Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Shelly Reid. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Shelly, thanks for joining us 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.

I suffered from regular moments of dizziness as a result of a bad car wreck in 2011. I had to hold on to the walls as I walked, I had to get out of chairs slowly and couldn’t lay flat on my back at all. Through weekly yoga practices (that I didn’t want to attend but had to due to my job) I soon saw a difference in the dizziness and noticed it was happening less and less. I also had awful pain in one of my feet from a childhood injury that sports doctors, podiatrists and pain management doctors couldn’t identify. They said “this is your new normal, embrace pain management…” My yoga practice also solved the excruciating foot pain when all modern medicine could offer was pills or exploratory surgery. That was my “AH-HA” moment! That was the moment I knew I HAD to become a teacher and share this amazing healing modality with others that weren’t finding relief through our traditional western medicine.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I was 260 pounds when my employer decided to appoint me as the “cheerleader” at the office about a new yoga class we were offering to our employees. My instant reaction was: “Have you seen me?”

Day one arrived and so did an 8 month pregnant yoga teacher. I knew if she could move her body with an additional human in it, I could probably learn to move my larger body. I was skeptical, but had to put on an excited face to get others excited about trying it.

Deciding to become a teacher meant first I had to experience normal yoga classes in normal yoga studios, so I found one nearby and went to a class called “Deep Stretch”. I figured how hard could stretching be?

I was caught off guard by the pieces that really caused me anxiety: what to wear to a real yoga class? walking up the stairs to the 2nd floor made me out of breath and red faced. The 2nd floor location made it a warmer space so I was sweaty during class. I was also the largest person in the room and felt extremely out of place.

During an early class, I asked the instructor what to do with my middle section in a pose, I was on my knees so she could see me, circled my belly with my hand and said “what do I do with this?” because I couldn’t breathe easily in the pose because my belly was in the way. The teacher literally giggled at me and went on. No answer at all… I was shocked because I had asked in earnest, I truly needed instruction on how to move my body differently to be able to breathe in that pose yet she offered no response, just giggled? In that moment it dawned on me – she didn’t have the answer because she didn’t know what having to move a large body was like so had no modification to offer. That was another “lightbulb” moment for me – I realized I could teach from a very specialized, very niche perspective as a previously dizzy, larger bodied person myself. There weren’t many larger bodies doing yoga in 2015, so I knew there was an audience that I could help.

At each class, the people were friendly and I enjoyed the sequences and themes but was dizzy, sweaty and out of breath the whole time which I didn’t enjoy. I wished the studio was on the ground floor at least, but I kept going back. The same anxieties happened – it was the walking in the door that was really making me panic, but once I got inside, I could exhale and relax and class went along fine. I’ve never forgotten that feeling and I built a business around it.

I could hardly believe how much better I was after embracing regular practices. My ailments were better but I also felt better and slept better, the benefits were simply undeniable and it made me want to share those results with the world! It grew a the desire to tell others that there are alternate paths towards wellness beyond pills and people in white coats.

I now operate a business model where I specifically sequence deep stretch yoga classes for larger bodies to enjoy and it fills me with happiness. I help my students navigate clothing options for their bodies at reasonable prices, I offer them my mats and props to play with before they purchase anything of their own so they know what works best for them. I also offer yoga therapy where I combine various modes of healing to awaken emotion from the body. Our bodies hold our traumas, (not our heart or our brain) so our bodies need to be moved in ways that allow that emotion a safe place to release. THAT’s what Yoga Therapy is all about and it allows people to address deeply held emotion in moments that they can plan around, on a day when they have time to address it so they leave feeling lighter and less burdened. It’s amazing what yoga and ayurvedic methods can do for our bodies. Western medicine still has a long way to go in recognizing the importance of the mind-body-soul connection.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

Remembering that you are unique, YOU are your special sauce, YOU are the product you’re selling at the end of the day and YOU make it valuable – never forget that or let anyone try to make you doubt it. The world needs YOUR brand of whatever you’re selling because there is room for all of us to share our gifts.

During Yoga Teacher Training, I was having a frustrating moment and went out for some air, because you know, I was sweaty. My teacher came out to check on me and I said “This isn’t going to work is it? I mean, I’m just too fat for this aren’t I?” and he laughed at me and said “Shelly – the world needs SHELLY yoga… I can only teach Greg type yoga because that’s my story, that’s all I know, but you can teach SHELLY type yoga, coming from a very different story of a bad car wreck and being in a 260 pound body – the world NEEDS your yoga Shelly, you can do this and the world needs you to complete it. I’ll never forget that conversation, he was right and I’m so glad I listened to him,

Can you talk to us about how your funded your firm or practice?

When I decided I wanted to become a yoga teacher I quickly realized it would require around $3500 upfront to pay for training and clothing to wear during training. I currently only practiced once a week, so only had 1 outfit that I thought was appropriate.

I googled different types of loans and was unsure if I needed a school loan or a line of credit or a personal loan. I have dyscalculia, so the thought of dealing with bankers was not something I enjoyed, but I wanted to be a yoga teacher, so I visited my credit union. I was overjoyed to find that I could easily get a small line of credit on my house that would more than cover all I needed. It was as if the Universe already had all the pieces lined up for me to become a yoga teacher.

Once I graduated, I heard my other classmates talking about signing leases for studio spaces, but I instinctively knew that wasn’t the route I wanted to go. I knew I needed to partner with an existing studio and simply rent by the hour from them until I could get established and find my client base. That one decision has saved me over and over because when COVID happened, they all went out of business and I kept right on going unscathed. Lesson was: do not follow the herd just because they’re walking, they may be walking in a direction that doesn’t get you to your destination.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.BreezyBalanceYoga.com
• Instagram: YogaForLargerBodies
• Facebook: BreezyBalanceYoga