Speaker 1 · 0:02As you begin your mindfulness teaching journey, you may be asking, who am I most called to teach? What do I uniquely have to offer? And to whom? But you may also be wondering: will choosing a niche limit my audience and potential impact? Contrary to what some might think, choosing a niche usually won't limit your opportunities to share mindfulness with others. In fact, it can make it easier for others to integrate your message, allowing you to help more people in a more significant way. Welcome to the Mindfulness Exercises podcast. May this be a source of inspiration and motivation in your mindfulness practice and teachings. In this episode, Mindfulness Exercises founder Sean Fargo shares his advice on why we might want to narrow our focus as mindfulness teachers and how we can go about doing that. Choosing a niche is more than a smart business practice. It also allows us to address tangible, relevant, and specific challenges in a deeper and potentially more transformative manner.
Speaker 2 · 1:28I think finding like a niche or a specific topic or specialty is can be great. So that like you can offer something maybe more deeper than most, what most mindfulness teachers might offer, because you specialize in something and you can really like go deeper with people in that one topic, which can be very, very, very valuable. It can also be helpful from like a business perspective. Like if you're a coach or a consultant or something, oftentimes people hire specialists rather than generalists.
Speaker 1 · 2:06Indeed. Specializing allows us to explore a single topic with greater depth and attention and gives us better tools with which to help a particular demographic. It also allows us to present ourselves as experts in our area of interest, a quality that's appealing to employers, clients, and students. But in choosing a niche, where do we begin? How do we choose which audience we most want to serve? Or which specific challenges and problems we'd like to help others solve first?
Speaker 2 · 2:46For me, a lot of it boils down to the heart. Like who do I feel most compelled to help and why? And is there something in my heart that just really calls out to these people? You know, who do we feel a lot of compassion towards? You know, and I get that we probably feel compassion to all sorts of people for all sorts of reasons, but is there a personal connection with this? Is there something extra juicy for me that may be related to my past or to a mission that I would love to further? I think it's also helpful to consider, you know, you have a unique background, because a lot of us do. And so, like, how can you what's the story of that? And like, what might it lend itself towards that's unique? How do people perceive you? Or what can you lend that's different from other people? What common questions do you hear from people either in your industries or people who just get to know you? Like, what are the pain points that people present? You know, and that might lend itself towards a direction too.
Speaker 1 · 4:08Mindfulness makes us more aware of the specific challenges and needs of others. It can also help us expand our capacity to listen to our hearts and the voice of intuition, guiding us toward a more assured sense of meaning and purpose. One practice in particular, that of death awareness, or the mindfulness of impermanence, can offer great insight and clarity around what feels most important to us.
Speaker 2 · 4:44You know, it's important to do something you enjoy doing. Will I also gain energy from working on that? For me, it's not an intellectual thing. I think the intellect can help a lot, and can help with the decision, but I would also ask the heart more and give that a seat at the end of the table, like in a good way, like with the heart wearing a crown. What would you do? And that's where I think mindfulness of death can help to clarify this question. You know, when we really consider our mortality, priorities tend to clarify. So if we're deciding who to help, the ground in the body feel the ground, the seat, feel the legs, feel the belly as we breathe. And call to mind the suffering of different kinds of people, or the goal or the challenges of certain kinds of people, and sense into how the heart just naturally responds to each of them while knowing that our time in this body is limited. When we really sink into that in the bones, this very inhale may be my last. And then we ask this question of how do I want to spend my time? Who are the people who tug at my heartstrings the most? That may clarify.
Speaker 1 · 6:40Having deeply contemplated the truth of impermanence and what feels most urgent to us in this life, we arrive at a place of greater self-awareness. Getting to know ourselves helps us to connect more intimately with others. And as we get more specific about who will help and how, a paradox of sorts is revealed. The more tightly we define our niche, the more easily others can see themselves in what we are offering.
Speaker 2 · 7:17Considering specific challenges people have, careers, gender, age, specific goals. Like when I say type of people, I mean like people who want this, people who are struggling with that, women or men who struggle with this, people of a certain age who struggle with this, like, and really kind of finding a niche often helps, you know, not to keep it too broad, like mindfulness for anybody, but rather finding a niche that's where if someone reads the title of a program or service, they're like, Oh, that's me. I'm that person, I'm the one who struggles with this and who wants that, or I identify with this niche. Like, this is me. And usually the more we kind of drill down on a niche, the more people within that niche say, Oh my goodness, this is perfect. Like, I haven't seen anything quite like this for me. She must know about me and my struggle and how I can move forward. This is tailored for someone like me. Like, I will invest more in that because it's for me. Not that it's about like monetary investment, but investing the time, the interest, the action, the discipline to move forward on this program or service.
Speaker 1 · 9:03The business of helping others is about more than just business. But we can use business practices to learn more about our students and understand what will best help them. It's all about finding ways to listen more deeply. Listening to our clients, patients, or students can help us uncover which teachings and meditations will offer this specific population the solutions that they need.
