Women In Wellness: Minna Taylor of Energize Your Voice On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help Support People’s Journey Towards Better Wellbeing
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Take Risks. There is no shortcut to transformation. You must walk through the valley of uncertainty that exists just outside of your comfort zone. Test your limit like you would test the temperature of water. You do not put your whole hand in, you start with the tip of a finger. Resilience to the experience of risk can be developed over small, incremental moments of asking one simple question: “I wonder what would happen if …”
As a part of my series about the women in wellness, I had the pleasure of interviewing Minna Taylor.
Minna Taylor is the Founder of Energize Your Voice, a NYC based communication coaching and training firm. With an experiential approach, rooted in the principles of play and performance, she and her team support organizations, individuals, and entrepreneurs to explore their full potential in public speaking, storytelling, and leadership communication.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you share your “backstory” with us?
I like to refer to my backstory as my origin story, the conditions under which I was formed. I grew up in Appalachia Virginia on a farm. This was pre-internet, so the fields, forests, and mountains were our entertainment. I have two sisters, one is an identical twin, and we would play make believe for hours in the pastures amidst the cows. Growing up in such a small town in the Blueridge Mountains, people relied on community and knowing your neighbors. I was exposed, at a very early age, to the power of personal story and the impact of sharing that story with others. That is how we learn, that is how we build relationships, that is how we survive. This wisdom took on a whole new meaning when I began studying acting at NYU. Storytelling became a physical activity and an expression of my deepest need. Through my theater training, I came deeply in touch with my purpose and my impact on others.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started your career? What were the main lessons or takeaways from that story?
I remember one Equity (the stage actors union) audition I went on in NYC. It was for a tour of a Shakespeare play. I had just graduated with my MFA in acting and had done my thesis performance as Prospero in The Tempest, so I was feeling pretty self-assured about how the audition would go. I was waiting outside of the audition room and my focus was entirely misdirected. I was scanning the waiting area and assessing the others present. I was comparing myself, not preparing myself.
The audition coordinator came into the waiting area and called my name. I was abruptly pulled out of my eavesdropping and called to attention that it was my turn to present my audition.
I was not as prepared as I could have been in terms of familiarity with the monologue and didn’t give myself adequate time to get present. I was conscious of the casting director observing me as I walked to the center of the room to deliver my piece and this totally distracted me from centering myself in the space. My focus was on what they were thinking rather than preparing for what I was about to do. I landed in place and moved directly into executing the text. I didn’t calibrate myself in terms of where I was going to land my focus or allow my body to prepare to engage in the defined objective. I simply began, before I was ready. Almost immediately my leg started to shake. Not a tapping of the foot or a mild tremor, but a full on undulation of nervousness. My right knee was bucking to the right and I could not plant my heel for the life of me. I was aware of this happening, but rather than pause and breathe, I trudged through and completed the piece with tremendous effort.
The director and casting director looked befuddled, but couldn’t have been more gracious as they wished me well on the rest of my day. I walked the long walk back to the door, feeling a film of regret encase me as I turned the knob to exit.
What I learned from this was that, when I become distracted by my ego and disconnected from my breath I am entirely ineffective and step out of authenticity. By landing attention back on my body, my physical use, and relationship to my circumstances that were in my control, I could have made wise decisions about how to negotiate this challenging moment when called to rise to the occasion. I have taken this lesson with me every day since.
Can you share a story about the biggest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I think every mistake that feels consequential has usually come from hitting send too early or starting before I was ready. It’s not one moment, but rather a collection of moments, all related to forgotten attachments, wrong dates, misspelled words, inadequate detail, and lack of clarity in the delivery of my message. What I have come to learn is that there is no rush. Regret is the outcome of urgency. There can be drive, momentum, and expediency, there can even be expectation, but there is no need to rush.
Let’s jump to our main focus. When it comes to health and wellness, how is the work you are doing helping to make a bigger impact in the world?
