77. Storytelling for Yoga Teachers with Sara Joelle

Website copywriter Sara Joelle joins me to talk about something every yoga teacher needs—storytelling. Whether you're theming a class, writing a newsletter, or trying to tell people about your workshop without cringing, Sara has practical methods to make it easier.

We dig into the mindset around selling and why the voice in your head telling you you're annoying is one you made up. Sara shares her approach to breaking the fourth wall during a launch and why believing in what you're offering makes everything else click.

Sara walks through two storytelling methods—starting with the point and working backward to a story, or starting with a story and connecting it to a message. Her Cards Against Humanity game night example is worth the listen on its own.

We also talk about what actually belongs on a yoga teacher's website (hint: logistics first, credentials last) and why conversational copy beats esoteric language every time. Sara closes with a powerful reminder to stop blocking your own blessings.

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Transcript

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Can I tell you something? You would be surprised at what an overlap there is between sales and marketing, copywriting and leading a yoga class. There is so much we can learn from how copywriters think about. With people, and that's exactly what we are going to unpack in today's episode. Today I'm talking with Sara Joel, who is a website copywriter. Sara is unapologetically Sara, and as she says in her introduction, there will be swearing. I chose not to bleep her because I think it's part of her charm. I'm Sage Rountree. This is Yoga Teacher Confidential. Sara introduces herself, so I'll let her do that. Sara, tell us who you are and what you do. Oh my gosh. Hello. Thank you so much for having me. My name is Sara. I'm a website copywriter, marketing mentor, unapologetic squirrel, and I will be swearing. That is my typical intro. If anyone has ever come to a workshop of mine, heard me up with somebody before, that's just like what naturally flows outta my mouth. I honestly didn't even like. Think about those words, they just happened. Uh, and I am website girl. I focus on websites. I help people with websites in every capacity you could possibly think of. I write them for people. I teach people how to write them. I review them for people. I tell people when they suck, uh, and I try to fix that for them. So that is my claim to fame is being website girl. But I al am also a big, I call my newsletter my like side chick. Uh, she's my passion project. I love a newsletter. And I'm essentially just never not talking. That's really what's going on here. And. Are things that yoga teachers need. They need a decent website. I had you do an audit of my website and help Mm-hmm. um, look not just at my personal site, but also at my studio site and at my spa site, and that was really useful. Um, so we need websites, we need newsletters. That's something I'm talking about with my community constantly. Um, and you are so good at helping people with that. But what I know is you have this, um, extra sidekick superpower. Of helping people with storytelling and as yoga teachers who want to introduce themes and messaging and inspiration into our yoga classes, we could probably use a little reassurance and advice on storytelling. One other area in which you shine, Sara is mindset for people who might feel. A little icky about selling. Um, and this is something that I'm working with my yoga teacher audience all the time, is we need to recast that as we are helping people. And even sales is helping people. It's serving people by giving them what they need, um, to get ways to feel better connected, to feel better in their bodies, to do their work better, whatever it is that we're selling. What are your main, um, mindset tips for folks who feel a little strange talking about themselves? Ooh, such a good question. Okay, so one thing that I should preface, like I'm probably the least. A, like a yoga teacher on the planet. Like, I have no chill. I don't have a yoga teacher voice. Like, I'm like yelling or like, like I said, swearing or, I just want everyone to keep that in mind when I tell you this advice because it's not gonna be yoga teacher advice, but I'm still, I'm hoping you take it. Uh, the first is it's not that serious. Okay. It's really just not that serious. And a lot of people, when they are getting really uncomfortable selling, think that, like I, I don't know if you have seen these, I've seen them on honestly, every social media platform. I've seen tiktoks about this. I've seen reels about this. It'll be like. A girl walking down the street and then the text on the screen will say something to the effect of just hit my turnaround spot on my walk. Every single person on the road just stopped and pointed