I’ve facilitated breathwork training for around 10 years, and it took me that long to realize something important:
Teaching is my purpose.
BUT it’s not my only one, it hasn’t always been a purpose for me, and it may or may not be my purpose in the future.
Sound confusing? It’s not!
Let’s dive deeper into purpose. We’ve got a lot to cover, so I split it into two parts. Part one is an overview of purpose and how I finally embraced being a teacher. Part two will help you understand what it means to connect to a purpose and how to follow the energy in your life so you’re always doing what you’re meant to (even if that means saying no and resting!).
What Is Purpose?
Western culture teaches us that purpose has to be a grand life-long pursuit. You might think of someone who knew they were born to be a doctor and so that’s what they do their whole life. Or you might picture “the struggling artist”—someone sacrificing their happiness and sleep because they’re driven to create better than their peers.
But these images aren’t necessarily what purpose is. Purpose isn’t always a career, and it shouldn’t make you miserable for what you think is a higher ideal.
Purpose is clarity, fulfillment, and energy. Purpose can embody a moment, a day, or something you’ve been doing for years. It doesn’t have to be big, but it is unique to you and gets you clear on who you are, what you want, and the way of living that will bring you the most contentment.
Purpose is also alive—it ebbs and flows. It changes depending on what’s happening in your life. Basically, it evolves just like you.
How I Resisted My Current Purpose
Being an eclectic soul and a passionate learner, I’m constantly allowing evolution to happen through me. So you’d think I would have embraced my current purpose to teach a breathwork facilitator training as soon as it showed up in my life.
Wrong.
I’m telling you this so you can see that purpose isn’t always a lightbulb that suddenly flashes in your head. Sometimes, it takes patience and effort to uncover, and your purpose will have its own unique gifts to offer. It took me a while, but I eventually started to pay attention to the signs and synchronicities that confirmed breathwork facilitator training was something completely aligned to who I am.
Really, if you dive into uncovering your purpose (and remember: you have more than one! We’ll talk about that in part two), you’re going to be surprised by what life brings you. I certainly was.
My dad told me my entire life that I should be a teacher. He was a teacher and my mom, at one point, was a teacher. My brother was also a teacher, so it’s a strong career path in our family. But because of that, I completely resisted the idea, choosing instead to be the black sheep. Teaching was the last thing I wanted to do when I was younger.
When I stepped into the role around 10 years ago, I did it reluctantly. Many of my students regularly asked if I could teach them how to facilitate breathwork sessions because it had become such an integral part of their lives. They were excited and wanted to share that joy with others. I finally agreed to teach but I wasn’t sure really how to go about it.
Before that initial introductory training, I couldn’t make myself prepare or even make an outline. I kept telling myself: “You really should prepare.” But I couldn’t and didn’t. So, I went in and simply let the training unfold. Strangely, it turned out really well and everything just flowed, even down to the timing each day. This was a clue I ignored at the time.
Year after year, signs popped up, pushing me toward teaching. A major turning point was when a mentor finally sat me down and said, “Gwen, listen. I know we’ve been talking about how to focus on structuring your website to do personal coaching, but I truly believe you should be teaching. You should shift your focus to that.”
I love coaching and using my modalities to help others, so I was shocked. But for the first time, it finally sunk in. I finally shifted focus. I took time to rest and reflect and kept feeling a strong pull toward embracing my purpose as a teacher. I created a thorough training manual for the first time and let myself follow the energy.
Something amazing happened.
I felt electrified! Once I had this very beautiful comprehensive manual in my hands (which was the next level for my training), I experienced such a sense of purposefulness. I thought, “Oh my god…This is what I’m here to do right now. This is who I’m meant to be.” Maybe what you resist persists, but seeing that manual brought me to the realization that:
Every moment has brought me here.
That’s the power of truly aligning with your purpose(s). I realize now that I’m meant to bring everything I’ve learned together and teach it to others, holding space so they can experience their own evolutions. It’s who I am.
And I didn’t have to quit personal coaching to do it (something I really feared because I love it so much). I’ve had so many students who take my training move into personal coaching, which makes sense. There’s no separation between their personal life and who they are as a facilitator, so they naturally feel drawn to me outside of trainings so I can help them grow and evolve, adding to their gifts of facilitation.
It’s so surprising to me that the one thing I said I would never do is now the very thing that totally feels aligned. And I will continue to evolve my breathwork facilitator program because that’s just who I am.
In part two, let’s go even deeper. I’ll talk more about following energy, how purpose evolves as you evolve, and my number one tool for remaining aligned to my purpose: The Passion Test.
If you’re feeling inspired (and I hope you are!), check out my offerings so we can work together, or contact me with any questions.
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