Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey in health and wellness but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Lisa Sack, Founder of Clear Sight Yoga, located in Brooklyn, NY, USA.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
I am an Ayurvedic Health Counselor, a Yoga Therapist, and a Somatic Movement Coach. Ayurveda and Yoga are ancient sister sciences from India that promote health and well-being for the mind, body, and heart. As a health counselor and yoga therapist, I offer my clients tailor-made recommendations related to diet, lifestyle, movement, and spiritual practice based on their concerns and their unique makeup. The goal is always to help my clients overcome whatever is holding them back from living a life of contentment and ease. Often physical pain is part of the picture, so as a somatic educator, I help clients learn to release chronic muscular contractions that may be causing any number of symptoms from neck and shoulder pain, low back ache, sciatica, insomnia, headaches, or general stiffness that people often assume is just a part of aging when it's really a loss of function. I have a particular interest in helping people who experience a lot of stress due to infertility, caregiving, or work that's often accompanied by pain, poor digestion, poor sleep, anxiety, and low energy.
Tell us about yourself
I came to these wellness practices later in life. When I was in my early 40s, I had two toddlers and a dead-end job in medical marketing. I was overweight and chronically sick with bronchitis and sinus infections. I felt stuck. I was deeply self-critical, and that point of view colored my relationships with family and friends, making me judgmental and intolerant of my own and other people's imperfections. I felt vaguely irritated most of the time and was very rigid in my approach to almost everything I pursued. I wanted to live a more compassionate life. But I didn't know how.
A little over 20 years ago, I began to practice yoga at a local studio and found that the lessons of the physical postures - how to find flexibility within stability and stability within flexibility--began, slowly, to seep into my life off the mat. But things really changed for me when my mother had a stroke in 2011, and I was in a serious car accident several months later. There's nothing like brushing up against mortality to make you ask what is really important. That's when I started to understand that love and kindness were all that mattered. Shortly after that accident, I did my first yoga teacher training and have never looked back.
I soon came to understand that yoga is nothing less than a system for transformation on all levels--physical, energetic, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. I learned how to adapt yoga practices to the needs of the person in front of me, and this realization–that yoga should be tailored to the individual student – led me to Āyurveda, which is founded on the belief that we all have a unique constitution and must be treated accordingly. We have to be aware of our moment-to-moment sensations so that we can make the best choices for our well-being. I discovered I had work to do on this front (getting out of my head and into my body), which led me to the study of somatic movement, which centers on becoming aware of the internal sensation.
The teachings from these ancient wisdom traditions and from the modern somatic movement are incredibly powerful. I feel I have a responsibility to share them with others so they can benefit from them as I have.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
My biggest accomplishment is and will always be touching the lives of others and helping them come to a place of well-being, contentment, and ease.
What's one of the hardest things that come with being a business owner?
The pressure to find clients.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
Make sure there's a need for the product or service you intend to offer. Focus on your clients--it's all about them, first and foremost. Get help to grow--don't try to go it alone.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://www.clearsightyoga.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-sack-5b7781245/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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