wanderers. wonderers. creators. Meet Nicole Haring...

People who inspire for all kinds of reasons, small or big.

There are folks in my life who have inspired me to be better. They’re my mentors. My teachers. My heroes. They’ve shared their knowledge with me, patiently and gracefully. Some are older. Some are younger. Age doesn’t seem to matter. All are wise and doing what they love. Once in a while, I’ll be chatting with them about what makes them tick and sharing their stories with you. I hope you’ll feel energized by their insights. And, one day, perhaps you’ll be my next featured wanderer. wonderer. creator.

Meet my friend Nicole Haring. We connected via yoga. She owns a studio called Holistic Hollow. We met when I attended one of her classes. I was impressed with her and her teaching method. She inspires me in so many ways! She not only owns and operates her studio (and teaches yoga). She also makes gorgeous jewelry, sculptures, paintings and holistic teas and herbs. Wow! Right?! Learn how she manages all this and raises three children, too. She’s a superhuman! 

Hi Nicole! Thanks for chatting with me about yourself, your yoga and your Holistic Hollow space. Let’s start with you telling me a little about yourself and how you came to love yoga. 

(Diane) One of the things I like about your teaching style is how you offer your cues—asking us to notice how a yoga pose makes our bodies feel. Where did you get certified to teach and who from? 

 "If a teacher is not a forever learner, a forever giver and a forever innovator I am not sure they should be teaching."

(Nicole) Thank you so much. My cueing, I believe, is a direct relationship to my own awareness and creative brain, that doesn’t stop. I have taken about 1500hrs of yoga certifications from all over. I honestly feel the most important and influential training is experience and self exploration. I am not sure any training can actually train someone to teach as that is an innate ability in someone. Either you can teach, or your teaching comes off flat and lacks inspiration because you are just redelivering information someone else delivered to you, and that's not teaching. It’s a passion to want to guide a classroom full of individuals and make it feel like the class was geared specifically for each one of them. I think certifications give people a base to work from and no one should just think that’s that, it's time to teach. If a teacher is not a forever learner, a forever giver and a forever innovator I am not sure they should be teaching. 

(Diane) Agree. Your passion truly does show in the way you teach. I, for one, appreciate how well you know anatomy, and thus, are able to explain why you are teaching a pose and how it affects a specific body part(s).

(Diane) What is your favorite thing about teaching yoga?

(Nicole) What's not to like? There has not been one class I said "shit why did I do this"? Every class is selfishly the best feeling, leaving me feeling hopefully as full as the clients. I have said for many years that if it didn’t seem creepy I would love to record my clients walking in through the threshold to take class, dissect their mannerisms and demeanor, and then record them walking out and again dissecting their mannerisms and demeanor. It's magical. Yoga has the ability to be the absolute best piece of someones day, and then you get the opportunity to teach people how to revisit and create that themselves. You as a yoga teacher get to be a tool for others to utilize in shaping moments, in learning about their being, in shifting their entire paradigm. 

(Diane) LOL. After your class my mannerisms are pretty chill. Your class beats me up, relaxes me, strengthens my bones and stretches my muscles, so my energy is reinvigorated, which is nice, but I’m also TIRED, too. Can I be both? 

(Nicole) Hmm...I believe both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems work together creating that balance of (both), I however I think being tired may mean a couple of other things. Yes, you may absolutely be both, however, being TIRED after class, as I read it, means more of a depletion which I wouldn't want someone to feel after class. I'd say a higher protein breakfast and more sleep at night may alleviate that, or maybe taking postures to not a full edge and see if that helps keep you feeling invigorated more so than TIRED. You have a stunning practice and I can see the amazing strength and effort you put into feeling your body and moving it. My vinyasas are beast mode classes and definitely have the overexertion possibility on the docket. I consider them more of a workout, with the added benefit of moving inward, once you get used to the mechanics of the body and the warmth. I never hope to deplete someone, but rather build them up. 

(Diane) Yes, my sleep patterns are ridiculous. But it is what it is. I don’t stress. I read. Or think. But then I start to think too much. Ugh. Vicious cycle! 

"...if I don’t try I am not living what I teach my kids, and that is to not worry, just try!" 

(Diane) How did you decide to open your own yoga studio? 

(Nicole) I honestly wasn’t going to. During covid, I was teaching 11 privates a week out of my home studio, when two students kept asking me to open up a shop as they wanted me to offer what I do to more people. I said no several times, and then eventually said, well, I suppose if I don’t try I am not living what I teach my kids, and that is to not worry, just try!  It wasn’t failure I was worried about, it was more TIME. I was homeschooling my three kids, my eldest just went through a severe trauma, and, well, our society was a messed up joke with the covid "shut down".  However, I went forward and explored it. Boy were there some moments when I said, I don’t want to do this as trusting humans is not my best suit. I learned some pretty wild business lessons and had my trust issues validated. But, onward you move. I am not in this business to get rich; it’s the watching people's entire day shift in one hour that makes this business full of all it needs. The bills get paid, and I never regret going into work. I enjoy being in the shop, it's grounding and comforting, people want to be in there, and they want to come back. 

(Diane) What are some of the business lessons you’ve learned from founding your own business? 

