I don't want to be a "social media influencer"
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Orange Cup Corals (Balanophyllia elegans) at the Seattle Aquarium, ©2025 Nicole Bratt
Dear ones,
I’ve been considering this ubiquitous and trendy idea of “influencer” that has gained common parlance over the past 20 years. It’s one of those terms that didn’t exist when I was growing up, even though the concept of leveraging your fame to influence other people’s opinions, actions, and beliefs is far from new – social media has simply turned it into a frenzied cacophony.
I don’t want to be a “social media influencer.”
Honestly, I’m barely on social media at all anymore – and I’m there only semi-reluctantly. I don’t like how it eats my time and leaves me feeling like I’m not doing enough. I do, however, still believe it’s a fairly easy way to quickly share what I’m up to with my circle of friends, and vice versa. Although it’s absolutely questionable if “the algorithms” (another one of those trendy terms) even share that info with my friends anymore – or if those friends are even on social media at all.
But here’s the thing: I do hope to inspire and engage.
I want to inspire my clients and students by holding attentive space with care and curiosity. By being a good listener. By reminding them that they are enough and that how they show up matters. By creating an environment where they feel safe and empowered to remember their best self.
I want to give them permission to slow down – because no one else is! I want to help them sense what deliberately slowing down feels like in their body, in their mind, in their heart – to be in languid exploration for exploration’s sake. And I want to foster self-kindness and curiosity when they are in it.
Because slowing down isn’t just a practice – it’s an antidote to the pace that modern life seems to demand. It’s harder than we think – to slow down. To give ourselves permission to embody rest. Permission to listen to our inner wisdom. Permission to make different choices than the ones we’ve been told are the only way. Permission to turn off auto-pilot. To experiment. To play. To explore new possibilities for movement, for restoration, for life.
And in this is creativity, discernment, and power.
When we are weary, distracted, or overwhelmed, those things are in short supply.
In my work, I hope to give people permission to step outside of the narrow confines that culture, capitalism, and productivity have built around us.
You might just see students in my classes rolling around, eyes closed, or lying luxuriously on the floor in a pile of props.
Ah, yes! And. I guarantee you that in that is the transformative power to re-align with their inner moral compass, to get clear on how to use their precious time and energy, and then to get back out there and show up to do their important work in this world.
THAT is the kind of influence I want to have – the kind that changes the world to be a more kind, humane, just, and joy-full place.
Dreaming it into reality,
Nicole
Autumn Recipe Alert!
Baked Chard Salad With Cranberries from The NYTimes
Made it this week because it used a lot of the veg that was in my CSA box (including a huge head of cabbage) – and it is SO SO GOOD! An instant hit at our house! (I did swap the farro because I’m gluten-free, but it was delish!)
*Photo credit of the NYT Cooking recipe!
My Essential Yoga Therapy Applications of Yoga Therapy graduating class with our faculty and mentors, June 2025, ©Aria Peterman