Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Bollinger.
Hi Teresa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I spent a lot of my lifetime in one big reaction. I don’t have many memories of my life before about the 5th or 6th grade. My childhood came with many challenges. Although I didn’t have the memories of this time I still suffered with the effects of the events. I was diagnosed with PTSD in my forties. I lived with this condition for my entire life thinking that my hypervigilance was normal. I was always looking for exits, uncomfortable in places with lots of people, watching my back and worried about what could happen. I was afraid to be seen or heard and made myself small, letting go of many opportunities over the years. Things kept adding up and I got to a point in my early 40s where I knew that it was either the deep end or the hospital. I was a member of a boutique fitness studio that held a special event where I met a psychologist. I started working with her and luckily for me, it was a great fit. I trusted in her advice and scheduled regular massages, started doing volunteer work and yoga study. This was the 3rd person to tell me that I should teach yoga. I cleaned and built nature trails, became a water steward, helped educate children and worked as a sidewalker to help kids with special needs during my volunteer activities. These activities helped me reconnect to my body and myself so that I could learn that it was okay and safe to be in my own body. I was going to become a yoga teacher. I opened the Internet and a spreadsheet, I interviewed no less than 30 yoga schools. I wanted a traditional school that focused on yogic philosophy. I chose a school that would give me the depth of education that I was looking for and spent the next 10 months learning how to teach yoga.
After I graduated from that teacher training in 2015 I went to a yoga institute to take yoga nidra training. This training truly changed my life. It allowed me to experientially know that I am OK and to connect with something larger myself. During this training, I had the great realization that my heart worked just as well as everyone else’s. This was an incredibly huge realization for me because up until that point I believed that there was something inherently wrong with me. I have practiced almost every day ever since then. I have watched myself effortlessly drop fear after fear along with stress about things that I couldn’t control anyway. Living there, I was supported with fresh organic food, regular yoga practice and a community. We started our 90-minute practice at 6 am or 7 am. We had another practice at lunch with more opportunities in the evening. We did some incredibly uncomfortable things for me like an exercise where you held eye contact with someone for 15 minutes without looking away or speaking. What a first night that was!
I spent the next few years living next to the yoga institute immersed in the yoga lifestyle. I took several yoga teacher training, breath training and advanced yoga nidra certifications and even traveled to India. I completely reshaped my life and emerged as a woman filled with confidence, love for humanity and most importantly love for myself. In the time that I spent at the yoga institute, I watched countless doctors, psychologists, physical therapists, and counselors come through yoga training because they would be able to help their clients reach a certain point of wellness and then hit a block. They knew that there was something that needed to be healed beyond the physical needs of their patients for them to get better. That is why they found yoga.
The story of how I came to Atlanta is an even better one. I traveled for the first time out of the country to assist with a large group of international students in India. I arrived ahead of everyone and stayed with my friend in New Delhi. As I’m sitting in her living room she asks me what do you think of Atlanta? I said it’s really hot and there’s a lot of traffic, why? She said she heard of a job opportunity in Atlanta that she thought that I would be perfect for. She made a few phone calls and by the next afternoon, I was arranging to speak to a doctor in Atlanta who had a chiropractic office and yoga studio. What is so great about this is that when I went to India I surrendered and gave up every idea about what I was supposed to be doing with my life and asked for guidance from the universe. A few days later I skipped morning yoga practice so that I could take a Skype call with the doctor in Atlanta. We spent a little more than 30 minutes on the phone and agreed that after I returned from India I would come to Atlanta for a job evaluation and we would see if it was a fit. What I did not know is that the owners of this business in Atlanta did a manifestation meditation to feel and experience how it would be to have someone properly support them with business needs and have the ability to teach meditation and yoga.
When I returned from India six weeks later, I spent a few nights in my home in Florida before traveling to Atlanta. The moment I walked through the front door of this business I knew I was home. The energy they had cultivated in the space was already palpable. After the first week, I requested a meeting and we talked about me coming to ATL permanently. I found a place to live, went back to Florida to pack, close my home there and started a new adventure in ATL.
