We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robin below.
Robin , appreciate you joining us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
To me success is all about vision, getting outside of one’s comfort zone, confidence and effort. Too often we feel powerless and are reacting in life rather than envisioning where we want to go and manifesting the journey.
It starts with having vision. People have to have an idea of what they want to achieve. Do they want to quit their day job and start a business? Do they want to start a passion-led side hustle? Do they want to run a marathon? Or maybe they have always dreamed of writing a children’s book about all the dogs they have ever owned. The vision element requires both creativity and reflection to set fulfilling goals that are going to propel people forward in a meaningful way. The vision can be big or small and will continuously change. Knowing where you want to go is critical and people should not limit their vision or be afraid to think outside the box!
I also think people need to be prepared to get outside of their comfort zones because success takes a good deal of failure. If something doesn’t go right, be curious, not critical – what can you learn so you are better prepared next time? There is a good book called the Comfort Crises by Michael Easter. Easter writes about how modern conveniences are hindering our well-being. He argues that by embracing discomfort through physical and mental challenges we can be more resilient and lead more meaningful lives.
Perhaps most importantly people need to have a good relationship with themselves. You can’t get from point A to B if you don’t love yourself and believe in yourself. Whether you want to lose 10 pounds or produce a grammy award winning album, you can’t do it if you don’t believe that you can. Henry Ford said, “Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.” Mindset is key. You believe in yourself and you go after something, knowing that falling will come with going outside of your comfort zone. When you fall, you get curious about it and learn so you can keep growing.
Effort and hard work is also necessary if you want to achieve something great – big or small. Sitting around in our air conditioned homes, going from scrolling social media to Netflix doesn’t allow for much growth. It’s all too easy but we need to be disciplined and work for the things we want to achieve.
Many things have happened in my own life to craft this view of success and I’d love to share about one of those things. The principal, Shelby Dennis, at the school I work at, Swigert International School, has often said to me, “Robin, you dream so big. I love it.” Her words have encouraged me to dream big and get creative as an educator. I was at my son’s soccer game a few years ago teaching my daughter how to the find the volume of a circle on the sideline. My son’s coach, this buff, energetic, magnetic black guy named Coach Futch, saw us working and said, “Robin, I didn’t know you were a teacher. My boss wants me to get into some of the local schools.” My immediate response was, “I’d love to have you come to Swigert!” I came home and began to reflect and craft a vision on the best way to partner with coach Futch. At the time I had designed a 6 week “Manifest Health,” program that I wanted to deliver to adults but decided to wait until finishing my nutrition certification. I reached out to Coach Futch to see if he wanted to deliver a 6 week health program to 5th grade students. He was thrilled at the opportunity and shortly after Elevate was born and has been delivered to all 5th grade students at Swigert since then. During programming we receive many parent emails and texts, saying things like, “I don’t know what is wrong with my son. He woke up and made a salad today!” and “My daughter came home and went for a walk before getting on her ipad. She is loving the Elevate Program!” It has felt like one of the most meaningful things I have been a part of as an educator and wouldn’t have happened without vision, confidence, getting outside of our comfort zones and effort.
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?
Currently I am wearing many hats and enjoying each of them quite a bit! I am the Gifted and Talented Teacher at Swigert International School, Yoga Instructor at Rise Yoga in the Stanley Marketplace, and founder of Joyful Journeys Holistic which blends my passions for wellness and the arts.
I was an art teacher and artist for many years before taking a took a job as the Gifted Teacher at Swigert International School. I love this job which allows me total freedom with how I design my curriculum and with whom I collaborate. I have been interested in health and wellness since I was in my teens, consistently devouring books, podcasts, and courses on various health topics over the years. In 2023 I decided to cut back my teaching hours a bit and start my business, Joyful Journeys Holistic. I offer health coaching, workshops, yoga classes and have recently launched a yoga to live music series at the Conservatory Green in Northfield, Denver. We had our first event on Saturday, June 28th and had about 70 people participate. I taught yoga for 60 minutes to blissful and beautiful live music from grammy award winning resophonic guitar player, Andy Hall, of the Infamous Stringdusters. My husband, Jordan, and our ten year old son, Rocky, led a 20 minute Q&A with Andy following the yoga session. My daughter, Josie, helped check folks in, and participated in the class. As the vision for this event began to take shape it felt like quite the big dream coming true and I am a bit giddy that it came to fruition. Working with Andy has been magical as I am a big fan of his music. The MCA who organizes events at the green spaces in Central Park and Northfield would like for Joyful Journeys to continue scheduling yoga to live music events and I have some great artists and yoga teachers in mind! I am looking to offer two similar events in the fall, one with yoga teacher, writer, and podcaster, Buffy Barfoot with live music from her husband, attorney and banjo player, Matt Cooper. I am also planning to teach a class with music from Kathleen Hooper of LVDY – music that is soul stirring and beautiful – perfect for yoga! We will also offer the yoga to music with live Andy Hall again in the spring. Stay tuned and if you love yoga and music please join us!
