Today we’d like to introduce you to Dorothy Olsen.
Hi Dorothy, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Idaho in a supportive family and started playing the cello when I was ten years old. Music came naturally to me, and I loved it from the beginning. I worked hard and pursued it with dedication.
In high school, I also fell in love with martial arts. I was passionate about not continuing the same patterns I saw in my family. I cared a lot about health, nutrition, and psychology.
I went to college on a cello scholarship and completed a degree in music performance.
I got married, moved to Utah. When we started a family, I stepped away from my own pursuits for about a decade to focus on raising my children. I started looking for ways to invest myself in other pursuits. Being a health coach aligned with my interests but I was failing on the business side. Even though I was on a very successful team, doing a lot of amazing training and learning so much, I wasn’t making any money. A girl in my challenge group lost 100 pounds! Yet i wasn’t bringing home any pay to help my family.
I was out for a run one day feeling discouraged and frustrated! I didn’t want to be a quitter but this wasn’t working! Why wasn’t it working? I did everything I was supposed to do. I was praying and crying when God reminded me about music. “Why don’t you start teaching cello lessons? I put health coaching in your life to grow you. Music has always been your favorite. Start teaching again”
So I did, and I have had as many students as I could handle ever since. AND I’m a much different teacher now! Because I’ve also trained in business and leadership, overcoming obstacles, organizing your time, how to motivate. I don’t just teach cello lessons, I love and council, I give anatomy, physiology, stretches, exercises that are relevant to playing the cello. I’ve had two cello students that were failing PE because they couldn’t do a push-up. We put our cellos aside and I showed them how to do a push-up with correct form, and taught them how to build up to a full push-up.
I challenge my students for growth wherever they’re at! Today, my work continues to evolve as I bring together my passions for music, movement, wellness, and personal empowerment.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I’ve had lots of hard things in life, just like everyone else. Life is heavy!
I call them dances. I’ve had two separate dances with neurological problems.
My mom and dad died just nine months apart. My dad got hit by a car, my mom had heart failure. She died right when Covid started. I found myself grieving and dealing with the uncertainty of the world. I was very grateful that I could continue teaching cello lessons even though I couldn’t drive. Even though anything that had my eyes scanning a lot, like unloading the dishwasher, or grocery shopping was very taxing, and would often give me a migraine and then I would just have to sleep it off. Sometimes I would pass out every day, sometimes I would pass out once a week. It was unpredictable. Lots of doctors appointments and no good answers. Besides drastically reduced physical capability I also found that I had a lot more anxiety, reduced capacity to deal with my surroundings, I couldn’t handle bright lights or loud sounds. I couldn’t handle chaos or emotional upset.
This is when qigong, became an essential and beautiful part of my life! I had done kung fu and tai chi in college, so it was a natural transition. My mind space was challenged and threatened every day and this practice, that I just found on YouTube, calmed and nourished my mind in a critical and transformative way. It helped with headaches, it invigorated my body and calmed my mind.
After my two year dance was over, I started doing more martial arts. Injuries and some really hard failures, took me to another low point. God again stepped in and guided my path. “Lean into Yoga” so I did. I stepped away from the aggressive martial arts that I was doing and began a practice of yoga and qigong that was so incredible I knew I had to share it!
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Today I am the Principal Cellist of the best orchestra in the valley, The Timpanogos Symphony. I have a large studio of 50 private cello students! I love my work! I love helping talented hard-working students get scholarships to college! Half of my studio is adults, and many of them are beginners. I love being a part of a lifelong dream that turns into reality. I frequently hear “I’ve always wanted to play the cello and now I’m going to!”
I have taught a weekly yoga class for 2 years. I trained as a fitness instructor in college. I have occasionally taught different types of fitness classes. But this yoga class is special! It’s so much more!
I always start with qigong which I call “taking out the trash”. We dissolve stress and anxiety then we replenish! I have felt powerfully called to help women with their self love, which directly turns into self healing! I continue my own learning and growth and every week I bring new tools to the class. In addition to yoga and qigong, I’ve also incorporated nerve glides, belly dancing, Pilates, isometric toning, EFT, lymphatic drainage, martial arts, neurovascular and brain training, and different meditations.
I have found the kindest, most beautiful women and they’ve been so generous and vulnerable with their compliments about how my class helps them. It’s incredible to be working on myself, feeling my progression and improvement, then sharing what I’ve learned with others, and seeing how it helps them.
I started teaching women’s self-defense classes about 20 years ago. With six different types of martial arts in my tool belt, and being a trained fitness instructor, it was a natural progression. Now I cater each class that I teach, allowing inspiration for what I need to share. I just got invited by the American Fork fitness center to teach specialty/workshop women’s self-defense classes. Every time graduation comes around, I feel like I wish I could teach every girl in the world what I know!
I can’t help it! I’m a teacher, and when I find powerful truth, I want to share it. My work continues to grow as I bring together music, movement, wellness, and personal empowerment, and I’m especially excited about expanding into retreat experiences that combine these passions.
How do you think about happiness?
I’m so fired up about bringing all of these passions together into a women’s retreat called Peaceful Power. The vision is to combine meditation, yoga, and qigong with martial arts training, personal empowerment, and live cello performance. I’ve created a Healing Music recital that tells a story of challenge, resilience, and growth through/ in music.
Creating experiences where women can rest, recharge, and reconnect with their strength feels deeply meaningful to me, and I’m excited to see this new chapter unfold.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://DorothyOlsen.com
