Is Insight Timer Worth It? w/ Nhi Nhi Le
Meditation teacher Nhi Nhi Le shares her journey sharing her gifts and how she started her business in meditation. We'll also discuss Insight Timer and whether it's too late for new meditation teachers to begin. Stick around to the end for some helpful tools and guidance you can implement.
GIFT FOR YOU
If you’re a meditation teacher or coach who wants to create unique meditations people listen to over and over again, enroll in my free course Meditation Script Mastery
Music Credit: Nova by River Roots - https://www.youtube.com/riverroots
Podcast Transcript
Lou: Welcome to the Art and Business of Meditation podcast. This is the first new interview with the new focus that the podcast has taken. So I welcome to the podcast. Nini Lee Ni is a certified meditation and mindfulness, mindfulness teacher, Advanced Theta Healing practitioner, spiritual and empowerment mentor, energy worker, I Conscious Accelerating Human Potential coach, Akashic Records reader, Hermetics astrologer, and Gene Keys in Human Design student. Her mission in life is to create nourishing and transformative meditations for all ages to find calm, peace and empowerment in everyday living. Ni, welcome to the show.
Nhi: Thank you so much for having me. Lou.
Lou: Yes.
Nhi: Such a pleasure.
Lou: Yes. So I know in this world we tend to have a lot of labels and things that we do. Right. We are always doing different trainings and different modalities. And I'm curious, when someone asks you, what do you do? How do you respond to that question?
Nhi: I felt like that has evolved definitely over the years, but I feel as though right now, what I share with people, the main one, is actually a meditation and mindfulness teacher and a mentor.
Lou: Yes.
Nhi: So, yeah, I feel as though my dharma in this moment is really just helping people and guiding people through their journey. And I do so through those practices the most.
Lou: Yeah. Yeah. For me, I find that tends to be the most. That tends to be something that people can understand easier. I get this question. I've asked this question actually in the past too. Not to put you on the spot, because I always have a tough time answering this question. But if someone follows up and says, okay, Ni, well, what kind of meditation do you teach? What's that answer?
Nhi: I would say I really enjoy. My meditations are very intuitive. Right. So I really gauge how I'm feeling in the moment and what wants to channel through. And a lot of my practices also goes around breathing practices, yoga, nidra, Buddhist meditations like loving kindness. I really love Thich Nhat Khan, the Buddhist monk. Love him so much and the practices that he does. So it's. Yeah, it really comes from a place of inspiration. So I would say that and also higher self meditations. So you know that I'm very passionate about manifestation and really aligning to the higher self. I feel like that's definitely one of my main focuses in what I do. So helping people align to their highest timeline. So I also create practices for. For that particularly. Yeah.
Lou: So just to give people listening the permission. Because this is similar how I look at meditation in a way of seeing it, that it is our art and that it's something that we create intuitively. So there is a box that we can get into if we just say, okay, I teach MBSR or I teach mindfulness. And that's great for those that want to just focus on that. But I know a lot of the people that I do this work with tend to. We tend to have similar ways that we look at meditation. I always look at meditation as a medium, like, it's a medium of our gifts. And it's been such a blessing to use that medium in the different ways that it tends to show up. So take us back a little bit, Ni to when you weren't calling yourself a meditation teacher. Just take us back a little bit to that journey that we. That I'm imagining that you've been on from maybe the ordinary world of work in some other capacity, and then kind of coming into this and stepping out to do the work that you do now.
Nhi: Yeah. So before I became a meditation teacher, I was actually a radiographer, so a medical imaging technologist. I did a bachelor's degree, and I worked for almost five years. And I was experiencing a lot of burnout, also a lot of anxiety, because it wasn't aligned with what I truly, truly wanted from my life. I didn't want to be working, say, 9 to 5, doing night shifts and having to, I guess, trade my soul for hours. It didn't feel lively, let's say. And so I knew from the moment I actually studied it, it wasn't what I wanted, that, I guess, what was my dharma. Right. But I did it because I didn't know what else to do. And it seemed like a great path, great, abundance, secure. And when I started working, it was great. But then, yeah, I. I started, I guess, falling back into this place of darkness, let's say. And so I was distracting myself a lot with going out with partying on the weekends. And the biggest one was actually going traveling a lot. So I was working really hard, and then going to travel and traveling made me realize so much about who I wanted to be as a person and what I really wanted for my life. And what I wanted was freedom. And I didn't experience freedom. Being in that environment, being in that space, I felt as though I constantly had to translate my soul to people that didn't really understand kind of the evolution that I was going through. So I started to practice meditation a lot, having these, like, spiritual experiences, and I didn't feel like I speak to anyone about that. And, you know, being in an environment where you're there, you know, eight hours a day, and you can't really share that with people and they don't understand you, it becomes very constricting, right? And I felt like I had to dim my light to fit in. My light wanted to shine elsewhere. And so it reached a point where my soul was saying, enough is enough. And what triggered this actually, was a previous relationship. I was actually really thankful to him, but also, it was such a heavy relationship. But he was kind of like the trigger for me to move to Bali. But when I went there, he was no longer there. We broke up. So when I went to Bali four months later, the pandemic happened, and I chose to not go back to Australia because I knew if I go back to Australia, I would go back to my old job, to the same routine, same patterns, and I couldn't do that to myself. So I had a certain amount of savings left. And I made a promise to myself that, all right, I don't know how long I'm going to be in Bali, for how long I'm going to be stuck here, but I promised myself that I will make the most of it. I will follow my joy, I will follow my curiosity, and really work on my healing. And that was what I did. And that unraveled, unfolded into this moment, becoming a meditation teacher and energy healing and all that. And it's really hard to believe that it was four years ago, you know, that that happened. And how much can evolve, like, for me, like that one year in Bali, I felt like I quantum leaped so much because I was so clear on my focus. I was reconditioning myself, deconditioning myself, actually, because I no longer in a space where I was being influenced by the same people that have been in my field for, what, 20, 29, 28 years of my life. And so, you know, being in a new energy field with new people or with very less people, I started to learn so much about myself and who I am. So, yeah, it's. It's been such an empowering journey since then.
