We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lindsey Johnston a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Lindsey, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

I first started my yoga adventure over a decade ago. I started practicing yoga and knew within six months this is exactly what I needed to do with my life. Yoga had changed the way I showed up as a wife as a mother as a human all around. After I did my teacher training having three kids at home a husband that worked what felt like 1 million hours a week. I did my teacher training in a summer 220 hours. Shortly after I was done with my teacher training, I decided to host yoga classes in my shed at my house! The word got out and my shed would be full of familiar faces and unfamiliar faces! It got so big I needed to open a real studio in a real location! It never once crossed my mind that this wouldn’t work I went all in. My first space was 500 ft.². I outgrew that within three months taking on another space of 700 ft.². If I would have let my brain take over during this part of my life, I would have never opened any of my studios. I was leading with my intuition and my heart.

Lindsey, 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?

I found my way to a yoga class after having my third child. I was experiencing some postpartum depression and I would say it was pretty bad and crippling anxiety. After my first session, I noticed there is a huge shift in my nervous system. I couldn’t wait to get back to my Mat to feel that sense of relief. From that first Saturday morning practice I did not miss a single class for over six months. I knew this is what I needed to provide to other women especially mothers. I wanted to provide a safe container for women. I wanted to provide a safe space for them to feel to cry to laugh and just to be. After having my studio open for five years, I decided to add in traveling retreats. In my traveling retreats, also providing meditation, yoga, sharing circles adventures, and watching women find beautiful, new friendships. This was such a huge component that I really wanted to develop for women having a safe place to share to cry, to be held, and to not feel alone in a world that feels so uncertain. A common denominator that I hear in all of my retreats.. women don’t know how to navigate their hormones, women feel alone in their marriages women feel guilty for having alone time, women often cry because they have so much guilt for being on Retreat and taking care of themselves. And this is why I do the work that I do. I want women to feel empowered to find their voice to find their independence and find and cultivate self love in themselves and with other women.

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

The biggest lesson I needed to unlearn was I wasn’t smart enough. I didn’t know enough. There are so many better yoga studios, and traveling retreats than me. That people just showed up to my classes because the time worked out not because I was an excellent teacher. I had to reprogram my whole way of thinking. From being a bad student, not understanding money, thinking I couldnt make money. I didn’t know how to make money. I wasn’t worthy of money. It took me a lot of years, but I am at a point now where I have unlearned all of that!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was hosting a Yoga Retreat in Guatemala one of my biggest dream locations! And this was in 2020 I was leading 18 people we were living in a beautiful treehouse minding your own business hiking volcanoes doing yoga. Our cell phones did not work. It came to my attention that the world was starting to shut down. My logistics partner got on the phone with Delta. He could switch over seven flight tickets. The other 11 guest would be leaving the next day. I and six other guest were on the first list to go home. When I was in the airport, I found out that we were the last flight leaving Guatemala. Leaving my other Retreat stranded. Long story short they were there for a week. I have never in my life been so devastated and have felt so much shame. I felt like I was the worst leader in the world. There was nothing I could do. The whole situation was out of my hands. They were families that were mad at me people on that retreat that still haven’t spoken to me since. I did not let that super hard time in my life stop me from teaching and leading retreats around the world. It took me about 3 years to be able to tell that story without crying. I lost friends because of it. People said I was a bad business owner and rumors spread. I wasn’t going to let them steal my passion and joy for leading retreats.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.thefirewithinyogaandretreats.com
• Instagram: Lindsey.Johnston
• Facebook: The fire within Yoga

Image Credits

Erica Ann