What Do You Call Yourself
In this episode we'll explore the titles we give ourselves and what they mean. Are we a meditation teacher, coach, guide, instructor? Are we a spiritual teacher, creative entrepreneur, or artist? Listen to hear what I think about titles and how you might think about calling yourself.
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Podcast Transcript
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the Art and Business of Meditation Podcast. My name is Lou Redmond, and if you are a meditation guide teacher, coach, creator, and you're wanting to really get clear and connect with the art, how to make a bigger impact in your life, as well as make an income that supports yourself in using meditation to share your gifts with the world, if that sounds like you or something you're living into, you are in the right place. Today, we're going to explore the semantics of what we call ourselves. It is both semantics and also important to think about. And this is something I'm always thinking about personally. And so I'm hoping that by sharing this with you, it is also going to clarify and crystallize my thinking on the subject and helping me process how I feel about this work and how we label and explain to others what it is that we do. So hope you enjoy it, stick around and we'll get into it. Hello, my name is Lou Redman. I am a meditation teacher. I am a meditation artist. I am a mindset. I am a mindfulness teacher. I am a meditation guide. I am a yoga teacher. I am a mindfulness educator. I am a kids yoga and mindfulness teacher. I am a spiritual coach. I am a spiritual guide. I am a life coach. I am a meditation coach. I am meditation artist. I am a transformational coach. I'm a spiritual teacher. I am. All right, I'll stop now. All of those things that I just shared in some form, in some ways, I have called myself before. What the heck is that about? There's some deeper layers here of identity and ego. I think calling myself a spiritual teacher is probably the biggest ego stroke and also probably the one that I should lean away from, at least at this point in my life. That's me personally. Please. I want to empower you to call yourself whatever feels true and aligned for you. And that is why I wanted to do a episode on what do we call ourselves? What does it mean? And also give some background as to where these names come from and maybe just highlight and give you inspiration for getting clear on what is it that you do? What is it that you want to do. First off, labels are important and they absolutely don't matter because as we said in last episode, you are the label. You are the niche that people are going to come to you because of you, not because of what you call yourself. So let's start with the common one, the teacher. A teacher is often associated with a school, so teachers have a certain amount of information and knowledge that is communicated and the way that they teach is their pedagogy. So there's a system that helps people learn their subject. And when I think of a teacher, it's very knowledge based. And often there's tests. And so the reason for the test is so that someone, a teacher, knows that what they taught is being received. Now a meditation teacher, when I think of meditation teacher, I tend to lean into someone that's more steeped in a traditional lineage. That's often why I've had some interesting conversations, resistance judgments, around calling myself a meditation teacher. And so I do it and I don't do it. And the reason is because many of these traditional lineage meditation teachers have a pedagogy. They have methods and styles. And those methods are proven to get an outcome. The outcome is enlightenment. That in Zen there are specific practices, there's a specific timeline as to when to introduce topics or koans into their teaching. And a koan is kind of like a test because you have this question, you have this koan that's kind of nonsensical, but in continuing to practice the realization, it's an inner wisdom, that it's like, oh, that's what that means. And then the teacher knows, the teacher knows that answer because it is an embodied realization. And so when you come to the teacher, okay, well, what is the sound of two hand, of one hand clapping? And that answer is shared. And so there is this kind of test in a more traditional Buddhism. And there's also a lot of information if you're talking about Buddhist psychology and history and just understanding more informational type of things as well as the experiential type of things. And so what I love about the Buddha is he, he would always say that, or you know, he would always say, I say that like, you know, me and him are pals. He would say, experience for yourself, right? Have the experience. That's what the power is of meditation. And so that's what I see a true teacher, right? A teacher where he's trying to get to somewhere, trying to get to an enlightenment. I'm going to use meditation as a method to help you get to a specific state. And there's going to be tests, there's going to be clear marks that you are growing on that journey. Now, if you're like me, you don't teach like that. You're not having clear marks with people that are gonna that, that are telling you where