Luscious Life hits the road
Yoga therapist brings business to multiple communities through classes and training
Karen K. Ho
Northern News Services
Monday, May 25, 2015
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
For many, moving to the territory involves a job that is already here. For Krystal Thompson, sole proprietor of Luscious Life, that shift required building a business from the bottom up.
Krystal Thompson at the Yellowknife Trade Show on May 9 at the Multiplex. The professional yoga therapist was selling her DVDs as well as offering information about her various yoga services. - Karen K. Ho/NNSL photo |
The professional yoga therapist has brought her philosophy of body love and positivity around the territory through work in schools in Behchoko, contracts in the Tlicho territory, as well as the training and mentorship of an instructor in Gameti.
"There can be yoga-based regulation implemented more fully in the Tlicho region," she told News/North.
The Yellowknife-based Thompson said her work with the First Nation is a major part of her business, which also includes online videos, attending conferences, social media, public classes and private instruction.
"I make sure that my classes are available to anyone who wants to come to yoga," she said, noting she's modified classes for people with serious illnesses, concerns about their size, recent surgeries and members of the transgendered community.
But it's Thompson's work in schools with small children and youth doing yoga-based self-regulation that is her favourite part of her job.
"I do all grades but I primarily love working with teens," she said.
"I have boys in Behchoko that say, 'Is yoga happening today? Are we going to have more yoga?' They're really engaged and interested.
"It makes me so happy."
Other schools that are a regular part of Thompson's business include Elizabeth Mackenzie Elementary and Chief Jimmy Bruneau in Behchoko.
It's a very different path to entrepreneurship for someone who originally had a career as an environmental scientist with the federal government.
"It was a big career switch," she said with a laugh. "I left that behind to run my own business."
Having an outlet for creativity and being very self-motivated were two of the reasons for the change, but Thompson admitted that the reality also meant a very different lifestyle.
"You have to be okay with different kinds of work hours," she said, noting how difficult it has been to teach her brain to shut down, compared to her former government job.
The lack of benefits and inconsistent income have also been challenges.
Still, Thompson considers everything worth it.
"Has my lifestyle suffered in the way that I thought it would? No," she said emphatically.
"This is my passion and I'm so naturally interested in it."
