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How you become your niche (or your niche becomes you)

How you become your niche (or your niche becomes you)

By Lian Brook-Tyler

Seven years ago when I first became a coach I honestly didn’t have anything resembling a niche, though I suspect the delusions of grandeur baked into the copy on my website said otherwise. Really, I just “helped people” – typically they were people with anxiety, depression, OCD or stress and I helped them to have peace of mind.

I’d just experienced a nigh on miraculous recovery from chronic pain and anxiety so it made complete sense to help others like me.

The work was effective and rewarding and I felt like the luckiest woman on earth. I honestly imagined back then that I would continue doing that work for the rest of my life.

Then six years ago, Jonathan and I teamed up and created Happy School (that was when the photo below was taken), the focus became, you guessed it… helping people to be happier!

Let’s fast forward through several more evolutions… from specifically focusing on anxiety (via The Anxiety Antidote) and then helping people to thrive in every way (via Thrive)…. we were constantly learning, changing and growing and the work we were drawn to do reflected that.

Then we noticed more and more people coming to us wanting help with creating a living doing their Soul Work.

And not just any people, there was a clear trend of people who had always felt a bit different… dreamers, mavericks, round pegs in square holes… exactly the same as Jonathan and I had each been in our own way.

Given we had successfully made that transition from feeling like misfits to being our Medicine doing our deepest Soul Work, it felt perfectly aligned for us to help others do the same.

We’d become so busy with that work that the waiting list was growing – we realised we could create a way to help more people in a uniquely powerful way through creating a Circle dedicated to this path, so we created Waking The Wild Medicine, the first one begins in January.

Simultaneously, there’s been another growing strand to our work, helping men and women to reclaim their Wild Masculine and Feminine. For me, this work was inspired by one of the most profound parts of my own path – going from being armoured up, always in control and operating almost entirely from the archetypal Masculine (thinking, logical, linear, penetrative, mentally-focused), to allowing that armour to drop away, to soften and fall back into the archetypal Feminine (feeling, instinctive, non-linear, receptive, body-focused).

As the years have gone on this work has evolved into many of our clients being brilliant, successful women and men (often in finance or law) who want our help creating or healing an intimate relationship. We’re now so busy with this work that we don’t have space for new 1:1 clients until next summer… who knows, maybe we’ll create a Circle specifically for this path at some point?

Suffice to say, this point in our journey, I’ve noticed a few patterns about niches that could be helpful to illuminate:

I often hear coaches say they’re struggling to find clients: There’s always someone you can help, and it’ll be obvious if you’re willing to pay attention to where you are on your path, where you’ve come from and who is there right now.
This requires some humility and honesty. We’re often attracted to doing the work of people who are ahead of us on the path. That rarely has a happy ending. Be and do the work you’ve already embodied rather than what you’re still in the process of learning.
But do continue learning, changing and growing – and then allowing your niche to evolve with you. Yes, that’ll mean risk which usually feels scary and sometimes foolhardy. It could mean losing loyal fans who aren’t growing at a similar pace or take a different path (tho’ it thrills me how many of our people have been with us since Happy School six years ago!), it could mean the cost and hassle of redesigns and rebrands (we’re about to do our third – only a year later than planned!), and it’ll almost certainly mean testing out new programmes that could take time to develop, sell and most importantly, create the results you want for your clients. But it’s SO worth it… I still feel like the luckiest woman on earth to be doing what I do but if I’d stayed doing the work of seven years ago I very much suspect I’d feel bored, dried up creatively and having much less of a positive impact.

If you’re busy trying to figure out your niche, here’s some questions that might help…

Where are you on your path?
Where have you come from?
Who can you help who is there now?

And what are you feeling called to learn or experience (that’s the next breadcrumb of your Soul Path and ultimately might well become your next niche… in other words… your Soul Work)?

#soulpath #soulwork #coaching #consciousbusiness #executivecoach #leadershipcoach #ikigai #purpose #niche

What needs to die?

What needs to die?

Written by Lian Brook-Tyler.

Modern life today is all about more, more, more. And so is the natural world.

The difference is: nature has death baked right in, whereas death has become such a cultural taboo we’ll do anything to avoid it in almost all its forms (whilst subconsciously seeking it in others).

When we aim to be more, do more or have more without also allowing something to die, we pay the price… typically, we either don’t get the expansion we desire or we get it and it becomes a poisoned chalice.

Before we go further let’s assume the kind of expansion we’re talking about is a heart-felt, soul-led desire… life’s too short to spend speaking of other kinds.

The kind of death that serves us in soulful expansion can come in many forms: the ending of relationships, letting go of aspects of our identity, dropping of comfortable old habits, or walking away from work that’s no longer aligned.

Which sounds fiiiiine… in theory.

And most of us will fight it tooth and nail in practice, at least at first.

There’s a line in Alison Nappi’s Baba Yaga “You will sacrifice what you fought for because it is not the treasure you thought it was…”

Notice the word ‘sacrifice’ – it’s not a word that gives a nice, warm glow, is it?

It brings to mind blood, Gods, offerings and death, definitely death.

There’s a point we realise that it’s time to let something die whilst simultaneously realising it’ll be a real sacrifice. And because it’s a sacrifice, it won’t feel easy… often it’ll feel anything but.

So then fear shows up to whisper that it’s not the right thing, the right time and that we’re deluded to think all the magical signs and synchronicities that have led us here were anything more than common or garden coincidences.

This is when having a crystalline vision of your soul’s desire can make all the difference between folding or forging on.

One of the dictionary definitions for sacrifice is “an act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.”

When we can see that our soul’s vision is more important or worthy than the sacrifice, the path ahead becomes clear.

Not easy but clear.

What is your soul calling you to that’s important or worthy?

