So, what’s with the name?
Little Dipper Yoga and Therapeutic Bodywork officially began in June of 2015 and, since before I really even opened up shop, I’ve had more than a few people ask me, essentially, “What’s with the name?” The answer to that question starts with a seed that was planted 5 or 6 years ago.
I was going through a particularly hard, sad, and — in many ways — dark time, but in the midst of that darkness, I was also discovering tremendous guidance, healing, and growth.
That juxtaposition of darkness and transformation got me thinking about the night sky and about the relationship between darkness and stars. I realized that for literally thousands of years, people had been using stars to help them navigate — to find perspective on their journeys and to figure out how to avoid getting lost.
Darkness is what makes it possible to actually see the stars and, therefore, to chart your course.
I took comfort in the thought that, although times were dark and I felt incredibly afraid and unsure of what was supposed to come next, that darkness itself was what would ultimately allow me to find my path. To grow, to transform. Because the darkness revealed the stars.
This lesson (and my love for the stars) never left me. Years later, as I was brainstorming names for my practice, I decided I liked the metaphor offered by constellations. A constellation is really just a group of stars — isolated points of light that can often seem unrelated to one another. Until someone helps you see the bigger picture — the connections between those individual stars are what give shape and meaning to the whole.
As a practitioner, facilitating connection for my clients — connection to others, to the world, and, ultimately, to themselves — is what lights me up. Add in the fact that the very last star in the Little Dipper’s tail is Polaris — the North Star — and I realized Little Dipper was the perfect name for my practice.
I use a heart-centered and holistic approach to create the sacred space necessary for clients to connect to their truest, deepest selves.
To discover their own Polaris — to find their true north.
So that, in the midst of darkness and difficulty, they can stay present to that soft, small voice inside. The voice that knows exactly what the next right thing is and, as we simply and bravely do one next right thing after another, the voice that will chart our course and, over time, guide us all the way home.