Wellness Babes Who Left Toronto and Are Never Looking Back -Part 2
Hear from more inspiring women who relocated to live their truths!
Earlier this month, we interviewed some of Toronto’s most inspiring wellness babes who flew the coop, and now we’re back for part two! There were just so many amazing women creating beautiful, holistic lives for themselves abroad, we couldn’t resist doing another feature!
All of these women made the bold choice to leave their homes and communities in order to live in alignment with the lifestyles they’ve dreamed for themselves. They’re healers, yogis, nomads, creators, artists, visionaries…and act as reminders to never compromise your dreams, goals, passions, and values for anything, anyone, or any place. We hope that by reading their stories, you’re inspired to always live in your truth, no matter where it takes you!
Introduce yourself!
My name is Sierra Madre. I recently moved to Mexico after building a community around my yoga studio in Toronto, Oblong Yoga House, for 8 years. I’m making more time to dabble into the things that bring me the most joy, such as signing, dancing, painting and slack lining and practicing yoga..always :)
Describe your wellness practice.
Every morning I watch the sunrise with my love and meditate. I like to write in the mornings before I look at any screens. My writing has transitioned from journaling into writing poetry. Honestly, my routine changes a lot, but I usually incorporate some movement, whether that mean going to a yoga class, doing my own practice, running on the beach, or simply going for a walk. Every day, I must do asana though! It’s a non-negotioable even if it is just for 10 minutes.
Why did you leave Toronto?
The lifestyle just wasn’t for me. I always felt the constant pressure to do more, be more efficient, to network, always be growing and connecting. It felt like if I was going to live there, I had to take advantage of the environment, but the reality is the environment was so expensive to take part in and the culture of consuming truly was a lot to keep up with. As a minimalist who really just loves to cook at home and hang out in nature, I always felt out of place. Everything in the city is monetized, especially community and healthy activities, and it felt very high-school at times. I moved to Mexico because the cost of living and the quality of living is more in alignment with my lifestyle. I like to wake up to nature with easy access, not have to seek it out just to enjoy it for 30 minutes each day. I love how friendly the culture is here, everyone says hello and smiles and is open to being your friend. In Toronto, it felt like you always had to know someone to be worthy, and even then I hated sitting at the cool kids table where everyone is just on their phone but not actually connecting.
My Yoga Studio was a safe heaven, but even still, I felt like the community around me was so stuck in the loop and I felt even more helpless teaching an hour class of relaxation when really I wanted to empower everyone to quit their jobs that suck the life out of them and join Soul School.soulschoolyoga.com so they could really empower themselves.
Where are you based now and why?
I’m living in Puerto Escondido because me and my business partner are working towards building a physical location for Soul School. We want a place where the energy of yoga and energy work is infused into the walls, the same way it was at Oblong.
A place for the healing arts and spiritual teachers to come and learn and share their skills.
How does your current home and its physical and cultural landscape inform your practice today?
It is so easy to be healthy. It doesn’t cost me $100 for a small bag of groceries. I can spend $15 and get all local, organic, fresh produce from lamb-fish-eggs-to raw milk.
The beach is just 10 minutes from my house and everyone here is working to live, not living to work.
The energy and opportunity of Mexico is so exciting. It’s a great place to invest and put down roots. It feels like how I imagined it felt for our great grandparents where they could afford a car for a few thousand and a house built from scratch, custom made and just a few steps from the beach again for just $150k.
It makes me feel hopeful for the future. As a yoga teacher, I knew I would never be ale to afford building a school in Canada, not because of money, but my energy was drained everyday just trying to manage my stress. Just that felt like a full time job and also ate up so much of my money.
I feel relaxed and inspired to create. I have energy to manifest and relax and let them come to me wth ease.
I’ve only been here for a week and already my life is 10 fold better, my health is 10x better. I haven’t made any money in a while, but I’ve spent nearly nothing, so technically I am richer. Life is just overall easier here for me to maintain a spiritual practice and a conenction with Mother Nature.
Jess Rodriguez
IG: @goddessgirltalk
Introduce yourself!
My name is Jess Rodriguez and I am a woman passionate about movement and creative expression as a means to a relationship with self. I run a social media management company that supports and empowers women who desire to lead in their business from an impactful, authentic place.
Describe your wellness practice.
My wellness practice is influenced by so many modalities that I've deeply connected with, from functional movement to Ayurveda, to spiritual ritual and self care. I truly believe that every moment of our lives can hold the frequency of ceremony and that all emotion equates to a celebration of life. I believe my wellness practice, whether physical or emotional, is a space for me to be with my experiences and the energy they hold in my life.
Why did you leave Toronto?
I moved to Nosara, Costa Rica because I had travelled here for years to work with clients in the branding space. I decided to move full time because I felt the environment supported my lifestyle better than a city and I continue to work with my bestie and business partner who is based in Toronto, CA.
Where are you based now and why?
I continue to live in Nosara, Costa Rica as I've grown roots in the town, working with wellness babes who want to expand their presence online. I also teach a dance class that connects me to the women in my community and fosters a stronger sense of home for us all.
