Ep 3: In conversation with Imogen Joyce

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Welcome to the All Is Wellness Podcast with me, Emma Naylor. Join us in open and honest conversations with wellness professionals and industry experts. Welcome back to the All Is Wellness Podcast. This week's guest is Imogen Joyce. Imogen is an NLP practitioner, mindset coach, founder of the Imogen Method and Imagine youe podcast.

Hi.

How are you?

I'm good. How are you?

Yeah, I'm amazing. Thank you. Good.

Thank you so much for being here. I'm so excited to have you on the podcast this week.

Yeah, of course. I'm so excited to be here. I'm just so excited for this podcast. I'm proud of you. It's amazing.

Thank you so much. Imogen and I met last summer at a mutual friend's birthday drinks. We instantly just got on really, really well and connected on so many different levels. And I was so, so intrigued by her story. I followed her on Instagram for a while and absolutely loved what she was doing as a mindset coach. Her story inspired me so much, so I decided to message her to see how we could work together and how she could help me. Imogen, I'd absolutely love to talk a little bit about your journey on how you became a mindset coach.

Yeah, of course. So I was actually a professional dancer. So I've been a professional dancer. I worked on cruise ships. I was traveling around the world. It was amazing. And so I grew up in the entertainment world. I. Even though I always say I was like an underdog, I didn't actually start dancing until a really, really late age. But I didn't do well in school. I hated school. I hated, I suppose, education. I just wasn't very good at it. I always saw myself as not very clever. And I, yeah, I did dance in very low key. Like, I did a bit of street dancing, I did a bit of ballroom, but nothing, like, on the serious level. I didn't do exams and all the different grades and things like that. And then I got into uni and I was going to go to uni, and to be honest, I just made up a subject that I could maybe do, and I was like, what do I even do? Like, every. It's just the thing to go to uni. Like, okay, let's just pick something that I might have an interest in and go do it. And there was just this gut feeling inside of me, like, this is not for you. You don't want to do this. You hate this kind of education. So then I just didn't go. And I had a year where I was very Very lost. I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. And I was still going to this street dance class and I, My teacher there actually danced with this group. They're called All Stars Cheerleaders. And when I say cheerleaders, I mean like sports dancing. Like you're dancing at a football pitch or a rugby pitch. But we actually did loads of. Loads of different events. I did, like rugby sevens, I did performing at Wembley, Old Trafford. And the group of girls, it was amazing. So amazing. A group of girls there had all dance and that was like their thing. And I was like, what? Like, what is this life? Like, how can you be a dancer? I just didn't even know. And then one of them actually danced for Disneyland Paris and she was being Snow White. And I was mind blown, like, baffled, like, how is that a job? Like, how do you get paid to do that? And I'd always done acting. When I was younger, I was every summer I was at summer school and did acting and I loved that. And, yeah, something just clicked to me and I was like, this, this could be something. Like, this is for me. So I just rocked up at a Disneyland Paris audition. Never really done anything before and had to do this character round. And I gave my name in. Like, you have to go over to them, they check your name, they check your height and make sure, like, you're putting in all the right measurements. And he put this little star by my name. And I was like, God, have I got cut already? I haven't even done anything. I've been cut. But actually, halfway through the dancing rounds, they took me into this other small studio, put a wig on me, put my makeup on and dressed me up as Sleeping Beauty. And it was just crazy. It was just something. And there's one thing I will never, ever forget, and this is a little insight into the industry that I just had to stand there and I'm not even. This must have been, I'm gonna say, about eight minutes where I had to stand there in front of these two casting directors and they just spoke about me in French, like pointing at different bits about me, like pointing at even bits of my face, my body. It was just crazy. But I actually came home, ended that, wasn't sure what was going to happen. Then I got a letter saying that you've got through and you're going to be slightly sleep in Beauty. You're going to be in all the shows and the parades. And I don't know how somehow at 17 years old, I was either 16 or 17 I knew that if I wanted this to be a career and I wanted to make something of this, I needed to go train properly. How I knew that I do not know. But I actually