Today we’d like to introduce you to Kierstie Payge Porr.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I stared at the screen for hours wondering how to share this one wild and crazy life through the lens of inspiration and lessons learned. Every human has a remarkable and unique journey. It is impossible to share every moment, everything, and everyone that made an impact, but here is my short version of a very long, deep, painful at times but beautifully blessed life thus far. It all started in Austin, TX, where I grew up with the best family a girl could ask for. I was a national-level competitive gymnast for the majority of my young life. After the structure and discipline that came from 40-hour gym weeks + school + trying to be a normal kid, I left gymnastics and turned into a bit of a rebel child. I dove into my new found freedom and decided I wanted to pave my own way, challenge the norm, and do everything my parents said not to. I could say it was all fun and games because for a little while it was, but I also like to do everything 100%, including getting in trouble, so it turned dark pretty fast. My family did everything to try and get me back on the right track, moving schools, alternative schools, boarding schools, and so much more. Still, I couldn’t seem to kick the innate feeling of challenging authority and break free of society’s patterns.
This was when my mom took me to my first yoga class at 16 – yoga instantly brought me back to my love for movement and challenged me to see things from a different point of view, one that wasn’t so surfaced and egotistical. Fast forward many years and many, many lessons learned, I got my life together, for the most part. I went to college, traveled around the world, fell in love, fell out of love, fell in love again, tried multiple different career paths only to feel as if something was not aligning. I no longer was a reckless teenager. I went the opposite direction and attempted to run away from everything I thought I once was. I moved away from Texas, lived in a few different places, and created a whole new story. No one knew my past; I could be whoever I wanted to be; it was liberating! That worked for a bit, but you can’t run from yourself forever.
Again, attempting to make a long story short here, I fell into a spiral of unease; many call it anxiety or depression. I was hit with an overwhelming dose of reality that brought forth many past traumas, self-sabotaging patterns, neglected emotions, and mostly the damage I had done to myself and the people I loved most through my reckless decisions. All of this transpired from my refusal to turn inward. I recognize this now as my wake up call; I had to remember who I was, I had to mend what had been broken, and I had to learn to love myself again instead of running away from it all. So remember that yoga class I took back when I was 16, well now at 24, I tried it again. Again and again, until yoga became deep self-work for me, meditation became an everyday endeavor, and learning how to breathe and be at ease in my own body, mind, and spirit was the most formidable challenge of my life. I started addressing one deep-seated issue at a time, rewiring my self-talk, and slowly I began to recognize and re-activate my innate power, compassion, and love for life. Somewhere around 27, I met myself somewhere between the wild girl I used to be and the all-encompassing girl I am today (now 30).
I moved to San Diego, got married, did my Yoga Teacher Training, and knew from that moment on that my purpose on this earth is to help others find the same realizations and awakenings that yoga gave to me. From that moment, I proceeded with a fierce dedication to serving others and helping them transform their lives through mindfulness practices. Yoga is the doorway to self. From the seat of our self/soul is where our connection with everything and everyone in the universe deepens. I no longer live with shame for my past but instead use it as a badge of honor, I have integrated the darkness with the light, and that is where I live, in balance, in love, in bliss. I currently lead yoga/soul-lifting retreats worldwide; I create virtual yoga programs and teach in person at a few studios around San Diego. I also have Private clients and am building a YouTube Channel (Yoga By Kierstie Payge). My husband and I also own a Wellness Focused Marketing Agency – CRAVO Marketing to help share small to medium businesses stories. My mission is to reach as many souls as possible to share the message of unity and self-discovery through the ancient and freeing practice of yoga. So there it is, just a snippet of my ever-evolving story. If anything, I hope my story inspires you to share your story. We all have something powerful to give to the world just by simply existing and living this one wild, crazy, and infinitely beautiful life.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My biggest challenge was coming home to myself and realizing that I create my reality and am not the product of the pastor of my human conditioning but instead that I have the power to rewrite my story in a way that elevates and supports me. I have also struggled with figuring out what to do with my life and how to build a career while also following my dreams and doing what I love.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I teach embodiment and self-discovery through movement, mindset, and metta (loving-kindness). Yoga is a dynamic tool that can be used in so many ways, from healing physical ailments to awakening personal power to helping cope with trauma, anxiety, and depression. It really is one of the most all-encompassing practices on the planet and is so much more dynamic and expansive than most people think it is. Everyone can do yoga, even if you have extremely limited mobility or other physical limitations. Yoga is not what you see on Instagram. Yoga is a way of life, thought, and dedication to one’s self. What makes me different is that I really dive deep into every aspect of yoga, so far beyond the physical. I teach in a way that is intuitive and creative yet rooted in the ancient science of the practice.
You will find something for everyone with me, from dynamic, fast-paced, athletic style practices to slow, grounding, and healing yin, restorative and Yoga Nidra-like practices. I am most proud of continuing to teach and practice even when things got really hard. It is not easy making it as a yoga instructor. Often times we are teaching 15 – 20 classes a week, driving for hours on hours a day a and not getting paid what we are worth. It can be very draining and discouraging. You have to think outside the box and learn from mentors that are doing things the way you want to do them. I guess I am most known for my creative, power vinyasa classes, but really I love to teach everything. I also teach kids yoga, chair yoga for seniors, and many modalities of meditation and am training in tantric practice and currently getting my Spiritual Life Coach Certification to lean more into that kind of work.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
My grandparents owned a farm in the Texas Hill Country. When we were young, all of the cousins would go hunting for “snipes.” We would take paper bags and chase my grandpa around the farm once it got dark and try to catch these little snipes that made high pitch squeaking noises and liked to hide under rocks. If you grew up in the south, hopefully by now you know that snipes are not real. Instead, it was my grandma on the porch making the noises so that we would run around with grandpa and get tired before bed. I literally just found out snipes weren’t really like three years ago… I’m 30. I will never forget those nights running around under the moonlight, free as can be, trying to catch invisible snipes. No, we never caught one, but we did create a lot of beautiful memories.
Contact Info:
- Email: yoga.kp@yahoo.com
- Website: www.yogakp.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kierstie_payge/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kierstie.dolezal
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/YogabyKierstiePayge
- Other: https://cravomarketing.com
Image Credits:
Saman Dadafsher Photography
