We recently connected with Gemma Parmar and have shared our conversation below.
Gemma, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?
They always showed up. Whether it was messy or ‘wrong’ by my definition, they are always there. I attribute my value of loyalty to my parents. It’s a beautiful thing to see two people go through some of the hardest things in life and always have each other’s backs. They also have a fascinating friend group that shares the same love of loyalty & showing up. We all have our own idea of the perfect parents and in the spiritual world where we are on the path of re-parenting ourselves, we sometimes get super solid on what that means. If they just didn’t do this then I wouldn’t be like that. And now I have to heal from their mess & pain.
One way my parents showed up was by telling me stories of their childhood. Growing up I had an understanding of the suffering my parents went through. It’s the classic immigrant parent story where – everything they did was to give us a better life. I say classic because I know so many immigrants who have experienced this passing down of information. There is an art to it, it can sometimes be shared with guilt & pressure (which I did experience some of) and it can also be passed down with laughter & reminiscence to provide for the future. As I got older, studied more about culture, oppression, and how it all shapes our inner worlds, I realized how perfect my parents truly were.
The history of my family is truly inspiring. Each generation taking a step toward the freedom of the future generation. They’d cross continents and change their whole lives, just with the hope of a brighter world. And while great inspiration provides the vision, the journey is a lot more strenuous. It shapes & builds warriors of the heart. And through sharing their story, I learned how to carry that strength on.
A story that exemplifies their service to their community & skill for showing up, is about a time during the Harvey Hurricance back in 2017. I was living Scotland at the time, I saw on the news at the gym that there was a terrible hurricane that had devasted the greater Houston area. And when I went to work later that day, tourists kept coming in, noticing my American accent and saying ‘Well I hope you’re not from Texas – they’re underwater right now!’ In their attempt to bring levity to the situation – they had no idea I hadn’t been able to contact my parents for 3 days and had no idea what was going on in my home town. Everything inside me said, “Go buy a plane ticket! They need you! You’re supposed to be there!”
Just to find out my parents were fine!! They were instead rallied together with their Scottish clan going round to their friends houses helping them with debris cleanup, furniture removal, cleaning, organizing. You name it – they did it and it got done. They always taught me, when people need you, despite who they are show up. I’ve had to learn to balance it out with the people pleaser side of me but all in all they taught me, that the world always needs your help if you are willing.
I am so proud of my parents, who they are and the world they created for me. In some areas I was truly set up for success, and in some areas – I had to figure it out on my own. We’ve had our fair share of disagreements and in the end – we share love & support letting each other live our lives as we choose. And that’s freedom baby.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
My name is Gemma Parmar and I founded Liberate Your Engergy – a mentoring company centered around 1:1, group & intimate life-building mentorship. The Austin spiritual community found me in 2018 when I moved here. When therapy & yoga collided for me, I finally had these AHA moments people talked about. It led me down a path to recovering from an alcohol & cocaine addiction that had been prevalent for years. To then rediscoveirng my love of mentorship, community building, & helping others connect with themselves & the world around them.
I grew up in Houston, Texas, with a family history of immigrants from Scotland, India & Tanzania. I LOVE living in Austin, this place & community has helped me discover the beauty of being alive, helping me along my journey to wholeness. I have lived in the hill country for almost 10 years and have found myself a part of many subcultures that make the hill country such a special place to be in. Like yall!!! my friends are wildly talented & kind & creative & showing people what’s possible – it’s inspiring! I’m currently living my dream of growing a mentoring business, assisting in managing Maha Coffee off South Lamar & teaching Yoga at two beautiful studios – Sukha Yoga + TruFusion. I spend most of my time connecting with other Austinites, at ecstatic dance, or out on the water soaking up the sun.
In practice, I use a spiritual avenue/lens to create a space for healing and Liberate Your Energy is also about creating a life of art + meaning – where you want to be here for it all! Because spirituality is creativity, and our creativity is a beautiful gift to share with the world. It brings new perspectives, challenges, and ways of being. I am here to walk next to people & support them on their own journey to finding inner guidance & self-realization.
I always tell my clients, my secret sauce is not going to be the same as your secret sauce. Meaning when I found pranayama (breath expansion practices) the light switch turned on!! I felt alive again, I was no longer numb, I could feel my humanity rush in. And then I felt ALL my humanity at once, it was overwhelming, I didn’t know what next path to take, and everyone was telling me ‘This is the thing to heal all things!’. Which I tried & tried & tried…all the things… and still the impending doom of feeling human was hard and I couldn’t turn the light switch off.
