Igniting Your Inner Spark: Embracing Rest, Balance, and Change for a Vibrant Life with Meghan Johnston

Have you ever found yourself lost in the hustle, disconnected from your own vitality? Sparklers, we bring you warmth from the heart of Meghan Johnston, a life coach and restorative yoga teacher who specializes in rekindling inner flames. This episode is a mosaic of Megan's personal journey, from the shadows of disconnection to the luminescence of deep, heartfelt ties with oneself and the surrounding world. Discover the hidden costs of high achievement as Megan recounts her transformative path from academic burnout to healing and growth. As you listen, you'll feel the embrace of a community that understands the pivotal role of connections in our mental and emotional health.

Amidst the relentless tempo of life, have you paused to consider the harmony of rest and creativity? Join us as we traverse the quiet wisdom of slowing down, inspired by a dream that redirected Meghan's  life towards yoga and life coaching. We discuss the symphony of restorative and yin yoga, a rhythm that balances tranquility with the creative pulse of life. This segment is a serene invitation to explore the sustainable middle path, fostering vitality without succumbing to exhaustion. If your soul seeks a tempo that resonates with gentle progress and intention, let this conversation be your guiding star.

As the cosmos cycle through their seasons, so do our lives. This episode culminates with an exploration of life's ever-changing tapestry, celebrating the richness that each season brings. Megan's transition from teaching to deep individual work reveals how adapting our practices to life's different chapters can ignite our inner spark. We also shine a light on the dynamic interplay of fear and courage in our personal and professional journeys. By sharing our stories and growing together, we amplify the brilliance of our collective spark. So, thank you, dear listeners, for being part of this journey. With every shared insight and burst of positivity, we illuminate the path for ourselves and each other.

Shine on!

Meghan's special gift here: A one hour deeply discounted session to help you unleash your inner spark.
podcastgift.meghanjohnston.com
https://www.meghanjohnston.com/

Kim
https://www.kimduffselby.com/

I would love for you to share, subscribe, comment and rate my podcast if you are so motivated. Let's share our light so that others may share theirs.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:06

Welcome back, sparklers, to another episode of ignite your spark. I'm your host, kim Duff Selby, and I want to thank you for tuning in. If this is your first or your 150th episode, that would be nice if you guys had listened to all of them. I want to thank you for joining me here on this space, where I really hope to give you inspiration and motivation to find your inner light, to access that light that I know is within you. This podcast is not about me, it's about you. It's about the guests I bring to you that will help you ignite your spark so that you can find your purpose and passion in life if you have not already and share it with the world, because we need your light now more than ever, because when someone shares their light just one person it helps the whole world. So thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:03

My guest today is Megan Johnston, who is also a light and the language she uses really resonates with me, because she's here to ignite your spark. I know that Megan is a life coach and a restorative yoga teacher. She's also a public speaker and she holds workshops for women. She really her mission, I believe, is to ignite your spark, because that's my mission and I'm all just. She also hosts her own podcast, which you must listen to as well, called With Heart and Wonder such a beautiful title. I won't go into anything else. We will just start talking about how marvelous you are and your offerings to the world. Megan, welcome to ignite your spark.

Speaker 3: 1:50

Oh, my gosh, what a warm welcome. Thank you for having me. I've been finding I'm just really emotional lately and I feel like I'm holding back tears, just because your energy is so beautiful. It just flows through you and I knew as soon as I listened to your first podcast episode that I found, wow, this is someone who I want to know and I definitely do think there's a lot of shared values that we have. So I'm really looking forward to our conversation today.

Speaker 1: 2:23

Thank you so much, and I just I want you all to know who are listening that Megan reached out to me and yes, I have. That's how I get most of my guests through reachouts, but Megan's reach out was so beautiful. I could tell that she listened to podcasts so many people don't and it was really beautiful. So thank you for reaching out to me. I appreciate it and, since you have listened, you may remember that when I ask everybody how do you ignite your spark?