Lou: Yeah, it does feel like you quantum leaped in a. In a. And found this alignment very fast. And I know that's something you talk about, you teach on. On manifestation. So during that time, are you consciously practicing some sort of manifestation to bring you there faster? Because I look at your journey, and I'm like, man, wow, I wish things happened that fast for. For me, like I said, I quit my job in 2015. I didn't, you know, make a living until 2019. It took, you know, four years to even, like, okay, I'm figuring this out. And so to hear, like, you just really taking that time. And obviously, everyone's journey is unique, but having the space, I guess the question is, like, what would you recommend to someone to help find their kind of alignment in this work? Is it. Do they have to go to Bali and they could throw out their life? Maybe that is for some people listening, then I think that radical shift is such a huge change of everything. And Bali is, from what I hear, a really magical, beautiful place. But, yeah, I guess the question is, were you consciously working on manifestation or was it just working on yourself, your own kind of alignment with what you wanted to do, and that's what kind of leaped you forward, or how might you kind of share with other people on how they might think about it or go about it?
Nhi: Yeah. So I've always known in my heart that I want to help people. Right. And that was what made me become a radiographer, to be in a health care place. Because I thought, oh, that's how I wanted to help people. Because I spent quite a few years when I was younger in the hospital because of my father. He was not well. And so I kind of saw. Had that image, wow. If I was to help people, I want to. To be a nurse or a doctor or whatever it was. And so when I moved to Bali, I had this goal, and I wrote this on a big piece of paper and I stuck it on my wall, where every morning when I wake up, it was the first thing that I saw. It was if I could help one person positively shift their life every day I've achieved my goal. And I didn't know how that was going to unfold, but I knew that was what I wanted for myself. And so I was really clear on what I wanted, and it was purely that. Yeah. And so that's kind of how manifestation works. You have to be very clear with what you want. And it could be something so simple. Right. It could be feeling. So I was really following this feeling, as I shared before, of joy and curiosity and love. Anything that made me feel good. So I was always meeting very fascinating people on my path, like really old souls that had so much wisdom. These old souls that, you know, they don't really show up on the online space or It's. It's really like they're very, say, not in this world. Yes, I was meeting a lot of them, and they be. They became my teachers and my mentors. And this was just kind of like a friendship that we started building. And so that kind of helped me transform myself and what actually helped me realize I wanted to become a meditation teacher was because I had a kundalini awakening in my sleep. And I wasn't.
Lou: Tell us more.
