Alana Grier

My professional path has been one of transformation and healing. I started as a ballet dancer at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts for high school, but I left that extremely toxic environment and went straight to get my GED. By the time most people were seniors in high school, I was already in trade school in Boston, Massachusetts, studying Shiatsu and Eastern medicine. I went this path to really heal my body and mind from that toxic environment I experienced in the ballet world. I became a yoga teacher around the time I was in massage school, and that's what launched me into the career that I still love. After moving to Hawaii, I had to start from scratch with a whole other massage program there because each state had different licensure qualifications. When I divorced my kids' dad, I went into a nursing program and graduated with honors. At the same time, I built my business plan after winning a business plan competition, because I realized I don't want to be working in a hospital setting. I really wanted to stick with more preventative coaching. I fell in love with coaching in my clinicals doing smoking cessation work. I moved my family from Hawaii to New Mexico and got a job at the University of New Mexico for the employee wellness program. My goal was not only to continue my education but to have tuition remission for my five children as well. I slowly chipped away at my bachelor's degree while raising my kids, getting my yoga certificate and holistic health certificate in the process. I finished my bachelor's degree online at Southern New Hampshire University, then came for my master's degree at Maharishi International University because of my focus in yoga, Vedic science, and Ayurveda. It took around 15 years for me to complete the bachelor's degree with five kids in tow. Now I run Peaceful Mindful Yoga where I teach 200-hour yoga teacher training and mindfulness. My program really stands out because of how holistic it is. I have faculty that's traditional Vaidya, or Ayurvedic doctor, and my program incorporates Jyotish astrology, Ayurveda, and Raja Yoga, which is really meditation. I focus on very safe asana practice because I have an extensive background in exercise physiology and practice as a group fitness instructor and certified personal trainer. I've worked with special populations including seniors and people with chronic disease, so my goal in teaching hatha yoga is really safety. I'm also launching what I'm calling Durga Dance this March. I've been teaching belly dance specifically to women who were preparing for birth and postnatal recovery. I did a pivot from ballet to belly dance, and my original belly dance teacher, Morgana McVicker, was teaching dance as an ancient art form to prepare the female body for birth and recovery. I've always had dance classes going in my community, usually as an 8-week offering. It's not about being sexy, it's about feeling good in your own body, it's mind-body movements. It's a little break from patriarchy, I like to call it. It's a safe space where we can really support each other, and it's a fusion of different styles of dance including a really fun improv type of dance where we can step up and take leadership. I've taught it in person since the 90s and have stayed in touch with a lot of the women I've taught over the years. I'm calling it Durga Dance because it's not just building on your movement and dance choreography, it's also an exploration of the divine feminine. I've also done quite a bit of organizational consulting, helping about a dozen other businesses get up and running, which started when I was in nursing school and won a business plan competition. I realized I love creating business plans, so I've done that quite a bit in my career from time to time.