Today we’d like to introduce you to Hyejin Terry Unity Yoga Festival
Hi Hyejin Terry, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
When I first started teaching yoga in 2020 I was at multiple studios, I think 5 or 6! I noticed that there wasn’t really any crossover of students; the majority of people seemed set on going to one studio & even within the studio they would only frequent the same one or two teachers. That was so strange to me because I have always been drawn to variety- trying different classes in different environments because I believe that every teacher has different gifts to offer, & that as a human it can be valuable & beneficial to step outside our comfort zone. For me, the yoga practice is a lot about how we create & connect to our inner peace regardless of the external situation so I never really understood how we could evolve ourselves or our practice if we limited ourselves to one person or class or style simply because we found comfort there at one point.
Something else that jumped out at me while I was teaching at all these different studios was that although each had a strong community within their own establishment, it didn’t feel like there was much connection or collaboration between the different studios. I desperately wanted to see that shift…yes, they’re all businesses but what if there was a way to bridge the gap, even just for a day, & encourage our yoga community as a whole to be open to supporting & experiencing teachers & studios outside of their norm? I planted a tiny seed in my heart & in my mind that one day someone would create something beautiful & usher in a more cohesive & unified yoga community in the Upstate.
Fast forward a few years & I found myself telling several friends about the idea for a yoga festival in honor of the International Day of Yoga & how someone should organize it & get all the different studios on board, & how cool it would be to have “competing” studios & teachers collaborating with an intention bigger than themselves. After I had repeated this many times & still not seeing anything close to this vision coming to fruition I decided that it had to be me. Why was I waiting years for someone to do a thing that I already saw so clearly & believed in wholeheartedly? I already had connections to the majority of different studios having taught at many of them so all I had to do was just reach out & start making use of the resources I had available.
I remember the first few studio owners I reached out to in the Fall of 2022. I was so nervous that they wouldn’t like my idea & wouldn’t think that it could work! But I knew that if I could get just 2 or 3 of them on board, the rest would fall in place. I first talked to Abbey Garcia who would go on to open Zen Rabbit in Travelers Rest & I was met with the amount of encouragement & excitement I needed to approach the two big studios in town: Soul Yoga & Southern Om. I talked to Sarah & Jess at Soul, & Pace & Sarah at Southern Om & to my delight everyone was super excited by the idea & said that they’d love to be involved!
That was all the confirmation I needed to hit the ground running. I found a local non-profit, Generations Group, I wanted to work with so that the festival could also impact our community in a meaningful way. Ahimsa, which translates loosely to non-harming or non-violence, is one of the main tenets of yogic philosophy, & I greatly desired to support a cause that embodied the essence of of Ahimsa in their organization. I started collecting sponsors to raise the funds needed to organize the festival, raffle donors to raise money for Generations Group, looking at event spaces, & from there it just all fell together in the most perfect way. It was a lot of moving pieces for me & I remember feeling so overwhelmed in the few months before the festival. I was doubting myself & wondering if I took on something too big for me to handle. And then of course, the Universe sent me the exact 2 volunteers I needed (thank you Amanda & Erin!) to keep the momentum going & who helped me cross the finish line. It was incredible to witness it all after 8 months of planning, & 2 years of dreaming! The very first aptly named Unity Yoga Festival was a success, thanks in large part to the 12 different yoga studios who were willing to unify & collaborate for one special day.
I couldn’t just stop after one festival of course, so I got to work on the 2024 festival, a little more organized & informed about ways to execute it in an even more successful way. This time I made sure to have a support team from the very start, hahaha. The second festival got a bigger turnout than the first, as more & more people had gotten wind of it! Now the team & I are gearing up to start actively planning the third year, & I’m still just as excited & passionate about the cause as ever. My dream is that it’ll eventually get as big as the Love Shine Play yoga festival in Asheville, NC which brings in thousands & thousands of people from all over the country!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It’s definitely been a test of faith in myself & in my vision. What if nobody else could see the big picture? What if nobody wanted to sponsor it? What if I couldn’t raise any money for Generations Group? What if, what if, what if! In spite of all the what ifs, I ultimately believe that if I am doing something with the purpose of serving the collective in some way & I remain excited about the process along the way & continue to stay aligned between my own thoughts, words, & actions then I can not fail, no matter the outcome.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Outside of being a mother, which in my opinion is one of the most challenging & important job one can have in this lifetime, my passion & inspiration lies in being a teacher & guide. I have been teaching yoga & fitness classes for the past 5 years, I got certified as a Holistic Health Coach 2 years ago, & most recently, I received my NASM personal training certificate. I absolutely adore guiding people in whatever journey they’re embarking on, & the common thread between all of the different modalities I use to help my clients is that I help them to feel empowered to do whatever it is they’re wanting to do. I don’t just teach yoga or nutrition or breath work. I help people remember their innate power & connect to their hearts. I help my clients get out of their own way, I help them to recognize self-defeating behaviors & the ways they keep themselves small out of fear. I help to shift the narrative that many have that they are not enough, or that they are a victim in their own lives. Everything I am able to share with others is because I have been through my own long painful journeys, & I’ve collected a variety of tools that helped me become who I was always meant to be: authentic, relatable, & the creator of my own life story. I’m not for everyone, & I don’t want to be! I’m not going to be the teacher or guide that makes you more socially acceptable haha. I’m not going to help put more labels on you & put you into another box of “should’ & “musts.” I’m for the people who are tired of living the life society told them they should be living, for the people who aren’t scared to get a little messy & meet their traumas & false-belief systems head on. I’m for the people who want to finally get REAL, with themselves & with the world around them. I’m for the people who are ready to be free to live as the most authentic & empowered version of themselves regardless of what other people may think or say.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
For yoga & fitness classes: I currently only teach at one studio in Greenville now, Unity Flow Yoga Studio. You can find me & my classes through their website, www.unityflowgvl.com. I also teach a community class every Saturday morning at Other Lands brewery, & starting in the fall I’ll also be teaching classes for the city of Greenville at a local park in the North Main area of downtown.
For private lessons & Health & Empowerment Coaching: www.wholeisticsoul.com to view my different programs & ways I can support you
For Unity Yoga Festival: Email teamunity@unityyogafestival.com. I’m always looking for sponsors, raffle donors, photographers, & volunteers! www.unityyogafest.com is the website. You can also donate straight to Generations Group, a home & rehabilitation center for sexually abused youth, at www.generationsgroup.com.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @unityyogafestival
