I was recently interviewed for a podcast and the title ended up being:
The Evolving Tradition of…Many Hats, Mats & Manuscripts.
What…???
I have indeed worn ‘many hats’ throughout my life, and perhaps you have too?
You may know me as a yoga teacher, yoga therapist, qigong instructor and nutritionist, but before all that I had a career in publishing, working as an editor and writer in the UK for many years before I emigrated to Australia in 2006.
Since then, I occasionally put my ‘Editor’ hat back on for projects and people I am really inspired by and want to support to get their message out in the world.
Here are a few of the amazing authors I’ve been fortunate to work with over the last few years:
Last year I was invited to edit Evolving Traditions: Yoga, Ethics, & Modern Practice by Tanaya Ti’en.
I loved working on this project and it ended up being the main focus of my working life for six months and having a huge impact on me personally.
So I want to tell you a bit about it, and share some of the realisations it led me towards.
I first met Tanaya when we were serving together on the committee of the Australasian Association of Yoga Therapists (AAYT), which later merged with AUSactive, Australia’s peak body for the exercise and active health sector.
What I valued most about her was the calm and ease she brought to our meetings, and the way she validated and encouraged everyone in the group. We soon became Zoom friends and discovered we share the same birthday, May 25, which is how we became the ‘Gemini twins.’ ♊️👭🏻
When Tanaya asked me to edit the yoga book she had been working on for the last 15 years, I asked her to send me a sample. I knew within minutes that this was a book worth saying yes to. It was well written and revealed a deep understanding of yoga traditions and philosophy, but was also so easy and fun to read.
Tanaya emphasises the ethics and virtues of yoga, inviting us to explore how ancient wisdom can help us navigate the emotional, psychological, somatic, and spiritual landscapes of everyday life. There are many practical yoga suggestions — asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, chanting, meditation, even ideas for essential oils — alongside myths, personal stories and reflections to encourage integration. It’s a marvellous companion and guide for the modern yogi.
This extract from my foreword to the book, gives you some idea of how meaningful this project was to me:
Editing became a months-long immersion. I read and reread every sentence, often pausing to reflect on the questions Tanaya poses, sometimes getting up to try a posture or breathing practice. The themes of each chapter began to accompany me into my own days, nudging me toward a little more awareness, a little more courage, and a little more compassion. As an editor who is also a passionate yogi, this kind of work is a privilege: I get to be inspired daily by meaningful content while also doing my favourite work of language-wrangling, helping the author convey her message with clarity, precision, and integrity.
After publication of the book, Tanaya and her husband Matt Dyktynski (actor, comedian and former Perth radio breakfast show host) started a podcast, also called Evolving Traditions. It’s a great show, diving into many different areas of human wisdom.
I was a guest on their show and we spoke about the ‘many hats’ that I wear: qigong teacher, yoga therapist, nutritionist, editor, and occasional pet sitter.
I realise it seems like a lot when you’re looking at it from the outside, but really, we all wear many hats don’t we? Even if we only have one job — and today it’s common that people have different streams of income — we also wear the different hats of partner, parent, friend, colleague, and so on. I would argue that, for most people, the things they end up doing and loving, are all expressions of their essential self.
Talking with Tanaya and Matt on the podcast gave me the chance to put words to something I’d been sensing for years: that my many hats are really one practice, worn in different ways.
When you do yoga or qigong, essentially what happens is that you go inward, finding the authentic truth within you, and then you express outward with your breath and body. As become a more skilled practitioner, you learn to manage your own energy internally, and then beam it out into the world.
It’s the same with writing. You go within, you have all these ideas, you write them down and then maybe you think ‘Somebody should read this.’ Then you have to develop the ability to project it outwards, to express your ideas and energy into the world via a book, blog or podcast. Can you see how it’s a similar inward-outward dynamic?
Nutrition, too, is very much about learning about your internal sensations that tell you what your body needs, feeding yourself, nourishing yourself with the things that work best for you, growing healthier and more energetic, which then gives you the ability to express yourself more authentically in the world.
I realise that this ‘inward/outward’ dynamic has been more than just an interest, it’s become my life and way of being in the world. It has helped me to have better relationships, to enjoy life more fully, and to feel more purpose in the world.
This is why I love supporting other people through these different pathways — yoga, qigong, nutrition, writing — to help them tap into their inner truths, and express themselves more fully in the world. This might involve a personal daily practice of movement, breath, and meditation, it might be choosing a diet, lifestyle or mindset, and sometimes it might also be helping them to shape their writing and bring their ideas into the world.
What are some of the different hats you wear? Is there a strand connecting them?