turned it down because I thought I don't want to do Disney, come home and not be able to do anything else because I don't have the like, you know, the dancing ability, like to be up there in this career. So then I'm not even joking, I searched on Google Dance college, like how to train as a dancer and all these colleges came up and I was like, well, I don't even know what this means, but I'm just going to look into it. And then the first two I found, I was so, so late for the audition. You what? I saw you could either do one year or do three years. And I thought, oh, you know, I'm a hard worker, so. So I just do it all in one year. I'm sure I could do that. And then I. Yeah, it was just one that I was late. I missed all of them. And this one I emailed them and I was like, I'm so sorry I'm late. Like, please, please can you let me audition? So they did. And she was like, yeah, yeah you can. And I had to have a ballet outfit. Never done ballet before, literally a week before. Got looked on the Internet like, what do people wear for ballet? And got this ballet. Honestly, it makes me realize there's one thing I will say about me is that it's the drive I have. I don't. Yeah, it's like this was a real like moment for me that I don't take the external and let that define me. I just go for it, like very, very blindly. And I had to perform a dance, a solo and I did one from my sports cheerleading group to Poison by Nicole Scherzinger. Like, oh my God. And then I had to obviously sing a song. And it was a musical theater college and I went in there and you're supposed to have sheet music. And I went into the singing room and she asked me for sheet music. And I was like, no, no, I've got a cd. So I gave a CD of a backing track to Amy Winehouse and I sang an Amy Winehouse song. And somehow I say somehow. And I always did play myself as the underdog, but I got in and what the one year was, was actually a foundation course. They called it a pre vocational course to get into the three years. So the three years was like the main diploma. I had no idea. I just thought I'll do the one year. And then obviously eventually I got after that one year. I then got into the three years and I did work so, so hard. I played the. Like, I'm the underdog a lot, but I worked really, really hard. Every time we finished, I'll come home and do more like ballet exercise, because I always saw myself as the worst, but I wouldn't let that stop me do it. And then I. After college, I was just like, I want to do a cruise. I wanted to travel. I'd never really been on holiday. Like, I've got a really big family and we'd went on holiday every year, but never abroad. And I just saw the traveling life. And on a cruise ship, you do like eight shows. And I just thought, that's just incredible. And then I just auditioned, audition, got cut after cut, went on that whole journey and then eventually got my job as on a cruise ship. And then I was on there for five years just doing. I did six ships. And then obviously you're on there for seven months, you come home for four weeks, go back on another one. And yeah, it was amazing. And then I finished that and I just had this call in that I wanted to make something more of myself and just really set up my own life. I've never been very good at working for someone else. Never been someone who can be in a job. And I'm just someone that my life is definitely passion, like, passion drives me, ambition drives me. And I just saw that. What can my passion be? What is my passion? And then I came across coaching. And when I actually found this, I cried. I honestly cried because I just thought, I can't believe again, this is a job. Like, I've been everyone's agony my whole life. And I love it. I love showing people their light. I love even if someone's in a really dark place, I love helping them see their beauty, their own individual beauty. And I've always been quite naturally positive. So I thought, if I can help people do this and I can help people feel this way about themselves, then I've, like made it in life. That's the biggest making I can have. And then, yeah, I grew my coaching business and here I am today.

Wow. I mean, just hearing you talk about so passionately about, you know, dancing, having no experience and just kind of taking that plunge and making it work all the way to, you know, finding this career and passion as a coach just kind of wanted to touch briefly. I know you mentioned about when you were in the audition room and you had those two directors staring at you for kind of eight minutes. How as a 17 year old did that affect you mentally and emotionally? Having these two people that in your mind you probably felt they're judging me on, you know, whether I look a certain way, whether I, you know, can fit this certain role, whether I'm tall enough, whether I'm skinny enough, whether I'm too blonde, whether I'm too brunette, whatever it was. How do you think that affected you and what kind of impact did that have during your dance career?