How does your current home and its physical and cultural landscape inform your practice today?
I absolutely love Costa Rica for its lush and wild jungle. Unfortunately, we have seen great deforestation due to large scale builds and a lack of education on conservation or regeneration. Changes in the environment as well as in the transient, nomad community I'm a part of make my practices feel even more vital; they are the consistent, grounding energy that keep me in my body and my energy within my power so that I can be as intentional as possible when I open to the world.
Aux’na
Introduce yourself!
Greetings Dear Ones 🌹
Good morning, afternoon, or evening to you. Whatever time it is, wherever you are, I sincerely hope that you are feeling good today.
My birth name is Alexandra-Jo Hastings, however, along my journey another name has been offered to me, and that name is Aux’na. So, you can feel me as her.
Describe your wellness practice.
To describe myself would be to attempt to explain the unique beauty of each individual flower, or mystical magic of the Milky Way. Who am I? No one, but also, everyone.
And to describe my wellness practice would be pointless without first informing you that my mission is, and always has been, to live from a space of soul. A life connected to all things below my feet, behind me, in front of me, within my heart, above me… Oneness, Spirit.
And more than ever, my wellness has been quite simple, the feminine. Everything it means to be woman. Healing the wounds of my ancestors, while also allowing myself to receive their gifts. Each ego death, personal medicine to be received. What it means to walk with beauty, and grace. Because a woman who truly understands the force that is her, holds it with grace out of respect for self, and others. Mother Earth is my teacher, and the stars my guide.
A bit vague, I can imagine you may think. However, the Sacredness of the ways I choose to live cannot, perhaps should not be shared in such a manner. Out of respect and reverence for the medicine, my elders, and my own soul.
Why did you leave Toronto?
I chose to leave Toronto a few years before everything went a little crazy, because to me, it already was that way. I was living downtown and running my own wellness practice out of Kensington Market where I offered various holistic health modalities, as well as energy medicine and healing. Hosting events at SOHO house and private influence retreats. I even had the largest online lifestyle magazine producing my vlog, and was allowing them to turn me into some sort of “spiritual it girl”. I leaned into this for a while, naively telling myself I was “being of service” when really, all I was doing was appropriating culture (even as a Cree-Métis woman) and pretending to be something I thought I was for all the wrong reasons.
Eventually the veil lifted, and I had had enough of myself and the capitalist ways around me, I knew I had to leave.
Long story short, I ended up breaking my life down, giving away my things… and just leaving. I packed up a few suitcases, my dog, and said goodbye to my clients, contracts, friends and family.
And that was it.
I had no idea what I was going to do, or what life would be like, I just knew that wasn’t it.
Where are you based now and why?
Not long after landing in Costa Rica I was invited to a ceremony, the kind my Ancestors prayed for me to be in.
I sat up all night by the fire, and simply said “Creator, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do, but I’m here, I’m paying attention, and I’m ready. Just tell me, and I’ll do it”
Not long after that I had a woman reach out to me, and share with me that she had been having dreams and that she knew I was going to help her. I wasn’t sure how… she was in Toronto, and I was 6500km away. But then I heard Spirit “you *just* asked me to show you…” and within a heartbeat she was my first coaching/Mentoring client.
Because I had already studied spiritual psychotherapy, and have lived quite the experience of life, death, addiction, trauma and recovery (that’s another story), I felt safe and comfortable to hold that space. That was over 6 years ago, and to this day she still shares with me that she often hears my voice in her head when she needs support. Since then I’ve developed myself and my practice into something I dreamed of as a little girl. Helping people by simply being myself. Fearlessly diving into the depths of darkness, and shadow to pull up healing. I get to hold space for women who choose to walk with plant medicines, and who choose to show up in service… It's an honour, dream, and responsibility all wrapped into one.
How does your current home and its physical and cultural landscape inform your practice today?
The landscape around me, Mother Earth, called me into sovereignty. And because I “had to make it work” being out of the norm… I found my true calling, or rather, it found me.
Let this story of “me” be a story of your own courage; to boldly step into whatever your heart feels the call towards. Knowing that you are so divinely supported — all you have to do is trust.
Joy Yap
IG: @the_alegria_joy and @wyldskincare
Introduce yourself!
I am Joy or Alegría en Español. I am a holistic wellness entrepreneur with a passion and mission to inspire sustainable and non toxic living. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and spent the first 25 years of my life between Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. In my late 20s, I moved to Canada, became a Canadian, and started my company Wyld, before deciding to move to Mexico.
Describe your wellness practice.
My wellness is very much my pleasure practice - doing what feels good for my body and my soul, peace in my mind and love in my heart. I love being in my feminine flow especially running a business where I am often in my masculine energy, it is so important for me to embody a balance. I find that balance in my daily practices of dancing, yoga, and breathwork. Exploring the world and being close to nature, with my feet on the bare earth, surrounded by trees, gazing at the sun, swimming in lagoons, lakes and oceans is also very healing and much needed for me as part of my regular wellness practice.
Why did you leave Toronto?
