Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jose Portillo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jose, 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?

Making the career shift into full time fitness and wellness was a pretty big step for me. I had worked in luxury fashion retail for the majority of my adult life having worked as a stylist and shopper for Neiman Marcus and Saks 5th Avenue and for so long it had really treated me well and I had found much success and fulfillment there. Then yoga came into my life and I quickly fell in love with the practice and just found myself wanting to know more and more about it. I took a certification in becoming a yoga teacher a few months after I started practicing yoga back in 2018 and started teaching a couple of classes here and there “for fun” in 2019. Then Covid hit and the world shifted and I found myself shifting along with it. I grew and learned a lot about mental and physical health through the yoga practice and began an online platform to teach and whenever my job at Neimans could no longer offer me the income I had been making, it came somewhat naturally for me to leave my career in fashion and delve into full time fitness. I was extremely grateful to have people in my life that helped inspire and set me up with goals and tools to help me get to where I’m at today. One of my mentors turned into my best friend and now business partner and we are in the 4th year of owning and running our own yoga, life coaching and wellness retreat company. We’ve traveled all over the world to Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Indonesia with more countries and places to come. In the summer of next year I will be hosting my own Yoga Teacher Training program that will be held in Bali, Indonesia for 3 whole weeks which has been a part of my vision over the past few years. I am building the life I desire along with the people and communities that truly inspire me.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Jose Portillo and I am a gay latino Canadian raised but American born Yoga teacher and full time fitness professional and co-owner of a wellness retreat company. I have been a yoga teacher for 7 years now and been teaching a Black Swan Yoga Houston for the majority of that time. I have taught other fitness modalities such as indoor cycling and HIIT but yoga is what holds my heart. I found yoga at a very pivotal point in my life where I was making some pretty major shifts and it is my hope that anyone who comes into my space can meet themselves in body and mind in an authentic way that always leads to their higher self. Over the years I have really come to appreciate movement of all kinds and I truly believe that movement is medicine. The yogis believe that we are energy in movement and when we mindfully and intentionally move the body to release and open the mind, we can come to such a special and beautiful connection of self that can then lead into so many things. Things like the invitation for self study, opportunities to try new and scary things (maybe those are poses on the mat or experiences off the mat) and powerful moments of self reflection can oftentimes come from something as simple and profound as taking a moment to be still and listening to your breath.

In my yoga classes and in studio, my goal and desire is often to provide an invigorating movement experience where you leave feeling like you gave it your all and can walk out of the class stronger than you did before. If you ever find yourself curious or on a yoga retreat with me, my hope is that you find a once in a lifetime experience with new like minded individuals that are ready to say yes to the things that elevate you but that you also find a time to actually RETREAT and come back home feeling refreshed and renewed. If you are ever wanting to take a deep dive into all things yoga and come on a training, be prepared to FULLY immerse yourself in the practice of looking into the self, not just physically but internally, through the lens and tools of the yoga practice (it also helps that it’s in one of the most beautiful and mystical places in the world, Bali, Indonesia!)

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

So it’s really funny and interesting to me that I am in full time fitness and wellness because I grew up as an obese child that absolutely hated the idea of sports because I could never do any of it and physical exercise always made me feel like I was being punished. In my teens, I still struggled with my weight and body image but got involved in tennis so there was some movement involved but I never really took it anywhere further than that. Cut to my thirties and I find yoga and find a connection and love for my body that I never had. I wouldn’t call myself like the most flexible or the strongest yogi out there but I will absolutely say that there are things that 15 year old Jose would have never believed he could do (and I’m almost 40 now!). I used to also be the kind of person that was so ashamed and afraid to even take off my shirt in public out of embarrassment for my physique and now I’m a speedo loving, takes his shirt off in yoga kinda guy who embraces and appreciates the body he’s in.

Putting training and knowledge aside, what else do you think really matters in terms of succeeding in your field?

I think it’s important to be a visionary and to know your strengths and wants in both short and long term so that you can plan towards that. Many people have asked me if I would be interested in opening up my own studio and while you would think that would be the next big step for me, I genuinely do not have any desire to do so. While I can be someone who is organized and professional in certain aspects, I will fully admit I am not the best manager out there (sorry to everyone I managed at my 4 year stint at Buckle back in my 20’s). I joke, but more than that, my heart and passion lies in actually teaching and my connections with students and I find that when your primary focus is on the actual business and all the backend stuff, that really takes away from it.

All that to say, it is not sustainable to teach 20+ yoga classes a week till I’m in my 70’s so what are the other avenues and routes I could take outside of owning a brick and mortar business?! Where was I going to find time to travel and have vacation time to myself because when you are a fitness entrepreneur, PTO does not exist! Well that’s where the idea of becoming a host for yoga retreats and creating my own school where I could teach people across the globe came to me. I had seen one of my yoga teachers do something similar and I just felt and witnessed how much she loved her life and her students and I really felt like that was something that I could also want and enjoy.

So in all that I would say don’t just look at a particular model or trajectory that you’ve seen as the one you should take. Part of the success is knowing where you thrive best and also where you can use and need support in and find the people or resources to help you along the way. Surround yourself by other inspiring individuals who may not even be in the same field as you but are also visionaries that like to build around their dreams and passions.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.createyourfateretreats.com
• Instagram: all.in.jose
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jose.portillo2

Image Credits

Brittney Ellaway Photography