Today we’d like to introduce you to Tracy King.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
This first person to lead me through meditation was very smart: she didn’t tell me I was going to meditate. If she had, I would have laughed. That meditation changed my life.
It was at the end of my first Hatha Yoga class. I held all of the common misconceptions about meditation, including the idea that it was too hard for a Type A personality like me to make my thoughts stop. But they did. It was an amazing experience. (I know now that my experience is unusual, and as a meditation teacher myself, I encourage students to not expect to stop their thoughts and experience altered states of consciousness when first starting to meditate.)
That first yoga class was in a small dance studio that I had just opened in Leander. I taught couples dancing at night and mommy-and-me classes during the day. I hired others to teach yoga and Zumba.
That first meditation opened a very different life path for me. After developing my yoga and meditation practice, I decided to combine my love of dance with the healing arts and enrolled in a Chakradance Facilitator training. As a part of that, I completed a Chakradance 9 week cycle, moving through one chakra each week, empowering me to heal and balance my own energy system. That training triggered a fast-track spiritual awakening.
As a child, I saw things that I was told were my imagination. I had direct experiences of other people’s feelings and emotions and knew things that I had no way of knowing. I shut a lot of those perceptions down. I had a fairly normal childhood and early adulthood but was always drawn to the metaphysical and mythological. I can look back on my life, my choices, and my path and see how all of it prepared me for right now.
Initiated by that Chakradance Facilitator training in Fall 2014, my spiritual awakening was fast and furious. Spiritual awakening is hard. While many may think it is all love and light and unicorns, my spiritual awakening fast-tracked healing of my wounding and shadow with little space or grace. I am now divorced with children. Many of my day-to-day circumstances have changed. Many of my relationships have changed. But in all of those difficulties are huge lessons and growth.
During this awakening, my intuitive gifts expanded exponentially. I had no guide or mentor during this experience and didn’t know where to turn. So I read. And read and read some more. I weeded out the information that didn’t resonate, found teachers, and started to make sense of some of it. I’ve learned to enjoy the mystery of what doesn’t make sense.
I continue to be awe-struck by the wonder and beauty of it all. I am clear that I am here to create new paradigms, to create new ways of being, and to express more love and authenticity. I am clear I am here to help and empower people.
So that I could safely and authentically help others, I sought out experts. I studied many healing modalities and intuitive tools to develop and grow my gifts. I am a continual student, and I am constantly learning and mastering more.
In 2015, I stopped teaching dance and started offering individual healing and intuitive guidance sessions and group Chakradance workshops. For the next three years, I continued to grow and learn, expanding experience, expertise, and my healing facilitation practice.
In May 2018, I joined the Meditation Bar team as a Sound Bath Practitioner and Meditation Leader so that I could more easily offer group events. In a surprising turn of events in May 2019, I bought Meditation Bar and settled into studio ownership again. Now, I am navigating both my private healing practice and Meditation Bar through the current challenges and uncertainty of a global pandemic.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I’m pretty certain that the most meaningful transformation comes from challenges. I am so grateful for the privileges I’ve had. I have had struggles and challenges, too. But, I always work to find the lessons and growth from them.
Being a business owner is not easy, in general. It’s like being in college. Your work is never done–there’s always something you can be doing for the business. So, creating a work/life balance is challenging. While there are many blessings from following your dreams to build your own business, it usually takes a number of years and is difficult financially. Small business ownership is usually not the route to huge riches.
The most obvious and biggest challenge I’ve experienced as owner of Meditation Bar is the pandemic. In February of 2020, Meditation Bar had created a schedule and menu of services that made it profitable. And, then, we had to stop offering in-person classes and move what we could to an online platform. That required a new skill set and new operating systems. Our revenue plummeted to one-seventh of what it was pre-pandemic. Honestly, it would have cost less to close the business down and just pay the rent, but we know that we offer people ways to manage stress and feel better.
We have added in-person events back to the schedule and were about to expand those offerings when Austin moved into stage four. So, right now, we are continuing to offer online classes and working on ways to continue to safely offer in-person events.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Meditation Bar has deep roots in the Austin community. Meditation Bar opened in the Fall of 2015 after its founders, Cathy Bonner, Lauren Foreman, Joene Grissom, and Leslie Strickler, had all experienced the many positive effects of meditation in their own lives. Cathy Bonner (who served as Executive Director of the Texas Department of Commerce under Governor Ann Richards) says, “We started Meditation Bar because we believe meditation is for everyone who needs it and we believe everyone needs it.”
Ownership has changed, but the business has six years of experience and experimentation, and we have landed on a combination of meditation and healing services that matches Austin’s needs. We are proud of the variety in our classes: from secular to mystical; traditional to high-tech.
We know that meditation is a powerful way to feel better. It has been scientifically shown to enhance people’s lives in so many ways. We have seen and experienced for ourselves how meditation transforms and heals. Meditation is life-changing.
It is our mission to make meditation accessible…as simple as stepping into a bar and ordering a drink. We have created a space for community (both virtually and in-person) where you can learn how to meditate and learn more about yourself, a place to be seen and heard, a space for like-minded, like-hearted people wanting to create their best lives.
We are also proud of our Sound Spa: sound baths in a spa-like and serene atmosphere. Sound Spa participants enjoy complete comfort on massage tables with plenty of cushions, props, and blankets. With event sizes between two and seven participants, no one feels cramped or crowded. Our studio environment includes high-quality aromatherapy and lighting chosen with intention. No two sound events are the same as they are designed with both technical skill and intuition to create an experience unique to the needs and energy of each class.
What are your plans for the future?
Our highest priority is to continue to develop our Sound Spa: sound baths in a spa-like and serene atmosphere. Sound Spa participants enjoy complete comfort on massage tables with plenty of cushions, props, and blankets. With event sizes between two and seven participants, no one feels cramped or crowded. Our studio environment includes high-quality aromatherapy and lighting chosen with intention. No two sound events are the same as they are designed with both technical skill and intuition to create an experience unique to the needs and energy of each class.
The Sound Spa is new and evolving–the potential is so exciting. We are also expanding our retail shop and offering private shopping appointments with a crystal and sacred space expert. Now that we have all of the systems in place, we will continue to offer livestreamed classes, expanding our ability to share meditation beyond Austin.
We are planning to create packages of recorded meditations from our recorded class library. Mindfulness, Focus, Intention, Abundance, Divine Feminine, and Mystic meditations are just a few of the packages that will be available soon.
We have just purchased a Silent Sound system and are excited about its potential. Silent Sound (aka Silent Disco) offers wireless, noise-canceling headphones with music and voiceover. With this system, participants can experience the benefits of binaural beats with a live guided meditation, for example. There are many other exciting possibilities with Silent Sound.
We are thrilled to offer Chakradance with the Silent Sound system. Chakradance is a moving meditation. And so much more. It is a globally-practiced, empowering combination of meditative movement, Jungian psychology, and a deep understanding of the chakra energy system. Participants move through the ancient chakra system to awaken the body, expand the mind, and call out to the soul. It blends free-flowing movements with specially-sourced music and chakra-specific imagery to help participants free the energy in the body and open to a deeper experience of life. We know that the silent sound system will really enhance participants’ experiences of the internal journey created in Chakradance.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@meditationbar.com
- Website: https://www.meditationbar.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meditation_bar/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/meditatebar
Image Credits
Genevieve Daniell, ROMP Photography
