He ended his 20-year teaching career by opening the door to dance, fun and enlightenment.
On this week’s People of Collingwood, we speak to presenter, artist and entertainer Tyler Boyle (41).
Q: Where did you grow up?
A: Meaford.
I went to Georgian Bay Secondary School.
Q: What did your life do after you graduated from high school?
A: After graduating from high school, I went to Concordia University in Montreal to study art, specifically art education.
From there, I returned home with the intention of returning to Montreal. I attended teacher training school in London, Ontario, and obtained my teaching certificate. When the Bluewater District School Board, where I worked as a part-time teacher, discovered that I could speak French, I became quite popular.
I began my career as a school teacher, teaching French immersion to 4th and 5th graders, but then taught every grade from kindergarten through 8th grade, and did so for 20 years until September of this year.
I quit that job and walked away.
Right now I am focusing on the entertainment business.
I was the official Toronto Blue Jays PR guy for Junior Jays Sunday, and it was a real blast.
I work in entertainment for the towns of Blue Mountain Village and Collingwood and have been working as a professional livener for the past 12 years. This involves going to festivals and events, playing loud music, getting people to dance along and gradually building a crowd.
Combined with my passion for children’s mental health, I started another business on the side called Dreamwalkers Meditations. I bring meditation into schools to support children’s emotional, social, spiritual and academic wellbeing.
Things have changed since COVID, kids need all the help they can get, and this is a big part of my passion now.
Q: When did you realize that arts education was your passion and why?
A: In teacher training school, we are often asked why we want to become teachers.
Growing up, I had some great teachers, but also a lot of horrible teachers who bullied students, hurt their feelings, and made them feel inferior.
Ever since I was a child, I told myself I would never treat anyone like that.
I wanted to be a teacher because I thought I could do a better job.
Young me would be very proud to have received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2020 and the EFTO Regional Humanitarian Award in the same year during my career as a teacher before retiring.
Q: Why did you decide to leave teaching?
A: I love teaching and working with kids.
There are many things I don’t like about the current education system. It is very broken.
I knew it was almost time to leave.
I left to pursue what I know works in the classroom: meditation.
That was a horrible move.
The reason I left is because after the lockdown and COVID, something changed. Anyone who knows kids and works with kids knows that. Something changed.
Unfortunately, teaching a generation of children who are so far behind and behave so differently than previous generations has been an exhausting task, the effects of which will be felt for years to come.
Q: Why did you want to become a hype guy?
A: I am a multi-talented artist: I am a dancer, painter and sculptor. The only thing I can’t do is play an instrument.
I went to a theatre conference and someone invited me to a dance workshop, and in that workshop I danced so hard that I had to go outside and sit with my head between my knees, because I was dancing so hard and having so much fun.
The spark it created in me made me want to share it with others.
At the time, I was still working as a teacher and during the summers I worked at the information booth at Blue Mountain Resort.
I said to the event coordinator, “I can do this. Do you want me to do this?”
Initially we were told that might not be the case.
The next year, they took me to lunch and said they would love to see me do it.
I put on a microphone, played some music and got the whole village dancing.
My billing title is “Tyler Boyle: Spirit Artist” I pride myself on making people smile and connecting people.
Many people are afraid to step out of their comfort zone. I used to be one of those people.
Some people came up to me after the show with tears in their eyes and said they never knew I could move my body so well without drinking, or that I could have so much fun in front of other people. (Laughs)
It’s so beautiful.
If I won the lottery right now, I’d have a sense of security, but I wouldn’t stop dancing.
Q: What does the future hold for you?
A: My current passion project is Dreamwalkers Meditations.
Do you know the Japanese word “ikigai”? It’s basically about finding your absolute passion and mission in your profession. The idea is to find what the world needs, what you love and are passionate about, what will make you money, and what will help other people.
The centre where all these meet is your ikigai.
I truly feel that Dreamwalkers Meditation is my purpose in life.
World Meditation Day was May 21st. I did what some people do and took a little gamble. I said on social media that my dream was to get 10,000 kids around the world to meditate on World Meditation Day. The response was huge. 23,415 students from all over the world participated.
It was unbelievable.
It was proof that I was on the right path and that the world needed it.
Q: What are your hobbies?
A: I’m a painter and sculptor and I create my work using animal skulls that I find in the wild while hiking, which I then decorate with crystals and paint.
I am an oil painter specializing in black, white and gold.
I hike, I’m crazy about camping, it’s one of the few times I can truly relax.
I love exploring local breweries.
In our feature “People of Collingwood”, we interview interesting people who are from or contribute to the Collingwood community in some way, and ask them to tell their own story in their own words. The feature will run every weekend on CollingwoodToday. If you would like to nominate or recommend someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, [email protected].