Nhi: At all. So I have a Balinese high priest that I'm very good friends with. He's been there very from the very beginning of my journey in Bali. And he's like a mystic. And he would always take us to me and some friends or just me alone to certain temples in Bali. And we would do full moon rituals together, new moon rituals. And he initiated me and a group of friends actually into a certain practice. It's called a paraba practice. So a paraba is actually a Tibetan dagger that you use to heal, to pierce through illusions, for energy work. And so I went on a very specific diet for a month and I was meditating to a specific mantra during that entire time. And I was very clear and focused on this, this practice. And after that, in my sleep, I just suddenly had a Kundalini awakening. I didn't know what a kundalini awakening was. And I asked my Balinese high priest like, oh, my God, I experienced this. And he said, oh, it kind of sounded like you had kundalini aw awakening. And so I started searching it up on the Internet and I was like, oh, my God, this is exactly what happened to me. So I felt like this surge of energy moving through my body from the base of my spine up through my chakras. And it came out at the top of my head and it was like this electrifying energy that I couldn't. I couldn't control. It was very like orgasmic and bliss, like, completely obliterated me. And yeah, after that, I felt so clear with myself for the first time in my life. And the following day, there was this voice that was communicating to me. And the voice said, you should post up your meditation online. And so I was kind of conversing with this voice and I said, what meditation? It said, the meditation you recorded like last year on your phone. And I thought, my God, that meditation just was from me. And it was just me literally holding my phone and recording on a voice recorder. It's not good quality. And so I was like, you know what? I'm just going to follow this voice. So I went on to Google and I searched how to become a meditation teacher. Where can I upload? And then I was already on Inside Timer. Then more as of course a participant, right? A student. And I started looking up, okay, how can I become a meditation teacher or share my meditation on Inside Timer? So then I uploaded it and then within a Few days they approved me. And. And then within one day, actually, I had like 200, like, listens or something. And for me, that was wild. I was like, 200 people listened to my meditation and they wrote me reviews and they're even donating to me. Like, how bizarre is this? I was like, is this real life? And then my dear friends, my housemates were like, me, oh my gosh, you can. You should continue to do this. And I thought, oh, my gosh. Okay, I'm just gonn continue. So it all kind of started from there, actually. So every. Every week I was recording meditations, like, underneath my blanket at like 10pm at night. Because that was the only time it was quiet. Yeah. And because we have like. Right, it's still just your phone.
Lou: Just your phone. Just your phone.
Nhi: Actually, I borrowed. I borrowed a lapel mic from my friend. She had a rode lapel mic. But it was such terrible quality. And every time I go back to my old medit, I just cringe about, oh my gosh, why are they so terrible in quality? And then I was actually saying to Ruben about this. I was like, I want to just delete all of my old meditations. He's like, no, you shouldn't do that. You know? And I was like, okay, yeah, true. Like, I should really just honor my older self. Have it up there and. Yeah, and just live with it. It's fine. So that's kind of how it happened and how I decided to become a meditation teacher. And then right after that, I took a training and got qualified, got certified, and, yeah, it kind of evolved from them. And to answer your initial question, like, I feel like being a meditation teacher is truly such a gift because we get to hold people's hearts and we get to just tend to people, even if it's just for five minutes or 10 minutes, 10 minutes in a guided meditation. And what I always recommend is for teachers to be as authentic as possible and really focus on what inspires you and what do you want to share. During my journey, I never looked at what other teachers were sharing, what other teachers were recording, what was super popular. It was always coming from what I wanted to share in hope that that would reach people. Because I knew that if I did that, it really comes from my heart. And that's how you know when you share from your heart, that's really the best gift that you can offer people. Right. So my focus was very clear. It's like, don't look at what other people are doing. Just focus on what you want to share and what to do so from that place, like, everything just kind of blossomed.
Lou: Yeah, I'm like, beyond fascinated because I feel like I'm listening to my own story in a way. Like listening to myself of how I found Insight Timer and like that same feeling of what that. What is this thing? I got all these plays on the first day, like, what's going on? And randomly uploading a meditation that is terrible quality but still featured sometimes on the app. Right. And I think there's such an energy to it. I think there's so many points to what I heard you say that I want to emphasize because I think it's important to anyone listening. One, the first one is don't let technology get in your way. You recorded this. Can I ask what made you record that meditation like a year ago? What was happening? Because you were all just doing your own practices, right? You weren't working, quote unquote, with the intention of like, making money yet from or. I don't know. It sounds like you were just really in your own spiritual practices. And so what. What was it that was like, I want to record a meditation?
Nhi: Yeah. So I actually recorded that meditation when I was in Australia and I was going through a breakup. And at that time, I was always speaking to one of my soul sisters, who was also kind of like my mentor at that time through voice notes. And her and her partner kept saying to me, oh, my gosh, you have such a meditative voice. You should maybe become a meditation teacher. And I thought, what the hell? Like, I do. And then one one evening, I was home by myself and I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to record like this 5 minute meditation on my phone and just listen to it just to help myself. So it was purely just to help me move through my breakup. It was actually called Sacred Space, the meditation. So it was really. It was really interesting. And so, yeah, that was what made me record it. It was actually to help myself not to share with the world. Had no intention for that.