And what needs to die?

♥️

PS **Very** hot off the press… we will soon be creating our first ever crucible all about how you can start living from soul, a beautiful breadcrumb on the path of Waking the Wild. And at your own pace online, priced to be as accessible as possible. It will be overflowing with the teaching and practices that we use personally to live in this deeply magical way. Keep an eye on our Go Deeper page.

Art: Mat Reding, Unsplash

#soulwork #death #soul #purpose #rewilding #babayaga #wildwoman #divinefeminine

Are you satisfied?

By Lian Brook-Tyler

I’ve been spending a lot of time this week feeling awe and appreciation for my work… it feels strange to call it a business, even though that’s what it is… it’s just that it’s really so much more than that, it’s an embodiment and expression of my very soul.

This photo of me was taken 13 years ago on a work night out… way back in my corporate days.

It was a great job (really great – I was working on the most innovative development possible in that environment) with a truly great team of people.

I was as happy and fulfilled as I believed it was possible to feel.

Yes, there was chronic pain, anxiety and a constant feeling of searching for something… some kind of real meaning… but I knew compared to most people (and I did a lot of comparing to make sure) I was extremely fortunate.

I felt like the personification of the line from the best Hamilton song (yes it is the best one, fight me) “…I’m never satisfied”. I sometimes wondered if I just needed to get with the program that everyone around me seemed to have already gotten with.

It took the death of my father and an awakening of sorts for me to stumble onto my spiritual path, to be liberated from the pain and anxiety and eventually to discover the meaning I’d been searching for – though I’d now call it soul.

It took several more long years to get to the point where I was truly being my soul medicine and people were flocking to receive it and telling their friends about it too.

I’m not an especially material girl per se… I’m more interested in how money is being created and what it’s being used to create… but still, getting to the point where my corporate salary was surpassed was a big milestone. A final validation of: Yes, it’s possible to live from soul and for it to be seen to have real value in the world too.

I look back on the woman in this photo and l want to whisper in her ear “That meaning you’re searching for? Trust yourself, it’s real and you will find it. Don’t shame yourself into being satisfied with anything less.”

Maybe somehow I’ve done that… maybe I’ve whispered back through the years.

Or maybe it’s you who needs to hear it.

P.S. in January 2021 we begin Waking The Wild Medicine, a crucible overflowing with all of the support, guidance and love I wish I’d had back then. If you know it’s time for you to do your soul work, come join us. The link is in the comments.

#wildmedicine #soulwork #rewilding #wildwoman #purpose #meaning

One for my 3Ps friends ♥️

One for my 3Ps friends ♥️

By Lian Brook-Tyler

A question I’m often asked (most recently yesterday regarding Waking The Wild Medicine)…

“I feel so drawn to your work but I’m concerned it’ll conflict with my 3Ps/non-dual training – is there a conflict?”

I love this question because it’s something I spent years pondering myself… for a long time I felt like a heretic… until we realised how the puzzle pieces of reality fit together, how much paradox humans can actually hold and how gloriously rich life becomes when we do so.

Now it’s crystal clear that there’s ZERO conflict between what we offer and the 3Ps.

Once we move beyond the focusing on the articulation of the three separate principles, we see that the 3Ps are really one of the many paths of Ascension to Spirit/oneness/non-separation, the 3Ps being one of the most accessible, simple and therefore effective options. It’s a path that can allow us to experience levels of love, peace and freedom that we really don’t want to give up – hence the concern provoking the question.

And thankfully, we don’t have to.

The path of Waking The Wild includes Ascension and it’s also one of Descension… to body, the earth and soul… The magnificent experience we chose to come here for.

We can walk the Descension path with full awareness that it’s a manifestation of the One and therefore can be seen as purely an illusion… and if we can live with that level of paradox… why take all the fun out of this beautiful game by continually telling ourselves it’s only an illusion?

Ascension allows us to experience our unity – the divine love we are all made of – and Descension allows us to experience our uniqueness – who we came here to be in this lifetime.

We are all both one *and* many… the drop and the ocean.

Nowadays, the majority of our clients come from a 3Ps background and it can be a real benefit, that experience of non-separation provides them with a safety net to dive deep into their uniqueness of their soul, with all the shadow and gold it brings.

So now I have a question for you… Are you ready to hold that much paradox? ️

P.S. I speak about all of this and more in this If it’s all about Thought: What about feelings?

#rewilding #3p #3principles #nonduality #soul #ascension #descension #embodiment

The soul-made YES is often the most frightening YES to say

Written by Lian Brook-Tyler

The soul-made YES is often the most frightening YES to say.

This is the kind of choice we might need to take to our dreams, to the wild, to prayer… or however we can most clearly hear the voice of Spirit.

This is the kind of choice the heart is clear on long before the head is willing to heed it.

This is the kind of choice that comes with a price but is never about selling your soul.

This is the kind of choice that may have some people be a NO to you.

This is the kind of choice that has you caught up in the HOW, even though you know deep down it’s not about that, it’s never about that, it’s just about speaking your YES and then allowing the path to be revealed.

I’ve just made this kind of choice… it’s one that magical feathers have been calling me towards for the past year, that was revealed to me more clearly in a vision of a drum in May, that the buzzard echoed on Saturday, that Monday’s conversation with a shaman pulled me deeper into and then that my dream that night confirmed.

The shamanic path is calling me… it frightens me… and I say YES.

I celebrate you too in making this kind of choice, I hear your soul-made YES and I wish you well on your path.

And if you’re ready, despite the fear, to embody and express your much-needed soul work, now come and see whether joining other magical ones in Waking The Wild Medicine is for you.

#soulpath #soul #shaman #sovereignty #choice #wildmagic #magpie #feathers