The Practice of Home

Trying to transform in “rented” space?

Over the past several months, many of my clients have asked me when I’ll be teaching yoga classes again.  

My answer? “I am teaching yoga classes”

The response? “Yes, but I mean in-person classes, I just can’t do online.”  

Let me take you back;  

I’ve been teaching yoga classes for about 7 years and up until last winter, I had been teaching them as in-person classes (except for a little while during the pandemic).  In the beginning, I had rented a space at a local studio.  More recently, when I longed to be closer to home, I found a space in my neighbourhood at my local church.  

In both cases, something interesting happened.  

Everything was great for a while, a good long while. There would be a positive flow in the space; of people and of energy.  Clients came and went (which is a natural part of any business), but the flow was of ease, calm and joy.   

And then there came a point when the dynamic and the energy shifted and my connection to the space changed.  The flow became “different” and the ease that I had once enjoyed became “constricted”.  

The first time this happened, as I mentioned, I found a space at a church in my neighbourhood.  But when it happened a second time, a new idea started to form.  I tried something different and opened up the doors to an online yoga studio.  

Yup, this was the birth of my online yoga classes.  

At first, I offered them in similar class themes and session packages to what I had been offering in person.  While interest was thin, I did have a couple of people who wanted to give it a try.  In this experience, I made a new and interesting discovery.   

Not only can I: 

• Offer more when I teach online.  

• Curate a more complete experience when people join me in it

• Expand my reach and share more broadly  

But I actually bring forward my truer and authentic self - and this makes me a better teacher! 

When I’m in a rented space, the energy of the space that I create for teaching and that I invite others into is imbued with the energy of other teachers, other “uses”, other rules - and there’s always a bit of worry about the cleanliness of the floors, the noises from other rooms and I inevitably end up hauling furniture about to set things up.   

At home, it’s just me; setting up my space, getting settled and connecting to how I can serve and support all those attending the class.  

It’s so lovely - and I’ve continued to offer online yoga classes - even expanding it into an online membership format.   

And in all this exploration, I’ve realized something else.  And it’s this realization that has crystallized for me why my move home and online was inevitable for me.

Home is actually where our deepest healing and transformation happens. 

Let me break this down;   

• Would you say you’re the same person at work as you are at home?  

• Or, do you have a weekday vs weekend mode?  

• Have you ever wished that the “glow” you felt from your vacation lingered when you got back home or back to the office?  

• Or, noticed that you have to go somewhere else to “get away from it all”?  

Let’s be honest, most of us are different people inside our homes than we are outside of them. 

So often we do our “work” somewhere else.  From yoga studios to gyms, retreats, spas, classes and bootcamps, we rely on these “spaces” to change, release, heal, grow. 

But what happens when you get home? 

The environment, the people, the things, the things to do are different.   Even the “who” that we are in our homes can be so different than the “who” that we are in those other places.   But for most of us, home is where we are our truest version of ourselves - for good or for bad. 

These different versions of ourselves creates a “duality”.  Anywhere there is duality, there is stress.  Anywhere there is stress, there is a knot or blockage that stops the flow (energy, movement, creativity, healing)

In the presence of duality, all the “work” you’re doing can only reach so far.  So when our practices only happen when we “go” somewhere else, then we’re missing a deeper healing/change/growth/transformation experience.  What’s worse, is the moment your home isn’t that ideal space that you just left, you feel resentment, frustration - with it, the things and the people within it.  

Now, if you know me, you’ll know that I teach “transformation”. 

In particular, I’m passionate about Stress Transformation and so all of my offerings are to support people in this transformation through a variety of access points and using the modalities of traditional Yoga and Ayurveda as the foundation.  I’m not in the business of supporting and cultivating dualities - in myself or in others.  

I now recognize where that the “shift” in energy, flow and feelings of being “unsettled” when I was teaching in-person classes was coming from. I was no longer in integrity with my core beliefs or purpose…  

I had been “renting” my healing space and perpetuating “duality”!

When I moved my teaching practice into my home, my home - and me within it - started to be more aligned.  The flow of my home changed and continues to change as “teacher Kim” and the “Kim at home” began to be just “Kim”.  

Which brings me back to  “...I just can’t do online [classes]”  

If I’m in the business of teaching transformation, doesn’t it make more sense for me to teach in the space where my own deep healing and transformation has happened - and offer it to you, in the space where your deepest healing and transformation will happen?  

When you rent your space of deep work/transformation, you are always limited to the terms of the “rental agreement” - it is never truly yours.  

When the space is yours however (whatever space you call home - even if you rent that space, it’s your home), you are free to move, express, curate, integrate and flow in a way that is uniquely yours.  It’s like permission to paint the walls magenta instead of apartment beige.  

This is why teaching from my home has been such a profound shift.  And this is why I invite you to meet me online - so that you can practice from your home too.  

To me, this is the most genuine and deepest offering I can make to you.  To heal, learn, grow, transform in your home will always be more profound and lasting than anywhere you “rent”.  

Will you meet me here?  

From yoga classes to breathwork, meditations, pose workshops and wellness seminars, it’s all included in the Kim Fulton Wellness Online Membership.  Steeped in the traditions of Yoga & Ayurveda, it’s your one-stop-shop for your deeper Stress Transformation journey.  

You’ll find the link with details to join me HERE ➤ The Kim Fulton Wellness Online Membership

And it’s from my home, to yours….with love and gratitude,  

💛 Kim