Life and Work with Mi Renyard and Seetal Joti Kaur

Today we’d like to introduce you to Mi Renyard and Seetal Joti Kaur.

Mi and Seetal, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When I was 27 years old, I had worked many years with sales consultancy in Stockholm, Sweden, my home town. I had poured hours and hours of time into building other people’s businesses, businesses that didn’t always have the same integrity or urge to do good as I wanted to work for. I also felt I had so much more to give than what I could as an employee. So I resigned from the post as manager of a 15 people company on my birthday Dec 20 2008 to start at the university and study social behaviorism and psychology. Two months after enrolling, old clients and former employees started calling me, asking me to come back to the work I had done for so many years as an employed manager, so I decided to start my own business. I had six clients and as many employees after two months of up and running. After six years of running with an average of 10 employees, I started again to feel restless and as if I had another mission in life than selling consultant services to ad-agencies and IT firms. Don’t get me wrong, I had had a blast for so many years but I came to a point where I wanted to try my wings on something totally different, something that connected my heart to the work in a way I felt was missing.

At this time, my husband and I had already talked for a while about us moving to the US and perhaps NYC and we decided to make real on that plan and leave Sweden. We are both entrepreneurs at heart so we didn’t look to get employed but rather just go and trust the universe. My friends kept asking what the plan was when we arrived in the big city and I kept answering, “the universe will tell, eventually”. So we sold our businesses in Sweden (it took a year of sweat and some tears) and first left for a hiking and yoga trip to Nepal for three weeks. After that, we got married in Greece the summer of 2016. At that point, my primary doctor had found indications of cancer in my body and when we left with our entourage for Greece, I was scared to death. But after surgery to remove a suspicious polyp that turned out benign, we could breathe again and keep planning for the journey abroad. At the same time, I finished my first yoga teacher training in Stockholm. Yoga was a huge part of me keeping sane through the process of selling the company but also to be ok while being investigated for the cancer.

I still didn’t have a job or a plan coming to NYC Oct 2016 when one morning I went online and saw that a yoga studio I had heard so much good about in NYC announced that they had a few spots left for their teacher training starting two weeks later. I immediately signed up and thanked universe. This was a seven month kundalini yoga training that changed everything. It changed my perception on people, belief systems and how yoga can affect us in general.

In the kundalini community, we talk a lot about Seva, which means that we give of our own time to other people and help out where it’s needed. I started volunteering for a non-profit organization in Manhattan to teach yoga to people that were in recovery programs from drug and alcohol addictions. That year was such a treat for me and amazing to connect with the group of people in the class. I was a bit scared of teaching at first since I don’t speak English as my first language and sometimes I lose words here and there. But that group of people supported me in a beautiful way and we did both did Seva for each other, I guess. All the healing that occurs in a yoga class can be so magic and I’m not scared of teaching in English anymore.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I don’t think building a business is ever easy and that is important to be aware of. But it does bring creativity and freedom into your life. You are your own boss and no-one can take away the successes and (the failures) from you. It’s all yours. I think for me, it was important to realize that I needed to ask for help sometimes. Knowing yourself and your strengths and weakness is so important. If you decide on having staff, being a good leader is also important. You have taken on a responsibility towards the people who choose you as their leader. I would take a leadership course or a business course just to get some inspiration and also meet other people in your situation. I had the opportunity to take a few different courses paid by the Swedish government. One of them was an initiative by Hillary Clinton and a Swedish company that arranged Women’s leadership courses and I got to meet many strong and intelligent businesswoman and also see how humble they were in their own position. Getting support from family, friends and mentors is so important. For me, also spending a lot of time in nature with my horses and husband have been essential for my wee being. And of course, cuddling with our three cats, two of them joined us all the way from Sweden via NYC. <3

Please tell us about Kriya Vision, Malas By Mi.
Today I have three branches of my business. The first is teaching yoga and supporting the mountain community up here both from my own ranch studio in the mountains overlooking the mountains and our horses and also at the beautiful and super friendly studio Taspen’s in Conifer. The second is to tailor-make events for people who want to explore the mountains with hiking and/or yoga. And the third is my crystal bead jewelry which I sell in different yoga studios locally in CO and also in NYC. One of my favorite assignments within the jewelry making is the special orders I receive. The jewelries are made as bracelets or meditation necklaces- so called malas with 108 beads in the design. The different crystal beads have different meaning energetically and my customers come with different intentions and wishes for their design which I love working with.

As a yoga teacher, I focus on stress relief, strengthening the physical and emotional body and also to remind people of their own value. We are all so beautiful in our own unique way and it’s a treat to be a part of my regular clients’ transformation on the mat and to see their glow after a class!

The second branch- hiking and yoga in the mountains is something that I currently develop and I have received a few requests from city people wishing to be guided on our beautiful trails south of Denver where I live. Imagine taking an early morning hike in a group of happy people and then finish up with a strengthening and stretching yoga class to open hips and rejuvenate the body after the hike. All the events I work on is with focus on organic and sustainable living to care more for our planet and the animals walking the earth together with us.

Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well positioned for?
Hell yes! Coming from Sweden, which is one of the top three most feminine and gender-equal countries in the world, I have so many success stories to share. And even though Sweden has that top position, it was still a challenge to sit in those board meetings with mostly men in the top positions and having clients that mostly where men in the beginning of my carrier as a 23-year-old manager. But honestly, I didn’t focus on that. I did my own thing and came pretty far with that. I think that it is so important to focus on your beliefs and your path rather than feeling trapped and focusing on everything negative in the media. Not saying that we don’t need to see that part of it and understand how that can affect things, but also strengthen ourselves as independent women with a bright future. I don’t want to pigeon-hole woman in specific roles or situations, rather saying we can do it all.

Some keys to success and opportunities would be to stay open, to understand your own needs and wishes and to have a partner (if you choose to have one) that stands beside you and lifts you up. Personally, my horses and my cats have been such a great support as well so the partner in crime doesn’t necessarily have to be a person even though I have been blessed with a supportive husband that also understands the ups and the downs of being an entrepreneur and self-employed. And be honest with yourself, always. In the kundalini yoga, we use the mantra “sat nam”, which means “truth is my identity” and having that as a reminder has been a life saver for me. If I feel anxiety and don’t sleep well I know I need to check in with myself and my sat nam. I feel strongly for animals and our planet and I believe women with our endless empathy for others have so much to bring in to heal the world as teachers and also bringing up businesses focusing on those topics. Everything I do myself is about sustainability and conscious choices like with consuming things, food and clothes. I have been a vegetarian since I was 17 years old and have never regret it.

Pricing:

• Private yoga sessions in nature 90 dollars
• Group classes upon request
• Hiking and yoga upon request
• Crystal beads jewelry upon request

Contact Info:

• Website: www.kriyavision.com
• Email: mi@kriyavision.com
• Instagram: @malasbymi @kriya.vision.yoga
• Facebook: same as Instagram

Suggest a story: VoyageDenver is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.