We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Sandhu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

When I decided to become a yoga teacher, I had already been practicing yoga for about 11 years. At the time at around 2011 I felt as though there were enough yoga teachers based on what I could see from where I was. But I felt really called to continue and pursue becoming a yoga teacher and a health coach. So one of the challenges was just my own mind playing tricks on me, telling me that the field was too full. Another key challenge I faced was how to make a true living from it. I’d been considering doing a teacher training for about a year and a half before I found one. And in that time of consideration, I spoke to a few teachers about how to go about doing it. All of them were very much telling me that it was very hard and intense. And all of them had a full-time jobs. But those conversations helped me to fortify my desire to do this. And I decided to make a true commitment to pursuing it in the same way that I pursued everything else. Meaning I wouldn’t do it as just a hobby but as a way to make a living. And when you make that kind of commitment, you wake up early on days that you have nothing going on just to create something. And in those early days I woke up very early just to send out proposals, do some research, make calls, have tea dates and everything else.

Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My work as a somatic life coach and yoga teacher is to help people, essentially, realize their full potential. And it’s not coming to huge conclusions about big, overarching things that are happening in your life. It’s about what’s going on internally and how you feel in the moment. Tapping into all the things that are happening in the body. We often say yes to things because that’s what society or certain people expect of us but if we actually tap into what’s happening internally when a choice is in front of us, we might really want something else instead. I’ve often agreed to things when my body was saying no. And then that yes decision on something that should have been no, although leads to life lessons sometimes (often painful!), makes me frustrated that I didn’t listen to what I really wanted in the first place. And I work with clients to help them tap into that feeling on all the decisions in their lives but it all happens in the moment in the smaller choices that we make.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

I have struggled with feeling like I belonged or that I was seen. With my clients and students and in my offerings, I’ve tried to show up as authentically as I can to put people at ease. Helping people feel seen and that they belong, too. In that, I have just been consistent by being there for them. That, in and of itself, creates loyalty both with me to them and them to me. I also love working with new people and interacting with people in their injuries and their challenges in their lives as it gives me an opportunity to work them in the moment. Helping people deal with what’s going on in the moment is a way for people to be seen and listened to. What I do for a living helps other people and in that, helps me. And so there hasn’t been any kind of manipulation to create a reputation within this market, as it’s all based on authenticity.

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

A lesson that I’m continually trying to unlearn is worthiness (or rather a feeling of unworthiness) and feeling like I’m an imposter. Imposter syndrome really shows up often when I’m about to try something new. But it still shows up even when I have been fortified in my business. This deep-seated feeling of unworthiness is something that I see in my students and clients as well. And it has a lot to do with our society and how society’s based on capitalism which is based on white supremacy. I am an indigenous and Indian coach and healer processing and working through unworthiness that is mainly society-based. And so there’s so much unlearning happening on my own origins and where indigenous and Indian people are today. The back story is that there is a massive erasure of people of color especially Indigenous peoples. And so how do I fit into a society that doesn’t really see me for what I’m worth (or at all?) And how do I create worthiness within so is not to fall apart or be triggered everyday? It’s a tough one. And it’s something that I’m currently processing and going through. Something I believe that will continue on an ongoing basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jessicasandhu.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicapsandhu/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessica.paulette.1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-sandhu-08aa525/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5L8aAZW6zSZitc5LQwIRIQ