Speaker 3: 2:52

Such a gorgeous question and I came prepared. I was really sitting with and meditating with this question and I mean maybe the answer sounds basic but for me my spark is always a reflection of the degree to which I'm leaning into connection. And when I say that I mean connection with myself, connection with others, connection with nature, connection with art, like anything that just like connects me, connection with the universe. And that is always the thing that if I'm feeling a sense of depletion or like I need that, that, that boost to my own spark, I know that I need a dose of deeper connection.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Hello, that's perfect. That's just such a great answer and I love that you knew what I was going to ask. I can't tell you. I would say maybe 1% of my guests know that I'm going to ask that and that's cool too, because then they have to think on their feet. But yours was so well thought out. Connection Connection is one of my favorite things. It's one of my favorite words. It's one of the qualities that I am grateful for every single day on my gratitude list is connection. I'm grateful for my podcast, for connecting me to amazing people such as yourselves. Connections are what keep us young. There was what keep us healthy as we age. You're very young, but as we age, apparently, from what I've read, connections are so key and that's why, during COVID, so many people suffered depression and loneliness and anxiety because we were lacking that connection, and I love how you brought that all together. Connection, yay.

Speaker 3: 4:41

Yeah, it's definitely.

Speaker 3: 4:43

I mean, I feel like when I started, I've always been somebody who was really attracted and interested in our social connections and it wasn't until I was 19 that I realized that the connection with self peace was something that was really calling to my attention and I'll share this because I imagine it might it might land with some folks listening.

Speaker 3: 5:14

But when I was 19, I really realized that, like I had been living this life where I was a little bit at war with my body, and what I mean by that is that I was a high, achieving, deep feeling person who was always, always, always like trying to do my best and I had run myself into the ground and it was this profoundly disconnection with my body that started to and disconnection with myself, which actually started to manifest as all of these different health issues that I was having it. It got so bad. I had to I was at university at the time. I had to leave university, move home with my parents, like, did nothing else except yoga and read Harry Potter for a few months. But it was this real like awakening for me in terms of getting really interested in in what happens when we do disconnect from ourselves, and I I imagine you know people like this, kim.

Speaker 3: 6:16

I know so many people and so many of the people that that I have, like the deep pleasure of working with are really really good at pushing themselves like, really good at pushing themselves Like they can achieve a lot when they put their mind to it, but that comes at a cost, and it comes at the cost often of them disconnecting from themselves and their needs, and I think that connection and the opposite disconnection has become such a primary motivator behind not just the work that I do, but the way that I show up in the world.

Speaker 1: 6:54

Hmm, that sort of answered my next question to you, which was really your origin story about where you were born but how you got into the work you're doing, and I just want to reflect on the remarkable ability of your generation to have discovered that and more and more of you are discovering at a younger age. Do you think I, at 19, thought about that? Oh, no, no, I wanted to know where the next cute boy was, where the party was. I was in college, but I did go to classes. Let's just make that clear. However, that was not my focus. It was more social oriented, because I've always been a social person and, as much as I loved classes, it wasn't my primary focus. So, at 19, for you to have such deep introspection is truly amazing, and I think it's because it's your generation and I think you were meant to all sort of embrace that. My kids also embrace that, and it's something that you are sharing with the world, which is very vital in. Your generation needs it, but so does mine, yeah.

Speaker 3: 8:04

Isn't it incredible the way in which and I've been thinking about this a lot, so I'm 30, I'll be 34 in a few months I have a 16 year old cousin and I even find, just like that, two decades of difference Like her generation is even more emotionally aware and just like the vernacular that her and her friends bring and the way that they're able to view the world is so much richer than it was when I was 16. And so I just find it so amazing that sometimes, when I get really down thinking about all of the things happening in the world, it can help to ground into the things that are changing, and one of them definitely, I think, is, if we wanna call it, emotional intelligence or like that to me sounds a little bit more academic. I even just think that, like that ability to tap into the heart and heart centered living, it seems like with each generation there's an awakening to that earlier and earlier and earlier. And like, isn't that inspiring?

Speaker 1: 9:15

Yeah, absolutely yes, yes, it is, and it's only going to continue. Let's go back to, though, finishing your origin story and how you got into work you're doing now. Did you go back to university and then get a degree in something practical?

