We recently connected with Grace Schupp and have shared our conversation below.

Grace, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

Being an entrepreneur is full of risks every single day but this past August I chose to take a risk that could’ve had make it or break it results. I chose to take the month of August off from work. I stopped teaching, found friends in the yoga industry to take on my group classes and did not open my computer for a month. In the world of solo-entrepreneurship that is crazy.

So how did I get to that point? Let me rewind a little bit and tell you about me. I have always been the type of person who very rarely takes a break, especially when I am doing something that I love. As much as I loved teaching group classes, I found myself struggling to keep up the pace that my life and work demanded. I was headed hard and fast for burnout. I admit that even though I knew it was the best thing for me, I fought against the idea of taking time off. All of the what if’s consumed my mind. I mentioned the idea of taking a month off to my husband and much to my surprise he was all for it. He told me that he felt like I was much overdue for a break.

During the month of August I spent time giving my body what it needed most: REST. I discovered that there is more to rest than just taking a nap. There are seven different types of rest: physical, mental, emotional, social, sensory, spiritual and creative rest. To fully be refreshed, I had to find ways to pause in all seven areas. Through this rest, I discovered patterns of thinking that powered my driven nature and how I could practice being more gentle and kind to myself.

Now, a couple of months after my sabbatical, I am approaching my business and teaching from a new direction. I have always been passionate about helping women break the cycle of stress but I am now developing a program and process that will narrow that focus to teaching women who are struggling with burnout how to rest and work with them to develop a game plan to move forward in a healthy, restful way.

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.

I’m a 10+ year yoga practitioner turned 200 RYT yoga teacher with certifications in Yin Yoga, Yoga for Digestive Stress, and Children’s & Teens’ Yoga. My yoga journey began as an alternative approach to caring for chronic back spasms and digestive issues. From that place, I fell in love with yoga. I realized that so much of my health issues stemmed from my stress level. Because I spent so many years operating in a stressed state, I didn’t realize how much stress I was carrying around in my body. While mentally I had processed situational stress, I was storing it up in my body and making myself sick. I spent time digging into my mindset and becoming mindful of my body and the stress stored within it. Changes started happening. My system regulated. My back spasms ended. I was able to keep myself nourished.

It was then that I could finally consider one thing that my husband and I had wanted… having a child. I was finally healthy enough for pregnancy and I now have two sweet little boys because I had not only found a way to get myself back to being nourished and healthy, but I could also keep my baby nourished and healthy. It was then that I realized two things:

#1- I wanted to become the very best Mama that I could be for my son (now sons)… both from a health stand point and from a parental stand point.

#2- I wanted to help others who may not be able to achieve their dreams because they are held back by their stress

I finally arrived at a point in life that my health no longer held me back from the life I wanted to live with my husband, sons, and two dogs. I know my story isn’t unique to me. I know there are countless of other women who are ready to become the very best version of themselves and embrace the life they have always wanted- free from all of the thoughts and limitations that have held them back.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One of the big things I learned in my sabbatical was that I had a huge belief that everything depended on me. Growing up, I always took on the responsibility of caring for others- whether that was helping friends with their relationship drama or being the driver of group projects to make sure we all got the A+ that we wanted. As a result that belief system drove me to becoming perfectionistic and if I am totally honest, a workaholic.

I have had to learn (and am still learning) that everything doesn’t depend on me and I do not have to carry the load by myself. When I went on my sabbatical, I had to find other people to take on the tasks that I normally did for a month. What that showed me was that many of the tasks that I did, someone else could do! I heard on a podcast a while back that we should spend 80% of our time doing the things that only we can do and the other 20% can be spent other things as needed. I have been consistently evaluating what are the things that only I can do. I discovered that my priorities significantly shifted and so did my schedule.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

I honestly wish I had gotten into yoga and wellness sooner! I remember I was on a plane headed home from Guatemala and I sat beside a lady who was on her way back from a yoga teacher training in Bali. I thought that was the coolest thing and secretly wished that I was in her shoes! After that conversation on the plane, I didn’t really think about yoga again until I started having my stress induced health issues. If I had known how incredible it is to show people the tools I have learned and use myself on a daily basis, I would have started right then and there!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.becomeyoga.life
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomeyoga.life/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/becomeyoga.life

Image Credits
Kristin Guynn Jessica Laird Air Christie