I encourage people to create new habits & widen their perspective around communication, spirituality, the art of healing, embracing humanity, mindset work, find freedom where you are, & ways to honor the past self as you move into your brightest self. Together we create rituals, routines, frameworks, processes all centered around your goals & needs, not forgetting where you come from or where you are going. Taking the power back for our own healing is one of the greatest gifts of being ‘awake’. You get to choose breath by breath, what has meaning to your heart and what action you want to take.
So my clients & I explore, are curious, & in the end – they turn back to inner wisdom, as only they know truly what their spirit is asking for. I offer 3 main mentorships for a journey to self-discovery and creating a life of vibrancy & fullness.
– a 1-month intro mentorship that gets the ball rolling & the toes dipped into the discovery pool
– a 3-month mentorship that invites embodied transformation towards a heart-felt mission, &
– a 4-month mentorship for the deep folks who desire more time for integration to complete the cycle of transformation many times over.
I am proud of the connections I have made through my event business & teaching space. It is an honor to have students share their practice with me because this stuff is vulnerable, edgy, uncomfortable, and raw at times. And to see those deep moments of fear paired with the empowering transformation, the ripeness of the present moment, and pure innocent joy. Im here for it all baby!! I see my clients scared to be human,n of feeling emotions, knowing who they are, messing up again & again, life flipping the script & not knowing where to turn. It makes healing rather difficult. I am proud to support my clients in moving at their own pace, developing their own path toward freedom & building a toolbox of techniques that create space for their full being to shine!
Liberate Your Energy is about tapping into the subtleties of who we are, slowing down enough to hear our heart call out to us, and for our minds + bodies to sync up. We are here to liberate ourselves from the stories that hold us back, the fear that stops us in our tracks, we are here to move our bodies & use our voices, to open our hearts & expand our minds, to face the uncertainty of life with integrity & courage, and ultimately to liberate the world. My main mission in life is to create a culture of safety around learning. Growing up school was the ultimate challenge while dealing with abuse anxiety, social anxiety, neglect, and body dysmorphia, honestly doesn’t matter what I share because I meet so many people who have feel unsafe to explore with childlike curiosity & learn from a place of joy.
To truly learn something, it must be integrated & embodied in practice, to get there our nervous systems need to feel open to receive. My heart breaks around children who have no other choice but to push through, create survival tactics to overcome adversity, then grow up to be adults that crave the love + connection they never got and have no idea how to learn from life around them.
My program – Seasons of Awakening, helps people explore spirituality as they move through transitions in life without judgment. Instead, we add in love, presence + acceptance to welcome the whole self into practice. We move through the phases of Spring Revolution, Summer Playground, The Simmer of the Fall & Dark of Winter to unearth what is hidden, accept what is, & complete the cycle of transformation. The program teaches you how to welcome whatever life throws at you (cuz lets get real its always throwing things far & near!!). You’ll learn how to walk the path impeccably with an open heart. Meaning even when you make mistakes, forgiveness will be waiting for you on the other side.
I’m jazzed to be offering healing journeys that value personal freedom & truth. I have always been a freedom fighter, originally desiring to be an international human rights lawyer (thank you TXST for my intl poli sci & gender studies degree!), I care deeply for those whose voices have been stifled, lives oppressed and families altered. Maya Angelou & Audre Lorde are some of my sweetest inspirations. They touch on some of the biggest themes known to humans in a direct, creative, honest & artistic way. Where it bridges people together under acknowledgment of what was, acceptance of what is, and motivation for what can come.
One final thing to know about Liberating Your Energy is that PLAY is one of the most important parts of my teachings. Lila meaning divine dance + play of the universe in Sanskrit is a beautiful way to experience the nectar of life. It teaches us to say, “Wow what a joy it is to be alive!” Our play brings out our weird side, which is another side we don’t often let out – except here in Austin ;) Thank goodness to be living in Austin for us who are rediscovering what it’s like to be weird without a care in the world! This place has so many communities for people desiring to connect upon their weirdness and it’s so playful to share that with tribe!
My mission is to bring these deep philosophical teachings into our daily lives in an accessible, non judgemental, heart centered way so we can live ‘lighter & brighter’ as Mark Herron of Sukha Yoga says. Because the point of living is to LIVE! Healing will always have its place, and life is meant to be experienced <3
How do you keep your team’s morale high?
