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Life and Work with Malaurie Barber

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Malaurie Barber.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Malaurie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I grew up in France and spend most of my childhood and teenage years between Paris and the northern part of France before coming to the US in 1993 at the age of 21. My mother likes to tell the story that when I was 5 years old I use to play with my sister’s barbie dolls and send them to America to get married. The funny part is that we didn’t own a TV, so to this day, no one knows how I knew about America. I’d like to think it was destiny.

I was raised on a farm to table food, acupuncture, visit to the chiropractor and homeopathy. My parents’ Friday nights often consisted of having friends over for a sceance. You would think that with such an upbringing I would have been inclined to follow a spiritual path from the get-go, but nope not me, I went the complete opposite way.

I graduated college in France and fell my entrance exam to go to school to get my master’s in journalism… drum roll I fell the English part of the exam. So, since I’m not one to dwell on things I decided that if you can’t beat them, join them and I applied to become and au pair and come to the US.

26 years after, I’m still here, a citizen and I own a yoga studio in Mission Viejo called Soul Movement Yoga.

My path to yoga wasn’t very linear. I studied theater at the University of Maryland, worked as a director of marketing for a theater in Washington DC and before yoga found me I was a kick-ass new home sales representative for a high-end new home builder in Maryland.

When I was asked to go to yoga by a friend of mine, I refused to go declaring that yoga wasn’t for me and that kickboxing was more my speed. If it wasn’t for him insisting, I don’t know if I would be where I am now. Anyhow after we made a pact that if I went with him on a yoga retreat and I hated it, he would never talk to me about yoga again, I jumped both feet in and went to a retreat.

I don’t need to tell you how that went since I now own a yoga studio… anyhow I loved it and within a few weeks of that retreat, I booked a teacher’s training with Ana Forrest. The training was one month long of intense and deep personal exploration during which I decided to move to California and pursue yoga and massage therapy.

My move to California led me to Santa Monica where I spent the most 2 insane years of my life being in love and living with a TV actress who, while our relationship imploded very quickly, taught me a lot about yoga and meditation by dragging me to all sorts of classes and events. For that, I am very thankful.

In 2006, I found myself moving to Orange County where I have been ever since. After a series of unfortunate relationships, I am now in the most loving, passionate and supportive relationship I have ever been in. I’m sure maturity has a lot to do with it. Anyhow my life has been a whirlwind of amazing events and opportunities and I am so thankful that I had the courage to follow the path that was in front of me no matter how insane and uncertain it looked at the time.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The road wasn’t always smooth, but I’m pretty good at rolling with the punches. For example, this was my third attempt at opening a yoga studio. The first time, the idea barely even got off the ground and the second time, I was really close to the finish line before I lost my fundings.

I’m a firm believer that things happen for reasons. I know it sounds cliche, but it is truly something that is deeply rooted in me. I don’t see walls as obstacles that need to be crushed, I see them as a warning and too many of them to me means I am not on the right path.

The third time was the right time. I am lucky that my life partner is also my business partner and that she believed in me so much to go along on this crazy ride.

The best advice I ever received was from my aunt who told me ‘just be happy, the rest will come.’ I would give the same advice to my daughter and to any young woman who want to follow the path of entrepreneurship.

Happiness truly is the key to success. So, if you are in your 20’s just out of high school or college, you have so much time ahead of you. Learn who you are before jumping into a career, make mistakes, travel a lot, learn about other cultures, and don’t settle until you have found something that makes you smile every day.

I’ll throw in one more random advice that was really ingrained in my brain by my mother – “Be nice to people, say what you mean, mean what you say and don’t buy shit you don’t need to impress people you don’t like.”

Can you tell us about Soul Movement Yoga and your yoga retreats?
Well, I own Soul Movement Yoga studio in Mission Viejo, California and Malaurie Barber Yoga retreats and events.

I have been running yoga retreats now for about 17 years and what I am the proudest of is the community we have created and how students come back year after year. I’ve seen students blossom and make long-lasting friendships.

I try to curate a very peaceful and fun environment by always bringing other instructors to participate and teach. My friend Lynda who is an incredible healer has been part of the tribe for more than 10 years now and she teaches the workshop part of the retreats. I also always bring a musician to play live during classes and have worked with Girish, Larisa Stow from the Shakti tribe, Kerem Brule from Beautiful Sounds, Johanna Beekman and Jonathan Richard. Music truly feeds my soul.

I am also incredibly happy to have finally opened my own yoga studio, Soul Movement Yoga. We opened our doors on October 5th, 2019. What sets us apart from other studios is our tag line. Real Yoga Real People. We want to be a place in Orange County where all can feel welcome. Where no one feels out of place or like they don’t belong. All are welcome, all races, all religions, all sexual orientations, all gender identities.

Often it feels as if the media, by and large, is only focused on the obstacles faced by women, but we feel it’s important to also look for the opportunities. In your view, are there opportunities that you see that women are particularly well-positioned for?
Yes, anything we choose to do we can! I think that we really need more women in politics. It is so important that women have a voice in our government. I actually considered running for office for a while, but I think I can have a bigger impact on my community by spreading the voice of acceptance and love through yoga. I truly hope though that we see more women on the 2020 ballot.

Pricing:

  • new students 2 weeks unlimited for $25
  • 70+/students/military $69 monthly unlimited or $10 per class
  • Monthly unlimited $129
  • 10 class package $200
  • 20 class package $300
  • 4 Elements Yoga Retreat in Joshua Tree 01/24-01/26,2020 – $625

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Image Credit:
Elena Ray

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