We help yoga practitioners from all over the world to create a consistent yoga practice so that they can gain flexibility, calm anxiety and feel confident no matter what life throws at them.

Juliana Larochelle

HOW I HEALED MY DEPRESSION, OVERCAME THE NEED TO “FIX” MYSELF, AND BECAME A YOGA TEACHER

I wasn’t always this smiley, confident. happy and in love with life person I am today.

I grew up in a really nice town. I had a lot of privilege and everything on the outside looked perfect.

But inside, I was crying out for help and I didn’t know how to ask.

My freshman year of high school was one of the hardest years of my life.

That year, my beloved stepfather died of brain cancer.
That same year, my biological father left NJ moved to FL with his new family and decided to stop paying child support.

So you better believe, as a 14-year-old girl, I didn’t know how to cope with my emotions and I created a lot of unhealthy coping mechanisms.

By the end of that year, I was suffering from depression, suicidal thoughts, and a deep need to “fix” myself. I thought all the bad things in life were my fault and if I just “fixed” myself- was prettier, smarter, sexier, cooler then everything would be okay.

I spent the next years changing everything about myself.

Until an angel walked into my life. My first spiritual teacher. She taught all about meditation, energy, healthy eating, and yoga.

For the next decade, I dove deep into my self-healing journey.

I got the privilege to study yoga philosophy under Edwin Bryant who taught me the ancient power of yoga and led me to fall in love with the Bhagavad Gita.

I got to study in Vrindavan, India. That’s when I met my most pivotal teacher Jessica, a Vedic Psychologist.

Jessica taught me how to accept myself and start to make healthy choices in my life. She saw my power before I did and she was the first person to tell me I had the ability to hold space to help others heal too.

She taught me how to heal myself so I could be a healer.

I am a healer because I’ve been through the darkest places and I brought my own light back.

Today, my depression is gone, I feel confident being my authentic self, and I do what I love.

As my life transformed, I knew I had shared these tools that saved my life with other people. That’s why I became a yoga teacher and Director of Yoga at holistically yoga.

Jacob Larochelle

HOW JACOB OVERCAME DEPRESSION, VICTIMHOOD, AND HOPELESSNESS THROUGH MINDFUL PRACTICES AND SPIRITUALITY

Jacob grew up in a secluded, small town in northern Maryland where he lived a safe, quiet upbringing in a stable home. Having both parents present, many athletic outlets, good grades, many friends, and opportunity to have all the material needs/wants seemed like a pleasant upbringing. How could he feel anything other than happiness?

 This is how Jacob appeared from the outside. On the inside Jacob suffered deep emotional wounds from being unheard, and overlooked. Growing up he felt like his parents prioritized his sister over him. Always took her side, always gave more time, attention, and gifts to her. Always took her side when there were issues and rejected him early in life. "I remember at the age of 10 resenting my parents so much that I declared I'd move away and never see or talk to them again once I became an adult". 

Jacob internalized feeling rejected, unworthy, unimportant, unsupported, unloved, misunderstood, wrong, and alone. Jacob would reject friends before they could hurt him, try to control situations as a way of staying right, reject support so he would rely on no one but himself, turn to substances to numb, and isolate himself as he thought everyone around him was fake. Depression is certainly a given at this point and hit it's peak during his college years. 

Thankfully Jacob was always naturally spiritual and found himself turning towards his spirituality more as things got tough in his world. "At my all time low, I lost my Christian beliefs, started believing that there's no point in praying because God won't answer, and I thought I was a victim to exist. This sounds like I threw away my spirituality but it's the opposite. I was crushed when my Christian beliefs fell apart, but I was determined to find something more stable and true". 

Through mindfulness and the beautiful practice of going on the journey within, Jacob found philosophies he thought to be true. After a long time of searching inward he eventually wanted to find where these teachings were outside of himself. He found many teachings in Buddhism and Hinduism that aligned with what he realized in himself. He rebuild his spiritual beliefs while working to shift the beliefs his ego had developed during his childhood. Through meditation, self reflection, and simply being, he fell back in love with life and cured his depression.

Jacob is now a Meditation Teacher and Certified Reiki Practitioner. He is so excited to share the mindful practices that helped him fall back in love with life. 

