Ask not what others can do for you… But what you can do for others.

Out of the tons of role models I have in my life (one can’t have too many… Right? Hehehe), one of the biggest influencers happens to be the amazing Tara Stiles. I’m not sure if I ever managed to emphasise enough how much she inspires me.

Photo credit: Stretch City

For those who aren’t familiar with her, in a nutshell, she’s one helluva yogi. While every other yogic personality is somehow connected to some level of hippiness or spirituality and all that, Tara is the chick from New York who creates yoga for everyone, everywhere. I chanced upon her a couple of years back when I was seeking out fitness practitioners who used social media to share their knowledge and skill with the world. Tara attracted me with her fun and simple practice videos, including the Yoga in Bed video which totally works for me during lazy days, or when I feel stiff as a board upon waking up.

So last year I got to interview her on behalf of Stretch City, and after having the most awesome chat with her, I discovered that she’s really who she is on social media – simple, down-to-earth, and unpretentious. (Read the interview on the second half of the page here.)

After all of the excitement with her died down I went on with life as usual but forgot all about our interview until recently, when I was brooding over my path to take this year. As you might know, I recently made the impulsive decision to look for a pole-related job in Hong Kong but after facing some heartbreaking circumstances that hit me where it hurt most, I started to doubt and rethink whether this was truly the path that I should take.

I was reminded of Tara after seeing some of her heartfelt Facebook posts a couple of days back. Her kind, sincere thoughts started to remind me of what she said in our interview:

“Start by being authentic. Ask what you can do for others, rather than trying to create a huge… presence for yourself. And when you do this, your audience responds more positively.”

And then I remembered why I love her so much! Tara’s business model for Strala Yoga, as well as her YouTube site, circulates around the whole idea of helping others achieve something on their own. While profits are, of course, important, she truly possesses a passion to help people love and practice effective, positive yoga in their own way.

What a super wake-up call. In this time and age where most businesses are calculative and money-minded, it would be helpful to stand out by choosing to build our careers/businesses based on how we can help others, and how we can inspire them to be the best that they can be.

I’m definitely not up there with the pros, and am not sure if I’ll ever end up becoming a teacher in the pole industry because I don’t even know if that’s what I want to do. But what I do know is: if it’s within my ability, I want to be able to help and inspire other pole dancers discover their best potential and the style that they are most comfortable with. As it is currently, nothing makes me happier than trying to help my friends find their sweet spots and be the best types of pole dancers they can be, be it through spins and variations that work well for THEM. And really, I don’t have to be some kind of rockstar or teacher to do that, right??

I still don’t know the path ahead but no matter where it brings me, I want to make the most out of my God-given gifts and abilities to bless and benefit others. And I have Tara Stiles to thank for this decision!