Ep 43: Radiant Rest with Tracee Stanley
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Radiant Rest
Episode 43: Show Notes.
Tracee Stanley is a noted and lineaged teacher of Yoga Nidra, meditation, and self-inquiry, and one of Light’s dear friends and mentors. Back when he was a yoga teacher, Tracee’s studio, Divine Motion in L.A., was one of the very first studios that Light taught at after his teacher training program. Since then, Tracee has become one of the foremost leaders of Yoga Nidra and mindfulness, teaching all over the United States.
Her practices are inspired by the tradition of Himalayan Masters and Sri Vidya Tantra, into which she was initiated in 2001. She is the co-founder of the Empowered Wisdom Yoga Nidra School and created the Empowered Life Self-Inquiry Oracle Deck. Tracee practices internationally, leading retreats, teacher training, and presenting at festivals and conferences, including Oprah and Gayle's Girls Get Away.
In this episode, she shares a bit about her experience of being one of the only Black yoga teachers in L.A. when she started out, how she felt about hiring Light as one of the first yoga teachers in her studio, and she describes of the many leaps of faith she had to take in order to become a teacher, community leader, and author.
Her recently released book, Radiant Rest, is all about Yoga Nidra, which is the best kind of yoga there is; the yoga of sleep. Tracee is an all-round inspiring person as a wife, step-mom entrepreneur, teacher, student, community leader, and host of the Radiant Rest Podcast. She has so much life experience and wisdom to share with you, from leading her successful career as a film producer to opening a yoga studio and following her heart when it came to getting out of an earlier relationship, as well as overcoming self-betrayal and finding her purpose in life. This conversation will resonate with you, no matter who you are, so make sure to tune in today!
Key Points From This Episode:
Tracee reflects on her favorite toy or activity as a child; reading.
Find out more about her family structure, her strict upbringing, and where she grew up.
Some of the lessons that stand out from her childhood, like always be on time.
How she perceived success as a child; why she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up.
How conscious her family was about race and what it was like for Tracee growing up Black in her neighborhood.
Why Tracee got spanked often as a child and the most defiant things she did back then.
Her father’s entrepreneurial spirit; how he started his own insurance agency in Long Island.
Watching him building his empire and how that influenced Tracee.
What informed the decision to go to Stony Brook College and her experience as an introvert.
Learn about the moment Tracee got scouted as a model and the travels that followed.
Traveling to South Africa after Nelson Mandela was elected and the epiphany of peace and stillness she experienced there.
Tracee speaks about her spiritual foundation and the influence of books like the Bhagavad Gita, The Prophet, and Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
Why, after her first experience with chakra meditation, she knew she needed to learn more.
How having her bag stolen in South Africa signaled the end of her modeling career and her first steps into “something more.”
To offer an indication of the culture in South Africa, Tracee tells “the water bottle” story.
Find out more about her family aspirations at the time; why she wanted to adopt children.
Her foray into film production and the first internship she did at a production company in L.A.
Returning to L.A. from South Africa; how her attitude towards modeling changed.
When Tracee discovered yoga, the studio at Yoga West, yogic philosophy, and Guru Singh.
The transition from film producer practicing yoga to yogi working in film production.
An epiphany she had during a Thai yoga massage that led her to open her own yoga studio as a Black woman.
The call that Tracee heard to open a yoga studio that was welcoming and diverse.
Hear Tracee and Light’s first impressions of each other as yoga teachers; their shared connection of being Black yogis in L.A.
The most challenging part of being a donation-based yoga studio owner: not losing teachers.
How yoga influenced Tracee’s relationships and allowed her to step fully into her power.
The teachings of Rod Stryker and how they influenced her view of relationships.
Learn about the unique circumstances that led to Tracee traveling and co-facilitating retreats with Marianne Williamson.
Why she teaches yoga nidra and what it means; following prana back to its source.
Tracee explains why the yoga of sleep resonated with her; because rest is what we all need.
Hear more about her book, Radiant Rest, and whether you need to be guided in yoga nidra.
Why Tracee writes her own eulogy every year on her birthday: to get herself back on track.
Sharing the tools of rest and deep relaxation to help others rise above their limiting beliefs.
If she could go back and give advice to teenage Tracee, she would tell her she is powerful and not defined by the ideas of others.
Tweetables:
“Being an introvert, I was always observing what was going on around me as opposed to trying to jump into what was happening.” — @Shaktidiva [0:28:01]
“What I realized after reading and having [an] experience with chakra meditation was that I needed to do this more. I needed to learn more about it.” — @Shaktidiva [0:36:35]
“I never put my worth in this idea of something conventional. I definitely thought that I would be in a relationship, I would be married, but it wasn’t this fairytale visual. I definite saw things being a little bit different for me.” — @Shaktidiva [0:47:40]
“[At that time], being in a relationship validated me more than following my own truth, [but really] yoga was leading me closer to the truth of who I really was and the relationship was keeping me stuck.” — @Shaktidiva [0:54:37]
“The call that I heard was that ‘you need to provide a space for people to practice yoga that feel welcoming, that is diverse, that is not a place where people don’t feel comfortable’ – because I had been in situations where I was coming to a yoga studio as a Black woman and feeling as though I wasn’t welcome there” — @Shaktidiva [1:03:22]
“What I thought was betrayal of me was actually me realizing that I had been betraying myself all along. I had been betraying my intuition, my inner knowing, all to be validated by being in a relationship. That was a huge turning point for me in really stepping into my power.” — @Shaktidiva [1:14:22]
“That experience of traveling with Marianne [Williamson] and co-facilitating these retreats with her completely shifted my perception and understanding of what it meant to hold transformational space.” — @Shaktidiva [1:26:03]
“The most important thing for me is to share the tools that I’ve been given, the tools that I have been lucky enough to receive from my teachers, that I know are powerful, to help people see where they have these limiting beliefs that they can rise above.” — @Shaktidiva [1:37:15]
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: