Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Theresa Widmann. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Theresa, appreciate you joining us today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
There have been a few monumental life experiences which have helped to shape my journey and who I am today. All of them forced me to confront something that wasn’t working in my life. Each of them involving a loss of something that I was deeply connected to, and yet each has brought me closer to living and expressing as my most authentic self.
The first one occurred in 2009. I was cruising along seemingly fine. Living in NYC with a weekend cabin in upstate NY and engaged to be married that Summer. That Spring something surfaced for both my fiance and I. We called off the wedding and ended our relationship. It thrust me into an awareness of my reality that I could not see before. I’d been focused on earning money, buying a house, getting married and having a baby. When that plan was interrupted I was left with my career (and some dear friends) and while financially rewarding, I began to feel how I had strayed far from my values in the professional realm. Some background – I’d gone to law school to “make a difference.” Inspired by the civil rights movement, I wanted to work for employees experiencing workplace discrimination. Those jobs never manifested, and I found myself first working in a prosecutor’s office and then in a matrimonial law firm. When that firm dissolved, I was handed a job in an adjacent legal tech field and left the practice of law behind. Living in NYC and working in what eventually became a sales role, it seemed like a dream – hefty paychecks, travel, adventure, expensive dinners, and unlimited cocktails. That dream life dissolved along with my relationship, and none of the glam satisfied any longer. I had awakened a yearning to reconnect with what did.
In 2011, I landed in a Kundalini Yoga class, and in 2013 I would become certified to teach. I bought a commercial building and opened a yoga studio with my first Kundalini Yoga teacher and close friend. There was something about the breathwork, sound and movement that clicked for me. The mantra practice connected me with my voice in a powerful way, and I was overcoming fear and self doubt through the physical kriyas that pushed the bounds of my strength and will. A few months into opening the business, the cracks began to appear. I was being questioned about my devotion to the teacher, and being judged about what I wore to teach, about the books I read, and even the recipes I used. I was feeling stifled and trapped and could see that it wasn’t the path for me. To walk away from it would mean the end of a business relationship and more importantly a dear friendship, but to stay would mean giving up on me, The end was ugly and painful, worse than before, but once I got to the other side, I felt a new kind of freedom. I was now empowered to take the gifts of sound and see where they might lead me.
I opened a new yoga studio, diversified my training, immersed myself in community, volunteered, and met my now husband, but the challenges were far from over. The years that followed were filled with lots of love and adventure, but what we weren’t prepared for was the heartache associated with recurrent pregnancy loss. Each loss opened me up to a deeper listening within and honest internal conversations about what I needed to let go of. It was finally time to face the fear of leaving the security of my corporate sales job. I was doing it all somehow. My life had become full with all the goodness I was adding to it, but something was suffering as a result. If I wanted to call in a soul to our family, I would need to finally trust in myself to let go of the fear and replace it with trust. So I did.
In 2016 I left that job.. More pregnancy losses would follow which eventually brought me into a sacred relationship with the feminine. Having lived most of my life with a predominance of masculine energy, it’s been a journey to understand not only what feminine energy is, but also how to bring myself into alignment with it, to balance the masculine and feminine within. It’s been one of the most meaningful shifts for me as I now see myself and the world through the lens of that awareness, and it is the thread that connects all my work as a sound practitioner, podcast host, holistic coach, and Mom. Yes, our son was finally born in July 2022!
Theresa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
In 2017, my dear friend Shana Falana and I began conducting interviews for a radio show/podcast called “I want what SHE has.” We were both big spiritual and self improvement podcast listeners and often passing our favorites back and forth so this became a way to turn a passion into a project and build something together. Our mission was really to recognize and amplify women doing cool things in the world, women we admired. As if divinely aligned, the #metoo movement had just gone viral so we also wove a lot of feminist history into the show, and our mission expanded. When Shana left the show to pursue other creative projects, I took that as an opportunity to reconnect with the work and what I was amplifying and felt it was time to pivot the mission to focus on “the feminine.”