Speaker 1: 9:33

Mm, what a good question Because you know I wanted to be an actress and so that was not practical. So my parents were like nope, not paying for that for college or grad school, so you gotta do something practical. Now I say that a little bit tongue in cheek because of course being a life coach is vital and everyone needs that. But let's hear your story.

Speaker 3: 9:55

Oh my gosh, my story has a lot of twists and turns. And so at the time when I was 19, I was so. It was actually when I was 20 that I left school no 19, 19. But what? At the time I was studying international development, I had been a really, really active kind of like globally conscious teenager. I had done a lot of travel. The summer before I ended up leaving school, I had been on a trip in Bangladesh and I had also been actually in the Middle East, and it was I was taking in so much and there was so much of me that wanted to be of service to the world, and everything just ended up becoming like. I often think of that time and think I was running so fast all the time and it's just not practical to be sprinting through life. There's a certain point, and I've actually I haven't shared this story before publicly, but I'll share it with you.

Speaker 3: 11:08

I remember the I, even though so I had not wanted to go back to school for my second year. I told my parents, like I don't think I can do it, and we put this plan in place for, like, I would do yoga and I would do these things and we could like reassess after that second year. And I went back and it was a struggle the entire time, like it was, I was dropping class after class after class until I only had one class left and I was so deeply determined to finish that last class.

Speaker 3: 11:48

And the last class was actually a course that was taught by a life coach, a university course of all things taught by a life coach called the meaning of work in contemporary society, the conversations that matter, and it was basically a life coachy course where we were exploring ourselves. And I knew at that time two things I knew that I wanted to be a life coach and that I wanted to teach yoga. I knew both of those things and this part of the story I've certainly shared before, but and we'll come back to that in a second the part I haven't shared is the moment I knew I had to leave and that was and I think I just get the sense you'll be interested in this, kim because I kept trying to push myself through and just to keep going, like almost like by force of will. And I had this dream and I was in a car, driving on a stormy, stormy, it was dark, rain, my sister was next to me and we were driving around this like mountain kind of like at a cliff's edge, and all of a sudden I was the one driving and I drove us off the road into the ocean and I woke up, you know, like having that sensation of drowning. And it was that dream where I woke up and I was like okay, like I'm gonna listen, like I haven't been listening to all of these signs in my body as things are breaking down and you know, like. But it was that dream, that like for me was this visual representation of like I am drowning right now and I'm not in control, and it was the thing I kept coming back to was I wanna be a life coach and I wanna teach yoga.

Speaker 3: 13:38

Now I did, within a year, go and become a yoga teacher and that was a beautiful, beautiful journey that let me really start to repair my relationship with my body and with myself, get curious. It let me explore spirituality in a way that I hadn't before. And I did go back to school. I ended up going back to school for human rights and during that time I had still dabbled, I still taught yoga, I still was very curious about, like, self development and personal development and along the way and we won't explore every little turn around the road but I kept having burnouts, like.

Speaker 3: 14:27

I kept having these moments, these fits and spurts where things would be going really well and I would start like excelling and be doing all of these things and maybe scholarships or research opportunities or whatever, and then I would crash and it was like if we were looking at like if I had a way forward and I was drawing up and down, it was these high highs and then these lows, and I would rally and then I would crash.

Speaker 3: 14:54

And what strikes me about that is especially the more that I've been in the yoga space and teaching yoga, and my passion has always been restorative yoga and yin yoga.

Speaker 3: 15:09

So they're really slow, like cozy up, tend to the nervous system, the more that I've noticed that this is the thing that a lot of other people experience too is that, like that, high highs and then the crash, the recovering, only to go back to the same pace they were at before.

Speaker 3: 15:33

It's almost like we only have two speeds and those two speeds are like recovery or like going all in. And so I've been on this journey the last few years about really getting curious in terms of what's the middle path like, how can I create more of a gentle momentum, and that is, in a way, what led me back to coaching. What led me back to coaching was during this moment in time where I had been doing so much yoga, teaching, wellness workshops, all of helping people rest, but really realizing that rest was one part of the equation. But everything is cyclical right, and so if we're going to talk about rest, we also have to talk about our creative potential, and I think we don't talk enough about how those two things are interlinked and support each other and flow into each other.