Whether you are managing a team, teaching a group fitness class, connecting with community or giving a public speech – the way you communicate is the essence of creating a cohesive environment with a high morale. Because of my love of group activities & community, I’ve had the pleasure to witness many management and leadership styles – each unique on its own and producing a different effect. The best manager’s I ever had – were honest, transparent, and cared about what I thought. It was truly inclusive, actions followed words.
I’ve been in events and workshops where the energy is lowww. People are falling asleep or waiting for the instructor to call out the person who keeps derailing the lecture. To maintain morale, we have to tune in to what’s going on in the group. Which calls for a skill in both focused awareness and open awareness. As a manager or a leader, the skill in connecting with your team individually as well as a collective group can aid in vulnerability which in return builds trust and keeps everyone on the same page.
I find checking in on a regular basis of how are we feeling in this moment? Can help bring issues that are sliding by out from under the rug. For anyone managing a team, I recommend thinking about the managers that inspired you to step into your work – were they encouraging? did they lend a helping hand until you were confident? did they give you space to build confidence? Find out how you thrived, embody that. Then be curious about your team – what environment do they thrive in and how can you make an impact on that?
I love the etymology of facilitate – it means to make easier. So if what we are doing is making it harder on everyone to do their job or show up in the way we need, are we really doing our job to facilitate our message? Sometimes our own stories get in the way, so it’s important to have learned the lessons we wish to teach. If your goal is to boost morale – look at what stories you have around why morale is low. Is there anger about certain logistics and processes? Is there sadness about industry change? The root issue decides the action. Because meditation + mindfulness classes for the team are only helpful if they arent returning to jobs that ignore their humanity.
Brene Brown is my biggest inspiration for connecting to yourself, management styles and your team. She does a beautiful job of bridging humanity with the fast paced corporate world of the west. Sometimes doing things differently than you have always done could set you apart from your competitors. If people come to work, or an event knowing they will be seen & heard, the desire to be apart of the solution will grow. Moving forward together rather than get in or were leaving you behind mentality.
I do believe a mindfulness practice could change the way leadership is perceived. When leaders take the time to question how they show up, what their intention is, and take clear action from this inquiry, it provides a path to walk with integrity. Mindfulness teaches us to find what’s happening in the present moment, it gives us space between the ears to make clear decisions and have uncharged conversations. Mindfulness can bring our nervous systems into a state of ease & regulation, so that as a group safety is created and opens a space to share our grievances or creative ideas. The mind is an important part of connecting with a team and boosting morale. But we cant just tell people to think positively – its more of a journey than that. It’s having the space to mess up, make mistakes and grow to complete the cycle of transformation.
Boosting morale is about having a team that feels honored to work on the team, proud of what they contribute and supported by their peers. These environments allow for people to be more creative, take initiative, and do the impossible. It’s pretty epic to see people start a job, train them and watch them create a flow of their own and add their flavor. We need the spirit behind the worker, so the environment should welcome all of them. It’s edgy and overwhelming at first, and it can start in slow steps and takes on a life of its own. Its never as you picture and most always turns out better!
So I say, talk to your people, let them know whats up, whats expected and continue to create things together for joy – the rest will follow.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
In college, I was a PACE (Personalized Academic Career Exploration) Peer Mentor at Texas State, and through our training we watched a short clip from a Ted Talk by Drew Dudley called, ‘The Lollipop’ Moment. It instantly changed how I interacted with everyone in my life. From the grocery store clerk & barista to my students & clients, to my friends & lovers. He talks about how we never know when we will impact someone’s life, and that leadership is within all of us. It’s not only an executive title or managing a team, it’s also when show up as our full self – our true authentic self and from that alone we inspire people.
Most of us do not know the breadth of people we have impacted in our life. If we really allowed ourselves to receive the power of knowing how many people we’ve made sparkle it would be overwhelming! Taking a moment, to own & know your impact in the world is a way I believe we can create a culture of connection. To know at any moment, I could have a life-altering conversation is so exciting to me! It keeps me on my toes like I’m expecting a surprise from life in every breath.
It also opens the door for deeper connections. The amount of times I have felt nervous to have a small interaction but choose to anyways has paid off tenfold. Sometimes it does not go as planned and I get to laugh at myself for trying! Oh well it didn’t land – maybe next time! And the times it does land, wow what a life-giving moment. I live for small connections now, because I never know who is about to walk through my door. Small talk can be awkward and it can be something light, breezy – just two humans sharing a moment of this experience together. We need more of that and that’s why this short video impacted me so significantly. The more we break the ice, the more we find we are more similar than we think after all.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.liberateyourenergy.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liberateyourenergy/
Image Credits
Camille Adriane, Manny Pandaya, Kim Lepley