Lou: It's amazing. I'm looking at it now and it's got 3,000 play, right? Just. It's so fun to see. Like, because some of my early meditations, I had the same question, like, should I rerecord them and do it? It's like, no. There's an energy to those that are that I can't redo. Right. I'm not my former self, so I love that you took that and the Kundalini Awakening piece. I had my own kind of mystical experiences that I still Am integrating, I feel like eight years later. But what those can be so radically disorienting as well as transforming and like shifting. Let me backtrack here because I want to emphasize the piece on just to reemphasize technology, right? The fact that you would just put it up. So many people feel like they need to get the whole expensive mic and have this stuff out there. But really, like you're saying your essence, your energy is. Is the gift, right. That you weren't looking at other people's and trying to say, well, how do I do a specific meditation? You know, how do I guide a loving kindness meditation? How are other people guiding it? Right. You kind of trusted your own self, which I think speaks to the art. The art of it is like to actually not be influenced. But I think a lot of people. What would you say to people that are like, well, should everyone do that? Should everyone kind of close down and just try to create a meditation that's based on their own self? Or what are your thoughts on getting trainings? It sounds like you have done a certification. What are your thoughts on certifications and trainings in general?
Nhi: The training that I did was very scientific based, which I really loved. And I feel like trainees give you a very profound foundation, right. To begin and really learning the sequences, the steps, the different kind of meditations, etc. But I feel like that's kind of just a baseline. The biggest breakthroughs, personally for myself when sharing meditations is okay, knowing the different types of meditations that are out there and then just sitting down and tuning in and just sharing that from a place. And I always do it in meditation with my eyes closed, with everything set up and never scripted. When I. If I script, it's. It sounds very robotic or like I would say something really random, like the energy is missing. So. So for me that works best. But I know for other people, like, scripting is good because they don't want to miss certain things. So I find that it's really about you finding your own unique way of delivering. Yeah.
Lou: And I think part of this podcast is me wanting to highlight different processes from different teachers because I think it's important for people to hear that there are different ways to do things. So you kind of explained it, but I guess take us through. Do you have the idea first for a meditation and like, oh, this is my idea and I want to bring this into meditation. I'll sit down and bring the idea, or do you sit down and say, just what wants to come through to me today? Like, do you set. Every week you record a meditation at a certain day? Like, yeah. As granular as you want to get with your process, I think would be helpful for people to hear.
Nhi: Yeah. So inspiration comes to me in the most random moments when walking out in nature or I'm swimming in the ocean, and it's when I feel the most relaxed, actually, and all these insights and downloads are coming through. And then, like, okay, I kind of want to turn that into a meditation. I don't like to force myself to sit and record and make. Make time. It's like, okay, this is my recording day. And then just churn it out. Yeah. Like, if I do that, I find that I hit on blockage. Like, creative blockage. Oh, it's too much forest. It's not flow. So what I would often do is just spend time in nature. And then if something moves through me, I'm like, okay, I'll just go home, set up, and then just record. For me, that works the best. Or just grabbing my diary and writing down all of the insights. And then if one day I feel like, ah, okay, today I really want to record. And sometimes that happens, and I will sit down and I'll record, like, three meditations in one go, and then I will edit it throughout the next few days.
Lou: Got it. Okay. So very, like, trusting when it comes. It comes so very in that classical artist inspiration way. Which is. Which is beautiful. How do you. Where do I want to go with this? So moving into maybe. We talked about art. This is the art. Well, I guess a question is if you were to say what your art is with meditation, like, what. What answer comes to you? Or what comes to you? Like, what is your art that you're giving to the world?
Nhi: What's moving through me is authentic expression.
Lou: Love it. Yes. So through your authentic expression, helping others authentically express.
Nhi: Yes, exactly. I actually wrote this in my newsletter yesterday, and I wrote, because it was World Meditation Day, actually two days ago. And I wrote, you know, for me, meditation is not how many hours I sit in meditation. Meditation. It's about how I live and breathe every moment of my life. So meditation for me used to be like, okay, I'm gonna make space and sit on my meditation cushion. And it's evolved into, okay, like, I'm going to do a walking meditation. Cooking is my meditation. Dancing is my meditation. Drumming is my meditation. Drinking tea is my meditation. So, you know, allowing my soul and my heart to really guide me, what feels meditative for me today? What does my soul truly want instead of being Stuck with the idea that I have to sit, you know, for 15 minutes or 30 minutes on my cushion. Like, I feel sometimes that me going out and floating in the ocean is so much more transcendental sitting on my cushion. So, yeah, that's kind of been my realization as of late. Yeah.
Lou: Have you dealt with imposter syndrome at all? And how have you dealt with it? If.
Nhi: If you have all the time? Yeah. Yeah, I definitely. I definitely do that. Sometimes I get distracted. So distraction is a very big thing. So I find myself. I have to kind of put myself in a space where I am not in the space of others. I can really create fear as well. Learning to overcome fear of really sharing deeply from my heart, despite what other people or how other people receive what I do. And, yeah, I think that that's been the biggest one. The biggest ones, yeah.