Speaker 1: 16:30

Wow, I'm just mesmerized by your words because I think you have really identified what the majority of people do now Not everyone, but it's the high highs and the low lows, the burnout. And then your body says whoa, whoa, Nelly, time to stop. And obviously that's what you finally had to listen to the messages that you are receiving. And now you do this for other people. Your passion is helping others on that same journey. Am I correct in that?

Speaker 3: 17:06

Yeah, you absolutely are, and I think really, oh gosh, what's coming through for me in this moment is that a huge part of that passion is, I think, when I what I see a lot of is people who, when they're in those high highs, they feel like it's impossible to rest, and then the people when they're in the low lows feel like it's impossible to move forward, and so and it's this kind of black or white thinking that we get ourselves into in both cases, and so I'm really I truly believe and I use the seasons as a metaphor a lot so if we think about the natural world where I live in Canada, we definitely have four seasons of summer autumn, winter and spring and there's this cycle and there's it's not. We might have our preferences about which season we like best, but if we look at the natural world, like each of those seasons is really important. We can't be in that time of summer all of the time where things are like bright and blooming. It's just as important that we have those shedding in the fall and the decomposing in the winter and the new life in the spring. And so I truly, truly believe in the depths of my being that, whatever season we're in. If you are in a time of grief and a time of winter and a time where maybe there is profound depletion, that we can still have both rest and creativity, and the same with summer. It's just that those things are going to look different.

Speaker 3: 18:42

And what I see a lot of is is so often I think we're so hard on ourselves because we're not who we used to be, or because we're not the the things that used to work for us, even like the things that used to feel really good, or the self-care practices or the spiritual practices. Maybe they're not working in this season of life, and so we assume that there's something wrong with us and I just really want to normalize that like there's nothing wrong with you, Like there's nothing wrong with you. I certainly went through a lot of my life thinking there must be something wrong with me, but that this is just. This is kind of how we're wired as humans, that there is going to be these cycles that we move through, and that that doesn't have to be a bad thing. It can actually be something we can get really playful and curious about and that can be a vehicle for more self-love and self-compassion.

Speaker 1: 19:42

So probably some of my smarter listeners are like of course I know that, yeah, the all the seasons, blah, blah, blah. Well, I didn't. Okay, you're really giving me permission. And you know I've been around the block 10 or 20 hundred times and I'm a summer person, so I'm always looking for the sun. I'm looking for the sun in the sky, literally and metaphorically. I like to be around people who are sunny and that's why I want to ignite other sparks. It's selfish that way, because I like to be around people who are like that and I think the world likes to be around that. But you can maintain that inner sunshine and still go through the seasons, because I live in California and we don't have all those seasons. I really really like the way you use those as a metaphor for life and how, in the winter, I don't give myself enough time to sit back, renew, recharge, and I think it's really vital that we all do that. And it doesn't have to equate to the seasons, it can just equate to us internalizing it. It could be in one week.

Speaker 3: 20:46

We could experience all those four seasons Exactly, exactly, or with the creative project, like with any creative project, if you think about it right, there's a pattern in terms of, like, the moments of beginning, where the seeds are planting, and there's that excitement and the possibility, and then there's the bloom, and there's also what happens when you're starting to the decline after a creative project, and that can all be part of the cycle. I think. Another metaphor of visual. I'm such a visual person, like that's just how I operate in the world, and so another visual that I think can be really nice for people. And if you don't know the symbol to which I'm referring, like go Google it after pull it up on your phone.

Speaker 3: 21:37

But if we look at the yin yang symbol, which is there's black on one side and white on the other side, and within, we each like on the white side there's a little black dot and on the black side there's a little white dot, and in this like idea of yin and yang is the idea that like there are always both, like there's always, maybe to differing degrees, but like to go back to the light, like there's always light and there's always dark, and they're both going to be there.

