Melanie: Yoga Instructor, Human Rights Activist, and Nursing Student
Many of you have seen a lot of these images already from this session but have yet to hear the story. This was the session that 100% inspired these Empowerment Sessions and I am providing now.
Melanie is not only an amazing woman but also one of my dearest friends. What makes her so wonderful is the energy she puts out in order to help others. Over the past 5 years she has traveled to several countries to volunteer her time helping others in need. Her most recent was to the Elliniko refugee camp in Athens, Greece. Here she taught yoga as a way to deal and process trauma while coming into the yoga practice. This was not only a wonderful experience for the refugees but it was there that her business idea for Yoga is Home was created.
Yoga is Home is providing people with trauma-informed private yoga sessions. This practice resonates so much with Melanie because she herself found her home in yoga while overcoming struggles due to trauma. This journey she has face was also not faced alone and she told me the most important challenge she overcame was that of asking for help. This is something many of us struggle with, but recognizing this fact is so incredibly important. We are not alone in our journey's, ever. When I asked Melanie, what is one thing she would like to share with other women who are struggling in some shape or form her response was,
"There are ways's to question yourself without putting yourself down. A gentle and inquisitive self-awareness relates strongly to how you treat other people and also how you are taking care of yourself and potential."
I felt this was beautifully said. We are constantly questioning ourselves, it's just human nature, yet when we are doing this we get extremely hard on ourselves which isn't building ourselves up at all. When we are kind to ourselves we are able to be kind to others. Things like honesty, caring and forgiveness come so much more naturally. Loving oneself is truly what embodies female empowerment, and empowerment in general, it has to start within us to be be able to grow and flourish out into the world.
Now, Melanie also the founder of a non-profit for human rights education, Nosapo, Inc. Where they research, compose and provide culturally sensitive and demographic specific human rights health and education resources. She is also currently an assistant to a pediatrician and a nursing student. Melanie is driven and determined to create her own true authentic path to helping others. It is not hard to see why I was so totally and completely inspired while doing this session.
I am aiming to spread this empowerment as far an as wide as possible. As I was editing these photos and falling in love with them. I was asking myself, why? It's because I relate to this journey. Not in every aspect of it but in the way of finding your own path to take. The path to discovering self love. The path to creating more love. The path to self-awareness. The path so many of us take. Our paths are the same, yet our paths are so very different. What makes them so similar is where we begin growing, right down at the root, right down deep inside of ourselves and from there anything can blossom.
Please click the photo above to see the full gallery of images. Also check out both of Melanie's business and non-profit pages.
Full Interview Here
