We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Sequoia Nacmanie a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Sequoia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about how you went about setting up your own practice and if you have any advice for professionals who might be considering starting their own?
I started my spiritual teaching and coaching practice when I was a teenager. I started off small, doing tarot readings for classmates and friends, and then later for strangers. I soon realized that I was an empath, highly sensitive person and intuitive and that I could help people connect to their higher selves, their spirit guides and their own intuition. Over the years, my practice and offerings expanded into classes on intuition, tarot, energetic protections & spiritual clearings, wise boundaries, and now my signature Joyful Spirit Roadmap 1 on 1 coaching.
I grew very organically and I worked another job as a music teacher for many years through this process. I also went through periods of time when I doubted myself and even a few years when I claimed to not believe in any of it and to be an atheist (while still getting readings and using a pendulum when I was alone – oh the cognitive dissonance haha!) This was during a time of dating a hardcore atheist who I foolishly allowed to have way too much influence over me (but that’s a different story!) Most of the challenges have been internal ones.
Today, I help people all over the world connect to their spirituality, release exhaustion and overwhelm, live in their authentic selves, and fulfill their Soul’s Mission. I believe that everyone has the potential to be spiritual and to live a life of purpose and passion – and that everyone has a unique and important gift to share with this world. And I believe that everyone who is an empath and/or highly sensitive person NEEDS the capability to embody wise boundaries in order to fully step into themselves and their gifts. Many of the people I work with go on to start and/or grow their own heart-centered business. It is a beautiful opportunity that I cherish -to share my gifts with others and to help them on their journey.
For someone newly starting their own spiritual business I would say that it’s totally great to start it as a side job and allow it to grow. Don’t be afraid to say what it is you do! The right people will be drawn to you and the wrong ones won’t be – and that’s a good thing. Stay true to yourself and don’t let others have undue influence over who you truly are.
Sequoia, 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 was having spiritual experiences from a very young age. One of my strongest memories is as a 4 year old sitting in my Nan’s back yard, that left me feeling very ALIVE. I was off playing pretend by myself. There were tiny little wild violets growing. I was picking them, talking to them and playing various little pretend games with them, the way kids of that age do. Very much in my own world.
While in this pretend play state, I felt so many warm, wise, loving Divine beings all around me. Protecting me, being happy and joyful with me, surrounding me with easy, beautiful energy. Playing with me and affirming this state of existence, affirming my connection with nature and plants, affirming my connection with them, affirming my connection to joy.
I felt full of JOY and awake in the easiest way. The way in which you’ve probably seen little kids have this kind of connection without it being surprising to them.
I mention this because how I got into my line of work is really a story since my earliest days. When I look back on this memory, I feel in that moment that I knew what I was supposed to do with my life, without being consciously aware of it.
I now help my clients live a life of Joy, a life that they love and create on purpose. My clients live life instead of life living them! This is done through helping them:
-recognize where and why there is overwhelm
-creating and actually implementing wise boundaries (whether at home, work, with family, friends, co-workers or all of the above!)
-using mental health and spirituality practices to rewire their brain so it works for them and not against them
This is all to put them back in touch with their own Soul and their own purpose in this life. My goal is to help my clients help themselves to be in their place of Joy and personal Power. I love seeing so many of my clients go on to create and/or grow their own offerings after working with me.
Joy, to me, is different than happiness. Happiness is a fleeting feeling but Joy has more staying power. It is the pulsing undercurrent of gratitude, spiritual connection, ability to see and feel the good and the blessings, even and especially through the hard times. Through grief, through sadness, through tragedy, through anger. These “negative” emotions and states are part of human existence and are not meant to be denied or glossed over. I am super against spiritual bypassing – life is not always sunshine and happiness and to pretend otherwise is missing big spiritual life lessons. But we all have the ability to cultivate Joy in it and through it.
If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?
I definitely would! I love my work and feel it is absolutely my Soul’s Mission here on this earth!
That being said… in an alternate version of this reality I’m a stand up comic!
And when I was a kid I really wanted to be a pediatrician.
I studied Psychology and Education for my degrees and I still am deeply fascinated and intrigued by how we learn and grow, by the brain and neuroscience.
In all of these fields, the focus is on being of service and helping other people, so really they weren’t too far off from what I’m doing now!
Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?
Practice what you preach.
That and learning about how to run a business.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sequoianacmanie.com or www.sequoianacmanie.com/wiseboundaries for a free gift
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/sequoia_nacmanie
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/sequoia.nacmanie