Meet Erica Mather | Author & Yoga Therapist

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

Hi Erica, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
As a younger person, I don’t really think I thought much about risk. I was driven by passion, and at each phase of my professional life, somehow worked things out. I think there are a few factors that contributed to this. 1. Having an entrepreneurial spirit. 2. Coming from a family that encouraged creativity and inventiveness. 3. Having overall socio-economic stability. As I’ve matured, other factors and considerations have come into play. 1. Can I afford to lose the time/money.energy put into an idea. 2. Longterm planning–if my venture doesn’t succeed, where will that land me? Finally, I’ve also learned to trust my instinct when taking a risk. Sometimes my intuition alerts me that something IS possible, and tells me to navigate the stormy seas. One of my coaches says, “success is when preparedness is met with opportunity.” SEEING the opportunity and having a gut feeling and trusting yourself to take the steps forward is as important a skill to cultivate as any data-driven analysis of a risk assessment.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I am an author, yoga therapist, and corporate trainer in the area of weight inclusion. I help people fell better in and about their bodies. When someone tells me that they are in less pain because of me and our work together, this makes me proud and excited. There is a lot of suffering in the world, and anything I can do to reduce that is worthwhile to me.

My road as a yoga therapist began with my own chronic illness, migraine headaches. I began practicing yoga 20 years ago to try to help myself with this illness. This set me on a path of studying yoga, the body, and becoming a teacher and yoga therapist in New York City. I can’t say that it has been an “easy” path, but it also hasn’t been one of tremendous struggle. I’ve put one foot in front of the other, steadily, always keeping in my sights my goal, believing that I CAN, and taking setbacks as the come, not as personal affronts, but as normal things that happen. While getting a foothold in NYC as a teacher was difficult, I must say becoming a published author, and the process of finding and agent, selling the book to a publisher, and supporting the life of the book has been far more challenging.

My brand is about helping people uncover the true meaning of “health” for them, and THIER bodies. My own journey of discovery and discovering on this topic informs how I work with others, which is in a very personalized way. Each and every human on the body is unique and their bodies and the beings within will interact in a very unique way. It is my privilege and honor to help interested people become their own body’s best friend.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I LOVE my neighborhood on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and I would take them for a walk in Carl Shurtz Park on the Esplanade along the East River. If they were a close friend, I’d plan a picnic, and we would sit outside on the river and eat and drink, or I would invite them back to my place and cook for them, and take them to the rooftop for drinks at sundown. If they preferred to eat out, I would stick in my neighborhood and explore global cuisine. As you probably know NYC has wonderful restaurants. Shabu shabu? Ceviche? Oh, you like pizza? Well, let’s take a tour!

New York is a city for walking, so I would organize walks to and in all of the important parks. Central Park. The Highline. Madison Square Park. If someone was feeling very fit, we would walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and go to the Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Then, we sit and eat and drink. Whatever neighborhood we find ourselves in, there will be something incredible.

I hope my friends like walking and eating and just popping in and out of shops and going where the city takes us. I think it’s best not to have to firm a plan. Getting places “on time” in NYC creates stress! Go with the flow…

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 would like to give a shoutout to my business coach, Jason Campbell, of Zen Wellness. We’ve been in conversation about yoga, wellness, business, entrepreneurship, real estate, investing, and spirituality since 2006. I’m incredibly grateful for his education, guidance, support, and would not be the person I am without him.

Website: www.ericamather.com

Instagram: @Erica_Mather

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erica-mather-a282b24/

Twitter: @Erica_Mather

Facebook: @erica,mather