Lou: So you find Insight Timer, you're in Bali, you start uploading meditations, they start getting some plays. Now, as someone who knows how that works, you're not making a ton of money yet through just getting play and comments and whatnot. How does the business start unfolding? I remember Insight Timer did have course or the workshops open up. I know you recently launched a couple courses, I guess take us through that process of. Does it shift from, oh, this is interesting, this is fun, this is joyful, to, oh, I can actually support myself doing this, or I can start finding that alignment and feeling the sufficiency of the exchange of your work, being supported through finances. Like, how does take us through that journey a little bit and yeah, anything that sticks out.
Nhi: So I made it very clear with myself from the beginning that what I do was never going to be about money. So whenever I receive donations or, you know, my. My payslip from inside time, it was always like, oh, this is. This is so fun. This is so cool. Like, living in Bali was quite cheap, right? So I was able to kind of sustain myself for a certain amount of time. But so how my journey worked was really all right. Getting donations from through Inside Timer. But I realized that if I. When I chose to go all in into Insight Timer and not be like, oh, like, should I go on YouTube and should I focus on Instagram? It was just no Insight Timer. Everything started to really grow from there because I was releasing, say, maybe one or two meditations per week, and I started gaining a lot of traction because Inside Timer was always featuring me. It was really bizarre. Every time I launched a new meditation, I was on the. I was on the homepage and. And I remember one point Because I used to just meditate in Satami before being a teacher. And David G, Sarah Blunden, Sadhguru, you know, they were all my favorite teachers. And I remember saying to myself, wow, wouldn't it be bizarre if, like, I was on here one day? And I remember so clearly, one. One day, I got featured right next to Sadhgur. I was like, oh, my God, this is amazing. I screenshotted this, and I was like, oh, my God, so happy. And that really gave me so much motivation. And so every time I was being featured, I was gaining more followers. And so it was just like quantum leaping, as I say, right? And my plays were, like, just doubling, tripling. And I think because inside Timer knew how much energy I was putting in, they saw that, they felt that, and they wanted to feature me. And so when they started launching the live events, I was kind of one of the first ones to be on there. And the live events was actually what grew my following even more. People loved the fact that I was in Bali and I had the coolest backdrop of the rice fields. Every time, people just quickly come on to see, oh, like, who is this girl? They're, whoa. Like, she has the most epic background, and she has a cute Pomeranian. And they just stuck. Like, they just wanted to stay in here while I was sharing.
Lou: Listen to the person in their basement or the girl in Bali. Let's stay with the girl in Bali.
Nhi: And when I was in Bali and I was in that period of my life where I was, like, going through, like, this crazy awakening, and I had this, like, light about myself, like, I was so on my dharma, like, at the beginning, and I was really just sharing what was alive for me, and it got super vulnerable. And people really resonated with that because it was actually during the pandemic. So everything that I was sharing in terms of my personal experience, people were also experiencing that. And I think what made people really resonate with me was because I allowed them to believe in something greater than themselves, that magic exists, that, okay, if I can quit my job and move to Bali and have this epic view and life, so can they. And they just kept arriving, kept coming, and the donations were coming through. But for me, it was really about the community that I was building. And so not long after that, Insight Timer launched the mentorship. So they selected, I think, around 50 teachers to be mentors on the app. I think at that time, There was about 17,000 meditation teachers on the app. And I thought, oh, my God, this is so cool. So, of course, I said yes. And they asked me, okay, what do you want to offer? And I said, data, heal, healing, coaching and meditation sessions. And literally when that started opening up after every live event, I had bookings coming through. I remember being completely booked out for an entire month. I was having sessions, like four sessions a day. Yeah.
Lou: Wow.
Nhi: Like that. And like that month, two, first two months were like incredible. And so all of this abundance started coming through and I thought, holy moly, like, this is amazing. But I never got tired. That was the amazing thing. I was never exhausted. And my partner was like, you know, you're literally doing back to back sessions, like, are you not tired? And I'm like, nope, I have so much energy. And so that was really amazing. So I kind of did the mentorship with them up until they finished it. And then funny enough, I had zero courses up.
Lou: I was always like, knee's got to get a course out. Knee's got to get a course out. Knee's got to get a course out. That's where it's at.
Nhi: It was really bizarre. I, I was, I didn't, I didn't know what I wanted to create for a course. That was the most bizarre thing. And I remember one day I was like, oh my gosh, I'm going to create a manifestation course. That's what I wanted to do. So I had like this gigantic whiteboard and I said, I'm going to do a 30 day manifestation course. And so I started writing the content. It was amazing. And then. And I went on a 10 day panchakarma retreat. And then I lost the window. I lost that inspiration to create that manifestation course. And it took me two years to complete it. It's bizarre. I launched it in January this year. Could you believe it? And I was like, wow, this is the moment. I'm going to launch my manifestation course. There was no doubt about it. And instead of 30 days, I wanted to make it super digestible. So it was just 11 days, very simple. And it's. Yeah. Ever since what, it's been four months. And yeah, it's got like two 4K people now. So I realize how important it is to act on your space of inspiration and not missing that window. So that was a really big lesson for me. So now every time I have this inspiration, I'm like, alright, write it down, do it, record it, edit it. So now I feel like I'm in a better flow drive. Right. And so, yeah, so the courses thing. And then there was something else. The workshops started to happen.