(Nicole) Founding and owning your own business is not for the weak. You get used, trampled and beat up by the opinions and constant stream of expectations of others. But damn, it's better than having someone tell you what to do, and you have to do it, haha. Ultimately, you need to trust only yourself. Stay true to you. Be your passion, and it all falls in place. As there are too many people out there that work as sharks vs as a school of fish. They circle your abilities, and drive and chomp at it as if it's their own, to deepen their own pockets, to selfishly fulfill their own needs, and try stealing your voice and money from your already emptied pockets. I clearly had a really bad experience at the beginning of all of this, lol, but I love it more than any other position out there. These are just the hard truths that come with the perks of it. 

"Be your passion, and it all falls in place."

It's a lot of work. Good thing I love to work and stay busy. However, one of the reasons I didn't want to originally open up my own brick and mortar is, I am a mother of three and need to tend to them first and foremost, so the time cabinet is always tight. 

I find it interesting that most people see my business and assume I make money. I don't make much. I work seven days a week, all day, and even into the night, and pay myself less than my teachers often. It may be enough to get by, though, sometimes not. One day, I hope to make more and live a bit more comfortably, but fortunately, I absolutely love what I do, so I can justify the work and pay because it's more of a calling and passion than it is a bank filler. 

"Balance, self-security and passion are the only way this works." 

Owning a small business is fun. I don't do well with having a "boss," so that's a huge blessing to be my own sole manager, ceo, seo, cleaning company, HR head, lobby girl, graphic designer, marketing agent, laundromat wash girl, retail purchaser, teacher, organizer of all therapists, teachers, schedules, workshops and whatever else the studio needs, lol. My phone is a constant stream of texts, calls and emails. I never keep it on, as balance is important, and if I let the constant messaging impact me I would be an unhappy gal. I am pretty good at letting it be, and get to it when I can. Balance, self-security and passion are the only way this works. 

The positives are, I never will work for someone again. I work for the whole and myself, and honestly, that's amazing. I feel so blessed to be good at what I love, and love what I am good at. I will never let the business side destroy my passion and drive, at least that's a goal. You'll find I am actually the worst business owner out there, in a business person's eyes.

(Diane) WOW! That’s a mouthful. But loaded with insights. I encourage everyone who reads this to take away at least one lesson from Nicole. Mine is, do (and be) what you love and you will never go wrong. 

"I love exploration...learning and creating new synapses."

(Diane) You have so many passions, and you seem to constantly be learning new things. What drives you?

(Nicole) Staying alive. Moving forward is my drive, I love exploration and keeping my mind out of the filth and submerged in learning and creating new synapses.

"...connecting on a level deeper than that of the spoken word—a level that transcends beyond our material body, where everyone's the same."

(Diane) I notice that you are a champion of the concept of interconnectedness. Have you always felt this way, or did something happen in your life to change your way of thinking? 

(Nicole) How aren’t we all connected? If energy is what makes us us, and energy is a never ending source of being, we have to be connected. I have a hard time with entitled ego driven souls, who ladder climb atop others. But, I still connect in a way where I hope to open them up to the ability to be more grounded and content working with others vs using them. I have to admit, I actually have a hard time with society and where it is. It's damaged. It's segregated, and it's getting worse. I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative. I actually do not believe in our political system at all, they’re all fraudulent thieves in my eyes and the root to this broken mess we live in. But when it comes to the studio, we all have the opportunity to sit with our own beliefs and share a space with others with their own beliefs, connecting on a level deeper than that of the spoken word—a level that transcends beyond our material body, where everyone's the same. We are making direct choices to disconnect based upon things that die with our body, it's so strange to me. Buy something it’ll make you happy vs take a deep breath it will help you become content. That’s the world I try to operate in, but its hard in this modern day life to quiet and escape from the constant inundation of stimulation.

"Atmosphere is crucial, as are thresholds and projections."

(Diane) That feeling of being connected to others is one reason I love attending a physical yoga class vs using a video. The energy in the room, whether lively, peaceful or chaotic, is stimulating and/or calming. The choice is ours how we choose to receive it. You have a beautiful space that feels welcoming and warm. It’s nice. 

(Nicole) Thank you. Atmosphere is crucial, as are thresholds and projections. I slip up once in a while and let my daily negatives seep out, I try to catch it and reel them back in. I want nothing more than to have a space that others get to dive into what they need, and get to walk out with who they are, alongside a state of contentment, hence the no politics, religion or spiritual pushing in my shop. Everyone gets to be themselves and hold a state of knowing it'll be comfortable, not a place of outward agenda pushing. 

(Diane) Is there one thing that you wish all humans would do that may bring us closer together? Connect us? 

(Nicole) TURN OFF TECHNOLOGY!!!!!!!!!!! STOP TRYING TO PROGRESS and DIGRESS BACK TO BEING HUMAN! We don’t need more we need less.

(Diane) Well, I agree we are all way too addicted to our phones. However, without technology, we wouldn’t be able to communicate globally. If used properly, social media and the internet can bring us closer together. This interview with you is a good example of sharing the good in people vs highlighting the bad. I guess my hope would be for people to be kind to one another. Think of how acts of kindness and compassion create positive energy. We need more happiness and hopefulness in the world. As the great Dalai Lama says, "If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion." "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them, humanity cannot survive."

(Nicole) I agree there are massive perks to technology, I do feel humans tend to be too glutenous for such a forward way of life, which is why we host the addiction to it. 

Thank you Nicole for sharing your time with me. I’m sure whoever reads this will feel just as inspired by you as I do. If you live in the area stop by Holistic Hollow for a visit, to shop or to take a yoga class. And say hi to Nicole while you’re there. 

(Nicole) Thank you :) love getting to know you!!

"We don’t need more we need less."