve come to accept and even appreciate. I think often in the midst of accepting a pivot, we feel like we are turning a blank page and are starting from scratch, which can feel disheartening and like a burdensome pursuit. We may even resist the pivot because of this, but what I’ve learned is resistance is what makes the pivot more challenging than it needs to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://yelenareese.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yelena.reese