I left Toronto during the pandemic. As a free spirit, I needed to feel free to explore and feel at peace. I decided to take a trip to Mexico for a couple of weeks. I packed a small suitcase, handed my apartment keys in Liberty Village to my amazing neighbour to water my plant babies, and said that I would be back in 2 weeks. I left all of my life's possessions in that apartment, closed the door and I never saw it again. A 2 week vacation has since become 3.5 years of adventure living in Tulum, and traveling all over Mexico. I love slow travel and being immersed in Mexican culture, getting to know its people, tasting its delicious food, falling in love with its art and creativity. I have since expanded my business in Mexico to making and selling holistic natural skin + bodycare products, textiles, and launching a yoga wear company in 2024.
Where are you based now and why?
I am now based in Tulum, Mexico. It is a great place to be for now, and I enjoy being in a community of free spirits and freedom minded beings, access to oceans, lagoons and cenotes, the abundance of organic tropical fruits directly from farmers. There are many hidden gems to explore in and around Tulum.
The healers, teachers and guides in the Soul School family were such a beautiful community to me in Toronto and it is beautiful to still be connected even though I am now in Mexico. They continue to inspire deep soulful presence in my yoga practice, travel and wellbeing, and that is so special.
How does your current home and its physical and cultural landscape inform your practice today?
My home base is in Tulum, Mexico, but I am often traveling, and I find having a nomadic life makes my practices even more important to stay centred and grounded. When I am not traveling, I have my own practices at home, or I walk to Holistika where I practice yoga in a beautiful jungle setting. Being in nature and waking up with the sounds of the birds chirping is a blessing that I did not have living the condo life in Toronto. I love swimming in the ocean or any body of lake that I can swim in. It awakens and cleanses my soul.
Life here is much slower. There isn't that hustle culture as much as in the city. It's Caribbean vibe, and it all flows in Tulum time. It is important to surrender to the flow here, and take deeper breaths. My practice has become part of my life, every second of the day. It's the practice of intention and presence.
Sophia DiMuccio and Elena Massarelli
IG: @themindpalace.ca and @iamelenamassarelli
Introduce yourself!
Sophia is an aerospace engineering graduate turned Mindset, Empowerment, and Business coach for Women. Elena is a medsci/business graduate Breathwork Facilitator, Empowerment, and Leadership Mentor.
Describe your wellness practice.
Together, our Mission is to help women reconnect with their power, their pleasure, their purpose, and each other. After being coached by the two of us, women take bigger risks, have the confidence to carve their own paths, and SHOW UP to life liberated by the confines of society.
We created The Limitless Leader Retreat to provide adventure-loving, spiritual women with a transformational experience that pushes them beyond their comfort zone and leaves them unlocked & loaded in their next level of leadership.
Immersed in the magical land of Guatemala and packed with personal development workshops, sisterhood, and unforgettable experiences like the Acatenango overnight volcano hike, The Limitless Leader retreat is the fastest way to shatter limiting beliefs and step into the leadership role you know you were born for.
Why did you leave Toronto?
Travel has single-handedly been the greatest catalyst for both of us in our journeys of growth and self-discovery. There’s nothing quite like bursting your cultural bubble and immersing yourself in new communities, places and experiences to help you understand who you are, what you value, and what you’re truly capable of.
Simply put, we left Toronto because we knew we weren’t growing there. It was not a vibrational match for the women we were becoming, and didn’t represent the lifestyle we desired for ourselves. The vision we hold for our lives has us living in community, connected to the Earth, with an approach to success that is much more slow, holistic, and service-based, and we know Toronto isn’t the home for that.
You’re not a tree! You can move! In this big ole world, why not explore all your options instead of just settling for the place that you were born in?
This is our season of exploration.
Where are you based now and why?
We’re currently based in Antigua Guatemala, or as we like to call it, the heart of the Mayan world. About 2 years ago, both of us had the privilege of traveling through Guatemala in a way that radically healed our hearts, connected us with an extraordinary community of women, and raised our standards for how good life can be.
How could we not move here?
We fell in love with the soul of Guatemala, her rich culture and breathtaking landscapes. But more than that, we fell in love with the women we became exploring this beautiful country, and know that there is so much more for us to experience here.
How does your current home and its physical and cultural landscape inform your practice today?
Since moving here, we both have felt much more called to create in person experiences rather than focusing our coaching practices entirely in the online space. When you make the decision to move, you are choosing to open yourself up to a new way of being based on where you live, and allowing your practice to be informed and influenced by the world around you. It’s inevitable that you will change and so your practice must change with you.
The energy of the land here is very Feminine in nature, and is inviting us to become much more slow and intentional with the service we offer, how we create, and how we run our businesses. We are also finding ourselves wanting to serve the local community rather than the expat community, creating special pricing for Guatemalan women who want to join our retreats, women’s circles, and workshops.
Antigua is a very dynamic and interactive city, with a huge emphasis on in-person network and community building. Much of the inspiration behind our practice is being sourced from our day-to-day conversations and people we meet, whereas in Toronto most of these conversations were happening online.