Join the Ambassadors’ Journey: Desire Mapping Workshop

Less proving. More Living.

This is the card I happened to open as all the aSweatLife Ambassadors sat in a circle. We listened intently as Desire Mapping Facilitator, Dr. Katie Henry, shared her experience with goal setting from a Desire Mapping perspective. The words, “Less proving. More living.” were written on one of the #TruthBomb cards that Danielle LaPorte, creator of the Desire mapping method, created to give people a dose of “white hot truth.”

During our workshop, each Ambassador received one to read and keep.

desire mapping

But first, yoga by Ali Brashler.

The afternoon began with yoga full of twists and challenges instructed by Ali Brashler, studio manager of Bare Feet Power Yoga in Chicago’s West Loop. We followed class with an introductory Desire Mapping workshop. The purpose of pairing a workout and a workshop together? We at aSweatLife firmly believe that fitness is a catalyst to living your best life. What better time to dig deep for what you truly want to achieve than after a sweaty yoga flow?

Over the course of 2017, we’re taking our Ambassadors on a journey to live their best lives, and we’re giving them the tools to do it. Each month, we aim to practice what we preach with this group of dedicated people, and bring them together to experience two new things intrinsically related to each other.

Anyone who has taken yoga with Ali before knows she flows with soul. Her sequences come from her heart – you might even think she’s practicing right alongside you by the way she cues each posture so specifically and intuitively. The goal of the practice – aside from working up a Sunday afternoon sweat to kickstart the week on a high note – was to tap into true emotion.

There are plenty of studies that show the link between our emotions and moving our bodies, like how our emotional resilience and ability to cope with stress is positively impacted with regular exercise. It was only fitting that we combine a physical practice like Ali’s yoga class with a workshop that digs deep.

desire mapping

And then we took on Desire Mapping.

Desire Mapping is a form of goal setting that lets how you want to feel be your guide for what goals you set. As Katie explained to us, when we go after a goal, we’re probably going after the feeling that attaining that thing will give us. So why not start there as the source of guiding your goals and aspirations?

The workshop involved three writing exercises. First, we wrote the feelings we want to cultivate and make a part of our daily lives from a fitness and life perspective. Second, what we are grateful for and why. Third, we wrote what in our lives no longer served us, to articulate it and better think about how to release it. The last part of the exercise involved sharing some of these thoughts aloud – a surprisingly challenging thing to do even in a room full of support.

Our biggest takeaway from the afternoon?

There are nearly endless ways to set goals, and while not all will resonate with everyone, trying them all may unlock something you didn’t know you needed to uncover. The exercise of writing things down – from gratitude journaling to outlining the feelings you want to manifest – creates a tangible way to process emotions.

 

Interested in Desire Mapping, one-on-one or group coaching yourself? Dr. Katie Henry’s website is here and you can email her directly at [email protected].

Goals Think & Feel

About Maggie Umberger

Maggie moved to Chicago from North Carolina in 2014 with a degree in Journalism and Spanish, a 200-hour yoga certification, a group fitness cert and a passion to teach and to sweat. It wasn't until she found aSweatLife that she really started to feel at home. Here, she's incorporated her passion for health and wellness into her career as she helps to build the network of Ambassadors, trainers and fitness enthusiasts that exist within the aSweatLife ecosystem. You can also find her coaching at CrossTown Fitness and teaching yoga classes at Bare Feet Power Yoga, Yoga Six and exhale.