Because of my history in exploring the feminine within, I saw the world as being very out of balance with a predominance of the masculine. I saw the big structures, the masculine, as experienced through governments, corporations, religions, and capitalism, keeping us fixed in positions based on hierarchy with power over others. Wealth was being hoarded and not shared, resources were being extracted and not cared for. I wanted to be offering a medicine to shift that and dubbed the show, “the antidote to the patriarchy.” I began to focus on women who were embodying the feminine in some way. Women who’s life or work touched on creativity, flow, intuition, community, healing, softness, and stillness. That’s not to say the masculine is bad. It’s vital! It is only bad when it is not in relationship with the feminine. I see the work of the podcast eventually shifting to focus more on how that relationship is embodied, within ourselves and the structures, but for now, I see the primary need as dialing up that feminine frequency.
I take a feminine approach to all of my work, whether podcasting, sound healing, or coaching. I set an intention to be in flow, open to the possibilities and curious about what comes up, to be compassionate to self and others, and to listen to and trust in my intuitive wisdom. This actually feels like “the work.” My awareness of my way of being is primary and from there the rest will guide me where I need to go whether it’s personal or in working with a client.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
To let go and be in the flow. When we first started interviewing for the radio show/podcast, we had dozens of potential questions, and we would read them to conduct the interview. We learned quickly, this does not make for good listening! While it was scary at times, we needed to trust in our innate ability to be curious and engage in conversation. Yes, it’s ok to have an idea of the questions you want to ask, but something I learned as a lawyer was it’s less about the list of questions than it is what you want to know. If you’re just focusing on the questions, you may miss that the information you need your client to express didn’t actually happen which can damage the case. I used to write out all the facts that needed to be said before the jury to get on the record rather than the questions so that I could ensure the record was complete. Of course an interview is a different situation, but the idea is similar. If you focus on what you’re hearing from your guest and follow your curiosity about it, the questions will arrive that help paint the picture organically. You’ll be open to the story that wants to be revealed rather than directing the one you think your guest should tell.
This comes up in my sound work and coaching as well. At the outset, I always open myself up and listen to what wants to come through during a sound bath and start with an intention based upon that information. Once the experience begins I stay in the present moment and trust what I am being called to do and move accordingly. If I’ve planned every moment out, I may miss something that’s meant to unfold in an unimagined way. There might be a dynamic in the room or with someone in the room, or an individual client if working one on one, that’s different than expected. The sound may have opened something else up that needs to be followed, or brought back in because the energy has shifted. When I work with coaching clients, there’s a structure to the container and the work, but if I am focused on getting to a specific goal, we may miss the opportunity to spend time with something that is needing the attention in the moment. Often times, those new conversations are removing the road blocks to the final destination.
The entire practice is an embodiment of the dance with the masculine and the feminine. There is always a container of some sort, but then there’s a bit of a surrender so that I can be open to a collaboration with the moment rather than trying to conduct it and be in unfettered control of it. It’s the flow within where the magic happens.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
As much as it pains me to say this, being ok with being niche. During my coaching training, it was drilled into us that we needed to find a niche. I hated the idea of it, didn’t want to be bound by it, and simply refused to do it. I have lots of Gongs. I love playing them. They put me into a trance, and their power is palpable. They have a big sound that is extremely resonant, which is different than singing bowls. Not better than, but different. I also have singing bowls, but the Gongs are my main event. It wasn’t until someone told me that they preferred my sound bath to others because of the power of the sound when it clicked that I have a niche. Ha! Since that shift in awareness, it’s actually helped me to contextualize myself within the sound healing space. I can diversify my sound experiences to a certain extent, but If someone doesn’t want a Gong Bath, then I can point them to others who are doing a different type of sound bath, and take the pressure off myself to be everything to everyone. I feel comfortable in my podcast niche, but I am only just thinking now about how this relates to my coaching work, and whether I need to adjust what I am open to there. It feels important to relate this to the masculine and how these niches are really just containers. They are very useful, until they are not. It’s important to revisit your niche and see if you still fit that container or if it needs some realigning.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.anahatakingston.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cowgirlsmeditatetoo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theresa.l.widmann
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/theresawidmann
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@anahataliving
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1O9O1WiXwu0NS7yTqc7bKL?si=c8_uszXSTjCxGI6uwiDXhQ
Image Credits
Franco Vogt, Kristen Thorne