We were lucky to catch up with Heather Fenwick recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather, 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?

When I first moved to San Diego in 2001, it took about a year to “land a job” at a small business brokering for Costco. My two bosses were super awesome SoCal dudes – they taught me to surf, had beach picnics in the summer, and let me take two hour lunch breaks so I could go to yoga downtown. I was pleased as punch at this office, and in the meantime I was getting more and more fascinated (ok, addicted) to yoga.

I drove up to Orange County on weekends to get my teacher training certificate, and then…I had an opportunity to go to India, the birthplace of yoga. It would mean I would have to quit my job, which was increasingly stable (my wonderful bosses had about doubled my salary in two years.)

I remember car pooling up to my teacher training with a middle aged woman whom I’d thought to be, well, kind of old. Never mind that I’m now her age (!), but she’d said to me “I’m a little bit older and a little bit wiser than you are…it sounds like a decision you’ll never regret.”

And so, I asked for the counsel of my friends Amy and Michael Caldwell who own Yoga One – they too encouraged me to go to India, even if I didn’t have a travel partner, and to stay as long as I could. Also, they’d said, “Don’t have any expectations.”

It turned out to be great advice, because I *did* have a travel partner lined up. She had gone to India about two weeks before I was to go. About 3 days before I was to leave, she emailed me to say that she had gotten sick, and was leaving India.

I went by myself, and stayed for about 10 months, with a brief sojourn in Thailand. Needless to say, it was the defining trip of a lifetime. I developed my intuition, confidence, compassion, and began my journey as a healer, dipping a toe into Ayurveda and Thai massage.

That trip informs more of my yoga teaching than any training could have, and gave me the courage to “go confidently in the direction of my dreams”. (Thoreau)

Awesome – can you tell us a bit more about how you got on the path of becoming a healer?

My enthusiasm for yoga led me down the healing path – that’s the nutshell version.

In preparing for my 2006 sojourn to India, I was also interested in learning more about Ayurveda. Fortune brought me a friend, Arun, at the yoga ashram where I was staying, who happened to be an Ayurvedic doctor. He generously lectured me one-on-one after dinner most evenings, and later invited me to a private tutelage on Ayurveda and Ayurvedic massage at his family’s home, which had an herbal pharmacy attached.

Ayurveda still continues to fascinate me, but I knew that this wasn’t to be my life’s work. I crossed paths with some travelers who had just come from Thai massage training in Thailand. One day before my Indian visa was to expire, and one day after the Dalai Lama’s birthday, I made tracks for Thailand.

Thai massage was awesome; I thought this was my path. When I returned to the USA, I was required to get a massage license to practice. In San Diego, this led me to Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (now Pacific College of Health and Science), which was mainly an acupuncture college that also offered a massage certificate. Massage therapy injured my wrist, making it an unsustainable career option, but acupuncture was all around me – I was fascinated, and hooked.

It took me 8 years to complete this 4 year full time post-graduate training, with frequent semesters off to guide yoga retreats to India. The wisdom of travel, India, meditation retreats, and Chinese medicine all accompany my treatments. More recently, I’ve completed an intensive two year program with Matt Callison, the maestro in treating physical injuries.

I bring a full heart to my treatments. I’ve been led by my heart since day one, and I’m excited to go to my office every day. My days are is fueled by helping and connecting to others.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Self Compassion by Kristen Neff continues to influence me every day; I’d like to live in a world where our actions benefit those around us, including the environment. Kristen Neff’s seminal work shows us that unless our own cup is full, we cannot truly be a compassionate, helpful presence in the world around us.

My knee-jerk reaction when I make a mistake is to self-flagellate, wondering how I could be such an idiot. How can I fully be responsible for this action, how can I properly apologize and act with integrity – if I am calling myself an idiot?

And so, practicing compassion for our Selves ripples into to more compassionate action in the world around us. It’s as simple as that.

Other than training/knowledge, what do you think is most helpful for succeeding in your field?

Connecting to the Why is necessary for succeeding in any field. For many, the Why is to pay the rent, put food on the table, and then to be able to enjoy life, to behave as a good person in the world.

I’m lucky to have my Why directly woven into my work – I care about the well-being of people I love, people I don’t know, those who have benefitted from fortune and suffered from misfortune (that’s everyone, if you think about it). Caring for others in turn fills my heart, so it’s win-win.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.recoveringgypsy.com
• Instagram: recoveringgypsy
• Facebook: Heather Fenwick
• Youtube: recoveringgypsy

Image Credits
Jeremy Berumen (silly picture, pulse taking photo), Kambria Fischer (all other head shots)