by Rosie Moreton | October 2017
My name is Rosie, I am a yoga teacher and massage therapist from New Zealand, and have spent the last five years travelling, teaching and learning in Europe and Southeast Asia.
Whole & Happy Retreats is the business I started with my best friend, Natasha. We run transformational eco-retreats, that are yoga based, in partnership with eco-conscious facilities. Our mission is to help you discover your “happy” place. There wasn't a significant moment of decision making about my choice to live an unconventional life.
I really feel that the path our life takes is the result of the little things, coincidences, the people we cross paths with, momentary and seemingly insignificant daily choices we make which end up leading us down a more magical path than anything our imaginations could have dreamed up. I suppose the most obvious turning point was leaving NZ and a pretty good office job about 8 months after I graduated from University. My Gemini spirit was getting itchy feet and I just had a feeling that something more was waiting for me. I wanted to see what that was. With no idea where it would all lead I took a leap of faith.
Despite my family’s confusion about my lifestyle choices, they are really supportive. It is so different to the life they were taught to aspire too. Now, there are many different ways to live a successful alternative to the 9-5 life. I try to surround myself with people who lift me up and inspire me to be better, who are also living a slightly unconventional life and seeking their happy place, thinking outside the box, and living with kindness.
I keep returning to the idea of letting go of the “shoulds”, the idea that life should look a certain way. Follow the feeling. Stop worrying about how your life should look, and start focusing your energy on how you want it to feel. When you choose to follow the feeling the magic starts to happen.
The most inspiring people to me are the people that are most real - not so much people from a distance, on social media or anything, but the people that I spend time with. We all become a combination of the five people that we spend most of our time with, so its important to me surround myself with the best kind of human. Through them I can see that what I am doing is worthwhile, this is what makes me the happiest.
Natasha Kochan - a little ray of sunshine who came into my life and changed its course forever. She has so much integrity in her values and the way she lives, such a love for life and all the people who cross her path, boundless enthusiasm and is always teaching me to be kinder to myself and ask for what I need. A best friend and a business partner can be a tricky combination but we teach each other the value of open communication and authenticity.
More on Rosie and the things she does, can be found via: Her websites: www.wholeandhappyretreat.com & www.rosieglowyoga.com her Instagram accounts: @rosie_mo & @wholeandhappyretreat her Facebook pages: www.facebook.com/wholeandhappyretreat & www.facebook.com/rosie.moreton