Party lovers, nocturnal animals, knowledgeable audiophiles, enthusiastic event-goers, festival freaks, and everybody in between – welcome home.
This new series under the name “The Story After” is where we’re going to be coming together and sharing the stories of the events that changed our lives.
What the heck happened last night, who did we run into, what was the highlight of the whole experience, were our outfits on point, and every other sweet little detail we cannot wait to tell our friends or flatmates the day after.
The list of people we’ve been eyeing for an interview is getting longer and longer, and you can also be a part of it! This is a space for anyone who’s ever attended an event (whether that’s a digital conference, a yoga retreat, a techno festival, or… you name it!) and has something to say about it.
How did it change your life? What did you learn? Who did you meet? What did you feel? Let’s talk about the connections we’ve made while we continue building new ones and co-create a memory book full of recollections we’d like to keep forever.
Who is Vihra Shopova?
I have a multi-passionate personality and I’ve grown to become one of those people who do many different things at the same time. I’m a dancer, a life design coach, a workshop facilitator, and a marketing strategist. It’s hard to put myself in just one box.
I’m also someone who isn’t afraid to follow their different interests while sharing my journey with others. I like to describe myself as an outdoor gal with freedom being one of my core values. So are honesty and authenticity. Through everything I do, I aim to empower others to share the most authentic version of themselves. I’m a Pisces with a Sagittarius ascendant, an ENFT personality, and a true talker.
What kickstarted your Life Design journey?
In 2019 I did a Design Thinking training. Design Thinking is a really interesting methodology that’s usually utilized in innovation as it helps coming up with innovative and creative solutions. Mostly it’s used in products and services in tech but I was curious to see how it can be applied in another context like self-development or personal life challenges.
At the end of that year, I also read a book that’s called “Designing your life” which was implementing exactly the Design Thinking journey to personal challenges. In this particular case, it was about helping students to realize what they are interested in learning and where they would want to put their focus after graduating from high school. This inspired me to start designing my life and sort of perceiving it as a design challenge if you will. I began asking myself questions like, “How do I want my life to look like in 5 years? How do I make that happen?”.
You can change every situation in every single aspect of your life just by changing your mindset or changing your behavior. It takes a lot of awareness, of course, but it does give you results.
What space does dancing hold in your life and career?
This is so cliché, but dancing has become a part of my life and a part of me.
I started dancing when I was 16 and I’ve been through different styles like hip hop, contemporary, improvisation, and even ballet for a short period of time. All of this I see kind of like learning a language. The same way you learn to speak a foreign language, you also teach your body to move in a particular way, to be able to do certain things, to hear the music and react to it.
Dancing became a huge part of my self-expression. Oftentimes when I am processing emotions or I really need to say something (to myself or to someone else), I dance. Sometimes the issues we are facing in our lives need to be released through the body and dancing helps with that. I love integrating it as a practice both in my personal and professional life.
When you think of kids, you know how they always start bumping a little bit or swinging from side to side the moment they hear music. Dancing is so natural to our bodies! But when we get older, we begin to experience shame, we worry about what others think of us, and we stop dancing the way we used to. That’s why people enjoy parties so much I think! A party environment creates a safe space for everyone to free their mind and express themselves through dancing and movement.
When you think of kids, you know how they always start bumping a little bit or swinging from side to side the moment they hear music. Dancing is so natural to our bodies! But when we get older, we begin to experience shame, we worry about what others think of us, and we stop dancing the way we used to. That’s why people enjoy parties so much I think! A party environment creates a safe space for everyone to free their mind and express themselves through dancing and movement.
What are some of the most valuable lessons you’ve learned from the people you coach?
A key lesson has been the idea that people have different timings and different ways of processing things. I need to act like a mirror and I can tell people what I see but I can never do the work for them and instead of them.
Sometimes I can get a bit impatient, especially when I see potential, but I’ve learned to cultivate understanding for everyone because my way won’t always be your way. It’s very easy to work with people who have a similar personality to mine because I feel like I can understand them better, but sometimes I work with completely different people, and I need to empathize and just remember that everyone has their own unique journey.
I also used to over-prepare for my sessions when I first started coaching. But over time I’ve realized that what I do is about being absolutely present with the other person. So it’s not about preparing a structure and making sure we’re following that structure together. It’s actually about me following the other person as we’re exploring together.
What’s your ultimate vision for the future?
I want people to be more aware of their mental health. As I am in this field professionally, this is also in my mission. I want to normalize therapy and going to coaches and having deep conversations.
I also would like to see more people going out of this hustle culture we’ve seen in the past couple of years. I believe we should be experiencing more and enjoying life more. We live in a very weird time where we’re constantly keeping ourselves busy and connected to many devices. I want us to go back a little bit and cultivate more human connection.
And as for myself, I just want to be healthy and have the courage to bring all my ideas to life. I want to do more in-person workshops, hold women’s circles, write a book at some point, develop my podcast, travel a lot… I guess I want to experience my life and also share it with others.
What’s your favorite part about connecting with people at offline events?
You have their full attention. In today’s world, we have dozens of notifications coming in from different apps, so being fully present with someone and giving them your full attention is like the biggest present you can give them.
When we’re together in person, we connect with each other in a totally different way. We also experience ourselves in a totally different way.
What’s one event that changed your life?
For three years in a row, I organized as a volunteer and also participated in an awesome festival in Copenhagen. It’s called Move Copenhagen and it’s all about different types of movement: slackline, yoga, dance, and more. I think it changed my perception of community as I was experiencing how we can create something meaningful together while working very closely with others.
For me, movement is such a key thing personally, so I felt connected with everyone that was present at the festival. Our phones were turned off most of the time, we were engaging in play and eating healthy food, and I felt very good and natural in my body and within myself.
What kind of experience would you like to provide and co-create for the people who will attend your Artist Development Masterclass on Dec. 11?
I would like to create space for people to connect with the vision that they have for themselves for the next year. The true vision.
We need to allow ourselves to dream big and believe that something bigger is possible for us. So I want everyone attending the masterclass to feel safe, to dream very big, and to share and connect in a deeper way with the other attendees. That often happens when you’re discussing your dreams and goals with others, so I’m positive this will happen!
I also just got inspired to ask everyone to switch off their phones, so we can be truly present during the workshop.
If you enjoyed this read, then you will probably enjoy Vihra’s upcoming Artist Development Masterclass on December 11th, 2021!
The workshop will mainly be helping us to set realistic goals for the new year while creating a vision of the future we would love to experience and build for ourselves. We will also discuss a variety of relevant topics while getting rid of perfectionism, staying motivated, and more.
Follow Vihra here: Instagram
