We were lucky to catch up with Kate Vosti recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Was there a moment in your career that meaningfully altered your trajectory? If so, we’d love to hear the backstory.

After receiving a Masters’s in Leadership Studies from the University of San Diego, I thought I knew what my career was. In my program, I focused on the parallels between Buddhist study and Leadership theory and practice. I taught meditation, compassion education, and leadership in academic and corporate settings and even in monasteries in Asia for Buddhist nuns. Then my five spine surgeries for scoliosis 7 years prior caught up with me. I had debilitating neck pain and vision issues all of a sudden. Simultaneously, my father, whom I was closer than close with, began chemo treatment. I moved home to San Francisco to take care of him as well as figure out my health issues. After 6 months with no answers for what was happening in my body, my father was losing the battle with his. In the Fall of 2017, my family’s home in Napa burned down, and my father died eleven days later. It was the apocalypse. After a few months, the fog of grief began to lift. I was looking for ways to heal and found a movement workshop that combined dancing with a live cellist and creative art. Growing up a ballet dancer, I had never tried something that wasn’t technical dance. However, by the end of the workshop, I realized I processed more of my grief in those several hours than I had from months of talk therapy. That’s when I said, “this, I want to do this for the rest of my life. I want to help people move through grief.” I enrolled in a Psychosomatic Master’s program in Boulder and focused on how to use dance/movement therapy as a way to process grief. The program/professors ended up not being aligned with my values, and I left after 1.5 years to start my own business. I already had a Master’s, and to do what I wanted to do; I realized I didn’t need a license. To make a long story shorter, after working with women who are survivors of sexual assault while also engaging in my celibacy after grief, tragedy, health issues, and a breakup, I started to become overwhelmed and disheartened by the influencer trend of sexual empowerment. Women displaying their bodies for all of Instagram to see and telling us that we are “sexual beings” and how to “manifest through org*sm.” That’s when it became clear that there’s another conversation in the sexual empowerment industry that isn’t being discussed, and that is “being sexually available is a privilege.” There are so many reasons we go through phases of being sexually unavailable, and it’s not being spoken about. So I began to share what I call “non-sexual sensuality,” which is my invitation to connect to yourself through breath, touch, sound, and movement in a way that is sensorially activating but not sexual in nature. When we activate our senses to experience pleasure (again, non-sexually), we create trust with ourselves, showing that we know how to take care of ourselves and feel good. It’s all chemical reactions! Neurotransmitters + Hormones = feeling good. We are programmed to seek what feels good. However, most people just stay on this level, so it doesn’t actually fix any underlying issues. I created Sensual Movement Therapy to help people create trust and pleasure in the body so that they feel safe to explore on a somatic level the trauma that is stored in their bodies. When we feel safe and supported by both others and ourselves, then we can go to the depths and discover what’s been stuck in there, causing all sorts of havoc that we think is just feeling sad, tired, lost, and irritable. Then once we are able to clear these parts of our energy body, it is astounding how our inherently magnetic fields are free to attract exactly what we want. This has become the healing formula I lead clients through, and the results speak for themselves. I now offer programs for people preparing for the death of a loved one and moving forward without them (spiritual, somatic – less sensuality-focused) as well as helping women and men connect to their sensuality to release trauma and learn integrative self-love and care.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Find your wound, find your purpose. That’s my mantra. If anyone ever expresses feeling lost or purposeless, I share this with them. I never knew what I wanted to do with my life until a few years ago (I’m 32 now). And loss led me home. I have studied Buddhism for eleven years now, and the most fundamental thing it has taught me is that the path to happiness is helping others. Those who help others do not feel lost. Humans, by nature, are social contributors. We all have a role, and when that role’s contribution isn’t clearly defined, we feel lost. There are so many options out there to do things these days, it’s hard to know and difficult not to play the comparison game. We all have our unique gifts though and unique experiences. If you want to look at it esoterically, the truth is we need to assign meaning to life, or what’s the point? So what better way to find meaning than to be useful with your gifts, with what lights you up. Here’s a spiritual perspective that guides me in the moments I feel lost or discouraged: we go through these challenges so that we can learn how to overcome them and then help others who are going through them too. So for me, I’ve always been incredibly hard on myself and never felt good enough. So I learned what it takes to love myself on all levels. Now I teach others how to do that from a somatic, embodied, inner feminine and masculine integrated place. I also wish I had guidance during my grief journey with my father, so I figured out what works so I can now offer that to others. and on and on, you get it! So if you aren’t already living your purpose, ask yourself, “what is my wound? How can I create a formula to heal that wound? How can I share what works?”

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn what intelligence is. My grades never reflected the depth of my knowledge. It was heartbreaking. I grew up with such low self-esteem because I was stuck in this limiting system that evaluated you based on test scores. Meanwhile, I was the fastest person in all the sports, my ballet teachers wanted me to go on to be professional. My body was so intelligent. Anything I did kinesthetically came easily and looked good. I’d watch less coordinated kids and think, “wow, I’m really good at this.” Which was a big deal for me since I hated school so much, which in turn made me hate myself so much. I’ve also always been the person that people would go to when they had emotional problems. Both other kids and adults! I just understood emotions on a deep level and relational dynamics. I also always had really strong values and fairness. But alas! You don’t get graded for these types of intelligence, so I stuck to my story of “somethings wrong with me, I’m not good enough, I’m broken.” Once I started being invited to be part of amazing communities and getting incredible clients, mentors, opportunities etc, I realized school grades don’t matter at all. And now, for the rest of my life, I get to be recognized and helpful with the intelligence I do possess. I wish, more than anything, these types of intelligence could be rewarded from a young age in the education system because people would grow with so much more confidence and joy.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rhythmrose.love
• Instagram: @rhythm.rose
• Facebook: Kate Vosti
• Linkedin: Kate Vosti
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkg_Ajp3GTebVw6nk9sVljA/videos

Image Credits
Amadine