Lou: I saw you, you were doing really well. I felt like you were doing, from what I saw, it seemed like you were crushing the workshops.
Nhi: Yeah, I was like selling. I sold out. Like my first manifestation workshop. I did another one. I was having quite a few workshops on there and then the mentor, the longer term mentorships. I did one of them with Inside Timer which was really amazing. But yeah, it was interesting because I was speaking to Ruben about this too because he wasn't really doing workshops and was like, you know, like how are you doing it? Et cetera. How do you like get so many people to sign up? I said you just, you just have to be really confident what you're offering. And I was always, I was always very confident with what I was offering. And so I was doing live events once or twice a week and I just share with people, oh, I'm doing this workshop, you can join. And I always made it super affordable. So the thing, thing with what I do is business coach probably would nail me on this. Hence why I don't have a business coach. FYI is I always, I always drop into how would my community feel like, how can I best support them. And I always want to make things as affordable as, as possible while still being able to support myself. So my workshops were like 30, 30 US dollars, 55. It never got anything more than that because for me I rather have more people be able to access it rather than less people and making say more money, et cetera. So yeah, for me it was always about thinking about my community versus yeah in that sense. And I felt like that's what really supported me and helping me really drive my business forward. Even though I wasn't really seeing things in a business perspective. Mind you, I'm definitely not a business person at all. I just do things on a whim and out of love and inspiration. So there's like no structure etc, perhaps I would like that in the, in the future but it's been working for me for the last few years.
Lou: There's the saying of like and it sounds, I'm not saying that this is where you're experiencing but sometimes it's like what got you here won't get you there. Saying of, well, to start off and maybe there is a way to bring in that structure that feels as aligned and allows you to make that wider, to grow that audience, to make that wider impact. Coming back to Insight Timer, we're talking a lot about Insight Timer and so some people on here probably maybe know us from Insight Timer. If you're an up and coming teacher, create your Insight Timer Profile, start creating content. Just start creating content. And that's a great avenue to get the word out there. Now there is so many teachers on Insight Timer and so I guess a good question that I'm asking myself when I talk to people that are just starting out and I'd like to ask you is because you, you came out, I was fortunate to find Insight Timer end of 2016, 2017. So you can imagine it was way less, you can get way more plays. It was, it was right time, right place, and I didn't take advantage, quote, unquote. But do you think there is still room for someone brand new starting on Insight Time Timer or how do you, how might you. Yeah, how do you think about that?
Nhi: Yes, 100%. Yeah, 100%. I have people coming to me for mentorship because they want to get onto Inside Timer or to, to be a meditation teacher. Right. And what I always share with them is just focus on what you want to share. Right. And, and I am not a person that kind of focus on like a niche, for example. So in meditation, maybe there are certain niches that you want to work towards, maybe you want to work with sports people, maybe you want to work with kids, etc. But really being flexible in, in that sense and adaptable. Yeah. So you can succeed if your heart is fully in it. If you really love what you do, other people will be able to feel your love and your energy and so will Inside Timer. Like they have a whole team in the back that's watching what we're doing essentially, like, who's showing up, who's really, you know, pouring their heart into this, who's, who's putting out meditations, who's driving a lot of plays, et cetera. So they measure all of this, I'm sure. Right. Any company does. And so it's whether or not you are fully in it or not. So I had people reaching out to me at the beginning, like, I think it was like two years ago. And they were also starting on Inside Timer and I kind of shared with them a few tips and I said, be all in or not. And after a few months they were just like, oh my God, this is not working, and they decided to go off it. Yeah. And mind you, I also had that experience. Like the first three months for me were like, great, lots of inspiration. And then I fell into this phase where, oh my God, I don't know, is this really going to make, make me abundant so I could actually live? Like, you know, will I seen, will people receive my work and I actually made a converse with my spirit, guys. Actually, I said, all right, if I'm really meant to be on my path, on this particular path and continue to stick with Inside Timer, please send me a sign, Please send me a message. And then messages started to appear, Synchronicities, angel numbers being featured again and again and again. And I said, all right, this is the message that I needed to see, to hear. And so I was like, all right, I'm going to work on that again. I'm going to continue to record. And then that was when it, you know, started to grow even more. So I feel like as with anything we, we start like on this initial phase of feeling really excited and devoted and committed, and then you reach a point where you're like, you hit this plateau and you start questioning yourself. Right? And for me, that happens quite often. And, and it's really about coming back to your center and really getting clear with yourself, why am I doing this? Why do I want to do this? Who do I want to serve? Right. Coming back to the deep inner why and the North Star. Because your North Star is what's going to guide you and continue to give you inspiration and motivation. So for me, I realized it was just about recalibrating myself, taking care of myself, and coming back to that space where I can continue to show up and serve. And so that guy that I was sharing about that decided to go off Inside Timer, he, after some time, I don't know, maybe about half a year or a year, he decided to go back onto Inside Timer and start sharing again. And then he was doing live events and then he did a workshop actually. And, and when I saw that, I sent him a message, I said, oh my gosh, I'm really proud of you for doing a workshop. I knew that over a year ago you didn't want to continue with this. And he was laughing, he said, haha, yeah, when you told me to really stick to it and just continue to show up, I kind of laughed at it. And oh, this is not really working. And then when he started to get back on there and it started to grow, he had these opportunities coming in with Inside Timer because he said yes, like a full yes now. And he had that realization and yeah, he's doing quite well on there now. Many courses, et cetera. And yeah, just wanted to use that as an example. It's all in or it will be a very slow, a slow process, right? Where, where your energy, where your focus goes, energy flows. It's. It's simple as that.
