We were lucky to catch up with Kate Moon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kate, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

FLOW STATE Wellness Studio – the name of the studio. One year, I was hosting a yoga retreat in Mexico, and one of my clients fell on a gravel road and skinned up her hands pretty badly. She was disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to do yoga the next day since she couldn’t put her hands on the ground (downward facing dog, table top, etc.). So, I went back to my bungalow and started sequencing a class where we barely used our hands on the floor (only fingertips for stability). I taught it the next day and it became this beautiful and fluid, almost dancelike class, that everyone loved! I brought the idea back to Charleston with me and started teaching the method publicly and began calling them “FLOW STATE” classes due to the way to sequencing immersed your mind in the movement, allowing you to get lost in the enjoyment of it all. Since then, we started putting our hands back on the ground, but some major parts of the sequencing stuck and it became the name of my studio and my signature class. My studio is scheduled to open Summer 2023 in downtown Charleston.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My name is Kate Moon (yes, Moon is my given name – I didn’t change it for yoga). I found yoga when I started the journey of sobriety almost nine years ago. I had just been released from a drug and alcohol rehabilitation and I was trying to surround myself with positive and healthy influences. I stumbled into a free yoga class, (which was all I could afford at the time as I was living in a halfway house), and I was hooked instantly! I shared my story with the yoga teacher, basically pleading to allow me to take more classes and they allowed me to work in an exchange program. I began doing laundry and cleaning the floors at that yoga studio for free yoga classes to keep myself in the middle of wellness and who I felt were people to look up to. A few years later, I was fortunate enough to find myself enrolled in their yoga teacher training program.

I have taught yoga ever since I graduated that first training. First, as a side passion project alongside my full time sales job, and about a year later, I went all in and left the desk job to put my heart into it. I told myself – one year, Kate. If after one year you haven’t grown to resent turning your passion into your job, if after one year you are able to pay your bills and live comfortably – keep going.

I worked for many yoga studios. I built yoga teams and yoga programs that were recognized in the city as “The Best of Charleston”. I started my own brand, Kate Moon Yoga, and began hosting yoga retreats all over the world that at times, waitlisted in a matter of minutes. I never thought I could be more proud of turning my life around. And then, I signed my own studio lease. This summer, I open the doors to my very own yoga studio in downtown Charleston and I have never been more proud. It will open the same month I celebrate nine years of sobriety.

I tell you all of this because this has been what has helped to build my community. Transparency, vulnerability, hope, and trust. I always try to lead both of my brands: Kate Moon Yoga and FLOW STATE Wellness Studio from a place of humility and grace – leaving it open for others to do the same.

Over these years, it has been an honor to lead people not only in their journeys of yoga on their mats, but in the journeys of their hearts. So many find yoga during times of hardship and struggle and it is the greatest gift of my life to watch people come through it all and find a deeper understanding of themselves through doing the true nature of yoga work. That is what I lead people to do on my retreats and each day they step foot in my yoga class.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Recently, when coming into the opportunity to open my own yoga studio, I took a big risk. I signed the lease without having secured financing. Some of you might be thinking, “idiot”. Well, perhaps you are right, but I knew in my gut this was my path and this space was something special. So I signed the lease, having my business plan in hand and my projected finances charted out to show the banks.

One bank, two banks, six banks later – it was still a deafening, “NO”. I worked with national banks, small local banks, and even non-profit community development lender and no one could help me. Turns out as a single member household who works for herself with no W2 to show – my chances were non-existent. Week after week I worked with small business mentors and community leaders and week after week I cried my eyes out. I didn’t sleep AT ALL. The anxiety of the potential debt I had just put myself in was crippling – I couldn’t find money to do the construction I needed to to make this space a functioning yoga studio.

But, I didn’t let it stop me. I didn’t give up. The tears and the stress kept rolling and so did I. I sat down and got really creative with where I could pull the money from. I owned my house, I owned my business. I had good credit. I had an incredible community behind me. So, some lines of credit on my home, my business, a small loan, and an incredible GO FUND ME donation stream from the community – we open our doors this summer. I am so grateful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I am always pivoting. I think it is healthy and natural to pivot. So often, when we get too comfortable, complacent even, the magic that got us to where we are starts to fade.

I think one main pivot in my yoga career is important to note. Shortly after leaving my desk job to teach yoga full time (I was at five different yoga studios with several private clients just trying to make ends meet), I was offered a full time role a one of the five studios I taught at. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my back. No more driving around Charleston like a mad woman from 4am to 7pm just trying to make a dollar.

This place became my home and the yoga team I built became my family, as did other members of the company. I loved my job. They put so much trust and faith in my abilities and my leadership and I am forever grateful for that space. A few years in however, it came to a point, where I felt I had no where left to grow there. Almost like what I was asked to do was done. I also had begun to immerse myself deeper into further yoga trainings where my body and my style of teaching was wanted to do something different – something that perhaps didn’t fit the mold there anymore. I knew to stay authentic to me and my heart – it was time to go. So, I left the job that made my career what it is, and went full time into my own business.

So often in life, we delay the reality that we have outgrown something or someone. The longer we stay, the more unhealthy it becomes. Sometimes we just need permission or validation that it is ok to walk forward in the direction that feels right for you. If you’re in that space right now – give yourself permission and lean into trusting yourself. You got this.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.katemoonyoga.com AND www. flowstatewellnessstudio.com
• Instagram: @katemoonyoga AND. @flowstatewellnesschs

Image Credits
Kent Lin Alexandra Rostad Alice Keeney