I also have an Awaken Wisdom workshop coming up at the Denver Village on Saturdayy July, 26th from 1:30 – 3:30 that I will be co-leading with yoga teacher, mindfulness coach and healer, Molly Robinson. This workshop will blend, movement, meditation, writing, and manifestation. I’m super excited about this!
I am taking on health coaching clients if anyone is interested please reach out. In my coaching I focus on creating small sustainable changes that feel good, are attainable and allow clients to meet their goals and stretch their limits.
Finally I offer after school art classes and camps for kids which keeps me tapped into my creative side and is something I really enjoy.
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
Yes! Hidden Potential by Adam Grant is a huge favorite of mine and guides much of my work. In Hidden Potential Grant writes, “Becoming a creature of discomfort can unlock hidden potential in many different types of learning. Summoning the nerve to face discomfort is a character skill—an especially important form of determination. It takes three kinds of courage: to abandon your tried-and-true methods, to put yourself in the ring before you feel ready, and to make more mistakes than others make attempts. The best way to accelerate growth is to embrace, seek, and amplify discomfort.” I love this quote because it grounds me when things don’t go right. It means I am pushing my limits and expanding what I capable of.
I also love Jia Jiang’s, “Rejection Proof, How I beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection.” In the book Jiang sets himself up to be rejected. On day one, for example, he asks a mall security officer for $100. Jia asks, then as he quickly scurries away embarrassed the officers calls, “what do you want it for?” Jian realizes, there was opportunity to potentially get the $100. After all, the man was leaving the door open by asking him what he wanted it for, wasn’t he? The experiment created some unanticipated results, including great stories where people actually said “yes” in surprising ways. I love Jia’s work. I have the opportunity to work with one of my favorite songwriters and musicians, Paul Hoffman of Greensky Bluegrass, on a songwriting program with gifted student writers. I have had many people ask me how I got to work with Paul Hoffman and Andy Hall and the answer is simple. I reached out and asked if they wanted to work together. I was prepared for rejected but in these instances that is not what I got I am happy to report!
I recently read a book called Talk, The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves, by Alison Wood Brooks. This has also been influential in how I interact with others. I’m really attempting to shift the focus off of my own thoughts and ideas and get curious about the ideas and thoughts of others.
Any fun sales or marketing stories?
I had to take several risks to pull off the Yoga with live Music from Andy Hall event I mentioned in the previous question. I saw a social media post from Andy of him playing live music for a yoga class at Tesni yoga in Boulder and that got my brain formulating ideas. You see, my husband and I have been going to a music festival co-hosted by Greensky Bluegrass and Yonder Mountain String Band that the Infamous Stringdusters (the band Andy Plays in) consistently headline called Strings and Sol, since 2022 and began bringing our kids in 2023. Andy Hall has been on our flight every year so it is a bit of a family joke since we know who he is but he doesn’t know us. Whenever we get to the airport, one of us says, “where’s Andy?” and sure enough he materializes shortly there after with his white stylish hair and tattooed clad legs and arms. My husband has made small talk with him a time or two and my son and I introduced ourselves to him last year while he was in line waiting to board the plane. I teach yoga at Strings and Sol and have been looking for a musician who would want to play during the class. When I saw Andy’s post, I realized he could be the perfect yoga guy. I DMed him after seeing asking if he would want to play for my class at the festival and maybe collaborate on an event in Denver. I think some people would never risk DMing or reaching out to someone for fear that the person wouldn’t get back to them. I figure if you don’t reach out you miss out on a potential opportunity. If the person doesn’t get back to you, you are right where you started. Andy got back to me promptly saying he would love to do both. I was thrilled but then had to decide on a venue. I took another risk reaching out to the MCA who organizes the Central Park and Northfield green spaces. It was dreaming big as these spaces accommodate hundreds of people. I was surprised that they were happy to have us offer the event with them. But I had the option to keep it small and offer the event at my studio which would accommodate about 30 people. I asked Andy what he thought and he said the green space. After meeting with two friends who are also yoga teachers and who have organized yoga to live music events, I wondered if I had made a mistake on the venue location. They both said they felt lucky if they sold 30 tickets to these types of events. I had never taught a yoga to live music class, had little experience in marketing, tech is not my strong suit and was basically fumbling through the announcing and marking of the event and trying to ensure we didn’t lose money. I learned a lot, got support from all kinds of people, and two weeks before the event we had sold roughly 50 tickets. Yes many were BOGO sales but still we would have at least 50 people there and I felt pretty good about that. In the end we had 70 people in the audience, all smiling up at Andy and I, seemingly unphased by the 80 heat at 10:00 am. We were able to pay people more than we anticipated and cover the costs of the event. I’m glad we took the risk because that means we get to continue these amazing events that blend two things I love the most – music and movement!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.joyfuljourneysholistic.com/
- Instagram: liftloveelevate
- Facebook: Robin Bozella Bresnahan
- Linkedin: Robin Bresnahan
- Youtube: @robinbresnahan7176
Image Credits
Jason Myers
Lex Reeves