The world needs your voice. The world needs us all to raise our voices to create a collective call to action of transformation for a more inclusive and sustainable future. Where I see friction arise in this vision, is the individual agency to speak up and contribute with confidence. There is tension in the space between desire and action, which creates resistance in the human experience. The desire to make change and to impact our communities is confronted by the vulnerability of actually speaking up and letting the desire be known. I call this the threshold of truth or the chasm of fear. I work with individuals and organizations to gain clarity around this threshold, find their voice through the power of play and reconnection to the body, and empower them with tools so that they can share their stories powerfully and with a deep connection to their authentic selves.
Can you share your top five “lifestyle tweaks” that you believe will help support people’s journey towards better wellbeing? Please give an example or story for each.
Observe. We cannot change what we cannot see. Objectively and without judgment, observe when you feel least like yourself. When do you stop breathing? When does your body retreat in fear or advance with purpose? When does your voice feel alive and when does it feel restrained? Observing your habits around your own empowerment is fundamental to lasting behavior change.
Make choices. Once you observe and identify habits that are limiting you from expressing your most essential self, you can now make conscious choices to introduce more effective habits. Do you dip your chin at the start of a meeting and lower your gaze so as to diminish your physical presence? Simply make the choice to keep your chin lifted and see what happens to your breath, your presence, and your ability to engage with purpose.
Take Risks. There is no shortcut to transformation. You must walk through the valley of uncertainty that exists just outside of your comfort zone. Test your limit like you would test the temperature of water. You do not put your whole hand in, you start with the tip of a finger. Resilience to the experience of risk can be developed over small, incremental moments of asking one simple question: “I wonder what would happen if …”
Play. If you are unwilling to feel silly, you will be unlikely to feel successful. Play is the most powerful tool in the human toolkit and the one most vital to leading an easy life. Play is not unserious. It is very serious business.
Breathe. Breath flow, body flow, brain flow, confidence flow. Breath is the fuel for voice, thought, and movement. If you are disconnected from your breath, you are disconnected from yourself.
If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of wellness to the most amount of people, what would that be?
Kindness as a value. We won’t always like each other. We won’t always agree. We don’t even have to always be nice. But we can always choose to be kind.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
Care deeply, but don’t give a shit. Caring deeply implies a sincere connection to your purpose and reason for engaging with others. What upsets our intention of authenticity and relationship building, is our attachment to getting it right and our resistance to failure or looking foolish. Once I surrendered that attachment and stopped giving a shit about acceptance or approval, my message became more powerful and the world began to listen.
Listen more. It takes knowledge to know the answer. It takes wisdom to know when to share it. I was the kid in class whose hand shot up everytime the teacher asked a question. I always had the answer. I realized I actually learned more when I presumed to know less and left myself open to learning from others.
Live in the question. In a rush to bypass the process and get to a conclusion, I robbed myself of tremendous moments of discovery. Impact requires innovation, but if we are not thinking through challenges and asking daunting questions, we limit the capacity for unanticipated moments of inspiration. Living in the question is more vulnerable, but immensely more valuable.
Empower others to empower yourself. It is all too easy to become self-obsessed in our pursuit of impact. As social innovators, we must keep a lens on the notion of giving with no expectation to receive. It is in that exchange that humanity is fostered and celebrated. We become more deeply in touch with ourselves through developing a deeper appreciation for others.
You are in control of you and not much else. Stop comparing. Stop making excuses based on your circumstances. Stop limiting yourself because of things beyond your control. You have tremendous agency to lead the life you want. The reward is in the risk of living a life of challenge and change.
Sustainability, veganism, mental health and environmental changes are big topics at the moment. Which one of these causes is dearest to you, and why?
Sustainability is the most all encompassing. I am a vegetarian, not necessarily because of animal rights, but because of the waste and impact on the earth. Industrial farming is not sustainable for a healthy planet. Personal sustainability and personal energy reserves are just as important as environmental sustainability and global mental health. Sustainability should always be the great equalizer when making decisions of impact.
What is the best way our readers can follow you online?
Connect with me on Instagram at @minnataylor_eyv
Thank you for these fantastic insights!
Women In Wellness: Minna Taylor of Energize Your Voice On The Five Lifestyle Tweaks That Will Help… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.