Welcome to the final installment of our 8-week summer series, The Womanly Arts Unplugged, in honor of our upcoming course, Virtual Pleasure Boot Camp! This week, Satya, a Mastery Grad from New York City, joins us to teach about the Womanly Art of Inviting Abundance!

Satya, Age 31 – Fashion Entrepreneur & Creative Director

This has single handedly been the hardest thing for me to grasp and practice. For a long time, I actually thought I was practicing it. I was raised in a progressive spiritual thinking family, and my Dad taught us to visualize as kids. My understanding was to get what you desired, you just need to see it, smell it exactly as you want it…then it will show up as planned.

The limitation with this approach to Abundance insinuates that I have 100% control and I can get anything I want, as long as I know exactly what it is and go after it. I had many successes thanks to this strategy.

At Mama Gena’s, when a woman states a desire, the response is, “And so it shall be, or something even better.”

As I see it, The Art of Inviting Abundance lies in the “or something even better”. For me, the “even better” has been about letting go, listening and receiving. This goes for every area of my life, not just money.

I’ve learned that The Art of Inviting Abundance is actually about allowing the divine to take the lead. Practicing this Art allows me to experience all that comes to me with love, gratitude, and of course (in my case) a PARTY HAT.

I came to the School of Womanly Arts feeling just fine (thank you very much), but deep down knowing there could be so much MORE. I actually didn’t sign up because I felt I needed to change my life. I came in skeptical, ready to network, and learn a few tricks. I thought I would meet some great gals who’d love what I do (hats & hosiery).

Feathers boas? No thank you. That’s for that girl over there… Anger, resentment? me? No. Thank you. Desires? Yes but I’m really focused on being grateful for what I have, so thank you but I’m okay and perfectly happy where I am. And Men? Well I already have a great guy, and I adore men, thanks!

The things that have shifted since I began the program have rocked me to my core. Little did I know my studies at SWA would shake up my foundation so profoundly, and bring me things that I didn’t even know I desired.

It was only a year ago that my life felt chaotic, and my goals unachievable and so far away…

The feeling of scarcity was a constant theme in my life. Struggle? Um, yes. It felt like I was pushing boulders up very steep mountains, daily.

Last year this time was the hardest. My business was operating out of a 200 square foot studio. I remember looking at my business bank account, and seeing there was less than $1000 in it.

Of course…my right hand full-time employee gave me notice. Soon after, my part-timer was headed off to travel and my intern was going back to school. Leaving just me.

My desires were so big, but I just didn’t have faith in them. It felt HARD.

It got to a point where I was considering giving up my company entirely, and I was actually looking for a new job.

However, I am proof that things can shift very very quickly, and of course in perfect time and EVEN better than planned.

Believe it or not, it was from this rock bottom place that my practice in The Art of Inviting Abundance really took off, because that was the place I had to visit, to finally let go and surrender to what life truly wanted of me.

Tip #1: Get Transparent, Honest, and GET Real

One big turning point for me was when I finally got honest and completely transparent with my new friend Rachel. Even amidst all of this rupture, everyone thought my businesses were taking off, and things looked great on the outside. My hats were even were even in Oprah Magazine, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar and anyone would have thought everything was perfect.

I finally confided in this friend what was actually happening — I was in debt, I hadn’t paid myself since I started my business (which was causing tension at home), and my businesses were just barely breaking even. I was so embarrassed, and so relieved, to tell her the truth.

Even when it looks like backwards movement, transparency inside of sisterhood is always the first step. It’s one of the things I value most about the Sister Goddess Community and tools taught at the school.

Getting transparent led me to be honest but it also allowed me to build an incredible business on a new foundation.

Tip #2: Stop doing and completely surrender.

As everything started to unravel, I knew enough to stop fighting it. I took a week off, and headed West to visit my Mom, rest, and find some balance.

It was a really big turning point — I had big visions of where I wanted to go, but so much fear about taking on the responsibility. I was too afraid to live big. I was seeing and living too small to actually show the universe I was ready to receive.

It seems counter intuitive, but part of practicing the Art of Inviting Abundance can mean doing less. The less I do, the more in my feminine I am, and the more open I am to receiving.

Don’t get me wrong; doing is important when action is needed. Things don’t always just fall into your lap. (See Tip #6 below.)

However – in this case, and so often, the doing is actually inhibiting the receiving. Sometimes, you’ve got to stop the car and ask for directions.

Note: this doesn’t always have to mean taking a week off. On a daily basis, when I’m feeling out of the flow, I’ll just go out for a little adventure. No plans, no watch. I just take some time to unplug, roam, and listen to what comes up in my head. (Side note: you actually know everything…give yourself some space and time to think.)

Tip #3: Desire, without limits.

One morning while I was out there, my mom sat next to me in bed and asked “If there were NO limits to your desires, what would your life look like?”

I told her the first thing that came to mind . . . “I want a Parisian Style Atelier in NYC where we would make hats in the back and have a gorgeous showroom in the front, where our clients could shop, meet up and play dress up.” At that time, with less than 1K in the bank, no employees, and a 200 square foot studio, this seemed impossible.

Yet, just allowing myself to feel my undiluted desires enabled me to feel excitement again, finally.

All of the sudden, shifts started to happen. Just stating that big desire, the energy started to move, and my desires became the fuel for my actions.

Tip #4: Be willing to take risks (big ones).

