We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Chantal Cherry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Chantal, thanks for joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
In the summer of 2022, I found myself standing at a pivotal moment in my yoga teaching career. It had been nearly ten years since I completed my 200-hour yoga teacher training in South Africa and moved to Los Angeles. On arrival in LA, with little studio teaching experience under my belt, I decided to set up donation-based classes in public parks and spaces to teach anyone passing by. While it ended up being mostly tourists enjoying a ‘quirky LA experience’, this opportunity to work with people one-on-one deeply resonated with me. I realized that my passion lay in working closely with individuals and I felt a strong sense of fulfillment in guiding others on their respective yoga journeys.
With a bit more teaching experience, I gathered enough confidence to send out my resumé to local yoga studios. However, there was a lingering feeling of dissatisfaction with my experience in traditional yoga studios. I began to question whether this was the right path for me as a teacher. It was during this period of uncertainty that a friend posed a thought-provoking question: Why was I investing so much energy in building someone else’s brand instead of pursuing my own dreams?
This question struck a chord deep within me and reignited my original aspiration—to host yoga retreats that combined my love for travel and adventure with my desire to help people find wellness through yoga. I felt the need to take charge of my own career, face my fears head-on, and start doing what I know I am meant to do.
With the determination to turn this burning desire into reality, I decided it was time to jump. Another message that life was shouting at me anywhere I looked was that successful people have mentors to coach them through the process. So into research mode I went, looking for someone to coach me through the process of launching my first yoga retreat. While I was prepared to do the work to start my business, what I was not prepared for was all my doubts and insecurities that came in full force and unavoidable. What if no one signed up? What if I fail? People will think I’m a fool for believing I could do this.
After launching the retreat, I had a literal panic attack. Yet, in my being, I knew that taking this risk was crucial for my personal growth, to take my life to the next level, and to step into what I know I am meant to do. I LOVE travel and adventure. I LOVE teaching people how to care for themselves through yoga. This body is our home in this lifetime. If the body is restricted, we are restricted. To share my love for travel and love for yoga with others so that they can be the best versions of themselves is my purpose.
In the process of organizing the retreat, I came to realize that this endeavor was not just about the financial investment; it was a journey of self-discovery and acceptance. I had to confront my own limiting beliefs, work on my mindset, and break through the barriers I had set for myself.
With that deep understanding, I committed to doing the work on myself to make sure I could be the person I needed to be to hold space for other people to have life-changing experiences.
Each day leading up to the retreat date, I continue to push past uncertainties, and trust that the right people will be drawn to the experience I am creating. Of all the billions of people in the world, there MUST be 10 people who want to embark on this journey with me. I wholeheartedly believe that.
Taking a risk, a leap of faith is really f*cking scary. This journey of taking a personal and business risk has taught me that if we allow fear to paralyze us, we give up on the opportunity to impact people’s lives with our gifts. Who do you want to be? Are you the person you know you are born to be? I could not answer those two critical questions in July 2022. My fear of wasting my ability to help others and living a life without purpose suddenly became greater than my fear of failing. I held onto that to stay motivated and to keep moving forward in the midst of all my darkest insecurities.
In order to be the person I know I can (and want) to be, I realized that I had to reach into my authentic self, embrace vulnerability and trust in my desire to share my gift with others.
I am still scared. Every day I wake up with the choice: Do I have the courage to continue and face the risks that surface each day? Or do I give up now and risk never stepping into my full potential to give to others. I want to be a guiding light for other people to discover their authentic self, their desire for life, and their love for adventure. The greatest gift we can give to others is to support them in their own journey towards embracing their strength, self-trust, and purpose. Otherwise what are we doing here really?
It has been exactly a year since I altered my life path. So here we are, mid story, mid risk and hopeful that my first ever Yoga + Safari Retreat this September will be a beaming success.
Chantal, 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?
