EMILY TAYLOR: ON CALMING THE MONKEY MIND
Writer Rafaella Mufarech sat down with yogi Emily Taylor and picked her brain about what led her to practice yoga. Previously an engineer, Emily never thought her journey would lead down a path of self-discovery through such a zen practice. Read Emily’s story below.
Buddhist principles refer to our mind as the monkey mind. We have an estimated 70,000 daily thoughts with only three seconds of attention span for the present. We jump to what's next, what's missing, or what's happened in the past. Our mind constantly pulls us from one moment to the other. We replay conversations, arguments, and embarrassments. We project onto the future and worry about things that have yet to happen. "And the crazy thing is, if we were able to remain here, everything would be easier," says Emily Taylor, a yoga instructor in Savannah, Georgia. "When you're here, that's all you have. All you have to do is breathe and be and accept."
It took a long journey for Taylor to reach this knowledge. Before, she found herself stuck in a vicious cycle. In Baltimore, Taylor worked as an engineer, bartending at night and partying with her friends on the weekends. She lived comfortably, traveling and having the life we could all picture when thinking about success. But she was falling into a stagnant and repetitive routine. "I felt like I was losing myself,' says Taylor. "There had to be more. I felt like I wasn't ever enough. I couldn't keep up with all the demands."
Taylor realized she was living for the weekends while forming and falling into unhealthy habits. And while she found temporary relief in exercising and taking walks, these became necessary escapes rather than enjoyable pastimes. She had even tried calmer practices like yoga, and while she enjoyed the time to slow down, it wasn't enough to combat the pace her life was dragging her at.
"I was turning into a different person," says Taylor. "I felt like I was going crazy. I was so overstimulated all the time I couldn't catch my breath. I didn't really enjoy myself much anymore. I need to step away from my entire life."
As Taylor's job allowed her to travel, she did so a lot and alone. One day in Costa Rica, she met a local girl, a yoga teacher. She showed Taylor Nusa Lembongan an island in Bali, Indonesia where she had gotten her yoga training and encouraged Taylor to do the same. "I'd never heard of Bali other than in Eat Pray Love. I didn't know people went and did that for real," says Taylor. "I was like, oh yeah, sure, go to the other side of the world—no big deal. But four months later, I did."
Taylor gathered her savings, keeping her plan from her friends and family. She booked her ticket, and two weeks before her departure gave her notice and let her loved ones know.
She felt there was no other way to find herself. She had to leave everything behind. Her mother was scared. Many asked her why she couldn't figure it out without leaving. "And I really couldn't," says Taylor. It was a tough choice that took all her savings and sent her more than 10,000 miles away from her home. "I started over, and it was scary. But it was the best thing I ever did," says Taylor. "It felt like when you refresh your computer. Like I refreshed my life."
Before Taylor arrived at the island, she had taken at most ten yoga classes, and now she was training to become a yoga teacher. She was intimidated by her lack of experience, and with back pain from scoliosis, she doubted her skills would be good. But when she attended the class, she realized the training slowed everything down. "There wasn't a way to be bad at it," says Taylor.
Nusa Lembongan, Indonesia. October 2019. Courtesy of Emily Taylor.
For seven weeks, every day, they practiced Vinyasa Krama. With a focus on breathwork and no music, just the turquoise ocean in the background and guidance from a teacher. They connected breath to movement, deepening their practice and building strength.
"I just was so attached after that, and I mean addicted," says Taylor. Spending hours with gentle practice, the body wasn't exhausted but strengthened. "My body felt refreshed," says Taylor. She also noticed her scoliosis pain fade away. And found her new knowledge aided her in finding the positions that would alleviate passing pain. "I immediately was like, oh my gosh, I need to show my mom this because this is the greatest thing in the world. I'd never felt so good," says Taylor.
With distance and time creating space between Taylor's fast-paced life and the island, she began to feel the difference between the two worlds. While on Nusa Lembongan, she decided not to drink. Back in Baltimore, she made friends easily and found that having drinks always acted as a bridge and facilitator. Now, she faced twenty-five girls attending the training program. Taylor felt the vulnerability of having only herself to offer. "You had to go up to someone and be like, do you want to talk about life?" says Taylor. "There was no segue, no 'let's get a drink' to make things easier. It was really hard. There were a lot of nights I would shy away from it, have my dinner, and go right to my room and read or sit."
