We recently connected with Madelyn Ryan and have shared our conversation below.
Madelyn, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risk taking is something we’re really interested in and we’d love to hear the story of a risk you’ve taken.
I have taken many risks in my life and in my career as an independent Yoga Teacher. From solo backpacking through South East Asia, to moving to India to work and deepen my practice; my life has been all about trusting my intuition and taking these leaps of faith. Never allowing fear to be my guide. Probably the biggest and most recent risk I’ve taken has been moving to Maui to grow my business. Oh my did I have so many people telling me I wouldn’t make it and what a mistake it was to move in the middle of a pandemic to a remote island to further my career?! But something in my soul was telling me to go, to leave behind everything that resembles comfort; a stable job, my friends and family, the state I grew up in and knew like the back of my hand. So that is exactly what I did. I sold a lot of my things, had some teary ” See you later”s, and set out. Now after two years it’s been a dream, but dreams are not always rainbows and butterflies (though Maui has many of both on the daily!). Moving to a new place is always exciting and scary. It is an opportunity to be whoever you want to be without any preconceived notions, to make new connections, and to throw yourself into new experiences. After my first two weeks of mandated quarantine, I set out to find a yoga teaching job in a town nearby where I had landed. After my interview and audition, I not only got the job teaching weekly classes but I also got a position on the 200 and 300-hour Yoga Teacher Training staff! Prior to moving back to Colorado pre-pandemic, I was living and working teacher trainings in Thailand so this seemed very serendipitous! The constituent to getting the job was I had to move from my current house that was hours away so I lived in my van and out of the studio for a few weeks till I found a home. Well worth it! Fast forward to today and I have worked 22 yoga teacher trainings and have more experience in the field than I could have ever imagined! I also have held private classes and sessions in some of the most beautiful locations, teach sunrise classes where we pair our breath to the waves crashing on the shore in front of us and now have the expertise and understanding to run my very own retreat (coming up in October)! And all of this would have never been possible had I not taken the risk to move to Hawaii in the first place!
And guess what, I am hankering for another big change/expansion for myself and my career so I plan on moving to Costa Rica next! Ever-expanding the comfort zone :)
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
Aloha and Namaste! My name is Madelyn Ryan of Manifesting Moksha and this is my story:
I started practicing yoga at about 15 and instantly felt a connection to the practice, but more on a physical level. I loved the workout and how it made me feel. It wasn’t until after I lost someone close to me and was in Shavasana at the end of class and had a full emotional release that I understood the healing power yoga can have. I was pretty much hooked. I went to classes at Yoga Pod and Corepower all through high school and into college. In my senior year of college I started working for a non-profit, Give Back Yoga Foundation, and again was reminded of the healing, transformational energy yoga can bring. The foundation brings yoga to the underserved; prisoners, veterans, and people healing from eating disorders and mental health problems. I was on the backend, receiving emails and letters from all sorts of people proclaiming how yoga had changed and even in some cases, saved their lives! At this point, I knew I was meant to work in the field but was still unsure what it looked like specifically. After I graduated CU boulder (sko Buffs!) I decided to backpack SE Asia before making my next moves into a job or grad school. I learned so much about the world, myself, and my purpose through those 12-hour-long bus rides through Vietnam, scuba diving in Bali, tours of the Killing fields in Cambodia, and all that was between. I realized no matter what I do on paper as long as it is healing others and bettering the planet- I would be in alignment. During those 5 months, I was sure to take a yoga class in every city possible and really started to fall in love with the idea of becoming a yoga teacher myself. While in Thailand for the second time on my trip I fell upon a 200 YTT that really resonated with me. Traditional Indian Hatha Vinyasa in Chiang Rai. It felt authentic and real. My training was incredible and left me feeling confident and prepared to teach immediately returning back to Colorado. I taught in a few different studios in Denver and loved it. I got a job as a preschool teacher and incorporated yoga into my classroom and lesson plans and eventually began the yoga enrichment program for the entire school. It was so rewarding to see such young souls so into their practice! Parents really recognized how helpful it was too and the feedback was amazing! After 3 years in that job I decided to up and move to India to work in the mental health field. Those were some of the most challenging and eye-opening months of my life. What was meant to be three months of meeting with patients and doing different therapy exercises turned into me teaching 2 yoga classes a session and training my volunteers on how to lead yoga themselves. The universe was speaking loud and clear! After my contract ended I traveled around the country for a few more months, teaching yoga daily as a trade for housing. I worked a yoga retreat in Rishikesh, the North of India. I also took many classes and studied the culture in which I was immersed. I then went on back to Thailand to live and work with my guru for a few months before the pandemic hit and forced me back to the US and into the online yoga world. I started my online studio where I was able to reach my students all over the world with live and pre-recorded classes. Then I moved to Maui, where I live and work now as a yoga teacher trainer. It’s been a journey and I could not be more thankful for the practice of yoga that’s been my drishti, my focus, and my guiding light through it all.
I am proud of myself for going against the grain and believing in myself and my purpose of teaching and spreading the light of Traditional Indian Hatha Vinyasa regardless of what society may have taught me. Though I have faced many challenges running my own yoga business, I know in the depths of my soul this is my calling so I will continue to persevere and accomplish my goals. My goal as a yoga teacher is to show others that if they love themselves and practice radical compassion that they can do anything. I want my students to leave my classes feeling as if they had an experience. A chance to connect with themselves and the universe as one. I want them to learn something new that they want to share. To light them up so they can spread that light globally! I am so proud of the risks that I have taken in order to get where I am today and I hope to inspire others to believe in themselves, and their dreams and to never stop expanding their comfort zones.
My next endeavor is running yoga retreats and so far it’s going amazingly! I run my very first one this year in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica this fall. Then working a second one a few weeks later in Santa Teresa. (check my website for more information!)
I plan to keep running retreats and eventually start my own YTT offerings all over the world. Stay tuned!
How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?
Honestly, I have found the best way to stay in touch with clients and students is through social media! I am so thankful for Instagram as it is the platform from which I run most of my business. It is a quick and easy way to reach past clients and to keep up to date with students and events that I want to be a part of. Email and phone are great too but social media reaches so many people all at once. It has been a life saver in helping me sell spots for my retreats, getting people to come to my weekly classes, and just being able to be there for my students when they have questions or need advice.
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
The best source of new clients for me has been through word of mouth. If a student resonates with my teaching and classes the most helpful thing they can do is tell their friends and family members! The majority of my private clients and teaching opportunities have come from people hearing about my offerings!
I believe so long as remain true to myself, and my purpose and never lose my authenticity new clients will keep coming! As cheesy as it sounds, just be your self and the people who are meant to follow you will!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.manifestingmoksha.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/manifestingmoksha/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madelyn.ryan.7
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJOZ0BRGpikP8-e_im29Suw
- Other: My online studio! https://www.manifestingmoksha.com/onlineyogastudio
Image Credits
Brittany Teuber Photography imaginalvin photography jasminvantphoto