2020 Reflections with Helena McKinney

A Year in Review with the founder of In Fine Feather Yoga & Hamilton entrepreneur, Helena McKinney. 

Every year around this time I share a personal and professional reflection of the year. I usually highlight the major accomplishments, milestone moments and successful events. (Check out the 2019 reflection). Well, as we all know this year has been extremely different and challenging in so many ways, so this year's reflection is going to have a different vibe as well. Rather than bringing to light the specific things that happened (or didn’t happen at all), I want to talk about the overall sensation of 2020, as well as my core values that have been strengthened and have supported me immensely throughout ALL the decisions and hardships that came with this year. These words have been my mantras, repeated daily to myself; they have been my constant reminders for how I want to feel, that it's ok to not be ok sometimes and they’ve picked me up when I needed a gentle hand.

Acceptance

It's felt like a rollercoaster for all of us but navigating the physical location of the studio was causing me so much additional stress and taking so much emotional energy from me. At some point I had to LET GO and find radical acceptance with all of the circumstances that were out of my control. Once I landed in this place, I was able to focus my attention, be clear with my intentions and explore my creativity again. Leaning into this time and trying to find peace with it has allowed me to cultivate new adventures for myself and ultimately offer new services for you. I have deepened my own daily mindfulness practice and I am beyond excited to share them with you in the 21 Day Meditation Challenge that is about to begin on January 4th. I have developed as an entrepreneur by learning new skill sets and been able to do more lifestyle and business mentoring with Emerge Mentoring, the other business I founded in 2019. Taking on new challenges has actually been refreshing and invigorating once I let go of the forces that are greater than me.

Consistency

Showing up for myself hasn’t always been easy over the last 10 months and I have sometimes felt the added weight of showing up for a community. BUT I do it and I LOVE it! I have often been asked how I show up to teach our LIVE classes every day with something insightful to say and how I don’t even skip a beat when it comes to being present. Here's how: I understand the importance of my role and the service I offer for people's mental health and wellbeing every day. I always feel better after I teach and move with our community. In Fine Feather Yoga is my life and you need to show up for life otherwise it keeps happening without you. Even when it is the hardest it has ever been, I want to move through it together, rather than feeling stuck and alone.

Self Care

Taking care of myself has become a top priority. I began to understand that my energy is different right now and I need to have a different level of expectation from myself. We are all trying to process so much every day and it's exhausting sometimes. Taking rest and time to slow down has been essential to making it through the weeks of isolation and now the current lockdown. Without the usual hustle of day to day life I have embraced new hobbies that feed my soul and aren’t so closely associated with working all the time the way I used to. My schedule is much more balanced and allows me to crochet, nap, cook meals in the evening, listen to an audible book, catch up with a friend on the phone, nourish my plants, do projects around the house and soak in the tub for an hour. Want to see a little more of my personal lifestyle and sillness? Check out my  instagram account @helena_hamont; you’ll get daily doses of my cat Gus, witness my ridiculous solo dance parties and hear my random rants. 

Finally, I move forward with HOPE

While this year has looked really different, I have learned so much about my personal drive and cultivated deeper connections with our community. I am HOPEFUL that we will emerge from this time stronger, more compassionate and more understanding humans. I think we will be more mindful to our work/life balance, respectful of each other's boundaries and appreciative of human connection. These are good things! I want you all to take 10 minutes of quiet space to yourself to explore what this slower, more introspective time has offered you. What have you learned about yourself through the challenges? What relationships have been strengthened? How have you grown as an individual? I would love for you to join me on New Year’s Day for our Intention Setting LIVE yoga class. I will guide you through an Intro to Flow class, (safe for students of all levels) followed by a journaling exercise that will deepen your awareness of the growth you have received this year. Please be sure to sign up online HERE to receive the live class link. 

