Meet: FP Escapes Instructor Kate Mulheron
Introducing our next retreat instructor… with a vision to interact with the Earth and Mother Nature in mindfulness and humility…
This January, FP Escapes is traveling to Mexico’s beautiful Baja with yoga instructor, Kate Mulheron, and we want you to come along! We’ll settle into the town of Todos Santos, a creative hub nestled between open waters and a desert oasis. On retreat, Kate’s teachings will lead us through a daily practice of rising with the sun, honoring the 7 directions, yoga, and meditation.
Kate brings over twenty-five years of yoga expertise in a broad range of schools, from classical Hatha and Vinyasa Flow, to Forrest, Ashtanga and Bikram. She completed Hot Yoga Teacher’s Training in December of 2008, and went on to train with Ana Forrest in October of 2009. On top of her yoga experience, Kate has studied holistic nutrition and received her Reiki Training. Through her work, she intuitively leads students towards a path of vibrancy using energy work, yoga asana, breath work, nutritional support and native practices.
Kate is here to today to share a little bit more about herself, and to invite you to SIGN UP for our Mexico retreat before it sells out!
What originally brought you to yoga?
I was about 20 years old and I had just moved home from New York City and my life as a model to take care of my mom who was dying of breast cancer. She needed around the clock care and I am so grateful that I stopped everything to be with her, the woman who cared for me. But of course, I was struggling and, because I couldn’t really go many places, I would watch VHS videos in my living room! I think it was Rod Stryker and Kathy Smith. When I moved to Boston, I studied with Baron Baptiste. He was new on the scene with Power Yoga and it was so intriguing to me – the sweating, the movement, the intensity, the resolve into surrender. At that time, my mom had passed away, so I was grieving, working with a book called “The Artist’s Way” and was going to yoga and trying to make sense of it all. Yoga helped me establish a rhythm, a feeling of embodiment and a way to find balance throughout my grief.
Can you tell our readers a bit about the lineage you’ve studied?
I have studied under many spiritual lineages . . . Ashtanga, Iyengar, Classic Hatha, Classic Vinyasa, Bikram/Hot Yoga. I took a training based on the Hot Sequence. I loved it, and I still have a deep fondness for it. Then, I met Forrest Yoga and it changed my world. I studied under Ana Forrest of Forrest Yoga, one of my most influential teachers. She has a way of reminding you of your vibrancy, and kicks you in the butt if you are not rising into your fullest potential. I had one of my most challenging, life-changing and shaking months during my training with her. Its roots evolved into how I embodied yoga with a deeper meaning than just the physical. Nothing can just be met in the physical. You may think that, but in reality, there is always an emotional response to everything we do. Working in the embodiment of yoga is no different. I live from a very full and vibrant place in everything I do, so my yoga can be no different than who I am.
You work with the Earth Ways. Can you further explain what that means?
Earth Ways Yoga has been a development of my whole life’s work. During my teaching career, I got so sick from exhaustion that I almost took my last breath. I walked into the hospital that night with a 30/40 blood pressure and I had a decision to make — was I going to stay in this body and life or go. It was one of those great made-for-movie moments. I saw the golden pathway of light… yes, it’s quite real. It was taking me, engulfing me. It was so beautiful and in that moment, I froze, “Should I? Can I?” Then into my next breath, I turned from the light, rose back to this life and said, “NO, I cannot go now. I have work to complete here!!” So, I rose, and through my rising into my potential, gifts and talents, I was introduced to my now formal Native Teacher. She has taught me everything about healing and embodying the Native Ways through Mother Nature. As I was healing, I couldn’t separate yoga from this process of working with the Earth Ways. As human beings, we know what a tree looks like. We understand it is alive, it has roots, it has a connection through Mother Earth. It can grow upward through Mother Nature’s act of breath and nourishment, so it can rise to its greatest potential and alignment. After an Earth Ways yoga practice, you see a tree outside in the woods with a deeper respectfulness. Integrity and aliveness is being reminded into you, and you have taken a moment to stop, be, and feel. You have this amazing chance to take the power back into your healing, evolution, and care. It matters, it all matters, our healing matters.
What can guests expect on our retreat in Todos Santos? Anything you yourself are most looking forward to?
As we step into retreat setting in Todos Santos, which is always a sacred experience, we step into this time together to build a stronger relationship to you. In our culture, we are so focused on the output of our jobs, relationships, getting ahead, moving forward, and reaching our goals; it’s all output. Instead, we focus on input: breathing, yoga, being in stillness, being with the land, the waters, the Earth and Mother Nature in a mindful and humble way. We all have blocks, all of us, and it takes strength and integrity to do this work. If you are ready for a great shift in your life, this retreat is for you! Every morning we will honor the 7 Directions together to begin our day in gratitude, humbleness and receiving. We will then have time to pause and eat a nourishing meal before we step into yoga ceremony. It’s a process we will journey together. Every day is another day for a new layer to unravel and reveal a clarity from which you can walk strong in beauty. I do most work with and through Mother Nature, layered into your yoga and soul visioning work to be at the root of your peace and rebalancing. It’s always miraculous to me who steps forwards for this work, who comes to retreat together. It is all about community and like-minded beings on a path for greater awareness to a rooted alignment. I love this work so very much!! Magic awakens with us all, truly!! I hope to see you there!!!
What does being free mean to you?
Being free as a woman in this time in our lives is one to embrace. As we give thanks to our ancestors that have walked before us, preparing us to continue the journey in strength and integrity to rise. I will no longer dim myself for another and I hope you will never do the same. We have a destiny to fulfill and an obligation to embrace as embodied women of strength, fluidity of femininity, and a strong will of grace to be free with our choices, our words and our love to ourselves. This is free. My desire for you is to be FREE, expressive and outrageous in your creations, whatever they may be…