We recently connected with Maria Mor and have shared our conversation below.
Maria , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?
Recently I was telling some friends that my life has all been about taking risks. I described the image of myself standing at the precipice of a cliff jumping off into the abyss. As I get older I find that the cliffs get higher and the jumps get deeper!
Let me share some jumps:
At the age of 23 I graduated college, worked 3 jobs, and took myself backpacking Europe with my best friend to foreign places filled with magic. This experience was soul replenishing, exciting, and resilient. The entire experience was a play between structure and the unknown. It was a very important and pivotal point for my life! A lot of self-growth took place on this adventure.
When I came back from my trip I took on the task of starting my own brand of photography and art. I think at the time I was very unsure of how big of a task it would be and how exposing it would feel. Let me explain: When an artist chooses to share their art it feels like a very vulnerable act. It is as if we chiseled our sternum and cracked open the avenue to our heart. The mind can get in the way of the beauty of our creations, especially when all we are trying to do is have the world not only look, but possibly co-create as clients, audiences, or collaborators with us. Looking back, I think the real risk was not in starting, but in tackling the shadows that would come up by doing it.
Venturing over to when I was 27 years old my mom was moving back to Colombia and I had to decide whether I wanted to stay in the United States by myself or move back to Colombia with her. I had never lived on my own and it felt quite scary to not just move out, but also wrap my head around the fact that I would be by myself. I did choose to stay! In 3 months I found myself a job to compliment my photography, found an apartment to move into, and with $900 in my bank account I jumped. I must emphasize that rent was $1275. I am unsure how I did it, but I did and without missing any deadlines too. I’d like to say that the Universe has got my back and my parents pitched in as much as they could. In the 5 years of experiencing my own company I learned the beauty of mustering my own strength, I cooked so many things, failed in numerous ways, truly learned how I enjoy doing life. I experienced both intense anxiety and also intense happiness! This time also gave me one of the biggest blessings in my life: my yoga teacher training certifications. A dream that for quite a while I had replayed over and over in my head. It truly came to life in the most miraculous and unexpected circumstances. I worked 2 jobs, a bit of a crazy schedule, but I studied and graduated all during COVID.
At the very end of 2022, with real estate inflation and searching long and hard for a new place to live I found myself back in my mom’s home. In her living room to be more specific. This was a hard hit to my ego! I felt like my entire life crumbled into pieces. Dramatic, I know, hahaha. The truth is I did not want to be there. At the same time my full time job had become mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually draining – TOXIC in fact. The level of anxiety and stress were beyond anything I had ever experienced! I quit mid-March of 2023. I left that job without a replacement or any idea of what would come next. Nervous? Yes! Fearful? Probably a little! I believe my self-respect caught up with me. It was and continues to be THE BEST decision I’ve ever made. Since then, I took it upon myself to follow the subtle nudges in my heart. Took myself back to therapy so I could get through all the muck and accept the moment for what it was. I went from teaching one yoga class after 5 PM to 6 classes weekly. I started shooting and co-creating with different clients and creatives again. I ended all previous friendships, romantic “situationships,” and ties to the past. Then rebuilt an entirely new community. A community that loves without measures! I started prioritizing self-care. Hosted my first in-person series of yoga, journaling, and tea to the public for free. Experienced my second solo photography exhibit where I meshed both my passions for photography and wellness. I started providing wellness, movement, and breath in Universities and workplaces. Within a year and a half, I tackled my mind in ways I never had. Experienced levels of fear, sadness, anger and grief in incomparable ways. I have exposed myself in a way I never thought possible. I’ve chosen not to hide, and it feels fucking scary hahaha! I do currently feel that the learning lesson is to create a new home within myself. It takes a lot of tempering of the emotions. I can’t say that it has been rainbows and butterflies. On occasions it feels extremely hard! However, I’ve felt an unmeasurable and an inexplicable amount of JOY from all of this. An intense level of gratitude in both the good and challenging times. The beauty of dichotomies that reside within all of us.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I am a South Florida based yoga guide, artist, photographer and creator from Colombia! I am specialized in the styles of Vinyasa, Yin, and chair yoga. As time has progressed I have begun to transmute my practice to also incorporate creative movement, breath, my own tea blends, and meditation. When I create my classes I tune into my experiences, surroundings, creativity, intuition, and what we may need. Not one detail is left untouched. I teach from what I know, what I have overcome, what I love, what I dislike, and what I feel. All with the hopes that the tools I lay forth are implemented not just on the mat, but beyond. I’ll guide you through a new way of thinking, moving, breathing, and feeling. I’d like for my students to remember, once more, the smell of roses, the warmth of the sun, and the vibrancy that is their light and soul. Sometimes we will move in the-in-betweens, sometimes we will move faster, sometimes we will move slower, but always from a place of creation and self-exploration! My students have often described the experience as “Therapy on the matt.” You’ll find me guiding at local yoga studios, at universities and corporate settings, and even in the privacy of your own home! South Florida and beyond.