and laughed at me and told me I was a loser because like that's what's going through your head. Obviously that didn't happen. So she's like making fun of the internal narrative and then all the comments are always like, oh my God, no way. I thought it was the only one that feel so seen. Everyone always thinks that other people are thinking so much about them. Nobody is okay. I hate to break it to you. Nobody cares about you as much as you think they do or as much as you do. So the narrative that you have in your head. Is yours that you made up. Like nobody said you were a loser. Nobody said you were so annoying for selling online. Nobody wanted to unfollow you because you posted about your yoga class. Too much like that didn't happen. And even if it did, you don't care about the opinions of somebody whose life you don't want, or you know, opinions you don't respect. So why are we focusing so much on I'm so annoying. Who's telling you that? Okay. Nobody said that to your face. You are telling yourself that. And I hate to be all. Woo woo on you for this, but maybe you guys are into it, actually. Maybe you guys are into it, but when you have a negative opinion of yourself, okay, it doesn't matter what it is. It could be I'm ugly. It could be I'm annoying, it could be I'm stupid. Doesn't matter. Most of the time I'd be willing to it like 95% of the time. Nobody said that to you. Okay? You are just guessing that people think that, and the only place that we can take that from if nobody said it to us is our own brain. Inside of us. It's essentially, you know, when we project these negative opinions onto other people, that's just us holding up a mirror. Okay? So you have to ask yourself, like, did somebody tell you you were annoying? No. Okay, then you're not allowed to call yourself annoying because nobody said that. You're the one saying that. So, unless you're okay with being mean to yourself, maybe let's not. So that's my first tip. When it comes to like, I'm so salesy, I feel annoying. I do definitely understand that it is difficult to start selling. When maybe you've never done it online before or you're uncomfortable with it or it's just not your thing. Like if you're a yoga teacher, I'm assuming you're not also amazing at selling online. Or maybe you would be a marketer like me. So obviously, you know, when you're own a business, any kind of business, you are put into the awkward position to now have to do everything. You have to be admin, you have to be marketing, you have to be the C-suite, you have to be bookkeeping, you have to be everything. So of course you're gonna feel a little bit Uck. A little bit uncomfy when you do it for the first time. But something that I like to do is actually just saying this to a student of mine this morning. Something that I like to do is break the fourth wall. So for example, right now I'm in the middle of a launch, so I have a two week push for a live website copywriting program that I teach twice a year. So I'm obviously running my mouth. Right now on the internet, like if you were to go to my Threads account, you will see 20 posts a day. Like I'm up there, I'm emailing at minimum two times a day, and I'm posting up the ass on my Instagram story. Okay? It's a very loud time in BTL world. So, um, I could choose to think like, I'm so annoying, blah, blah, whatever. But I have not, okay, we've removed that. I'm not annoying. I'm helping because guess what? All y'all need to update your site and I'm gonna help you do it. And this is the easiest, best way to do it. And I genuinely believe that I have the best solution. So that's the first mindset we need. And then, like I said, this is my method to break the fourth wall a little bit and be like. Just so you know, I'm never gonna shut the fuck up about this for two weeks. And I say that out the gate, like, I'm like, just so you know, I will be yapping for two weeks. Stick around or don't. That's your prerogative. Just so you know this is what's going on. And it kind of like opens the gates for you to be able to just do whatever. And I think a lot of people of people would feel more comfortable if they either had like an intro post or if they shared like. All right. Like prepare to be sick of me, like I'm gonna talk about blah, blah, blah. And I don't want you to say it in such a self-deprecating way of like, 'cause prepare to be sick of me is kind of giving them the impression that they should be sick. Like I'm saying it as a joke, so make sure that you're like being funny when you say that. If you're choosing that that particular lane, but giving some sort of like, so honestly, your audience does not need it. This is not necessary for your audience at all. This is for you if you feel awkward. That's the only reason you ever do this, is to just tell them like, Hey, I'm gonna start talking about this, and. I think it helps too when you know what you're gonna