Holding Yourself Through the Flip: Trusting Change and Finding Balance
Well, it wouldn’t be a piece of my writing if it didn’t start with a cheesy quote:
"When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change."
I didn’t fully grasp the depth of this idea when I first heard it. But life, as it often does, found a way to teach me.
A Business Card and a Bold Move
The day I graduated from beauty school, I did something unconventional. Instead of just printing personal business cards for potential clients, I made them for future bosses—because why not?
One of those cards ended up in the hands of Janessa St. James, the owner of Aveda Red 115. I walked into her salon, asked to speak with the owner, and instead of offering a resume, I handed her my card.
She read the quote on the back, smiled, and offered me a job on the spot. No portfolio, no demonstration of my work—just a conversation and a shift in perspective. Okay, she did technically interview me later, but I’ve always believed that if I had walked in like everyone else, resume in hand, I wouldn’t have even met her.
At the time, I chalked it up to luck. But over the years, I’ve realized it wasn’t luck at all. It was about standing out, about choosing not to move through the world like everyone else, about flipping the script every chance I got.
That same boldness has opened doors I never expected. But it’s also been my greatest challenge. Because shaking things up, questioning the status quo, and forging new paths doesn’t always make life easier—it makes life transformative.
The World Is Flipping—Are We Ready?
Lately, as I look around—at the news, at conversations happening online and in person, at the small shifts I witness in daily life—I feel something familiar:
The world is turning upside down.
Change is happening. Some of it is invigorating. Some of it is terrifying. Some of it is absolute chaos. But here’s what I’ve learned from years of flipping things on their head:
The only way to get to the beauty on the other side of chaos is through it.
The only way through is by finding balance within the flip. It’s about trusting that even if the ground beneath us feels unsteady, we have the ability to hold ourselves steady. And if we do, we’ll land exactly where we’re meant to—even if that destination isn’t in this lifetime, but the next.
Nature Doesn’t Grow in Straight Lines—Neither Do We
There’s a lesson here—a deep, universal truth:
Nothing in nature moves in a straight line.
Trees twist toward the sun. Rivers carve their way through resistance. Even the cosmos spirals outward, ever-expanding, never static. We, too, are designed for change.
And yet, when life upends us, we resist. We cling to control, to certainty, to structure. But what if balance isn’t about rigid stillness? What if it’s about our ability to adapt, surrender, and trust the unfolding?
Stepping Into the Flip—On the Mat and in Life
This week in practice, we’re moving toward Salamba Sarvangasana—the Mother of All Poses, Shoulderstand.
A posture that quite literally turns our world upside down.
Inversions like Shoulderstand can be intimidating. There’s a moment when your legs leave the ground, and instinct kicks in—What if I fall? What if I can’t hold myself up?
But that moment, right there, is the gateway to transformation.
When we stop gripping, when we stop bracing, when we breathe and allow ourselves to be held, we realize something profound:
We were never in danger of falling.
The only real danger was not trusting ourselves enough to rise.
Flipping the Script With Heart Over Head
Shoulderstand isn’t just about shifting our perspective physically—it’s about flipping our internal script.
It places the heart above the head.
Maybe that’s exactly what we need: to let wisdom flow from the heart, rather than fear from the mind.
So maybe, when life turns us upside down, it’s not to throw us off course.
Maybe it’s to show us something we could never see from where we stood before.
Join Me on the Mat This Week
If you’re feeling the shift, if you’re navigating your own flip, if you’re ready to step into trust, surrender, and balance, I’d love to move with you.
This week’s classes:
🌀 Community Vinyasa – Thursday, 12:30 PM
🌈 Queer Flow – Thursday, 4:30 PM
🔥 Limitless Vinyasa – Friday, 12:00 PM
✨ Limitless Vinyasa – Sunday, 1:30 PM