I got back to NYC and began looking for bigger space within my office building. I found one that was 3 times the size and 4 times as expensive as my current studio. I thought, “Okay, let’s do this, it will work out.” I was getting ready to sign the lease and was mentally preparing for how was going to make it happen. I was getting juiced up and jazzed about it, when WHAM! I got a phone call that would shift my life forever…

I received a phone call letting me know that the 5,000 square foot factory that was manufacturing my hats in the fashion district of Manhattan went out of business, overnight.

My first reaction was, “Well, shit! That’s a sign. I’m not supposed to make hats.”

Luckily, my husband Jeffery had a different thought. He said, “Satya what if this is your opportunity? The thing you’ve been waiting for your whole life? STOP giving up so easily on your dreams. You say you want this to take off, but what are you going to do about it?

How could I buy this place? I had no team. It was more money than I had in my business account, personal bank account, and savings account put together and multiplied many times over. There was no way!

I really didn’t know how I was going to pull it off, but at the same time, a part of me knew it was going to happen and I had complete faith.

I needed to raise a lot of money, very quickly. My mom and dad thought I was crazy. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“YES!” I said.

Guess what happened next? One of my best friends decided to invest in me and my company, and give the exact amount I needed to buy the factory. Guess what happened after that? He backed out the day before the deal was supposed to be signed.

Tip #5: Trust the “something better”, no matter what.

At this point, so many people would say, “It’s not meant to be. Let it go.” But in my practice of Inviting Abundance, I just knew in my heart something better was coming up.

I felt that someone else was going to show up and help and very quickly many people showed up. I launched and rocked a kickstarter campaign that blew past our goal by almost a 100K, in 30 days.

If I were holding on tight to the vision I had originally, I wouldn’t have been able to let in something this much better.

Like a bar of soap, if you hold it too tight it will quickly jump out of your hands. That’s what fear and scarcity look like. Desiring big, with trust, and without attachment — that’s what abundance and flow look like.

When I allow my life to unfold, it does so better than even I can plan or force. That letting go part has been the hardest, but the greatest lesson I’ve ever learned.

Tip # 6: When it’s time, hustle.

Now I have the factory, we’ve cleaned it up, I have 7 employees and we are making a lot of money! My business is on track to do extremely well. In the last 9 months, I have had a huge feature in the Wall street Journal, a gorgeous photo in the NY Times, the TODAY show did a great feature on me and my business, I have a feature coming out soon in Domino Magazine and in the very near future some incredibly influential celebrities will be wearing SATYA TWENA hats as they go down the runway this fashion week.

This is a success story. It’s kind of a magical story, isn’t it? But I want to acknowledge that in addition to the surrender, the receiving, trusting the possibilities of the “something better” . . . hustle is also an important ingredient.

Once I was clear on my desires, I had the fuel I needed to take action. Hustle can be pleasurable and turned on, of course, but in many ways, my business was built brick by brick, and I continue to pour a whole lot of time, sweat, and love into it.

Just a few weeks ago, I stayed at the factory until 11pm and showed up at 6:30 am the next morning . . . because the hat I was making for a celebrity needed to be perfect. And because going the extra mile, matters.

This is one of the things I love most about The Art of Inviting Abundance — it’s such a delicate, creative dance between letting go and showing up.

Tip # 7: Invest in YOU, and Pay it Forward.

Whether things are going well, or they aren’t flowing as you’d like, a huge part of Inviting Abundance is to put energy (and money) where you want to receive it.

I give that which I wish to receive. For example if I am feeling stuck with money, I give money to someone who may need it, or to someone who’s not expecting it. Or, I’ll I pay for the person behind me at the coffee shop. I’ll do something, anything, that feels good surrounding money, and enables me to pay it forward in some way.

I also invest in myself, so that I can keep going higher. Right now, for example, I love my life! My husband and I are more in love and turned on than we’ve ever been, and I’m filled to the brim with so much gratitude.

Yet, I don’t want to stop there. My desires are even bigger now. I want financial freedom while creating products that inspire women to live at a whole different level. I want to hire the most amazing team. I want to be able to have children, with time and flexibility to raise them the way I want to. I want to be a leader in my industry, my community and lead like a woman, standing tall in my femininity.

To do that, I know I need to plant myself in a situation conducive to those desires. I know I can’t do that alone. That’s why I’m doing Creation this year, actually. It’s a huge investment, for sure. But I know that when I invest in this way, I’m inviting that much and more abundance back into my life.

I’ll also invest in myself in little ways, to stay in the flow. Flowers on your desk. The accessory that makes you feel inspired and helps you play bigger. Nourishing food that makes you feel alive.

Whether you want to start flow, or keep flow, investing in yourself and paying it forward are so important.

Okay, now I’d love to hear from YOU! How are you doing in the Art of Inviting Abundance? Which tip resonates the most, and how can you apply it in your life? I hope to see you in the Sister Goddess community this Fall . . . I’ll be hanging out in Boot Camp, and playing full out in Creation as well – hope you’ll join me!

In case you missed it, check out Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of The Womanly Arts Unplugged. These inspiring posts about The Womanly Arts are our way of pre-partying for Virtual Pleasure Boot Camp, which is currently open for enrollment! Boot Camp is a distance-learning program that takes a woman deep inside each of the Arts. It includes live teleclasses with Mama Gena, carefully crafted weekly exercises, and a thriving online community. Click here for all the details!

**Note: Satya’s offline until later this week, but she looks forward to reading and responding to your comments as soon as she returns!