they are at, at this journey, or maybe you do, and if you do great, follow that. That's your Method. And so again, these are who I see as true teachers, which is why calling myself a meditation teacher has always had some sort of issue. Because for me, I'm not necessarily. My intention is to inspire and to empower, and meditation is a medium that I do that. Now, when I think of teaching, my intention is not necessarily to teach someone how to meditate, to bring them from I've never meditated before to now. I have a regular practice that might happen sometimes and I might do beginning type of meditations. And I've taught at a meditation studio where I was continually seeing the same people, and there was a growth in that, and I can do that. But what this podcast is about, what I really want to help you do, is to tap into your unique art, your unique art, and using meditation as part of that art. And that's going to look different depending on who you are. And so if you don't want to lead silent retreats and be steeped in a lineage, that's okay, that I hope all this information empowers you instead of limits you. So while I sometimes call myself meditation teacher because that's. It makes it easy to understand to certain people, let's say I'm at a networking event and people are not in the wellness or meditation industry, saying a meditation teacher gives them some lens that they can kind of grasp or potentially understand. If I told them I'm a meditation artist or guide or creator, or I use meditation to help people transform and grow, it might be just more difficult to explain, especially to someone who's maybe really not even that interesting. And so my philosophy is that meditation is the medium. I'm going to come back to that over and over again, that meditation is the medium for me, and meditation is a medium. Just as if you are an artist, watercolor painting is a medium to share your art. Guitar and songwriting is a medium to share your songs, to express yourself. For me, meditation is that medium to express myself and my art. And that's where I feel like I can do that best. It has the combination of connecting with ourself, of slowing down and sprinkling in a message, sprinkling in something that feels true, that I want to express through a meditation. So maybe that resonates for you. Maybe you see that in your own self and you want to kind of connect with that. Or maybe you're realizing, no, no, no, I really want to be more in the teacher realm. I don't. I don't call people I work with students, but maybe you want to call them students to really just drive home that you're trying to teach them something. And so wherever you're at, I encourage you to think about what is your drive and interest to share. Meditation. Maybe you see it as a medium to help awaken, to help feel less alone, to help people feel more connected. And these are all great intentions. Or maybe, yes, you are that traditional teacher teaching A, B, C, D or doing an MBSR where you want to hopefully have people leave different. And you're always wanting in some ways to have that happen. I want people to be transformed by the things that I share and change by the things that I share. But I use that word very intentionally, the things that I share, that I see all of this as a share, as a gift, and I want people to receive that as a share as, hey, I'm on this journey with you and here are my notes. I've heard this from multiple teachers, that we're just. We're kind of just comparing notes. These are my notes. This is what I've learned. And I might share it in a way that that's different from other people and that's great and that's okay. That might resonate with certain people. And so thinking about how you see what you do, do you feel like you should. You're just wanting to share your experience. Are you someone who loves learning about all the psychology that really likes learning the more intellectual concepts and teaching them to. Teaching the intellectual concepts. That's not my thing, but that might be your thing. And so teacher might be more resonant for you. For me? Why? I like to say an artist, but people really don't understand that. They think I write pictures of meditations, but a creator of meditations is because I'm taking something from nothing and in and allowing that and not having limitations of what I can or can't do. Now, if you're a traditional teacher in a traditional lineage, some of the meditations they might gawk at, the meditations I create, they're. They're kind of just, you know, these wild visualizations. And they might be like, that's ridiculous. Like, this is the practice that you do for the first year, right? You do mindfulness of breath, and that's what you do until you step into mindfulness of body sensations. I'm talking about the four foundations of mindfulness. So you, you there. There's more structure, and I think that's sometimes important. It's important to think about if you're off of the traditional path, but you want to lead someone in a journey of meditation. While thinking about what is the structure that you can create. It's something that I'm still understanding and learning myself. You know, people love to create methods, and maybe you do find a method and that's