say, like when you plan ahead of time, this is what I need to say. And you understand. Like I said before, I genuinely do think what I'm selling right now is so helpful. I think so many people need it. Nobody wants to update or write their website. Everyone puts it off and I'm telling you, I'm gonna hold your hand and do it. To get my self-paced course and I'm gonna edit your website for you. Like that could not possibly be a better scenario for somebody who wants to update their site so bad.'cause you know their competitors are taking all their leads 'cause they have a fuck ass website. So. Because I believe that selling is very easy. So I think before the selling even starts, you need to consider, okay, why? How am I helping them? Like why am I selling this? What am I doing? And like, why is this so great? And then figure out what to say about it. Because it's really awkward to be like, okay, I need a post about this, but like, what do I even say? And that's, people can tell when you're like, floundering in that way. So that was my speech. I love this speech, and I think that that is a, a place where we as yoga teachers are out ahead of the curve, that we really wholeheartedly believe in the power of yoga and the things that we're offering, and we get to be the embodiment of that. So since we're already then a step ahead. It's almost ironic that we then, You know, get in our heads, as you say, we kind of develop these patterns and yoga, we call them samskara. Like ruts, like they start as a groove and then they become a rut of thinking like, oh, people don't wanna hear me, or, I'm being too salesy, or I shouldn't combine You are making that up. the only way to help people, is to tell them that you have this thing to help them. You can't hide it under a bushel. And if you're trying to Yeah. You can come up and like, like you say so beautifully Sara. Break the fourth wall and say, okay everybody, I'm about to talk a whole lot about this workshop because it is going to help you do X, Y, Z, solve a B, C problem in your life using these tools from yoga that I believe in so firmly. So that's the sales. Now, when we think about storytelling and getting in front of the classroom and delivering a message, once we've gotten people into our classes, into our workshops, and we want to really hit them with some yoga philosophy. The advice that my co-author Alexandra and I give in our books on theming is that we want to make it both personal and universal. And this is something that I see you teaching really well. Um, Sara, you have a, um, subscription service called Sara's Swipe File that is ideas for your newsletter. And they're so fun and they go from like very specific to very broad. And there's something for, as you say, every niche can find something in there, including yoga teachers who are just trying to theme their class. Um, is like to, to find a very, um, small moment. And then unpack it exploded. And go from like, this is what happened to me and here's why that matters to you. Can you Yeah. what that process looks like? Yeah, usually I'm sharing it in the context of a newsletter, but it could be anything, honestly. It could be, like we said, your class. It could be a blog post, it could be anything you're posting, and there are two ways that I recommend doing it. So the first way to me feels the easiest. And that is starting with the point. So if you know what you wanna say, like if you know what the message is, actually, maybe this isn't the easiest, it really depends on the person. I'll share both methods with you and you get to decide what's easiest. And really, honestly, for me, it depends on the day. But you start with the point. Okay? So if you're like, I know for a fact I wanna talk about X, then what you're gonna do is you're gonna think about the feeling that X, you know, gives off. Are you it? Does it make you anxious? Does it make you excited? Does it make you feel fulfilled? Does it make you feel strong? Like how does that thing that you wanna share. That main point that you wanna share, you know, in your class, how does that make you or whoever feel? And then you'll think of a story that goes with that feeling. And then the second way to do it is to just flip it. So let's say you have a story you wanna share. Uh, something happened to you and you're like, oh, this would be perfect material for like, leading up to something in my class. Like, I'm gonna, I'm gonna bookmark that for later. And you decide you wanna use that story. Same thing. You were like, okay, what were the feelings I was experiencing in this story? Like, how did I feel? What was going on? Why did I feel that way? You know, name the feeling. And then from there you're like, all right, how can I relate that back to something like, what can I do to, you know, share that particular feeling. So for example, 'cause I'm like kind of speaking in vague terms right now. For