We had the good fortune of connecting with Tara Matthews, L.Ac and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Tara, have there been any changes in how you think about work-life balance?
I feel that so much of my work in this life is about this question. I have been a student of balance since I became aware.

Early in my adulthood, it served me to be a person of extremes. I could study one subject deeply, even intensely, become incredibly specified. Subject matter was consumed and integrated like a bowl of information. And I was hungry for it. It had my full attention. This kind of attention allowed me to go deep, learn and remember, earn multiple degrees, start businesses and private practice. But the intensity of it also sacrificed other parts of life to its fire. And the stress of such excavations required extreme destressification. I would bounce from one extreme to another one attempting to create the necessary balance point.
This changed with the birth of my son. I was already a business owner and I was studying for my Master’s Degree. The pregnancy, itself, shifted a lot of things. I wasn’t called to stop what I was doing, but I did slow down. I graduated a year late, slowed down and began to balance my entire life in order to be all of the parts of myself, fully.

I became a mother. An entrepreneur. A wife. A friend. A practitioner of Chinese Medicine. A boss. A Yogi. A teacher.

The awakening and healing process can be an experience where extreme action is celebrated. I have known many to enter into their healings and jettison their old lives, sell their possessions, end relationships, give up the past because it no longer resonated. And I am not saying that those actions are wrong in any way. I think I had many past lives in those pathways, so I have a lot of compassion for them. I feel that when the extraneous experience of awakening burns off, and the attention to the self drops away (as it naturally should), then the focus begins to hold the idea of service to the whole, which is easier accessed through the “other”. But at the same time, because this is a material existence, even this needs to be anchored in self awareness and care. As we grow, we feed both. And they both feed each other.

This is also the case with spiritual bypassing (a very popular term in my field these days.) It isn’t all light and flowers. There is a basement below filled with decaying and rotten and unspeakable things. And if we don’t do the work, see all of it for what it is, then it is easy to fall into the trap of simply surviving and not living to our full capacity. This is a duality universe. So, even culturually, historically, epochly, we sway from one extreme to another. There is night and then there is day. We are born and then we die. And yet, if we can be aware of the moment, there is a point of perfect balance to experience, too. In Yogic theory, we express this stillpoint as Shuniya. It is where the moment remains suspended, The breath pauses between the inhale and the exhale. Everything becomes embodied and known and there is nowhere else to go and nothing else to be. That is the the Oneness. Balance gets us close to that, too.

So, how does this all play out in day to day life? I am a student of small adjustments. But I also go with the flow. I plan, but I try not to grasp. I keep my heart open and expectations to a minimum. I work really hard most of the day half of the week. And if a patient cancels, I notice where the energy is going. Do I double down and get to work, or do I take an acupuncture nap under the infared? In the summer, I sleep less. In the winter, more. There is a season for expansion and growth in business, and there is a time for sleeping in and adoring my husband. I map out my life a year in advance, with other cycles of plans reaching out as far as a decade, and I am completely aware that all of it can change in a heartbeat. Giving is as important as receiving. And ultimately, integrity and lifework is sustained through the every day consistency with a sprinkling of intensity and a spoonful of patience. In business, this might be received as more of a feminine approach, but I see it as Aquarian. I am fully interested in that future and embrace it.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Soul Body Ojai is a healing collective. We are a community of healers and teachers that work together in community to provide a safe and dynamic environment for both ourselves and others to realize their potential. We are always changing and growing and no, it isn’t always easy. This last year has been a portal of challenges. But we came together and helped each other through. We stayed open. We migrated our classes online to what became soultribeonline.com, an online social media network for conscious people and that was a massive gift. We found creative ways to pay the rent. And now, there is a renaissance of sorts happening and it is beautiful to be surrounded by associates and clients that are positively affected what we are creating. I have learned that I am at my best, challenged the most, and provoked to grow when in community.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Well, of course, I would say, come to Soul Body Ojai! Schedule a massage, a private soundbath, come to a yoga class or weekend retreat. Go hiking and visit the Sespe or North Fork Matilija River. Bart’s Books, HIp Vegan. Farmer and the Cook. Love Social Cafe. Go to the beach. Shop downtown. Homemade Jun Kombucha at Revel. The Farmer’s Markets on Sunday and Thursday. Lay in the sun. Just being in Ojai is enough, really.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I am grateful for my husband and his beautiful love for me. Our relationship sustains me. He is my best friend and confidant. I am also grateful to the Yoga Community here in Ventura County and worldwide. They are my family.

 

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