We had the good fortune of connecting with Ashley Nguyen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ashley, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
When creating Awake In Wellness, so much of my own story is the foundation for all that my business offers. Growing up Asian American, I was constantly told who to be and what would make be successful. It was at the point in my early 20s starting my corporate career in tech that I realized that this path wasn’t honoring who I am to my core. By turning inward through yoga, yoga nidra and meditation I was able to tap into my own intrinsic worth and realize I am worthy of following my own dreams and desires. I had been “awakened” to what really matters to me. Awake In Wellness strives to guide others to “awaken within” to live in their most authentic light with self-love and self-compassion.

By using self discovery tools like astrology, human design and numerology in conjunction with yoga and meditation, I started to redefine what success meant to me; silencing the voices of the outside world of all the “shoulds”. My business started with the intention of helping people who were once in my shoes, whether that is coming from an immigrant household, feeling a sense of lost identity or overwhelm from a corporate job.

Awake In Wellness offers the tools I have personally used on my own journey to transformation from private yoga, yoga nidra and meditation sessions to guided meditation audios on Insight Timer and Awake In Wellness Podcast to birth chart & human design readings to spread the power of transformation no matter where you are on your self discovery journey.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career is kind of like a mosaic at the moment. One aspect to my career is in the tech industry, I work as a senior software engineer at LinkedIn. Another aspect to my career is in wellness, I teach yoga in studio at Revive Bodywork and have private clients virtually for yoga nidra. Another piece to this mosaic is the self discovery realm, I do “self discovery starter pack” readings which is a term I coined to encompass your birth chart, human design and numerology reading to get you started knowing the pieces to you that were formed at your unique birth. The final piece to this masterpiece is as an audio content creator, I have a podcast called Awake In Wellness where I share guided lunar ritual meditations, yoga nidra practices and dialogues on health/wellness/self-discovery from the lens of an Asian American. I think its so important to hear unique perspectives within wellness. I also share these same meditations and yoga nidra practices on Insight Timer as well.

I am most proud of how I’ve managed to balance all of these parts to my career while keeping my mental health and self-care a priority. While the career in tech seems to be the odd one out, I actually am very proud to be a women in STEM and my love for facilitating safe spaces came from a women’s circle I lead for other women in tech roles to come together to be vulnerable and heal from discrimination we may have faced in our male dominated industry. Bringing wellness to people in corporate jobs, especially in tech, is extremely important to me because I know burnout and lack of work life balance is so common. During the pandemic, my identity was consumed in my tech job and because of this I turned to yoga, meditation and astrology to come back to myself. I had to learn how to set firm boundaries, probably for the first time as a former people pleaser. It took a lot of growth and transformation to get to this point and I want to show others how to begin to dissociate from the identity their job provides.

From stepping out of tech and into wellness, I actually had wanted to be a yoga teacher for a few years before actually making the leap. I gave myself a laundry list of reasons why I wouldn’t be a good yoga teacher before even trying and I think this was because of the box I was put in by society and by my background. By listening to myself more, I reached a point where I just couldn’t try and finally went through with the training and I am so glad I did because it has shown me where my gifts are and aren’t.

Creating the podcast and Insight Timer started as practice for me to improve my meditation delivery and scripting. Before taking it into a class I could just share it with the ether of the internet and get feedback. Because I had this mindset that I needed experience in order to validate myself it gave me more confidence to bring my guidance to people in real time.

But I was definitely still feeling the initial imposter syndrome teaching yoga because with my professional background I had the mindset of “you have to know everything before you start”. I was so hesitant to share with others something I didn’t feel an expert in and one saying I saw changed everything for me. It was ” you don’t have to know everything, just a little more than the people behind you”. And I applied this whenever I started diving into something new and wanted to share it with others.

This mindset shift gave me the confidence to share more about astrology and do birth chart readings. Even though I had all this knowledge from self-study, podcasts and books, compared to the experts like Chani Nicholas and Alice Bell it would never feel like enough BUT I realized it certainly is enough for people who knew nothing about the basics and wanted to learn more.

All of these experiences have culminated into the realization that you don’t have to stick to one thing your whole life. Society loves to praise the master of ones but really, it’s the jack of all trades that have a rich diverse experience and uniqueness to them. Even if it doesn’t make sense now, the integration between all the parts of you will come together in divine timing. Want to switch your career in your late 20s? Do it! Want to move across the country? Why not! If you were put into a box at an early age like I was, I just want you to know that you are worthy of exploring your heart’s desires and know that you have the grace to pivot at any time. Life offers us so many signs that we should start feeling and listening into, so if you have that nudge to start a podcast or drop everything and travel, just open your ears up and see what happens!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
We’d definitely kick it off with a yoga class either outdoors or one of my favorite studios like Revive Bodywork, Urban Sanctuary or Rooted Heart Yoga and Wellness. Then we’d check out the mocktails at Honey Elixir Bar and grab a healthy bite to eat. Then we’d saunter through Pearl Street for the farmer’s market and stop by Confia Collective which has the coolest spiritual and astrological little gifts.

On another day we’d explore nature, doing a hike around Bear Lake or at the South Mesa trail. When we need to wind down or relax, I’d take us to Sakala for a sound bath or sound healing session. For our next coffee or tea kick, I’d go to Plant Magic cafe to get a mushroom latte to get that little energy boost without the crash while receiving the adaptogenic benefits! Maybe explore Denver Heartquarters attached to Plant Magic for any unique events like Yin + Sound Bath or psychedelic education sessions.

The next day’s adventures would take us to the mountains for a more intense hike, ski or just blissing out picnicking in an open field in the search for wildflowers. To wrap up this trip, I’d take my friend to my favorite meditation center, Kadampa Meditation in SloHi, to learn the lessons of the dharma for peace and clarity and sink deep into meditation.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
If it was not for this person and their work, I truly would not be on this path today. Kelly Smith, creator of Yoga for You Online and the host of the Mindful in Minutes podcast has had a tremendous impact on my career as a yoga and meditation teacher. I found her podcast in 2019 and through her beautifully guided and soothing meditations that I started my meditation practice that spiraled into all of these inner revelations. I attended two of her retreats in 2022 that were life altering and she has been a mentor to me in my yoga nidra, restorative yoga and meditation teacher training ever since. I consider her a dear friend and I’m so honored she took the time to pour her love and energy into me!

Two books that are core to my journey are You are a Badass by Jen Sincero and 101 Essays That Will Change the Way You Think by Brianna Wiest. Both have uplifted me out of insecure narratives and encouraged me to look at the world in a more abundant way. Learning to embody trust in the universe that everything will work out for me has been such an immense part of healing scarcity mindsets and fear-based thinking.

Website: https://www.awake-in-wellness.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awake.in.wellness/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashley-p-nguyen/

Other: Spotify Podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/0YNAEkXRoOa4KIE5TZpG1b?si=1eb7918df2e14e36 Apple Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/awake-in-wellness/id1676344826 Insight Timer https://insighttimer.com/awake.in.wellness

Image Credits
Anthony Wu, Patrick Manijayme, Isaac Spiegel

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