I live here in April of 2020 during the full shutdown. That is a lot of confidence and faith in what one is doing. After being here for nearly two years I finally got the opportunity to start working as a volunteer regularly again through a free meditation class that I offer at the Atlanta Meditation Center. One day a group of special needs adults walked into my class unexpectedly and completely melted my heart.
A big goal for some people with special needs is to be able to go out into the world and interact with people in a safe way that is nurturing and provides support. I get to be a small part of that interaction and I am so thankful for the opportunity to connect with these very special people and witness the beauty and grace in each of them. I do believe it is important to give back and help others out.
During one of my trainings, I figured out that my purpose in life is to help people. I am blessed to be able to share the gifts that I have received. Many times, as I’m driving home from work, I find myself happier than I have ever been in my life.
I have seen the practice of yoga and especially the practice of yoga nidra facilitate some incredibly healing experiences. I have seen this happen again and again during training, everyday studio classes and virtual classes. I have facilitated over 500 meditation classes in a variety of settings from the United States to India. I have worked with people in private settings and group. I have walked through my own healing journey, struggled with so many things and finally let that struggle go. I surrendered to the power of yoga and meditation, the power of sitting quietly with myself.
I currently teach meditation at the Atlanta Meditation Center in person and virtually. I am also available for private yoga, breath, yoga nidra and meditation classes. I am so passionate about this practice because it changed my life in such a meaningful way. I have seen it change so many people for the better.
Something that a student said after class once really sticks with me. I asked how everyone was feeling and he got the biggest smile on his face. He said, “I haven’t felt that still and peaceful since I hiked across the Arctic”. I asked him how long it had been. He said “50 years ago.” I was blown away. That still and quiet feeling is us. It is with us all the time. It is our baseline. When we are in that space, we get to experience ourself beyond what we can see. We lose our identification with the mind, thoughts and feelings and our hearts can open, expand and heal.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
BUSINESS: I moved here to join this business at the start of a complete lockdown during the pandemic. This business was a startup and beginning to do very well before the pandemic hit. We had to close during the pandemic and went to virtual for a while. We still struggle to fill in person classes. Many of my virtual meditation students are more comfortable practicing at home since after the meditation they can stay in that quiet place and relax until it’s time for bed. We rebranded at the beginning of this year to become the Atlanta Meditation Center since the classes we offer were more spiritual in nature than the power or hot yoga classes. We are making some video content for Kundalini Yoga and Yoga Nidra. We are one of the only studios with these classes on a regular schedule. We are the ONLY studio with more than one Kundalini Yoga class per week on the schedule. We are the ONLY studio with multiple yoga nidra classes per week.
PERSONAL: I gave up my marriage, most of my material possessions and all ideas of who I was to rebuild my life. I wanted to do this without long-term drugs and hospitals. I knew that I had to completely change my life. I lost my financial freedom, got divorced and walked away with very little. I did not want to disrupt the lives of so many by taking “half of what was mine”. In the years after my divorce, I was able to find myself and become happier than I had ever been. Not happier necessarily, but okay with struggle and uncertainty, accepting of all parts of me and knowing that I will always be okay no matter what happens.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We offer private in studio and virtual group meditation and yoga classes. We offer private sessions including hatha yoga, meditation, yoga nidra, integral breath and sound healing both in studio and virtually. We believe that mindfulness begins with the breath. By focusing conscious attention on our breath and observing our thinking mind without getting caught up in its contents, we open to the possibility for more peace, confidence, and connection within ourselves and our relationships. Our unique brand of yoga and meditation can help the student attain deeper levels of clarity and healing.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was a shy quiet kid that did not want attention. I made a few close friends that I could really trust and opened up to them. I was always very nice and enjoyed playing with the neighborhood kids, kickball and bicycles, we roller skated and performed tricks on our skates & bicycles, and went hunting which was really exploring the woods, I was always interested in different cultures and people.
Pricing:
- $108 / month – unlimited classes in studio and online
- $49 / month – unlimited virtual classes
- $22 – Drop in (in studio)
- $11 – Drop In (Virtual)
- $108 – private 1 hour yoga session
Contact Info:
- Email: atlmeditate@gmail.com
- Website: https://www.atlmeditation.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atlmeditationcenter/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/atlmeditationcenter/