Oh God, massively. That was my first insight into. This is all about how you look. And the reason I had a star next to my name is because they do it solely on your face and you'll. They have different requirements. They even measured my face because obviously in for Disneyland Paris they have. There would be like, sorry to spoil it for the kids out there, but there would be like six sleeping beauty, six snow whites, you know what I mean? And they all had to look similar because one of them would do a parade and then the next parade, it'll be a different one. So I understood it on that respect, but it was just the pure judgment and I had very, very low confidence as a child. Anyway, like, to be honest, I still have that in me where I'm in a group of people, I'm not the first one to speak. I'm not the like loud, outrageous one because I am shy. I'm quite introverted. And that was the first point of oh my God, this is all about how you are. And then that just got bigger and bigger and bigger As I went through college. It was just crazy.

Yeah, I can imagine like hearing that as a 17 year old, even as a 29 year old, when you feel like someone's talking about you, it's the worst feeling because you don't know what they're saying. Especially in a different language. Being so new to this whole entertainment world, I can imagine that must have been such a daunting experience, you know. Absolutely. Well done for making this massive, massive change. You know, going from being a dancer and thinking that was your passion and that's what you wanted to do to suddenly making this massive change and going, actually this is my calling. I know I want to help others. How did you make that transition and what sort of fears did you have around that?

Yeah, it was like I absolutely loved dancing and I felt like I knew that was something I was always meant to do and I loved performing. That was my thing. Like I never saw myself as the best dancer, but performing was like my thing. I went overboard with the facial expressions and just like, how much I loved it. And I suppose I always knew, like, I had a real. Dancing had an effect on my mental health. Definitely in college I had an eating disorder. And I think it's stemmed from. Well, I know it stemmed from. Obviously it's all about how you look. But in my foundation year, our teacher, my ballet teacher actually made us all line up in front of a mirror. So we all had to be in this long line and all look at ourselves in the mirror in our ballet outfit, which is pink tights and a black leotard. And when you're in foundation, for some reason, the leotards are so low cut. Like, I'm not talking like 70s call on me vibe. I mean, like, low cut that they're could basically be a short. Do you know what I mean? Like, they're not flattering whatsoever.

Yeah.

And we all had to stand in front of the mirror and basically all look at ourselves and say what we needed to change and how much weight we needed to lose.

Wow.

Yeah. And I was like, whoa, oh my God. Like, can I do this? And I was. I was never a fat child. Like, I've always been very petite. I'm quite small. It's weird because all my brothers are really, really tall, but I'm actually quite sure. And so there was never, never anything wrong with me. I wasn't big at all, but I wasn't. I didn't have a six pack. And anyway, we had to go to her one by one and she would tell us how much weight we needed to lose, all individually. And I went to her at this point and she said, yeah, you need to lose a stone.

Wow.