Hilary Ruiz

HOW HILARY HEALED HER ANXIETY ATTACKS AND FOUND THE STRENGTH TO LEAVE A TOXIC MARRIAGE, AND IS BECOMING A YOGA TEACHER

Hilary was a busy mom- taking care of her family, running a family business, managing a household, and trying to cope with a toxic marriage. She was super stressed and had been suffering from anxiety attacks since getting pregnant with her son. She didn’t have any dedicated “me” time. 

Hilary discovered yoga 7 years ago due to feeling burnt out from her career, working 6 days a week for 8 years, and consequently suffering from adrenal fatigue.  At that time, she quit her job, went back to school to study nutrition, and decided to try yoga. And she fell in love with yoga! 

She took a Beginner Yoga class at a yoga studio in Atlanta, Georgia. At that yoga studio, it focused mostly on the physical aspect of yoga. When she moved to Coral Springs, she couldn't find a yoga studio that resonated with her so she practiced mostly at home. 

In October of 2019, she met Juliana at the Coral Springs Farmers Market. Then she started consistently coming to yoga classes with her mom. 

And everything began to change! 

She started giving herself dedicated “me” time, committing to 5 yoga classes a week (evening during quarantine while going through a divorce -no excuses). This helped her dramatically reduce her stress, learn how to calm her mind, and thus calm her anxiety. 

Hilary also learned beyond the physical aspect of yoga into the mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects. This gave her the strength and resilience to leave a toxic marriage in the middle of quarantine with 2 children under the age of 5. 

Through her practice at Holisticrats, she has rediscovered herself, her happiness, and her confidence and feels stronger both physically and mentally.

Her favorite part of the studio is the sense of community and support. 

When the opportunity presented itself to take Yoga Teacher Training, she couldn’t say no. Even though it didn’t feel like the “right” time to go through training, she knew it was the next right step on her journey. 

Hilary is excited about sharing the healing tools that transformed her life with others. That is why she is becoming a yoga teacher!

Laraine Napoloi

Laraine started taking yoga classes at the gym. She was a school teacher and was searching for ways to support her students in staying calm, relaxed, and reducing their anxiety. She took a Kids Yoga Teacher Training at Kidding Around Yoga and started incorporating yoga in the class and started a Yoga Club at school. She loved watching her students be able to manage their emotions and stress with techniques they were learning in yoga while also having fun.

When she decided to leave the classroom teaching setting, she signed up for Yoga Teacher Training at Youniversal Yoga and dedicated herself to her yoga practice. 

Before a consistent yoga practice, Laraine suffered from constant stress and anxiety. There was a lot of stress thrown at Laraine from her son’s continuing illness.  Through Yoga Teacher Training and her dedicated practice, every area of her life improved! One of the things she loves most about yoga is how you can do yoga anywhere! She would bring her yoga mat to the hospital and practice to stay calm amidst life’s challenges. 

Laraine was a sensitive child growing up and learned how to cover up her emotions in all the unhealthy ways. Through yoga, Laraine is now in touch with herself and now realizes her sensitivity is not something to be covered up but now something to be celebrated! 

Laraine is excited to share the practice of yoga and create a safe space where everyone feels like they belong and can just be themselves. Laraine’s favorite yoga pose is  child's pose because it makes her feel safe and grounded.

Chinel Gil

HOW CHINEL HEALED HER ANXIETY AND HER YEARNING FOR OUTSIDE VALIDATION AND BECAME A YOGA TEACHER

Everything on the outside looked really amazing. She has great friends and supportive family members. She felt like she’s done all the right things in life — finish college and found a good job but it always felt like something was missing. She was always try to find “the next best thing” in hopes that it would ease her racing thoughts of “what’s next”. Prior to yoga, Chinel was already practicing daily meditation with an app and went to monthly acupuncture appointments to help alleviate her anxiety but that “something” was still missing. 

For quite some time, she had always wanted to do yoga but couldn’t muster her courage to join a studio because she believed that she had to be flexible or an already practicing yogi to go to a yoga studio. Chinel was told about Holisticrats by her acupuncturist and decided to give it a try! By her first beginner session, she was hooked. After a few months of taking beginner, she graduated to yin and slow flow classes. Chinel particularly love Slow Flow because it takes her out her head and into a flow state where she can be connected with her breath and her body. 

Yoga has alleviated her anxiety and has taught her that she has the tools within her to be calm and present. Holisticrats inspired Chinel to become a yoga teacher because it reminded her the importance of community and how coming together is a part of the healing journey and we never have to go through it alone. She is excited to share space with her students in a way that allows them to be their full selves through their yoga practice.