example, I recently wrote a newsletter about game night with my family. So I have game night every Wednesday. I have a 6-year-old, uh, and me, my boyfriend and my 6-year-old play a game. So we were playing Cards Against Humanity, the Family Edition, nobody. Panic, uh, it was mildly appropriate. And also my 6-year-old academically is like 10, so he's good to play these games. So we are playing Cards against Humanity and for anyone unfamiliar, essentially it's, you get like a little black card that is like a, a sentence fragment, and you have, you get, um, each person who is playing has a little, uh, hand of white cards and they all have. Things on it. So you have to like finish the sentence and then the person who's in charge, like whose turn it is, they have to think of the funniest, like pick the funniest card. So like they read the sentence fragment, you all put down the second half and then the person who's in charge, you know whose turn it is, they pick the funniest one. So if your card gets picked, you win that round and then you keep that black card, whoever has most black cards wins. Okay. The story doesn't make sense if you don't know how the game works. That's why I'm explaining. So. I'm playing it with them and I'm losing every round. And let me tell you guys, I'm hilarious. Okay? So I'm pissed off that I'm losing because What do you mean I'm so funny? So I'm like thinking like, all my choices are so funny. I'm like, how dare they not pick me right now? And sometimes Josh picked me. Josh is, I should have clarified. Josh is the boyfriend, Wesley's the child. Okay. So Josh is picking me sometimes. Wesley's not picking me at all. He's like, don't care, mom. You're not even funny. Like, I sorry, but like, no. Has not picked my card once. So then I had an epiphany halfway through the game. I was like, it's because I'm putting what I think is funny. Like, duh. He doesn't think anything besides like, the toilet is funny. So you know, my next turn I put down freaking poop ice cream and he's like, cackling thinks it's hilarious. And I win the round. So I had, I was thinking this would be such a great idea for a newsletter.'cause I would wanted to share, like that week when I was writing my newsletter, I wanted to share something like easy. Simple story. Nothing too crazy. But I knew that I could make that story like funny, relatable, any other mom reading that would get it? Um, anybody who's played Cards Against Humanity would get it and I like to educate my audience. I do this like every six months just to remind them that in terms of website copywriting, obviously we really wanna focus on what our clients are leads. Want to hear as opposed to what we wanna say. So I was like, all right, that's the perfect, you know, story to go with that particular thing. And that particular thing was important for the tip I was sharing about website copy. So I was feeling like if we go to the story, obviously the story, you just heard it. Okay. Wesley didn't think I was funny. That was the story. During game night, then the feeling was me feeling dejected because I thought I was doing everything right. Like, I was like, what the hell? Like, I'm doing everything right. Like, what's the problem here? Like, why am I not getting the result when I'm literally saying the right thing? And then I had to realize the, like, transformation of that feeling and how I, you know, tied it to the tip because my newsletter always goes story into a tip, which same deal could happen. I, I'm like, picturing the class, the same exact thing could happen. It can go story right into the thing that you wanna share. Obviously the transformation was, oh, I'm saying the right thing to an audience full of me, but not Wesley. So, you know, I had to adjust my message to fit the person who's actually reading it. So then obviously that's where my tip came in, which was don't say what you wanna say. Say what they need to hear so they can buy from you. So that was an example of story through to the tip. It really just depends on. If you feel like you have more like points to share, like specific, you know, messages you want your class to be about, and then you have to think of the story or if you have stories that you can share that, you know, feel relatable enough that somebody would effortlessly understand, like maybe don't choose Cards against Humanity and have to explain the last game, but in the middle of yoga class, they're like inch of us. And then you're like talking about Cards against Humanity. It's probably not the best choice. And they're like relax flat in their back. Uh, but. Yeah, it just depends with which one you're more passionate about, and it can be different every time. It's not like you have to choose one of these methods. These are just my two options, so I love it. That's very meta because the story is also germane to yoga teaching is that we want to give our