Jessica Stone and the Power of Storytelling

Jessica Stone came to the yoga mat 22 years ago when she was a graduate student at NYU. After completing a YTT training 10 years ago, she thought she wanted to be a health coach. However, she realized that she liked to write much more than she wanted to coach or teach a class.

From New York to London and back, Jessica Stone has over 22 years experience as a copywriter, ghostwriter, and journalist.  For the past decade, she has specialized in writing for experts, bestselling authors, and coaches. She spent one month at the Sivananda Yoga Ranch in Grass Valley, CA, where she earned her yoga-teacher training certification–and came back with more than a few stories.

The Power of Storytelling

“Storytelling is the way that our hearts talk to each other,” she said, in her interview with Patricia Bohl, Yoga Marketer. “The masks come off, you fall into deepness and closeness, and then you start to share more and more. I think we only really trust each other when we’ve gotten the real story.”

To underscore her point, Jessica shared a beautiful moment that illustrates the simple beauty of storytelling. She had picked up her 4 ½-year-old son from pre-school. He likes to climb a particular tree. She admitted that she felt nervous, the higher he climbed. As she tried to see him through the branches, he said, out of the blue, “A boy in a tree looked up to see how high he was.” What a profound first story! When she asked him what happened next, he added more lines, “He came down out of the tree, went home, played with his friends, and had dinner.” For her, he showed that he was in touch with his inner storyteller.

How to Build Trust with Storytelling

If you want to build trust with your audience, Jessica’s advice is to tell whatever is true in the present moment. A good question to ask yourself, as she has done, is “Who is the me that is watching my experience?” When you do this, you’ll discover that you’re not just a witness but also a storyteller.This process will reveal an ageless quality about you. “When we tap into that, we get to the core of who we are,” she said. And if you think that you can’t tell a story, you’re probably just overthinking it. “People don’t want people who have it all figured out,” she added. “They want to hear how they came from point A to point B in success, but there are still challenges and growth. That’s how trust is built.”

How Yoga Teachers can use Storytelling

Yoga teachers can use storytelling in a powerful way on the About page on their website. That’s the first place Jessica visits when she lands on a website, because she wants to know about the person. Her pro tip is to make it about the person who comes to your website.

Your story doesn’t have to be long. By telling your story about what brought you to the mat, what it is that keeps you there, why you keep coming back, and why you chose to make it your life’s work, is a powerful way to connect with your audience.

Storytelling Tips

Jessica shared a mind hack for tapping into your inner guidance. Ask yourself, “If I knew what my story was, what would it be?” The answer to that question is what your audience will want to hear.

She recommended The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr as a great storytelling resource, even if you don’t plan on writing a book. “It’s good for anyone who wants to tell any kind of story,” she said. Put yourself in the story and explain it in a way that’s relatable to readers. “We have this wealth of wisdom,” she said, to expand on this point. “We can learn from someone else.”

Another recommended resource is The War of Art by Stephen Pressfield. Out of all the writing tips that abound, the most important one is to get in the chair. That’s the best place to start. “You’ll figure out your style as you do it,” Jessica said. “The key is always to start.”

She shared a few ideas for telling your story in your blog or newsletter, such as food and recipes. Some people are curious about what yoga teachers eat, so a good topic would be ‘What do Yoga Teachers Eat?’

And for the yoga teachers who might be thinking that their life is too boring to tell a story, the fact that you chose to teach yoga is a testament to an interesting story just waiting to be shared with others who can benefit from it.

Additional Storytelling Tips

  • Start with who you were you before the mat, and spread that over future blog posts.
  • Journalling (especially dream journals) is a great source of inspiration.
  • Leave room for people to comment or ask questions. The feedback will give you ideas for your next blog post or newsletter.
  • Always carry a notepad to jot down ideas for content. It acts like a download and trains your brain to look for inspiration everywhere. If you’re not able to stop and do that, take 10 minutes at the end of the day to write rough notes of what happened during your day. The ideas are sure to return.

Wrapping up

Through all the changing seasons of her life, yoga has kept calling to Jessica Stone, both off and on the mat. She shared her greatest lesson from it: as long as you stay flexible and open, it opens up possibilities.

You can connect with Jessica on her website.

Join in the discussion. Share your thoughts in the comments.