We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dawn Smelser a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dawn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Is there a heartwarming story from your career that you look back on?
I had a student some years back who studied yoga and meditation with me in the beginning of her cancer journey. We got very close in our time working together and she asked me to be her death doula in her last days. I answered a resounding yes, but she died before I had a chance to understand what that role meant and live into it. Years later, I am beginning my practice as a death doula and realizing all the ways that my journey in yoga, spiritual direction, and grief-work has prepared me for being a death doula.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
As a kid, I wrote poetry to make beauty out of the painful experiences of my life, but I was told that poets don’t make any money and I should pursue other interests that were more lucrative. So, i pursued creative writing🤣 instead. After a few semesters of college(and the same exact day I dropped out), I got a call from my then yoga teacher saying that I was the recipient of an anonymously donated scholarship to learn to teach yoga at the first school of yoga in the world, The Yoga Institute of Mumbai. I left for India a month later at 20 years old, beginning a lifelong journey as a spiritual seeker. I have been facilitating yoga classes ever since (almost 30 years later) and my practice has led me to focus on compassion, or the love that meets pain and stays loving. I have apprenticed myself to this compassion in ways that have led me to learn how to be with folks in their grief, and now, learning to be with folks in their dying process. Of course this path has been non-linear and has so many sub-plots and quirky stories along the way, as well as so many losses that have helped me to become more skillful. Now, at 47, I am compiling my first poetry book, centered around grief and the natural world.
Have you ever had to pivot?
It was during covid, I owned a yoga studio and business store front. Like many other teachers at the time, I had to pivot and teach virtual classes. I also started a podcast that produced 24 episodes, manly during quarantine. This is the time when ‘collective grief’ started to really enter into the world as a part of english lexicon. Part of my schooling as a spiritual directer included grief support and years before covid, I travelled to West Africa and witnessed collective grief ritual for the first time. When my studio re-opened, I added grief circles and retreats and longer programs to honor grief to the the classes and programs I was already offering.
Like many other teachers at the time, I suffered severe burnout and 3 years into Covid, and ironically, just after receiving an award for teaching excellence, made the difficult decision to close my studio after 11 years and build a studio at my home in Roxborough. I am learning now to offer my classes, workshops, circles, and retreats in a more sustainable way for my body and my family and i am thrilled this new iteration of my work is allowing me to write more and be a student again as well.
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
I think 2 things….
1. Defining what success means to me. I could define success as staying true to myself/having dignity and integrity in my work (I’ve gotten a single piece of great advice to share if it feels relevant during the interview).
2. Moving in creative response to obstacles. There are MANY obstacles in the design of teaching yoga/spiritual direction in the US. I am happy to speak to them during the interview and how I moved in response to them, while staying true to my core values.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.motherheartstudio.com
- Instagram: @motherheartyoga
Image Credits
Casey Yarrow(first picture) Dawn smelser(second picture)