students not, we are not, we're not teaching them what we know. We're teaching them what they don't know, and we need to, we need to keep. Putting them front and center, make them the heroes. And we're just the guide that's here to help them on their hero's journey. And I think yeah. also to website copy, especially for like service providers like yoga teachers are, is that we don't need to say, oh, these are the folks I studied with and have this whole thing that's all about us. It's about how is my student going to feel when they land on the site, like, are they gonna get the information? I remember you saying you had gone to a Pilates studio and it's like, where is it? Like you just need to know Yes. and like where to park. And all of these logistics Yeah. are setting the tone for your class and your students' experience before they even come, before they even leave home. It's affecting their experience in your class for you to manage what to give them. So, um, a few tips from you about what belongs on a yoga teacher's website. If you're just teaching regular group classes that you want folks to find and come to. I'm so glad you brought up the Pilates studio example because now I have all my material, I'm ready. Uh, that did happen to me. I totally forgot. So I definitely think number one, and my answer for a yoga teacher site, any group fitness site in general or any fitness studio site in general, is gonna be different than it is obviously for any other website because they're there primarily. To learn logistics first, like if your logistics are not clear, they are not coming. Okay. There's no, that, that's a very black and white statement right there. I'm willing to, you know, say that on a recorded line, they're not coming. If they cannot figure out when your classes are, where your classes are, where they should park for your classes, what. You're even going over in classes. Also, I think it'd be very important to mention the, um, level of intensity in the class. So is it beginner friendly? Is it for people who've been doing yoga for their whole lives? Is it hot yoga? Oh my God, you wouldn't believe the amount of people who forget to mention that. Why is it an inferno in here? You didn't say that it was hot yoga. Like that's crazy to me. But a lot of things feel so simple and obvious to you, and this is true for any business owner. It feels so simple and obvious to us that we don't even. Think to, you know, put ourselves in the shoes of somebody who might be doing it for the first time. I actually am having an another issue with a different Pilates studio, if you can believe it. This one is just opened in my town and I heard from a friend at the of Reformer Pilates in my town. This is amazing news 'cause I could literally walk there. This is like the best thing I've ever heard in my life, right? No, I go to their fuck ass website. Okay. Can't find a class time, can't find how much it is, can barely locate where the class like takes place or when the class takes place. And all I'm seeing to your point before, is like a speech on Joseph Pilates. Like I don't care about the founder of the concept of Pilates. Uh, I care about this studio and how I'm supposed to locate said studio and when I can go and how much it's going to cost. So that was crazy. I also think. People in this particular industry, this isn't really a website copy thing, but they have like the craziest images on there. Like, you do not need to overthink the images on your site. Like, why am I seeing like a, a tower of rocks? Like I don't, that doesn't, that clearly is not your studio. Or like a random stock photo that's not your studio. Please, for the love of God, put just a normal, it could be with your iPhone. I would rather. That than a stock photo. Just say picture of your studio. Okay. Just a picture of the room or even a picture of like a yoga mat. Okay. I would rather that than some like random cheesy, like zen image off of Google. And I don't wanna offend any of you guys right now, but people wanna know what your studio looks like. Like as somebody who is very affected by the vibes of an environment, like personally, I could never go to Planet Fitness 'cause it's ugly. Um, like something like that really is gonna impact somebody's experience. The purple and yellow. I can't do it. I was complaining to my boyfriend yesterday. I was like, I wanna go to a gym that has more machines in mind. He was like, you go to Planet Fitness, and I was like, absolutely not. I couldn't possibly. Uh, but I definitely think that's very important. So logistics and aesthetics are important for your website. And then beyond that, like we were saying before, it doesn't really matter, you know? About your specific training and who you trained with and all these great, you know, things that other yoga teachers would love to know unless you're like a yoga teacher coach, because the regular Joe