Just like, oh, my God. And she said, you'd have to lose a stone if you think that you're going to get into this college. So I was like, I have to do this. There's. I can't get in if I don't lose this way. So then from then on, that became a thing for me and I. It's so bad if I think of my mindset that back then I see this. What happened to me next? I see this as like, oh, what? What a treat. What a treat. But I had my tonsils out. So I had this tonsillectomy to get my tonsils out because I was always getting tonsillitis and I got really, really ill after the operation. They don't tell you about the aftermath. They don't tell you about, like, your whole inside mouth, like, peeling away and being burnt off. It's just crazy. I even. This so dramatic. But I even looked online like, can a tonight to me kill you? This is just something that's not right. But I basically was getting loads of infections because it was such an open wound and they didn't give me any medications anyway. I was like in bed for two weeks. Couldn't. Couldn't walk and do anything. And I lost so much weight. Obviously, you know, when you're really ill, you lose a lot of weight. And I saw that as, like, I was so excited. I honestly, I was just buzzing. And then when I went back to college, I got all the comments. Oh, my God, Imogen, you look amazing. You've lost so much weight. Oh, my God, you're so skinny. And that fed my mind. That just fed my ego and fed my mind, like, wow, I'm being noticed now because I'm skinny. I'm not the best dancer, so I'm gonna be the skinny one. I'm gonna be the one who's got a good body. And I. Yeah, it just went on that spiral. And that's how. If I think about. If I'm really, really honest and being really vulnerable here, that's how I saw myself as a dancer. Like, at least I'm skinny, at least something. And at least I'm fit into costumes and I look good in the costume. I didn't. I was right, because it's a skeleton. But what was bad is that I was then getting picked for pieces, and I was then getting put in shows and certain numbers. So it just fed that. And I just had this warped mindset about my body image and my worthiness around it. And I got over it at the end of college because my. One of my bestest friends just said, like, you've lost your personality. You're just not you anymore. And that really hit me. And then a teacher said to me, you won't get a job because they'll think that, you know, you've got these mental health issues. They're not going to give you a job. And I was like, nice. So I just thought, I'm going to have to get over it. And I did. And I got better with food. But even on cruise ships, I. It came back to me a few times. And again, it's like this running theme that I had another operation. I was actually stranded in Fiji because my appendix ruptured. And I had this emergency operation in Fiji and had to then stay. I was left there, the ship left, and I was just. My suitcases were dropped off and I Was in Fiji for a month and again I had that same thing. Like, oh, you've lost this way. You've had this opportunity, like keep it like that. So I just always had that thing and I, I suppose on my last ship, like you can call it an awakening, you can call it whatever you want to call it. But I just had this whole like new mindset about how this world is so much bigger. Like this life is so much bigger than to be stuck inside. Like we can have so much more for ourselves and do so much more. And the thing is with ships is that you're in a different reality. Like there is no reality. You don't have Internet, like you just about have whatsapps. And it's like the time sort of standstill. It's really, really bizarre. Like the only way I can explain it is that Big brother house. Like you only know those people there. Like you go to a bar and it's the same people every night for seven months, you know.

Wow. Yeah.

And it's crazy. And I just had this thing that the more I stay on these ships the harder it is going to be for me to have a life back home. Because again I'm just someone that I just can't live my day to day life. Not being in a passion.

Yeah.

Not being in a person's purpose. So then I came back home and I did make that big decision and I just said like I'm not going to go back to another contract. And I actually wanted to be a TV presenter and I did a course and I was doing like some TV work and really, really trying to build myself on that. And then it was that I was like, if I want a life for myself, I need to create it. I want to be the one to create. I don't want it to be down to anyone else. I don't. I'm done with it being someone else's decision of my life. Like I just find we have this whole societal way of like how jobs are made and it's like someone decides your life and I just had that drive and that I want to now make something more for myself and I want to have that freedom because my as a dancer you are blessed with freedom that we had so much freedom. Like you work very, very hard for it for many years but then you do get that freedom. And that's something I didn't want to let go of. So then I, yeah came home and I just. My commitment to it and was just I just want to make this life for myself. I Want to have that life and then, yeah, just love the idea of having my own business, having my own structure of my day, basically.

No. And even seeing like the transition, you know, I've known, I've only known you as a mindset coach, but hearing your story, talking about, you know, so passionately about dancing and now so passionately about this, it's so amazing to think that actually you don't always just have to have one career in life. And I think, as you said, stuck in this mindset of you can only have one job and you have to have a 9 to 5 and actually you can have all of these different passions, whether they turn into full time jobs or whether they stay as sort of side hustles or whether they just stay as passions. I think it's so important to really fuel yourself with the things that you enjoy.