Lou: There's still synchronicity and alignment. And it's unbelievable how many people I know where Insight Timer was the. That. That story of synchronicity and how it's been a catalyst for everything that, you know, comes after that. And so thinking about it like this, I. I 100% agree with you, Ni. And so for those listening on here, that was like doubting it. If you're gonna, you're gonna go on any platform, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, your own podcast, you know, building an audience wherever you go is gonna take that same consistency. A year, two years. And so Insight Timer, if you're in our line of work, it brings all the people that are interested to this into one place. And so it is still this just beautiful space, you know, encouraging you, if you're newer, to go live as many much time as you can. That feels true for you. That. Yeah. And just like. Nice said, speaking what is true, Unique, I have this concept of like, you are your niche. Like there's no one that's you, so you sharing what is you is different than the next person. And we all kind of find the people that we speak to and we, you know, not just like nada. I always am analogous to songwriting and music when I think of meditation. So I have more than one artist that I listen to. Right. I love many bands. They fill different, you know, and so people have more than one meditation teacher and guide that they're listening to. So there's still a lot of opportunity out there. So, Ni, thanks for. For really making that clear and empowering people to recognize that and to stay with it and to go all in. Wow. I can talk about this stuff for literally for hours.
Nhi: Yeah, it's something I wanted to add on to that, Ashley, is I always remind people there are going to be so many people in a certain line of work. Right. But no one is you. No one has your energy, no one has your tone of voice. Like, you are essentially a channel. Right. We're all each a channel for something to. For the divine, for example, source to move through us. And we're all an instrument. Like that's how I see myself and everyone on this planet. Like we are each an instrument in this entire cosmos and we play a very particular role. Right. And so you're kind of seeing it as like an orchestra or a symphony. And so how we fine tune ourselves, how we play our music is going to contribute to this music, to this song. Yeah. And so you just have to be very clear with yourself on how do you want to sound. How can you express yourself the most authentically and vulnerably and just have as much fun as possible? Like, for me, everything is play. I don't see what I do heavy. If I do, that means I'm out of alignment. Yeah. I have to really check in with myself. So my work, my days are always just filled with ease and peace. Purely that if I'm not in that space, go get a massage, go swim.
Lou: Go for a walk, get your ass back into alignment. Tell it whatever it takes.
Nhi: Exactly.
Lou: A couple practical questions and then we'll have a chance to share kind of things that you got going on now that people might be interested in. But any books, book or books. I know this is always like, feels like an overwhelming question, but anything come to mind that you might suggest to an up and coming meditation teacher or guide or coach?
Nhi: So one book that comes to my mind is
Nhi: wherever you go, there you are by John Kabatin.
Lou: John Kabat Zinn. Yep. Yeah, the title says so much. Just, it's such a powerful statement.
Nhi: Yeah, I love that book. It's very simple. It's like a book that I can just pick up, flip to a page and just absorb and inspires me. I really love Nhat Hanh's book, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk. Like, his books are just so beautiful. One of them was no mud, no lotus. Yeah. And he has like these, these smaller books and Dalai Lama's books I love. So. So those are what comes up and what really kind of helped me rewire a lot was actually Dr. Joe Dispenza.
Lou: Sure.
Nhi: Yeah. He's becoming supernatural. I feel like that's a really great tool to learn about yourself and how you work in order to show up more powerfully and authentically. Right now I'm reading this book called Shakti Mantras. Like, I'm really absorbed into this, this mantra world right now. So, yeah, I'm reading that. It's really beautiful. It's all about mantra meditation and the divine feminine. So Guan Yin, Goddess Kali, Goddess Lakshmi, and activating this essence within us to help us in our everyday lives. Because we come from the divine feminine source, you know, it's within us innately. So being able to use these mantras and tuning into these deities and goddesses, etcetera, Helps us move through our life with so much more grace and ease and empowerment. So that's what's coming up for me right now. I have so many books.