great. Brand the heck out of your method, talk about your method, and know that there are many paths. Don't be dogmatic about it. All right, I'm going on a tangent. So what are some other words that's used? Mentor, meditation, mentor, or that word of mentor? When I think of mentor, I think of someone who has some experience in a specific field that can then help someone based on their experience or offer suggestion based on their experience. Now, the important thing to drive home here is that just because it's your experience doesn't mean it'll work for someone else. But this is how I look at when I work people one on one. I both work as a coach and a mentor. Now when I'm working with people who want to be meditation teachers or coaches themselves, I can wear a mentor hat because I have the experience and I can direct people more. So I see mentoring as a little bit more directing. Now, I'm also a trained life coach. Now, life coaching and meditation and wellness, these are different, similar industries, and they blend. And I'm sure we'll talk about the blending of these two. But let me just express coach and how you can bring in this idea of a coach when you think of a coach. For me, I don't have the answers. I don't have the answers like I have. If I'm playing mentor hat. I don't have to know what someone's doing. I don't. I don't have to say, hey, this is what you should do. As a coach, I'm really helping them find their own inner resources to get clear and to guide themselves. And so it's really an empowering frame, which is why I love being a coach. Because it's not about me having the right things and knowing the right things. It's about me holding space, facilitating change within someone, facilitating clarity and helping people get clear. And so that might resonate for you. That might. That might be why you call yourself a meditation coach. And you get on a one on one session. Now we're talking about just specifically one on one. But you get on a one, one session and you're helping people with meditation, you know, clear blockages, clear energy, and get clarity on something that they're working with. And you can do this in group too, right? Using meditation to get clear. And so maybe coach really resonates for you. And guide, I think of guide, that's another thing, right? I'm a meditation guide, and I think guide is something we can all. It feels like the easiest one to start to take in, right? Because what I haven't talked about yet on this podcast is imposter syndrome. So we're all going to be facing imposter syndrome on this journey. That's inevitable. That's a sign that you're growing. We should welcome imposter syndrome. We should seek out imposter syndrome because we're leaning into our edge. And a guide is a nice introduction label for maybe someone who's just been doing coaching, wants to lean into meditation, calling themselves a guide. Someone who is just starting out and says, yeah, I'm a meditation guide. I think that's. That's really what I called myself in the beginning, because that's what I was doing. I was just guiding people in meditation. And you can argue that's still only what I'm doing, or that's still a big part. I don't say it's not only what I'm doing, but it's a big part of. Of what I'm doing. And I kind of relate it to the difference between a yoga teacher and a yoga instructor. Like a yoga teacher, a true teacher is more steeped in really teaching something that is beyond the asana and physical yoga poses. A yoga instructor knows how to instruct a class, knows what to say in down dog, knows the flow and the arc of a class, and has information, instructs that information and is kind of. It becomes more routine in that way. And sometimes when I think of an instructor, it's less personal, it's less unique to them. They're just instructing what they know. And that's okay, too, right? You can call yourself a meditation instructor. You've learned a few meditations, and you learn how to instruct that. And guess what? Again, you can call yourself whatever you want. That at the end of the day, there's billions of people in this world, and you get to create the life in labels that feel true for you. And you also get to let go of the labels that don't feel true for you anymore. So here's where I would say, though, it's important to watch out. I mentioned spiritual teacher, and I mentioned the egoic nature of that term. It feels very, oh, look at me, I'm a spiritual teacher. Oh, I know. I have the wisdom of the ages, right? And my ego likes that. And I'll share. I'll try and share my big ego as much as I can on here in a way that's poking at it just to poke at myself, because that tends to get in my way a lot. Is this ego? Is this, look at me, look how special I am, look how important I am. And so that's just something to be careful of. Because when someone sees you as this spiritual figure, they're gonna project onto you. And if you're not ready for that projection, if you're not aware that that projection happens, you might end up in difficult or challenging places. And you might get other people in difficult or challenging places. And so just being aware in. In therapy, they call it transference that people are gonna put onto you something that maybe you