As a dancer and experienced yoga instructor, I understand the physical benefits of a consistent practice. But I also know that yoga can offer so much more – a connection to spirituality, self-discovery, and personal growth. I was drawn to yoga when I needed it most and it became a powerful vehicle for transformation in my own life. Through teaching UCLA undergraduate dance majors, I learned the joy of guiding students in a systematic and methodical way to achieve their goals and progress in their practice. I believe that the most effective way to serve my students is through dedicated one-on-one sessions or small group retreats. In addition to my 200-hour yoga teacher training, I am also trained in Yoga Nidra and hold a Master’s in choreography from UCLA.
IG: @chantalncherry
TikTok: @chantalncherry
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Don’t even get me started on talking about books because I may not stop!
In wanting to level up my career by taking charge of developing my own business, the first thing I wanted to address was my money mindset. I understand that we have habit patterns or ways of thinking that keep us in our status quo. So in order to magnetize heaps of $$$ I knew it would be important to shift my mindset around money – particularly in relation to being worthy of money – and beyond that, get systems in place for managing my income/expenses. The book that really helped me get conscious of my money-related thought patterns was ‘You are a Badass at Making Money’ by Jen Sincero.
Another book that I really enjoyed and that explains the importance of awareness of your thoughts is ‘Mind Your Mindset’ by Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller.
Of course when you’re an entrepreneur and you work for yourself, good time management skills becomes essential. Not only just being good at time blocking, but also making sure your time is efficiently used. I know I have a habit of keeping really ‘busy’, which doesn’t always translate to productivity. The Full Focus Planner is a resource I came across to help me to hone in on what my goals are, what action steps I need to take in order to achieve them, and how to schedule these action steps to realize my goals.
This has been one of the most instrumental shifts I’ve made in becoming more productive. It’s common to WANT an outcome but when you start to analyze your todo list or what you’ve accomplished, those tasks don’t always add up to realizing the outcome of your WANT. I am a culprit of this and pivoting my daily tasks to be geared towards my goals has made all the difference in getting my closer to my desired outcomes.
The last book I’d like to mention is ‘The 5am Club’ by Robin Sharma. Side note, I think this book has a lot of great information and strategies that are given as a ‘must’ or as ‘fact’. If you read it, keep in mind that you still get to decide what does and doesn’t work for you. I have implemented some of the strategies that the book talks about and have found them helpful, while others I chose not to adopt. Again this book is on the topic of how to maximize your life in terms of work, self care, and spirituality (whatever that looks like for you).
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
I think I mentioned that I’m a dancer as well as a yoga instructor. I have a bit of the typical story of starting ballet when I was about 3 and then shifting to studying other dance forms in my teen years. In South Africa, we’d have the ballet eisteddfod every year, which I think is the equivalent to American studio competition dancing.
One year, when I was about 7 or 8, my ballet teacher told me I was not good enough to perform in the eisteddfod so when my mom picked me up after class and asked me if I was going to sign up for the eisteddfod I told her no then started walking towards the car. She seemed a little confused since I had been eager to sign up when she had dropped me off for class. As I was making my way to the car, I overheard my mom talking to another parent saying she would have liked me to perform.
Well, not wanting to let my mom down, when we got to the car I said ‘ok, I will sign up but I need extra lessons’. In retrospect it’s possible that I, as a tiny tot, I had misinterpreted what my mother was saying to the other parent, but the desire to make my mom proud overrode my fear of being ‘not good enough’. I signed up for extra lessons with a really lovely ballet teacher and worked with her for a few months leading up to the performance.
That year, for the first time, I received an honors at the eisteddfod, which is the second highest ranking you could get. This moment stayed with me as proof of my own resilience. Whenever I’ve been told I’m not good enough or I can’t do something, I think about this moment and I know that I can. If I put in the work, if I show up for myself, I can achieve whatever I set my mind to.
If my little 8-year old self could do it, then my 18-year old or 24-year old or 32-year old self can get it done!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mailchi.mp/2d3b91f709f6/yogasafariretreat
- Instagram: chantalncherry
- Tiktok: chantalncherry
Image Credits
Margo Renata Kelly Mae