All we can do is our best. Keep showing up for yourself and support yourself in whatever ways possible. Keep connecting to your community and loved ones. We are in this together! Sending all my love and gratitude,

Happy New Year, 
Helena xo 

Yoga as My Constant. How my Yoga Practice Supports me Through it All by Helena McKinney

I am writing this blog post from an International Airport in Bangalore, India. 

I have officially been away from In Fine Feather Yoga, Hamilton and everything that’s familiar to me for over a week. This is the first time I have done this type of travelling in almost 10 years. Being away has allowed to have some space from everything we call day to day living. It has also allowed me to reflect on all of my efforts, my hard work, the rewards and see where I am today because of a practice that consistently invites me to grow and evolve. The last few months have been a whirl wind and have at times, made my mind feel like it was constantly spinning. So much has happened behind the scenes and through it all yoga was my constant. Yoga always has my back with whatever might be going on in my life. It is an aid to anything I am doing and I am grateful for this type of energetic support. 

This September, the yoga studio changed locations.

We had 3 days to shut the old space down and rebuild, design and open the new space. All the while we were operating a regular schedule, I still taught my usual classes and had to keep it all running smoothly and make the change over to the new location seamless. This was a very good thing, while overwhelming at times because work days were starting to last 14 hours a day, 7 days a week, it is so important that I landed on my mat to connect inwards and move through my practice. Yoga offers me the space to centre and ground myself through all the chaos going on around me. Teaching regularly helps me to maintain a some what consistent schedule which creates stability and routine in my busy life. 

In September our 200 Hour Yoga Teacher Training program started back up.

We gathered in the brand new space on weekends for the final 50 hours of teaching, sequencing and finding your voice. Graduation was just around the corner so a lot went into preparing these trainees to get out there and start teaching. Even though this increased my work load, teaching teachers is one of my favourite things to do. I receive so much value from doing teacher evaluations. We all benefit from being more mindful with our language and I love receiving gentle reminders of my own through hosting this program. At one of my busiest times, when my energy and mental capacity were low, this was especially helpful and kept me on top of teaching quality classes. No matter what, yoga has my back.

Prior to Jackee and I leaving for Om In India, our yoga retreat to the North and South of India, we had a ton of planning to do.

Of course there was logistical planning that had to happen but we also wanted the teaching component of this retreat to be rich in philosophy and personal development. Jackee and I have put countless hours into curating an incredibly special opportunity for the attendees who are joining us on this journey. We all have the desire to experience adventure and through this practice we are able to travel, go to the birth place of yoga, develop a whole other side to IFF and create life long memories. We sat down together to skillfully plan our lessons and here we are exciting them, what a gift! This practice offers me so many unimaginable gifts. 

It excites me very much to be sharing the launch of my second business, Emerge Mentoring with my cofounder Meagan Santa. 

This has been a passion project of ours for almost a year. Emerge is a mentoring and consulting company that wants to support new or small businesses invest in their growth. We want to be apart of the creative process for businesses and help them get off the ground, strategize tactics for success and support them with any business needs. What makes this endeavour even more special for the both of us? Yoga philosophy is deeply rooted in the core values of this company. It is so important for us as business owners that we keep our services heart centred and full of integrity. Yoga is so much apart of both of our lives that it was built right into our business model. Meag and I have the deepest desire to see people succeed in their passion and pursue their vision. Yoga has guided me into this business mentality and is the constant behind my decisions as an entrepreneur. 

Even writing this, I am reminded of the incredible strength I receive through this practice. Find the willingness and desire to show up for fully for yourself. Yoga is always reminding me of who I am in this world and that I have an important and valuable place within it. Keep following your practice, you have no idea where it might take you and who it might connect you with. I have been able to do all this things in such a short time but I truly believe its a combination of dedication, persistence, passion, devotion and a regular yoga asana and meditation practice. Especially when life is proving to be the toughest, allow yoga to be your constant no matter what. It demonstrates to me a divine inner strength but also a larger force that is perhaps guiding us all, I take great comfort in this. 

With Love and Gratitude, 
Helena