Yeah, 100%. And I, I want to say as well about purposes because a lot of people ask me like, how do I find my purpose? How do I find my passion? And I'm like, you have lo. And I want people to know that your purpose is like abundant. Your purpose, you like for you, Emma, you have a purpose as a twin, you have a purpose as a daughter, you have a purpose as a girlfriend, you have a purpose as a dog. Mum. It's not just about the job. It's not just about like what you're good at doing. You know, there's so much more to us than just this one defining moment. And people ask me like, oh, how did you give up dancing? It's like, I don't, I don't see it that way. And this is like another mindset lesson for people, people like your perspective on things is that I see that career. I don't see that I quit something. I'm still a dancer. I still dance around my kitchen, dance around my living room full out with feeling. Like dancing hasn't been taken away from me. It's that I, I see it now as how lucky am I that I had that as a career and a passion for a really huge chapter of my book of life. A really huge, like eight chapters of my book of life. I don't see it as something that I don't have anymore. I see it as something that I'm so lucky that I have lived that. Do you know what I mean? So it's just the perspective on it.

Yeah, no, absolutely. And I think that you sort of touched on it quite, quite briefly of dealing with other people's views and kind of seeing what we should and shouldn't be doing. How did you deal with people's views and opinions?

Yeah, I know what you mean. Especially coming from the dancing industry, I feel like it's so tough. It's really, really tough. And a lot of people go to these colleges, which are incredible. We live this dream life and then a lot of people don't get a job. And I never, ever wanted. And I think something I, like, never sort of admitted was that I never wanted to see it. That was like I was quitting. But do you know what? What I had to do from a very, very, very early on point was not take, not let anyone else's judgment affect me because what is someone's judgment going to do for me? How is that going to help me make my career? And it just so. I didn't ever see it as anyone judging me. I. People always said to me, like, God, you're brave. Like, oh my God, you're like, you're starting again, you're coming back. But I'm very lucky. I have a very, very supportive family. They're amazing. And I, I think I'm just so driven and ambitious that I don't let any of that lower stuff come into my view, come into my life. And I just won't see it that way. I see it as how exciting I'm starting this whole new chapter. Like, how fun. Like, I take the seriousness out of life quite, quite a lot and it just means it's just happier and funner. Like how fun that I get to start something new. Like, don't be so serious all the time. And it is serious. I've got to make my own money. I don't have someone paying me. You know, it's all down to me. Everything is down to me. But I just see that as growth. I see. I always see the journey of life as just a growing thing. There's never an end point that you get to and then that's it. You keep adding new layers and you keep adding new experiences and new things. So I think I've just always had that just determination to not let anyone else's view touch mine because it's irrelevant, you know?

Absolutely. So with regards to sort of your one big piece of advice for anyone who's listening, who feels a bit stuck, what would your one big piece of advice be right now?

Oh, God, that's tough because I'm full of it. But I would say, I would say everyone personally, take a rain check. Take a rain check into who you actually are, because it's all unique. And that saying goes around a lot, but it's so true. Like, don't take the glory out of that. Who are you? What do you want to actually do with your life? What do you want to do? And what makes you happy? What lifts you up? Because a lot of people go through their life asleep.

Yeah.

And they just go to work and come home and do all those things, and they're not living. I see it so often. And people come to me and they're like, I just don't feel like I've lived yet. So my biggest bit of advice was, live your life. Don't be asleep to your life. Find what makes you happy and just go for it. Like, you have everything you need within you. You don't need. You don't need necessarily qualifications. You don't need this stuff. Like, I turned up to a dance college audition. Never done any of it before, and now I've danced professionally all around the world. You know, it's just. You don't need those external stuff. Everything that is right for you and everything that is meant for you is all. All inside you. So start, like, opening that up to what you actually want to do. And also have joy in finding what that is. Have joy. Like, do you want to be a tennis player? Do you want to look after animals? Like, have fun, fun. And just see that world. Is that limitless? There's so many options that, you know you can find your own.

No, honestly, Imogen, thank you so much for everything. I'm so glad we recorded this first thing in the morning because I feel so, so, like, driven to go and start the day.

Oh, amazing. I love that. Love that.

Thank you so much for being on this week's podcast. You can head over to Imogen's Instagram, which is at the Imogen Method for amazing mindset content, how you can work with her and listen to her podcast, Imagine youe, that comes out every Tuesday. Again, thank you, Imogen, so much for being honest and open on this week's podcast.

Thank you so much for having me, Emma. It's been amazing.

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