Schmo going to your yoga class, like probably just wants to stretch. Okay. And maybe you wish that every single person in your yoga class was like. Had the 200 hours of training and was perfect and you could, it could be so intense and everyone was great and like loved it as much as you did and that would be awesome if that's your audience and if you want to attract that type of audience. And obviously your website copy needs to reflect that, but I'm willing to bet most of you are not. Okay. Most of you, the girlies are just going to know, maybe half of them are super serious, but you also need to speak to the people who are gonna come and pay for the class, I would assume. So I don't want you to, you know, do anything that you don't feel like is genuine, but I definitely do want you to consider who is going and what they care about.'cause I'm gonna tell you right now, I don't care about your training. I do think it's relevant in some places, like your about page, for example, to share your qualifications, to share maybe your certifications that you have to share. You know, if you have any other relevant certifications or like give your story about how you got into it or something. Absolutely there is a place for that. It is your about page. It's not your homepage, it's not your group classes page. It's not your contact page. I would love to know that about you on your about page everywhere else. No thanks. And I feel I can say this because I have a very, this is like usually the example I gave with the hear not say situation is I have three bachelor's degrees. Nobody cares. Okay. Nobody cares about that does not matter. Doesn't make me a good website copywriter for you to know. I have degrees in criminal justice, sociology and paralegal studies. Okay. And a minor in philosophy, just in case you guys are curious, like that does not matter at all. Like I literally Googled how to be a copywriter. Okay? So nobody cares about that. So if I were went around telling everyone how cool I am for having three degrees, they'd be like, all right. But like, what are your testimonials? Say? Uh, that's another thing that I think would be awesome that I think is missing from fitness sites is reviews. From people you probably have Google reviews, screenshot them, put them on your site. Ask people at the end of class as they're walking out, if they're feeling, you know, inclined. Hey, would you mind leaving me a quick Google review? You don't have to keep their name. They could be anonymous on a Google review. Um, I think any sort of social proof you can offer would be great. And then my final note, 'cause I know I'm giving you the longest speech ever. My final note is be more conversational than you think. Like, say things on your website in the exact same way you would in class or the exact same way you would in your Instagram story. Like I don't wanna see like. I don't even, I can't even think of what somebody would say on a, on a yoga site that would be, I'm like, can hear the voice. You know what I mean? Like don't say something so esoteric, so like out there. So unless it's true, unless you actually speak like that, say like, this is the best yoga class you'll ever go to. Say you won't believe how relaxed you'll feel after. Say this is exactly what your body needs. Something so direct, so obvious, like somebody would say to a friend, like recently a friend of mine, she started running. I asked her which running shoe she got. She told me she got the same as me, which feel like running on a cloud. And she goes, I swear, I heard my feet say thank you. Then right after, 'cause she knows I'm a copyright. Right after she was like, damn, that was some good copy. And I was like, it was though 'cause it was real. It's what somebody would actually say. So maybe your hack is pay attention to what the people are saying to each other as they're walking out of class. Like what are they saying? Are they saying like, oh my God, my feet just said thank you. Or like, oh my God, I needed that so bad. You know what would be sick? Only one of you can take this idea.'cause then you know the rest of you are gonna. Be copying them, but it would be, so I would love to see this on yoga site, if there was literally a section like, you know, the as seen in Vibes or like as trusted by Vibes. Like I wanna see a section on one of your websites that says like, overheard after class, and then it's quotes like that. Somebody take that idea. studio, that was class descriptions Great. had a sentence or two. Like who It's for, a challenge rating and a chill rating because like you say, it's useful oh, love. How intense is the class? But some classes are both Yeah. also chill. Some are just chill and some are just challenging. And then after Mm-hmm. say, and like, like I feel like I just did my physical therapy, yeah, I love that. be That was so Or I'm sorry I was drooling. Yeah, I think that's a wonderful way Oh my god. That's me. I'm like asleep every time at the end. