Hello
I'm Katya
I am a teacher, writer, traveler, entreprenuer and social
justice advocate. I lead with my heart. I'm on a journey to
live a beautiful life an I'd love for you to join me.
Here’s a glimpse into my story:
When I was in first grade, I got really sick with the chicken pox. Hospitalization-for-a-week sick. While what I mostly remember from that time is my sister punking me for the free mini-soda cans I got with my hospital meals and a friendly, super-tall nurse named Thor, I also remember the way my teacher, Ms. Gomez made me feel.
One mid-week afternoon, my mom interrupted my feverish haze by presenting me with gifts from my class. Ms. Gomez had every student write me a note and sent along a jumbo sized stuffed dog whom became my childhood companion, Gubby.
While I didn’t have the words or wellness to express the meaningfulness of this act, I was aware of the swell in my chest. A moment of 6 year old clarity: I would be a teacher.
Fresh out of college, I made my first grade dreams come true. From teaching the miracle of metamorphosis to preschoolers, to miraculously surviving high school dances as a chaperone, I put my best food forward as my own version of Ms. Gomez.
Seven years into my teacher journey, I experienced some life upheavals: the end of a fourteen-year relationship and the tragic death of a dear friend. The one-two punch of these events knocked me to the ground. In the realm of that grounded emptiness, I took a look around. I examined my life.
Was I living with intention?
Not fully — I was overworking and overbooking myself. I was (and had been for quite some time) pushing down desires to live an expansive, bold life. Who was / to live a non-traditional life? Who was I to honor my desires and explore the world?
Who was I, not to?
A little voice inside repeated this whisper: it’s time to make a change.
I listened.
I quit my job as a fourth grade teacher (and all the little side jobs that come with a teacher’s salary), sold my car, donated a bunch of furniture and clothes, moved out of my apartment and bought a one-way ticket to Rome.
I used the funds I’d initially been saving to buy a home to explore our world for a year, meeting beautiful people and places along the way.
Traveling around the world solo for a year took courage, openness, and deep trust in my inner voice.
I learned these truths:
When we open ourselves to the world, the world opens itself to us.
Everything we need exists within us already. We have the answers.
Gratitude works wonders beyond measure.
What you seek is seeking you.
Rumi
Halfway through my year of travel, I spent two weeks in Northern India on a yoga retreat. This experience transformed me so much so that I created my own yoga retreat company, Travel Soul Yoga.
Running a business cost me my comfort zone but gifted me connections to incredible people around the world.
At the beginning of 2020, I tripled my investment in Travel Soul Yoga and took bold action to expand the business — launching more retreats in one year than in the previous two years combined. Weeks before our first retreat of the year on the Amalfi Coast, travel shut down…as did the business.
Cue another pivot.
While on a walk with my mom during the first few months of shutdown, I found myself saying, “I’m doing Cocoon Work.”
While I had no idea where the phrase came from, I knew what I meant. I was referring to the sitting, the journaling, the meditating, the mulling over. The quiet, the dark, the murkiness of transformation.
I’m still doing Cocoon Work today.
I created the Cocoon Work podcast to explore the world of self-transformation and to share my journey with you.
I hope you’ll come along for the ride and realize that you are here to live a big, bountiful life that is the fullest expression of YOU.
Thanks for being here, Katz
