8 Billion Paths to Soulful Speaking (mini-sode)

In this mini-episode, Lauri explores the non-linear, deeply spiritual journey of speaking. Drawing on her experiences as an actor, theater teacher, and yoga student, she illustrates how growth doesn’t follow a straight line and how every speaker, whether seasoned or new, can honor their unique path. From overcoming bad habits to embracing authenticity, Lauri invites listeners to reconnect with their values and rediscover the magic of presence.

TAKEAWAYS:
Speaking is a Spiritual Path: Growth as a speaker isn’t linear. Your unique journey is “legit”, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned professional.

Honor Your Journey: A beginner can step directly into authenticity, while seasoned speakers can reconnect with presence and values to avoid stagnation.

Choose Authenticity Over Pizzazz: True connection comes from being genuine, not from relying on experience or perfected techniques.

Story Magic
A Soulful Speaking Playshop for loving rebels on a soul-driven mission.

Join me for Story Magic — a live, interactive Soulful Speaking Playshop where you’ll learn powerful secrets from the ancient art of theatre for telling engaging, dynamic stories.

Chapters

• 0:00 Setting the stage
• 2:42 Lessons from theater & yoga on individuality in growth
• 4:10 Two CEOs, Two Styles
• 6:02 Honor Your Journey – Embrace beginner's mind and reconnect with your values
• 6:55 Closing Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:08

Speaking is a spiritual path. It is not a linear path. Years ago, I used to teach theater students in a community college and, through budget cuts and whatnot, I eventually became the one who had the theater classes that had an A section, a B section, a C section, an E section. There wasn't a D, I don't know why, and somebody eventually asked me how on earth I was doing that. Because it seems like growth, transformation, acting, should always be linear, and I thought of my yoga teacher also a friend, jean Mazzei, who at the time when I did the yoga teacher training in 2016, would say there are 7 billion different people, 7 billion different paths. Well, now there are 8 billion different people and 8 billion different paths, and she started the whole yoga teacher training saying that I had more experience as a teacher. At that point, I had less experience than others in the room who had more experience with yoga, possibly even teaching yoga. Eight billion different people, eight billion different paths, and what that meant in theater and this is true for speakers too is that one person can be in the E section. They've taken a lot of theater classes and done a lot of roles. They might also have a lot of bad habits that they've built up along the way or habits that are no longer serving them. Somebody else might be taking their first acting class ever or their first speaking class. They don't have as much experience as the other person and they're also a fresh and clean slate. They have no bad habits, so they can start out building a really strong foundation and habits that serve them and serve their transformation and their growth and development. Sometimes people think if they're getting work as an actor, that means they don't need to work on their acting. It's really common in the theatre for men to fall into that trap because there are more roles for men than there are for women. Women tend to work on their craft and on being better and better all the time. Men in the theater don't always need to do that. Sometimes speakers are going through a period where their topic is really popular, so they're not really working on their craft.

Speaker 1: 4:04

Years ago I was working as an executive assistant in the Silicon Valley and I was the executive assistant back-to-back to two different CEOs Before I was his executive assistant. One of them, the original CEO of this company, had so much experience speaking. He knew how to do the outside things like what are the words and when should I pause? And a friend of mine and I both actors would sit in the back and make fun of him and I'm not proud of this now and it was like he had a lot of people fooled because he had so much experience that he kind of knew how to draw on the experience and not really be present in his body and not really be connected to the crowd and not really be connected to the crowd.

Speaker 1: 5:10

Meanwhile, the other boss that I was the executive assistant to eventually took over for him. He became CEO and he had this soul sucker or I'll never be as good as the other boss, soul sucker and there's a kernel of truth in that. He would never be able to do it like the other CEO and trying was only going to result in dissatisfaction for everybody. He had a completely a actually much more genuine, connected to us style.

Speaker 1: 5:48

So, whether you are someone who has given 10,000 keynotes or someone who is just about to appear on your first podcast as a guest, take a moment and honor yourself for where you are and what you bring. If you're just starting out, you are someone who can start out and step straight into the doorway of authenticity and skip all of the pizzazz and the moves that some people might be trapped in without pouring their heart and soul into it. If you are someone who has given 10,000 keynotes, honor yourself for the decades of experience that you probably have and also reconnect to your values the presence that only you can bring, and give yourself a little beginner's mind and see what magic gets created when you honor exactly where you are on this non-linear spiritual path that is speaking.