We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Muriel Paul a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Muriel, looking forward to hearing all of your stories 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?

I recently took big risk to bet on myself, to pack mine and my son’s bag and move to New York City to start over and give it another shot. I am a yoga teacher and currently in certification program for clinical yoga therapy. I feel like I kept taking on this small risk on just doing it without necessarily knowing exactly where I want to get. I moved from Haiti right before Covid hit in 2020 and back then, I had my own yoga studio with infinite possibilities. And then I was stuck in Florida, so within those 2 years of life readjustment and decided to get an entrepreneur herbalism certification at Herbal Academy, to complement my yoga practice and services. I always wanted to do more then just instruct a class, when the whole reason I got into yoga was because it saved my life. so 1 instructed class to me felt incomplete. So, I risk doing something, while I had nothing, and although had a great experience diving into it, I did not really get anywhere with it. I still needed to eat, clothe myself and provide for my son. A series of unfortunate event led me to take to one of the hardest decision I had to make in summer 2022 which was to seperate from my son, so he didnt have to go through what I have been and was going to go through over the course of a year. Within he returned, and I risk making a big change an instead of having him back I went to him.
This was a very defining point in my life, because I ha decided to go reside in the home where my son was taken care of my his grandmother on his father’s side. A decade ago, this would have never happen because I was a victim of this very same person from domestic violence, emotional, mental and verbal abuse. What was I doing there? No matter how much things seemed to have change and gotten better. I do not regret it, because no matter as bad as these shot 2-3 months were, It made me realized something incredibly vital to me as a person seeking stability, balance and wellbeing.
the abuse was so bad and intense that i felt I had enough of it. Enough of people being so terrible and treating me in the worst possible because i refused to believe that that was it. It made me realized and see my worth in ways i never before, and i decided to do the one things i never thought i would which is moving to NYC in the middle of winter, unprepared, with nothing but few clothes and important things, a few essential and with my son. I risked a good relationship with m brother, because for the type of person he is, having over temporarily really messed him up and he refuses to speak to me, to us. it’s awful, the continuous mistreatment from everywhere. i stayed strong, redid my whole mindset, and decided i was going to achieve financial freedom. Today, I am an insurance agent for NIlico, and things couldn’t even be better.

Muriel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Im 37, I’m Haitian, I started living in the states again since 2020 right before Covid hit because, i came back February 24th, 4 days before my birthday. Before, I was in Port-au-Prince Haiti, raising my son, working, going to school at University Quiskeya. But my yoga practice started a few years before that, after i graduated in Palm Beach I went back to Haiti. I was younger, and I had gone through a very rough situation, involving the traumatic effecst of abuse and domestic violence. So it was back in 2014, when I had come to a point where it seems like i needed therapy to recover which i became open to. I had a baby at that time, and I was already recovering from depression and anxiety and so on, that it felt urgent. All this to say, I was in therapy and that’s how i was introduced to the term yoga, did some research on it but it didn’t really take as I didn’t know what I was doing. Until i met Ama Makeda, a wonderful and magical woman, my teacher and mentor who taught me what i know. Of course over the years, with consistent practice, things evolve, they change into something else, and practicing yoga became my therapy. With continuing education now, I aim to offer more through the lenses of yoga. I’m currently undergoing a certification in clinical yoga therapy, so in the meantime, i offer services of yoga online and on private basis, and I weave into my sessions my knowledge tailored to the individual’s needs, whether it’s just a yoga asana session, whether they want to help manage stress, breath better or increase lung capacity, mindfulness exercises, i weave these tools in to the sessions based on needs. I am also a certified herbalist and I will be reopening my apothecary soon once i get all settled in my current affair. I make herbal products and I may suggest certain herbs to help if the person wanted to go a whole or full holistic route. I try to stay within my scope and promote the idea of learning a tool, that we, the client an I together, can make accessible for them to use to assist them in their experiences, of they ever needed to do this through the lenses of yoga, if that makes sense. I am most proud of the fact, although I am now a life insurance agent, this whole thing about Healing House by Mu, is just short for I found my Dharma, my true heart purpose, everything else ever since then have just being aligned and i’m proud of myself for persevering and not giving up when I had so many reasons to.
-So for a potential client:
Maybe people have recommended that you practice yoga or you thought at least once to yourself that you would like to learn some meditation, or mindfulness. Maybe you would like to learn to be more in touch with yourself, or straight up want to learn how to manage stress? And you want to experience that through yoga but felt like it’s not for you? Well, I am here to tell you the good news is, it’s very common that people think that, but it based on an illusion, If you have a Body, Mind and Soul there is yoga, and the practice of it doesn’t need to be scary or viewed only as an exercise on the mat, because it is not. it has the tools you need that you can use to assist you because you are already whole, I’m here to help bring your awareness to that fact. I’m not here to heal you, to revers any condition nor to diagnose. I’m here to educate you and guide you through your healing process utilizing the tools of yoga.
– Healing House by Mu offers yoga classes and other yoga offerings on a private basis as of now. So you can reach out to me via the page @healinghousebymu, and there’s a linktree on there as well. I m not very active on Social M, i am not the best of fans, but i’m trying to work with it, but i am definitety responsive on there. I recently started a new job as a life insurance agent as I mentioned so right now, i’m extremely busy going through the training and onboarding process. This is all things aligning because, not in a million of years I’d imagine me doing that, but mindset change around money and things are aligning. My Artha, this is what comes after Dharma or purpose, Artha or prosperity, it’s health and wellbeing, and all that helps to assist in my purpose. I am working a lot on mindset lately, which prompt me to re- prioritize but I will soon be back and going stronger. I planned to get back on producing herbal product such as pain ointment, or burn, itch or bruise ointment, body oils, Dosha oils , Face oils and serum as well as body butters and other natural products.

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Mindset and Passion. There is a certain state of mind that get created from training and knowledge that you get to carry away with you because you’re a part of it too. and there is a reason why you carry it on that is made effortlessly.
Passion because, choosing the a very unpopular path and standing by it has got to take passion, which is also developed from experiences. Wanting to practice self-compassion and forgiveness, so that you may be light and open to offer the same kind of space to others for healing moment, where they can cultivate love, and their awareness of their wholeness, which through he lenses of yoga is powerful for the benefits of the individuals. Passion will lead to wander and wonder, discover acquirer knowledge, and mindset will enforce practice and practice well, the more your practice the more capable you are to reach out to more and the reason it’s important is because that’s how the world heals, with compassion and love.

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

Yup, just recently I moved to New York, in the middle of winter, with my son to start things over, and from there I got hired at National Income. Honestly, I was still clueless from the 1st step of the process through the 3rd. Then I understood what I had signed up for. Every inch in my body felt that it was the right move, I have zero regrets and found away to tie them two together in my mind. aside it being an aid to my artha, I’m just further more helping people assure their lives as well, within and without ( it’s suppose to be a joke).

Contact Info:

• Website: healinghousebymu.com
• Instagram: @healinghousebymu @iammumulilytu
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/muriel-c-paul-9b5b93232

Image Credits
all photo provided are from my phone that i’ve taken with my phone.