Meet Tara Greenway | Master Energy Coach and Trainer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Tara Greenway and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
Many people, especially people in the mind/body healing world, strongly believe in the power of positive thinking. “Think positive” and “Positive vibes only” are getting a lot of air time right now. I find this line of thinking harmful to most people. Because most people over the age of like 16 have problems, you know? People have relationship issues, or health issues, or addiction issues, or I hate my job issues, or all of the above.

And telling people to think positive is unfair and kind of bizarre: it’s telling them to ignore their natural emotions, the messages their bodies are giving them, and plaster over all that with platitudes. With a forced veneer of cheerfulness, their real pain churning just below, because they’ve been told it’s spiritual to think positive. They’ve been told to look away from their own emotions, reject their real feelings. They’ve been told they should feel good all the time. This is not actually spiritual at all; this is spiritual bypassing. It can easily result in people believing there’s something wrong with them for feeling anything negative, and in their avoiding confronting circumstances in their lives that they may really need to take action on.

I tell my clients that we’re going to look their feelings right in the face, whatever they are. They’re just feelings. We need to see them, and actually accept that we have them for now. Only then can we process them and allow them to flow out of our bodies and minds. That’s not thinking positive. That’s just thinking! That’s true courage and wisdom: not pretending you’re fine, but admitting that you feel a certain way, even if it’s not the noblest or prettiest way to feel. You’re not your feelings or thoughts. They’re just feelings and thoughts. You can navigate them; you can learn to master them. But not by thinking positive!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others? What is a lesson it’s taken you a long time to learn in your business?
I teach people who feel stuck in anxiety, disconnected relationships, or unfulfilling work to change their energy patterns, their belief systems, and their lives. I’m in a pretty crowded field, coaching. but I don’t coach like others do. I have all these amazing tools, energy tools, that I actually train my clients to do on themselves.

So I empower people to transform themselves literally from the cellular level on up. This is true change. It’s not just guiding people to make the wisest decisions or even to trust themselves. It’s training them to be able to see and identify old belief systems they’ve outgrown. It’s giving them mastery over their own emotions by teaching them to tap the ends of meridian points, and to meditate (which isn’t as hard or mystical as you may think).

I love that I’m giving people evidence-based techniques that really work, things I use myself every day on whatever challenges I face. And I love getting a front row seat to watch people just completely recreate their relationships, their work, their health. I feel so lucky to be able to do what I do.

One thing that it’s taken me quite a few years to learn is to allow a client to grow at the rate that he or she is able to, and to accept when someone is just not ready or able to truly commit to the hard work of transformation. I used to do anything — free or very low-cost sessions, emailing back and forth for months, anything — to try to pull people into changing themselves. It was so frustrating — to me, and most likely to them as well. I was very committed to helping people who were not committed! This is a losing battle that never ends. Very time-consuming, and not so good for running a business.

I finally understand that people will do what they can do when they can do it. When someone says “I don’t have time” or “I can’t afford it” or “I really can’t because I have to sacrifice my own time for ______,” I understand. They can’t transform right now. I can’t reason them into it. My doing metaphorical backbends to work with them does not actually help them. It’s not a poor reflection on them or me. They’re just not ready. Once I had a client who was separated and desperately wanted to get divorced. But she wouldn’t. We worked on it for so many sessions, and we got her all the way to hiring a lawyer and drawing up a child custody agreement. But she never would actually give her ex the divorce papers. I always considered it a failure on my part. Five years later, that client came back, and the first words out of her mouth were “My ex signed the divorce papers last week, and I just had to tell you.”

That’s when I understood. It wasn’t a failure on my part or hers. I wanted her to transform in a way she wasn’t ready to yet. Then, later, she was. Five hours, five days, five years… it’s the client’s decision. And my job is to be there for them 100% when they’re ready. Not when I’m ready, not when I think they should be ready. What’s “should”? I’m not trying to force anyone anymore. I’m playing a long game now! Because healing is a long game. It’s not a hit and run. It’s not one miraculous session. It’s your whole life. It takes commitment and readiness and tons of courage, and sometimes a little time. And now that I’ve stopped being so committed to people who were not committed, I’ve opened up space for people who are committed to their own transformation. They were right there the whole time!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I go back and forth each week between the Hudson Valley and NYC, because my heart is in both places. I love the combo of the energy and creativity of the city — there’s nothing like it! And the peace and beautiful nature of upstate.

So I’d highly recommend what brought me to NYC in the first place: the theater. Go to TKTS and go to an off-Broadway or Broadway show! Then you have to see some art — try the often-overlooked but amazing Brooklyn Museum, the Met of course, the Whitney, and my favorite, MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art. With kids, don’t miss the Natural History Museum and the Bronx Zoo. Then try Periyali, my husband’s and my favorite upscale Greek restaurant (um, bring your credit card!) or Joe Allen in midtown, where my acting teachers always hung out.

Upstate, you can hike around beautiful Croton Gorge (in my new hometown), Bull Hill (in quaint Cold Spring), and Bear Mountain. There are lots of small towns full of mom and pop stores; my favorites are Sugarloaf and Nyack.

Really just come. I know this is Shoutout LA, and I like the LA area, the cities, the beaches… but you have to take a break from all that perfection and experience a little nitty gritty NYC!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate my Shoutout to Vianna Stibal, a mentor of mine and the founder of ThetaHealing. Vianna has taught me and millions of others how to pinpoint and transform the beliefs that used to work in our lives but somewhere along the line started to hurt instead. She’s pretty amazing and has definitely affected the course of my life. I’m grateful to her and happy to publicly thank her!

Website: https://beyondyourbelief.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tara_greenway/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tara-greenway-byb/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TaraGreenwayBeyondYourBelief

Image Credits
Laura Volpacchio