As an artist and photographer I enjoy holding an embodied visual co-creating experience. Instead of booking a photographer, you are choosing to co-create with me as your visual storyteller. My intentions are for the experience to feel less like work and more like an enjoyable creative journey. Through this adventure you share your visions with me and together we try to bring them to live. The time prior to the actual photoshoot is where I do my best to get to know you as an individual on this Earth. Through the art of visual or verbal communication, I seek to learn what goes on inside of you so that when the photoshoot comes about you can truly be yourself. We collaborate with outfits, settle some housekeeping, and then jump into our co-creation! As you unfold with ease, it is only natural that I capture your essence. Not one person is the same so why would I approach you in the same way. I value the communication between you and me, because at the end of the day we are here to celebrate YOU in your most authentic way! The only way to do that is through comfort, trust, and fluid communication. It takes time, but the experience is always magical! Call it lifestyle with a touch of fine art.
In the in-betweens when I create for myself, I reconnect with Mother Earth! By creating I am awakening some tangibility to those aspects I cannot control or fully understand. They are attempts at solutions to a current problem. Through every creation, even if it is of other people, I learns about myself and about others. It is my cycle of growth and evolution that flourishes with mindfulness.
Who are you?
A passionate yogi or yoga studio, a young couple immersed in love, an individual with an amazing sense of style or brand with a desire for a lifestyle visual experience or rebrand, adventurous families looking for candids, an artist with a want for new fine art lifestyle headshots and marketing material for you and your creations, a band or musician looking for PR material, or simply wanting to gift yourself a photoshoot!
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
I don’t believe that there is such a thing as “non-creatives.” I simply believe that some have taken the time to really exercise, explore, and be curious with how we feel. From my perspective, feelings are the seeds of creation, intuition ignites inspired action, and the heart and the brain bring it all together. It takes patience and bravery! Which I’ve learned are lacking components in our society (including myself, hahaha). In terms of creativity, you also have to make sure that you are enjoying it (regardless of your current emotional state), because if you aren’t you stop doing it or end up hating it.
My most precious offering to awaken your own creative abilities is your willingness to play, fail, and make A LOT of mistakes. If you can muster the courage to look and feel weird, even delusional, while you learn you will go very FAR!
At least in my own creative experience, I base it a lot on inspiration. If she isn’t there, then I find that I have to be very consistent with my routines. Whether it be my meditation or breath-work practice, yoga or movement, my daily grand rising walk, daily facial routine/massage, journaling, sound sleep, and even keeping up with my unique social media plan. Showing up no matter the circumstances! When I am consistent with myself, inspiration will always show up for me even if she is dormant for a bit.
With that being said, I must point out that over the past few years of diving a little deeper into the creation process from a place within myself, I’ve also come to the realization that motivation is not the driving force, it helps, but it is not an element I’d like to depend on. Motivation burns out very quickly. I burn out very quickly. If I base creativity solemnly on motivation (which I have done before and still sometimes do), the end result is short lived and most likely feel stale, inauthentic, and tiring. Inspired action, however; comes from a purposeful place. Always lead with inspired action even if the message is the most subtle and faint, lead with that!
Lastly, if you so choose to embark on your own unique creative journey, I’d love to encourage you to stay true to yourself and to who you are. Even if it costs you friends, family, and money! Don’t lose your integrity or water yourself down to be more “relatable.” Let people choke instead. Rather, work on getting to know yourself. Give yourself the time, the grace, and the patience you need so that you can build a home for creativity throughout your life. There will be ups and downs and periods of unknowns! To the latter I say, try to make friends with your inner demons and be curious about the abyss. It is a daily practice! Remember, Creativity only wants to be invited.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
Such a short question for such a big answer. So much I could say about this so I’ll try to keep it short. To be honest, the actual act of creating, for me, is the most fulfilling! Getting to do it, that is it. I cannot WAIT to go teach my yoga classes, or prepare tea for my events, or take out my camera to photograph a flower. Even on days where it all may feel difficult to me, or I lose my patience, or things are not heading in the direction I want, I still feel it a privilege to create. I am utterly grateful that within me lives that awakened desire and ability to do so. It is a joyous gift!
I would now end this question by expressing that it can also be really rewarding to witness other people be and feel inspired by my own journey or my own story. Not everyone will, which is also a learning lesson in itself. So may it be that a theme for one my yoga classes resonated with someone, or the flavor of one of my tea blends soothed someone’s mind, or the photo gallery I delivered made it on to someone’s walls as printed love notes, it all adds up to something wonderful. I find it empowering to hold space for someone to explore their own imagination even if it is just for a little second. That in itself feels quite soul fulfilling!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mariamorphotography.com/
- Instagram: @themariamor & @themariamorbrand
- Facebook: NA
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-mor-314875112
- Twitter: NA
- Youtube: NA
- Yelp: NA
- Soundcloud: NA
- Other: My Latest Solo Photography Exhibit:
“Introspective, 2014”
Dandelight Boutique Studio
March 2024 – October 2024
https://www.dandelight.com/art
https://mmorfineart.wordpress.com/2016/02/02/introspective-2014/
Image Credits
All Lifestyle/fine art Photography work taken by: Maria Mor
Self-portraits: Directed by Maria Mor aided by a 3rd party
Yoga photography: venue hosts