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. saying about the conversational, and I think that this is a great way to circle back because that is also really good advice for teaching your yoga class is not to be a different person on the street and on the mat. You know, you don't want to suddenly like class begins and now you're using your yoga teacher voice. And you're his saying your S is, you turn into a snake and people are like, wait, who is Right. was a different person than just check me in at the front of the room. We don't want Oh, literal. feeling. And that extends to our, um, marketing materials in the way we show up online when we're telling people what they're going to get. Um, something I learned from one of um. My colleagues who, uh, teaches at the business school is that satisfaction equals, um, expectations minus perception of what they got. And so we are going to deliver satisfied customers when we manage their expectations and then exceed their expectations. And so if you seem like somebody who's going to be very relaxed and casual. Um, from your marketing materials, but then you show up and you're a weirdo or you know, things are like, you have the stop sign, those you expected there to be stacks of rocks in the studio, and instead the studio is like black lights and neon. You know that then that's a very different feeling. So, um, want jarring. set expectations carefully and then fulfill the expectations and, and our customers are satisfied when they leave, feeling like they got more out of the class than they even expected to. Yeah, we're good. Voice and simpler than you think. I think both of those are, are just fantastic advice for writing in Yeah. and then also for, for teaching your class. It's all, it's all just communication and we have such a great message to communicate with people, like connect with yourself. Go inward. You know, que question, uh, your question, your patterns is another big message that we take in yoga class. So, um. The more directly we can give those to students, the better. Because as you say, they just wanna stretch. They just wanna feel better at the end. And we're not teaching, most of us, we're not teaching an audience of yoga teachers. We're teaching an audience of, as you say, Joe Schmos, who just need to know where to park. Literally just the girlies who need to know where to park and want a place to wear their matching set and maybe sweat and then maybe. All right. One last lesson that I learned from you. I would love for you to just unpack this a little bit, uh, by way of conclusion, don't block your blessings. Oh yeah. mean when you say that? I'm huge on that because let me tell you, I hate a must be nice ass bitch. Okay? I cannot, like nothing makes me more annoyed than when somebody else, who clearly is unhappy in their own life and wants to make it everyone else's problem. Here's a good thing. Come out of your mouth. Whether it's you're proud of something, you're happy about, something you're excited about, a vacation you're going on, you're excited about a new client. You just got, you just opened another studio, whatever it could be, you had a piece of candy for lunch, okay? And you're excited and they hit you with the. Must be nice. Yeah. Yeah, it is actually. Thank you so much. It is so nice. Like nothing will annoy me more and the must be nice ass bitch. And you have to say that whole name by the way. Like that. I'm gonna trademark it. Must be nice ass bitch. I hate him. Maybe I shouldn't say hate on a recorded line, but I'm sorry. It's true. It. That type of person is blocking their own blessing. Okay? You, I've told you in the beginning of this podcast, you are in charge of your own narrative, okay? Your brain does not know the difference between what is true and what you tell it. Like why do you think you see moms in the mirror with their babies giving them affirmations, teaching them from a young age how to speak to themselves kindly? It's because when you do that, your brain is like, oh, this is how we're supposed to operate. If you tell yourself you're like the worst, ugliest, nastiest bitch on the planet, guess what you are. You're the worst and you're ugly. Okay? If you're deciding that you are, then you are. So when you are, quote unquote, blocking a blessing, that's what I usually say. I'm like, get pissed when people do that. Like actually fires me up. Because you have the power to just simply not, and obviously, you know when things like. Mental health and privilege come into the conversation. It is a lot harder to just decide, you know, to have a great day. Obviously, if the odds are stacked against you in some way, for whatever reason, uh, the world is significantly less joyful, joyful than it once was, in my opinion. Uh, so yeah, it's is a little bit more difficult to recognize