43: Tracee Stanley on Tapping Into Your Inner Knowing, Finding Your Purpose, and Getting Radiant Rest

Tracee Stanley is a noted and lineaged teacher of Yoga Nidra, meditation, and self-inquiry, and one of Light’s dear friends and mentors. Back when he was a yoga teacher, Tracee’s studio, Divine Motion in L.A., was one of the very first studios that Light taught at after his teacher training program. Since then, Tracee has become one of the foremost leaders of Yoga Nidra and mindfulness, teaching all over the United States.

Her practices are inspired by the tradition of Himalayan Masters and Sri Vidya Tantra, into which she was initiated in 2001. She is the co-founder of the Empowered Wisdom Yoga Nidra School and created the Empowered Life Self-Inquiry Oracle Deck. Tracee practices internationally, leading retreats, teacher training, and presenting at festivals and conferences, including Oprah and Gayle's Girls Get Away. 

In this episode, she shares a bit about her experience of being one of the only Black yoga teachers in L.A. when she started out, how she felt about hiring Light as one of the first yoga teachers in her studio, and she describes of the many leaps of faith she had to take in order to become a teacher, community leader, and author. 

Her recently released book, Radiant Rest, is all about Yoga Nidra, which is the best kind of yoga there is; the yoga of sleep. Tracee is an all-round inspiring person as a wife, step-mom entrepreneur, teacher, student, community leader, and host of the Radiant Rest Podcast. She has so much life experience and wisdom to share with you, from leading her successful career as a film producer to opening a yoga studio and following her heart when it came to getting out of an earlier relationship, as well as overcoming self-betrayal and finding her purpose in life. This conversation will resonate with you, no matter who you are, so make sure to tune in today! 

Key Points From This Episode:

• Tracee reflects on her favorite toy or activity as a child; reading.
• Find out more about her family structure, her strict upbringing, and where she grew up.
• Some of the lessons that stand out from her childhood, like always be on time.
• How she perceived success as a child; why she wanted to be a lawyer when she grew up.
• How conscious her family was about race and what it was like for Tracee growing up Black in her neighborhood.
• Why Tracee got spanked often as a child and the most defiant things she did back then.
• Her father’s entrepreneurial spirit; how he started his own insurance agency in Long Island. 
• Watching him building his empire and how that influenced Tracee.
• What informed the decision to go to Stony Brook College and her experience as an introvert.
• Learn about the moment Tracee got scouted as a model and the travels that followed.
• Traveling to South Africa after Nelson Mandela was elected and the epiphany of peace and stillness she experienced there.
• Tracee speaks about her spiritual foundation and the influence of books like the Bhagavad Gita, The Prophet, and Way of the Peaceful Warrior.
• Why, after her first experience with chakra meditation, she knew she needed to learn more.
• How having her bag stolen in South Africa signaled the end of her modeling career and her first steps into “something more.”
• To offer an indication of the culture in South Africa, Tracee tells “the water bottle” story.
• Find out more about her family aspirations at the time; why she wanted to adopt children.
• Her foray into film production and the first internship she did at a production company in L.A.
• Returning to L.A. from South Africa; how her attitude towards modeling changed.
• When Tracee discovered yoga, the studio at Yoga West, yogic philosop

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