Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kelly Skinner. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kelly, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.
A defining moment in my life and my career (my offering/service) was when my best friend of 30 years left her body from a 15 month battle of cancer. Maddie and I were best friends from pre-school on, and learned to navigate the twists and turns of this material life together. In the final year of her life, she participated in one of my programs in order to learn to meditate, help her anxiety/stress of the unknown, and release stuck energy in her subtle body. In addition to this, I walked alongside her and her family through the process of navigating a cancer diagnosis and all that came with it.
Maddie and I spoke about life, death and everything in between. In the end, I witnessed the truth in the teachings I had been studying – that we are not these bodies, not these minds, but we are something divine. I witnessed her material body (her spirit’s home in this life) break down and no longer be a suitable place for her to reside. She taught me about love. She taught me about deep grief. And the final gift she gave me was saying, “please do this work, and help others heal as they live and as they die.” And here I am. My work is a co-creation with God, and any success I attribute to Miss Maddie.
It was after this experience, navigating my own grief, and then studying grief that I became an End of Life Doula, and my work began to have an anchor in meditating, contemplating, and honoring both death & grief – not in a morbid way, but rather a sobering way, to enhance how we live now: to die gracefully & live radiantly.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a spiritual teacher & healer & end of life doula & conduit of divine love who helps you access Divine grace to heal and awaken.
My home base is in Burlington VT, and I travel the world offering yoga/spiritual retreats. I spend time in India every year, immersing in my own sadhana (devotional practices) as well as guiding others on pilgrimage. I love helping soul-centered women who are ready to heal, unleash their inner goddess, and deepen their spiritual practice, by living mindfully and radiantly, so they can thrive while feeling spacious, balanced, luminous, and energetically connected to themselves, their truth, and their people.
Together, we do the necessary healing work to clean the mirror of your heart, so you can see and feel and live into your true nature, through the practices of Bhakti yoga (teachings, philosophy, and devotional living), various meditation techniques (chakra meditations, mindfulness practices, and japa/mantra meditation), Reiki (subtle body energetic healing), and working through grief that is a natural and necessary aspect of our human experience. We do the work to awaken to your spiritual identity, and also awaken to your full humanness. We are spiritual beings living a human life, after all.
As a Bhakti Yogi, teacher & devotee, I love sharing Kirtan (mantra meditation) as a service, which all are invited to come to for free in my Burlington, VT Sangha or tune in virtually through my instagram live. Kirtan is group prayer, and a call out together for divinity to manifest. It’s such a beautiful opportunity for us to come together and connect more deeply to our true spiritual nature, of divine love, and to the source of that nature, the divine!
Through my teaching, I hope to share the transformational effects of a practice rooted in Bhakti, divine love and devotion, so that you can THRIVE not just survive, LIVE not just be alive, and hold both love and grief in your palms in order to be transformed by both.
I offer both group and 1-on-1 programs for energetic healing and deepening of your spiritual practice (through meditation, chanting, philosophy, and living yoga). We marinate in and integrate within my 4 pillars of healing:
Spirit (connection to Divinity)
Subtle Body (connection to Self)
Surrender (Letting go with Grace through grief and end of life work)
Sanctity (celebrating your Sacredness, and allowing Truth to inform your life).
My offerings are an invitation to connect to divine love and to become your own greatest healer; while receiving support & guidance from me, and forming a sangha, a spiritual community with like minded, awake, sweet souls!
I also teach weekly drop-in yoga classes at Laughing River Yoga in Burlington Vermont. AND I host free sangha (spiritual community) events at the Bhaktihouse, our spiritual center, so if you’re in Vermont I would LOVE TO SEE YOU in person!
My service is to invite those who are ready & willing to dive into the depths of their personal healing work to apply to their own spiritual practice & life. Whether you are a yoga teacher, massage therapist, corporate office goddess, reiki practitioner, mama, or lifelong student…I am here for YOU & to support you in returning home to your Soul’s Essence.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson I have had to “unlearn” is:
To make choices based on my truth, not the truth (opinions or judgments) of others.
I am in life long recovery from codependency (insert: people pleasing to the max!)…which I didn’t fully understand or realize its impact until 5 years ago.
In the end, what other people think of me is none of my business! My life, my choices, my integrity, my intuition – I’m co-creating this life with Divinity, and there is no one I need to “clear” that with other than the OG (Krishna, God, Divinity, Spirit, call it as you like).
As long as I remain aligned, authentic, compassionate, and honest with myself and others I am on my path.
I will never receive the approval of all those in my life, and my work has been to learn to accept that – and not see it as rejection, but rather an opportunity to go deeper – conflict leads to greater intimacy, if we allow it.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Living by example. My spiritual teacher recently said to me “Be what you are trying to give them”. Be an example of the teachings and practices of Bhakti Yoga, demonstrate what it means to be a practitioner and a true leader, and a friend, partner, daughter, and woman. Walking my talk – that’s what has helped me to build my reputation. The yoga asana we “do” on our mats is one small piece of an extensive & thorough set of practices and philosophical guardrails that can provide a compass for our lives. I allow that compass to lead me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kellyskinneryoga.com/
- Instagram: @kellyskinneryoga