Speaker 2 · 9:36You know, there's like businessy things we can do too, around asking lots of questions about pain points and what else that people tried that didn't work and that did work, having intake forms to get more insights into people's experiences and their goals, and really relating the service to them, using a lot of the common language that your niche uses, identifying with their struggles and their goals in the beginning, and letting them know that you care and that maybe you have a similar background where you too were able to get through it or meet your goal. You know, they want to be able to relate to you, you know. When I form an outline, I tend to like kind of honor what the experience is. What are the challenges? What is the day-to-day like? You know, like I can relate to you, these are what's coming up, and oftentimes for like a session one, I'll just let them share with the challenges and their goals and the positives and the negatives, and meet that without new teachings, without new things, but like, can we meet this? This is like this. This is the starting point. This is like the and bring mindfulness to that, just noticing how that feels in the body, you know, starting to learn to be with the breath, um, and just kind of learning some techniques to be with what's here. Also, like, well, what's their goal? What do they want help with? I usually ask the question, well, what would make this program successful for you? What outcome do you want? And being in their shoes, you probably have a sense. But you could survey some people to help you create your outline. But like, what would make this program successful? Like in tangible terms, practical terms, relevant terms. I want to be able to do this, I want to be able to feel that, I want to be able to manage this, or you know, I don't know what it is, you know, and your demographic notes. And then usually to work backwards from that. Okay, well, what are the ingredients like breaking down the outcome? Well, if they want to be able to do this, then how do they do that? What are some interesting ways to be able to do that and to build towards that? And that's kind of like the starting point of how I would create something is meet them where they're at in the beginning, really honor all that's true, both pleasant and unpleasant, but also to say, well, what would make this successful for them in practical, relevant terms that are really like specific and unique to them, and then break that down and work backwards.
Speaker 1 · 13:11The process of listening to others and getting to know their challenges is ultimately about modeling mindfulness to those whom we serve. As mindfulness teachers, it's not our role to fix anyone. To help us remember that truth and encourage gratitude in the process, we might also get to know our students by asking them what's going well. When we open to both the joy and the suffering of others, compassion naturally arises.
Speaker 2 · 13:58If you're addressing caregivers, you could say, What do you like about being a caregiver? Say, what are you enjoying about your life right now? Or what are some of the bright spots? This is a nice introductory question to kind of break the ice to know people a little bit, allow their voice to be heard, and we can be joyful about the bright spots in their day, the bright spots about how they relate to work or to their role. And we can validate it, and then say, you know, now I have another question for you. What do you find challenging about being a principal, being a caregiver? What do you find challenging around your road to recovery? What do you find challenging around your health? And this allows people the opportunity to share their experience. And if they don't share it with you publicly, at least they can reflect on it. Maybe you can hear a few people. And again, validating their responses, validating their experiencing that makes sense. That's understandable that you might feel that way. I'm sorry to hear that. I wish you well with this to really empathize with where they're coming from. You know, so in corporate settings, maybe they say something like, Well, I'm struggling with communication with my subordinates or my CEO, struggling with deadlines that keep piling up, struggling with getting clients. There's all sorts of challenges. But to honor their experience without judgment. So we're modeling mindfulness right now. We're bringing a sense of presence for wherever they are, however they're feeling, without judgment. Mindfulness is this non-judgmental moment-to-moment awareness of actual experience. And so however they're showing up, we want to not judge them and welcome whatever their experience is without trying to force them to feel a certain way, without trying to fix them. And so now with them sharing some of their challenges, now you have a little more insight into how they're feeling. You can address some of your teachings to some of those challenges. And it also allows our hearts to respond with compassion. Which is the root of all good mindfulness teachings and teachers, is this sense of compassion. And so if we really open to their challenges, their stressors, their suffering, whatever you want to call it, their overwhelm, their anxiety. It allows our hearts to naturally wish them well. And really that's sort of the space that I encourage you to revisit as often as you can as you share mindfulness. But after they share some of their challenges with you, you can honor them, validate them, and say, thank you for sharing this. It is my intention to support you with your challenges that you've just told me that you have. I will do everything I can to share some evidence-based tools with you to help you with these challenges. And so now they know that you know how they're feeling, what's going on, what they want, help with. It's given them the opportunity to be heard and validated and witnessed, which can be very healing in and of itself to not be judged. And it really opens our hearts, or at least helps us to open our hearts to their challenges.
Speaker 1 · 18:23The more we can open our hearts as mindfulness and meditation teachers, the more we can intuitively respond in the moment with what others need the most. This not only applies to each teaching opportunity, each class, course, or program, but it applies to our career choices and the selection of a niche as well. When we allow ourselves to be led by compassion versus gain or fame, we can find meaning and purpose in everything we do. And responding mindfully to what our heart feels is most urgent gives us the energy and empathy we need to succeed. Thank you to Sean Fargo for this wise guidance on why choosing a niche as a mindfulness teacher is not at all limiting, but instead asks us to open our hearts and our minds more fully. To practice mindfulness of death with Sean Fargo, listen to the previous episode, A Death Awareness Meditation. May it help you uncover what's most important to you and where your energy is most urgently needed in this moment.