Speaker 3: 22:08

It's going to be in different ways that they show up. I think about you know, if we look at a breath, there's an inhale and an exhale. It's not that one is better than the other. The same with day and night is that we just have both of these things. And so how do we create an appreciation for all of it? And I too, I am like you said it right at the beginning.

Speaker 3: 22:29

I am all like all about helping people ignite their spark and like really radiate and shine that spark into the world. And I think we can also recognize that there may be seasons or times in life when that spark is maybe going to be a little bit dimmer, and that that's okay too.

Speaker 1: 22:50

Yeah, yeah, no, you're absolutely right and I think we all need that reminder that it's okay. And you know, I have to give myself permission to like take a couple of weeks off from podcasting, and it's hard to do because you don't want to lose the momentum, especially when we are solopreneurs like this, and you have that fear. Fear is a biggie in people's lives too. To release that fear, when do you work with individuals too?

Speaker 3: 23:19

I do. Yeah, that's been the big transition over the last little while, most of my person. For many years I was mostly just teaching yoga classes and studios. I would work privately, like in a yoga capacity, with people as well, like kind of a therapeutic approach to yoga. But I knew that I really really really wanted to be going deeper with people and that was actually the inspiration for starting my podcast many years ago. Was was going deeper than we could go in a yoga studio because there were so many rich conversations that I wanted to be able to have and then working individually, like.

Speaker 3: 24:01

So I am a introvert and I'm I know you talk about human design on your podcast I'm a projector and so like I am like very much a like. I am at my best when it's cozy, like and it's not to say that I can't, like you know, be in a room, like, be on a stage, like I've had those experiences and they're fun. But like, like the thing that feels the best for me is that like really intimate, like one on one, and it feels so rich for me to hold space for someone to really ignite their own confidence in their capacity to move through the eds and flows of life Like that to me, like if I like, if I can do that every day for the rest of my life, like I'd be happy, like, just like, like being able to see people step into their own power like that that lights me up.

Speaker 1: 25:00

Yeah, that that's a beautiful way of saying it as well. And who is the person most likely to come to you? Someone who is struggling, because you know different coaches. Different people are attracted to them for a variety of reasons and I'm just curious who is the person like? If you had your archetype, you know who would be the person who comes to you.

Speaker 3: 25:24

It's such a rich question. So I I mean the people that I get to work with are spectacular and if any of you are listening, you know like you inspire me and the the some of the patterns or the threads that you know weave together among all these incredibly unique people are. They're people who I talk about, the like, our zones of wisdom, and these are people who tend to hang out in their head. They're overthinkers and they need some gentle, loving reminders to like drop into their body and their heart. So the people who end up coming my way are people who know that they are a look or there's a like a deep inner craving to be connecting more with their body and their mind, or, sorry, and their heart, also their mind but like we're, we're, we're kind of, we're trying to get out of the head a little bit and try and tap in to like that deep inner. Knowing those whispers that are inside of you.

Speaker 3: 26:29

I tend to get a lot of like what I call like the big dealers kind of the people who just really care. A lot of them work in professions where they are caring for others, whether they're teachers or in healthcare, or they could work at NGOs. They could be creative types, they could be entrepreneurs it really depends but they're. They're the people who it doesn't matter when, what field they are like these are the people who are always kind of like thinking about and looking out for others, and that it's that that is exhausting them a little bit, because there's a need to reconnect with themselves, and so a lot of our work is really is really kind of helping helping them to tune into how they can be more in connection with their energy.

Speaker 3: 27:25

When I say that, I refer to like physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, how they can be trusting themselves more, because there's a lot of like decision paralysis and a lot of that like a lot of energy that gets consumed by trying to make decisions, and a lot of also like curiosity around how they can explore showing up a little bit more creatively in life, and so for some people, that looks like a creative project. I've had people work on memoirs or scrapbooks or like who have design businesses, but it also is people who are just wanting to bring more creative thinking to the way in which they live in the world, and so I would say our work together is really holistic. It's really guided by, like one of the things that I just so deeply believe is we are all so unique, and so it is just really guided by the uniqueness of the person who is in front of me.

