Why Radiate From Within?

Have you been wondering where the name of my business came from? Why not just use my name? Kathleen Kelley Coaching…..then I thought I’d be cute, Koach Kathleen. But my sophomore year English teacher was in my head with Strunk’s rules. Have you ever had to read Strunk’s rules? If not, you had a terrible English teacher. I had Mrs. Gerzanick. And in Mrs. Gerzanick’s world, misspelled words, “the fact that”, “in order to” and sometimes “which” are just NOT ALLOWED. I digress….

Radiate From Within came during a yoga workshop I was teaching one weekend. I am also a yoga and meditation teacher. I’ve done research on the effects of yoga on falls in the elderly. I used to do a one-day workshop on, guess what? The therapeutic effect of yoga on the prevention of falls in the elderly. (Go ahead, ask The Googles, you’ll find a scintillating article of the same name). I was teaching my workshop, minding my own business, and getting things done. Then we got to the practice part. I never do a yoga workshop without actually having everyone do yoga. What would be the point? So, everyone is doing their yoga. An asana practice designed to recruit the muscles associated with fall prevention (because I’m fancy). I always have participants do a partner activity. Partner poses create a time to connect with others, learn some names and often be uncomfortable. Not that I promote uncomfortable, but, we often learn the most from our discomfort. So….one of my favorite partner poses is assisted Vrksasana (Tree Pose). (See photo). 

The two women that caught my eye could not have been more different. One was a young, newly minted physical therapist taking continuing education to expand her knowledge in the area of best practices for fall prevention. One was of a wiser age, a retired physical therapist who was caring for her husband of 40 years with Parkinson’s Disease. She told us she was there, “To learn how to take better care of myself.” It was a lesson for everyone at the workshop, including me. These two women were supporting each other in vrksasana. These two women were beaming from ear to ear. The smiles could not have been brighter or more radiant. That was the moment I truly began to own the idea that everything we are comes from deep inside of us. Beauty, radiance confidence, and poise – all of our magnificence – from within. 

What are you creating for yourself, from the inside out?