Lou: I know it's a tough question to, to narrow it down, but that was beautiful. Thanks. Thanks. Ni. Do you have any. I know people starting out, especially if they're a little older, they tend to be overwhelmed by the tech to doing any kind of online meditation, recording, whatever the tech might be. But is there something like a tech tool, app, program that has been helpful for you in growing your business or sharing meditation?
Nhi: Yes. Audacity.
Lou: Yes.
Nhi: Audacity is my go to tool. It's free, it's easy to use. I go on there to record. Actually I don't edit on there. I know Ruben does. I've seen him do it. But I record on there and then I edit on GarageBand. So I used to use Imovie, which is really funny because people are like, why are you using Imovie to edit your voice Meditation? It's because I thought was the only way I knew how. And then I discovered GarageBand. Oh my God, this is a whole new world. So I am now using Audacity and GarageBand. But I'm sure if you, if you want, you can just use Audacity for your recording and editing. I've kind of just stuck with that. I haven't really explored any other. Yeah. Places. Other apps. Yeah. So that's my go to. Yeah.
Lou: Amazing. So Lee, what are you creating now? I know you have. It's such a great name, the Sole Preneur Mentorship. The sole. I love it. Solopreneur.
Nhi: Yeah.
Lou: What do you have going on now and what's. I mean you can speak this in a business sense. You can speak this in your personal work and the things that you're interested in. You mentioned mantras and so yeah, just a space to any last words you want to share to someone that is listening or where they can kind of connect with you more and the things you got going on.
Nhi: Yeah. So I have mentorship programs that I guide people through from six weeks. Weeks to 12 weeks or more, longer term. And one of them is the Soltrepreneur as you mentioned. So this one is really helping people who are starting off. Either you're a meditation teacher beginning your journey or a energy healer, some sort of holistic practitioner that wants to kind of start on the online world and even in person, but kind of don't know where to start. So I, I guide people through that. Helping people get really clear on their story, their brand story, their personal story, and then helping them build a website portal. Like that's one of my favorite hobbies to do is actually building websites. People don't know that about me.
Lou: Amazing.
Nhi: So yeah, I've helped people build a Few websites before, and it's been such a beautiful journey. And then helping them. Them work on their belief programs and their patterns. So, you know, when we start a business, it's very, very important to work on those beliefs. So, right. Being able to feel worthy of charging. Right. And being. Feeling worthy that, oh, I can attract clients, I can attract money. So people come to me for that kind of support because they don't know where to start or they don't. They're not tech sav. And I pretty much just get them going. Right. And support them in the process. And then after that, they're like, okay, go fly. Spread your wings. So that's what is really alive for me at the moment. And then I help people move through challenging times. So, like breakups, anxiety, stress, all sorts. So people come to me from. From various ages, really various topics. So, yeah, I work with all kinds of people. And then I, of course, do my theta healing. That's like one of the main things that I do. And right now, one of the journeys that I'm guiding people through on June 4th actually, is mantra, like a 40 days of devotional journey. And this time it's with Goddess Guan Yin, the Bodhisattv of compassion, of love, and of mercy. So she's very revered in the Buddhist tradition. And so last beginning of the year, I did 40 days of devotion with Goddess Lakshmi. So I was helping people really activating their abundance, frequency, their wealth, beauty, and love. And. And recently I felt inspired to guide people with Guan Yin because I know there's a lot of Guan Yin lovers out there. And so we meditate, do a mantra meditation for 40 days straight. And I have four pillars every 10 days I guide people through. And yeah, it's really powerful when you just become so devoted and committed to 40 days of practice, especially in a group container. And yeah, so much transforms out of that place. So much evolves within. Within us. Yeah. So that's super cool. What's moving through me. Yeah.
Lou: Yes, yes. Go check out Nie's. That. I think that aligns with a lot of the intention for this podcast. So go check out what she's got going on. And, yeah, see if. See if it calls to you to go deeper. Nii, it was so much fun. Like I said, I could speak about this for. For hours. Maybe we do a round two at some point. But thanks for the work you're doing. What you embody, things you speak out about. We didn't get a chance to speak about that. But, you know, I really appreciate being in this world with you and. And the ray that you shine. So I. I send you lots of love, and I hope you keep, Keep, keep doing it. Keep going all in. And I have no doubt that you. You. You will.
Nhi: Thank you so much, Lou. This was so much fun, and you are such a great interviewer.
Lou: Thank you.
Nhi: I feel so safe in your. In your energy to really share from my heart. So thank you for that. Yeah.
Lou: Thanks. All right, everyone, we'll see you next time. Take.