Taylor was working on her physical practice while creating strong soul work. The island invited her to grow in her physical and mental state. But sometimes, her life back home called to her. "I really missed my friends and family," says Taylor. "I felt like I was missing out some days even though I'm sure they felt like I was living the dream." As her training neared its end, she feared what would come after. She had used up her savings, left her job, and cut ties with people. She asked herself how she would be able to take everything she learned back home with her.
Once back in Baltimore, she stayed for a week before moving to Charleston, South Carolina. She had always dreamed of living there and found the timing to be just right. And with friends ready to welcome her, she arrived ready to take control of her life. But within a couple of weeks after her arrival, covid hit.
During this time of isolation, she found a community that wanted to practice yoga every morning, and while this allowed her to keep health at the center of her day, she began drinking again. Taylor realized she had to take a step back and ask herself if yoga and alcohol could really go hand in hand. She realized there is no way to stay in constant balance. The push and pull of working too much and slowing down is a constant give and take. "If you slow down too much, you can't get much done," says Taylor. "You can't pursue your big dreams without putting hard work into them."
Folly Beach, South Carolina. April 2021. Courtesy of Emily Taylor.
As Taylor began to define what that balance meant for her, she continued to develop her practice. And as the global pandemic calmed down, her new ambitions rose. Taylor started her practice Sun and Sol yoga, which began to offer weekly outdoor restorative yoga classes in Folly Beach in March 2021. With the announcement of her practice, she shared that she wanted everyone, experienced in yoga or not, to take time for themselves and fill their lungs with breath. In her announcement, she summed up the feeling she got from yoga as "Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah - which means 'Yoga is stilling the fluctuations of the mind' - I used to run from what was inside of me. Now I find clarity within."
In Charleston, Taylor had found a new way of practicing, incorporating perfectly timed music and heartfelt life lessons. She combined it with her training in breathwork to create a holistic practice that catered to the body and not only the mind but the soul.
With a growing trend of interest in yoga worldwide and in the U.S., Taylor found people willing to accompany her journey. Currently, in the U.S., the yoga industry is expected to have a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 9.6% from 2021 to 2027. From 2008 to 2018, the number of Americans doing yoga increased by 10.99 million and has kept growing, according to yoga statistics gathered by Zippia.
As Taylor settled into her lifestyle, practice, and community, she also incorporated a new aspect into her life, motherhood. With her new family, she decided to move to Savannah.
In Savannah, she began to share her practice in Otium. Located in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, this studio welcomes all levels to yoga classes, pilates, and a combination of both. In this new space, Taylor continues to bring all the lessons she has gathered in her journey. She still deals with life's hectic twists and turns now with a baby and the exhaustion it can bring. But she finds herself centered by her practice. "My life doesn't stop. But I have to make it stop for y'all at that moment," says Taylor referring to time in class.
Folly Beach, South Carolina. August 2021. Courtesy of Emily Taylor.
Taylor directs her students to "forget everything outside of this room. Focus on what's in the four corners of your mat." She wants them to take advantage of the moment they have scheduled for themselves. To help with this, Taylor teaches students techniques such as Ujjayi Pranayama or Ocean's Breath. This nasal breath uses the back of the throat resulting in a sound like that of crashing waves. "The mind quiets because it's just hearing the breath. It's focusing on something that's present," says Taylor.
Taylor's teaching style has created a small community of students dedicated to showing up for themselves. Daniela Contreras is one of them, attending classes almost every day of the week. "I love the way Emily teaches. She really inspires me to keep going and be consistent with everything I do," says Contreras.
Taylor hopes to give, whoever needs it, the space so they don't feel their only option is to drop everything and move to an island. "Maybe I could have had a beautiful engineering career and stayed centered on finding a personal practice and maybe just been inspired by someone and been able to dive deeper into myself," says Taylor. "But for me, I needed the drama. I needed the big change. And at least for right now, my calling is to share what I learned with others."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR. Rafaella Mufarech is a writer from Lima, Peru. She is a member of Project Synergy and currently studies Writing, minoring in Business and Dramatic Writing at the Savannah College of Art and Design. She fell in love with writing because it helps people empathize with each other, process life, connect with their feelings, and escape them too.
Find more of her work at https://rafaellamufarech.wixsite.com/rafmp.