Oct
I underestimated Koya, twice.
I heard Koya had a book signing at Spoiled Vegans, and was unsure if I could make it, but I did.
Before I went, I did a quick search to get familiar with her and based on some endorsements she had and a few IG posts, I made a couple of snap judgements. This was my first underestimation.
Koya’s extremely dope and another one of those people where you can clearly see the impact that living connected to spirituality has on her entire presence. She radiates light, good vibes and positive energy.
But the part that was the most dope to me was that, she could talk to me about Kemet (the proper name for Ancient Egypt) and being born and raised in the south and the impact that had on her. This was a black woman’s black woman. A whole vibe.
So, I knew I would support her. Flipping through the book, I saw lines that made me think there was going to be request to the reader to write in the book. This was where my second underestimation came.
I usually don’t think highly of books that ask you to write in them. But, I was wrong again. Let Your Fears Make You Fierce shows Koya is a competent, empathetic and articulate writer.
The book is broken down into two main sections. The first is about defining Fear and providing tools to get perspective on the things that hold you back. The second part is about reconnecting w/ self and transforming your reality via discipline, affirmations & yoga to vibrate in the frequency of what she calls “Love”. This basically represents living fully and with purpose.
She also interweaves personal stories to underscore the message. She talks about how she’s applied these things in her life and how they’ve been instrumental in her success, not just monetarily, but personally.
She does an great job of making spiritually dense concepts and philosophies accessible to someone for whom they’d be new. She also gives a cool and gentle introduction to yoga and meditation, tools I firmly believe in as well.
Her morning routine is something I clicked with, b/c it helped me get on track a few years ago with Meditation, Yoga, and a Run daily. The emphasis on writing things down is a mechanism to bring awareness to the things you are or aren’t manifesting, and provide a path forward. She also reiterating writing things down to bring awareness to
If there’s any critique it would be that, how incredible her life has been, makes some of the examples she used for illustration of concepts not necessarily the most relatable.
For example: dropping out 3k for a bike to make sure she committed to cycling for it to be stolen, and getting over a fear of traveling alone by going to Morocco aren’t the easiest to identify with for your average person.
However, these actually resonated with me b/c I’m not above big financial commitments to stick to something and viewing travel as a big part of life. But to a lot of people, 3k on a bike is first world problems.
Overall, it’s definitely a book targeted towards women, but one from which anyone can benefit. With an open mind and a close read, it can definitely be a tool to help move people forward. I recommend it, and definitely recommend following her b/c she’s dope and pours back into the people that support her.