aren't, and they're always gonna put something that you aren't or they're gonna put themselves. But when we really are living in this spiritual teacher, we tend to put those people up on pedestals. And that power dynamic can be intoxicating, can be like, yeah, look at me, I'm in this room, and you guys see me as this something, and I'm directing it. And so I'm just saying to be aware of it and to not into both. Notice that there is always going to be a power dynamic when you're holding space for others. That's just the nature of that container. And be aware of where you're finding yourself. Get out of integrity. And so that's only something that you can know when someone asks a question and you say an answer that maybe isn't an embodied answer. So these are things to think about. I don't want to scare you. I just want. It's important, and I wish I'm speaking to myself five years ago, I'm speaking to myself because I needed to hear this, and this wasn't out there. Just know that that's happening. Watch out for the inflation of the ego that can so easily happen in this world. Now, while we're on the topic, there are people, teachers, that are more esteemed, traditional that I've read, and they will dis and judge what they call Mick mindfulness, meaning how popular mindfulness has gotten in the years over the past five or 10 years, and how stripped away of its Buddhist lineage that it's gotten so that it can be fed to the masses. And there's people that judge that. And it's a fair judgment, 100%. But my philosophy on that is why, why, why? It's. It's an introduction. It. It allows practices that can potentially be transforming to get further out there. And when people have exposure to something, there's that might call someone and, and yes, maybe they found it in this very place. They found mindfulness, you know, through, I don't know, Vanity Fair, I don't, I don't know. They found it through something where like the Buddha might be rolling in her head or he might be laughing and saying, yes, this was my plan all along. They found the mindfulness in school. School is great. I don't think people can argue, but it is a stripped down version of, of mindfulness often. But it's an introduction and there's something in their inner guide that might speak and say, well, I'm going to go deeper. And that introduction for some people is all they need. And they're going to say, hey, this is perfect. You know, I just feel my breath a couple times each day. And that's helpful, amazing. And there's going to be some people that are like, wow, this thing is really interesting. Let me go deeper. Oh, there's all this background, there's all this nuance and they'll go on their own journey. And so I think we can all teach at some level. That's why I come back to empowering people that we don't have to go to a monastery for 10 years and then come teach her. Because you know what? That person, the person who has no exposure to meditation, they're not going to go learn from that monk. But you, who they understand, they see your life, they have a similar lifestyle and you have a meditation workshop and they're going to be like, oh wow, I know that person. And that's interesting. And they're going to go to your thing. So I really believe we don't have to go the 10 year route because we can start helping people at the level that we're at. And there are always going to be people that judge something that we have to just understand. People are going to judge. And often the things that you think they're judging about are just pointing to your own insecurities. Hear that again. The things you think people are judging about you are really just your own insecurities, things that you're not okay with. So instead of avoiding those people or avoiding those potential criticisms, look at yourself and ask, how can you be okay with that thing you're afraid that someone's going to judge you for? People are going to get mad. It happens when you popularize something. The traditionalists are always going to resist that change. And it happens in every industry, in every way. So call yourself whatever you call, want meditation, teacher guide, coach, artist. Just make sure that you feel aligned, feel true. And it's okay to change. It's okay to explain it in different ways. Remember, it's really coming back to you. You are the label. Your essence is the label. Don't ever forget that. Don't let labels get in the way of your gift. Remember, you get to spread your message in your way. You get to be the gift in your own unique way and you have a powerful gift to give. I really want to encourage you to give it now, sooner than later and learn and grow from there. Experience is the best teacher. We need more people shining their light and waking up the planet. Thank you for your intention, the work that you do. It is such an honor to that I get to share and connect with you here. As always, say hi, shoot me an email, let me know you like the podcast. I love learning from you and comparing notes with you on this journey. If you like the show, share it with a friend, leave a review and I thank you for your time, your attention, your work and just want to encourage you to keep it up. Lots of love. We will chat again very soon. Take care.