Personal growth and real change requires us to stop thinking our way through life and start feeling our way through. We need to trust that our hearts know our what and why and that our heads are only there to help us with the how. — Cathy Weiss

Cathy Weiss, on her pivot from school teacher to yoga teacher, and why we need to ‘think less and feel more’ to achieve change in our lives

Cathy started her career in what is considered to be one of the most traditional and respected jobs: teaching elementary school. And she managed it in the most traditional of ways: she went to college, earned a teaching degree, started teaching, and then earned a Master’s degree in education. She successfully completed what she calls the Great American Checklist and went on to teach for 10 years until she could no longer ignore a growing anxiety she was experiencing. Although she was successful at her job, she was unhappy and knew she needed to do something else, but didn’t know what or why. Like many people contemplating a career change, she was scared to leave something into which she had invested so much of her time, education, and dedication for something unknown.

Despite not knowing what was next, she and her husband made the decision to leave Los Angeles and move to Paso Robles, a beautiful rural town near the central coast of California. She embraced the change of scenery and immediately started looking for new teaching jobs, but the universe had other things in mind for her. She came to learn that teaching jobs are hard to come by in small towns and that in order to make a life, she’d have to find another way to make a living.

Having taken yoga to help with her anxiety, she decided to enroll in yoga teacher training, started teaching one class a week, and began a journey of “entrepreneurial insanity” in 2007. And that’s where her story of personal growth really just begins. In the years since, she’s opened and closed two beautiful yoga studios, written a book, undergone a “spiritual smack-down”, and experienced new heights of personal growth. She now uses this experience to help her clients create their own soul-centered approach to life through her yoga and energy healing practice.

What advice do you have for people who might be scared about making a big change in their life such as you did?

Oftentimes it’s not actually the change we are afraid of: it’s the feelings associated with that change. We are afraid of feelings. We live in a society resistant to experiencing feelings, especially if they are uncomfortable. Instead of exploring our feelings, we’ve been taught to suppress them by overthinking them or by ignoring them all together through distractions like material consumption, substances, workaholism, social media and news cycles, and so on. Personal growth and real change requires us to stop thinking our way through life and start feeling our way through. We need to trust that our hearts know our what and why and that our heads are only there to help us with the how.

What are some of the feelings you’ve experienced as you’ve gone through your journey?

My journey started with heavy feelings of dread and stress doing a job I didn’t like. I then went on to experience sheer fear, but also excitement, when I decided to make a change. I also dealt with shame when I closed my yoga studios, disappointment when my book didn’t get picked up by the publisher I had hoped, and ultimately doubt about my entire life when I started doing some really deep emotional work through advanced yoga and spiritual training. There were some hard periods in my life, but they all led me to where I am today which is waking up each day with fulfillment, satisfaction, and joy instead of dread. But I couldn’t have come to this place without going through the work first.

In a society where heads tend to rule over hearts, how do you reach people with your work?

We are living in a time of soul-crisis where some people are just completely resistant to the idea of inner exploration. But there are many people who are searching, and those who are open and ready to make a change in their life are the ones who will come to me for guidance either through my small yoga classes or energy work. I am not a teacher, I am a guide helping people to open up and create their own path. In order to do this, my clients are willing to give their feelings a chance and give themselves permission to work through their fears, doubts, shame, and pride to end up on the other side which is more joy and more fulfilment.

Thank you Cathy for sharing your courage, dreams, and healing energy with the world and for sharing your own story of fear and self-exploration with me!

If you would like to learn more about Cathy’s work and how it can help you, she offers introductory sessions over the phone or video and also offers a variety of programs and content through her website at cathy-weiss.com

And if you are lucky enough to find yourself near beautiful Paso Robles, you can take one of her soul-centered yoga classes.