those blessings, but you have the power to determine what your outlook should be of your day. For example, yesterday, nothing was going my way. Okay. I don't often have a bad day because I have this mindset yesterday, like, no, absolutely I was done. I had had enough of life yesterday. I had the worst day ever, and I tried so hard at every literal turn of my day to say. Okay, I'm not gonna have in my head today sucks. This is the worst day. Nothing's going away. Of course this is happening because you're just fulfilling that same narrative over and over again, and you're adding fuel to the fire. And if your fire that you're fueling is negativity, guess what? You're gonna have more of negativity and you're gonna burn yourself down. Today. I was like, absolutely not. I refuse. I will not be having a bad day. It's not an option for me. And I just. Chose not to. And now if some, you know, maybe something bad will happen to me today, but I'm not gonna notice because everything that I'm going to do is reframe it positively.'cause I just simply refuse. And when you get in your own way like that, when you're a must be nice ass bitch, that's when you are blocking your blessing. So I definitely think it's important, especially in business too. I've been seeing a lot about this lately. Put yourself in more situations to experience luck. Okay? A lot of people are like, I'm just not lucky. I'm just unlucky. No, you haven't Put yourself in enough experiences or in enough rooms or in enough places to experience luck, okay? It's a numbers game. Luck is literally math. So if you. Allow yourself to have these positive experiences, to recognize them to, you know, put more focus on them than the negative experiences you have.'cause it's not like you just wake up one day and you're like, okay, everything's perfect, and then you decide that it's a conscious choice. You have to make day in and day out, honestly, hour by hour, maybe minute by minute. Some days, if you're me yesterday, but. You get to choose. That's advice that I learned from a very, very young age. I was throwing a massive tantrum when I was like three going to preschool. And my mom was like, you can choose to have a good day. You can choose to have a bad day. Which one's it gonna be? And then after preschool, I ran out to her car and I was like, mom, I chose to have a good day. And she was like, great. And then it sunk in ever since. And I, now I use it with my 6-year-old. I'm like, all right, are we gonna have a bad day or are we gonna have a good day?'cause that's up to you. You can do it with an attitude or you can do it with a smile. Which one, because you're doing it either way. You're having a day no matter what. It's up to you if you want it to be a good one or a bad one. And some people literally choose to have a bad one. So don't do that. Choose to have a good day. Stop blocking your own blessings by perpetuating your own negative narrative.'cause you get to decide I love it. You are a yogini. There was a lot of yoga lessons in there too, there what That's awesome. So you're gonna start teaching you. where they can find you. Oh my gosh. You can find me primarily between the lines, copy.com. I would not be website girl, if I didn't tell you. The place to go is between the lines, copy.com/links. That's where you'll find literally everything on the planet. But if you're an Instagram girly, I'm over there too. It's BTL copy, not to be confused with BLT. I am in fact a person, not a sandwich, so BTL four. Between the lines. Uh, and I'm also really, really loud on threads. Like I'd be saying a lot over on threads. So if you'd love threads, you would love to follow me over there. Uh, or maybe not if you think that I'm gonna be saying too much, but you know what? Let it be an inspiration. That's one thing about the, you're not annoying narrative. There's always gonna be somebody that's saying more than you, and it is me. So that's where you can find me. I love it. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Sara Joelle as much as I did. If you're looking for help with your newsletter, I can highly recommend Sara's program called Sara's Swipe File. It's full of ideas for your newsletter and I have personally found it really fun to read and very useful. Here's your call to get started acting on what you learned. Join me for the March Comfort Zone Conversation at Comfort Zone Yoga. These are free calls for members of my yoga teacher community. You could think of it as Yoga Teacher Confidential live. It is on Thursday, March 19th at 2:00 PM Eastern, and it's called Newsletter Launchpad. Start connecting with your students beyond the mat. I hope to see you there. You can RSVP at the link in the show notes. There will be a recording, so feel free to RSVP even if you can't make it live. Thank you so much for listening. I'm Sage Rountree. This is Yoga Teacher Confidential. I'll see you next time.