Speaker 1: 28:33

Well, I just wanted to get that out there so that anybody listening who might resonate with you would know sort of who you really specialize in per se, and it is no surprise to me being a human rights I don't want to say activist, but an interest in that yourself. Of course, you're going to attract others who care deeply. Yeah, makes perfect sense. It's a beautiful gift to the world to be able to offer that to your clients, to people through your podcast, and I am also a certified creativity coach, so I always say that everybody is creative, it doesn't matter who you are. You create when you bake, you create when you cook, you create when you garden. You create at all times. You create when you're playing a game with your children or your grandchildren or and I think we all need that little inspiration to always be creative, and some of us need another person to reflect back on us that it's okay to be creative, or give us ideas and ways, and it appears that that's what you do as well.

Speaker 3: 29:44

Yeah, well, and I imagine you would agree, kim, you can let me know. But, like, I just think what I see in our world is such a crisis of meaning and a lot of people who are walking around a little bit on autopilot, feeling unfulfilled. And I think the two of the essential pieces to that puzzle is our capacity to rest, which demands that we find a certain sense of enoughness and worthiness within ourselves, as well as our capacity to create, and like we're not, like it doesn't mean that you're going to become the next like Taylor Swift, but like our capacity to just bring things to life. And again, like you said, that can look like it can take so many different forms, but I think those two things really, really deeply affect our fulfillment and our ability even to find the connection that we started off talking about today.

Speaker 1: 30:43

Yes, well, speaking of connection, if anybody would like to connect with you, megan, where can they find you?

Speaker 3: 30:51

Absolutely so.

Speaker 3: 30:53

I'm actually I'm doing a little experiment which I'm excited about, and that is that, instead of just like sending you to my Instagram, if you're feeling, if this conversation kind of lit something up in you and you'd like to explore it, I would love to invite you to do a super, super discounted session with me that I'm offering for just $45.

Speaker 3: 31:15

It's a one on one session for an hour, and we will get super clear on what season of life you're in, how it's impacting your energy, what a feeling focused goal might be to help you make decisions with more ease. And then the third thing is a custom plan that's going to involve both rest and creativity and get you going on your journey to be shining brighter. And so if that feels like something you'd like to explore, you can go to podcast gift dot Megan Johnston dot. Com and I'll be so excited. Like I said, I'm I'm the type of person who likes to have the one on one cozy chat with a cup of tea, and it would nothing would make me happier if you're listening then to get the chance to do that with you. Of course, if that isn't feeling like something that's the right step for you right now, by all means you can head on over to my podcast with heart and wonder and we can stay in touch there.

Speaker 1: 32:14

Wonderful, what a generous gift. I will link that, of course, in the show notes so that everyone can refer back to that as well. That's wonderful, megan. I am so grateful to you for reaching out to me, for sharing your gift and your thoughts on connection, creativity and how we can best serve ourselves through all the seasons Of our life not just the seasons of our life, but the seasons of each day and each week and each project. So thank you for that.

Speaker 3: 32:46

Thank you so much for having me, kim. It feels like the biggest gift to get to spend this time with you and your incredible, sparkly listeners, and I'm, I'm, I'm grateful to have had this chance to connect with you. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 33:00

Me too, and thank you to the sparklers. I am so filled with joy and summer thoughts right now because this conversation with Megan has really lit me up and helped me find some sunshine today. I hope you enjoyed this and, if you did, please share it, subscribe, comment on the podcast, because I really my goal is to help more people shine their light, and if you want to see more of this rhythm thing, the more you share, like, subscribe, I get more listeners. And it's not about me. It's about all of you and all of the world, because the world needs your light. It needs everyone's light. So thank you for shining and thanks for tuning in.

Speaker 2: 33:58

Thank you from the bottom of your heart so much. Oh, oh, oh, cause every day is a new day. Oh, oh, oh, and everything's going your way, oh, oh, oh, and you're gonna make it last forever. We'll keep it together, cause it keeps getting better. Whoa, whoa, oh. To life and move ahead to your destination. So,