We were lucky to catch up with Tracie Vlaun recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tracie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Innovation comes in all shapes, sizes and across all industries, so we’d love to hear about something you’ve done that you feel was particularly innovative.

The most innovative thing I have done SO FAR in my career was creating my own Yoga Fitness Hybrid Modality called AEROGA. When I began teaching yoga it was such an intense and spiritually dominate practice. The movements and asanas were created to open your body and to prepare it for hours of meditation. I was drawn to yoga for the discipline and the focus of connecting your mind, body and soul as you open your mental space for healing, balance, and peace. I enjoyed being in the state of Zen which follows the beautiful practice. Over time I always wanted to infuse my other practices of fitness that I had studied. So i combined dance, pilates, HIIT and Power Vinyasa together to create a music based Yoga Hybrid called AEROGA. At first I was not accepted in the traditional yoga studios. I mean…who plays Rihanna in Yoga??? Well….I did.

My Method AEROGA is meant to help you with the basic disciplines of Yoga, to help balance you body, clear your mind, deepen your connection, I just added components that help Empower your Being and Move your Energy blocks and help you Create the Life and Body you are meant to have. Sprinkled with a lot of Squats and Smiles!!

Over time as the fitness industry was growing and changing, AEROGA was greatly accepted and was even stated to being the ” Future of fitness” in Departures Magazine. The modality has been used by celebrities, Fortune 500 companies, housewives, men, women and kids globally….in classes, retreats, and my favorite, on the sunny beaches of Miami.

Tracie, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

A little bit about myself. I am from Atlanta ,GA. I started my entrepreneur experiences by being a model for Elite Model Management Worldwide. Coming out of the necessity to be thin, and flawless I grew to love the fitness and wellness industry. Of course I wanted great hair, skin and nails…it was my business, so I immersed myself in an assortment of knowledge based on Living Well. Since I was also traveling around the world, you can not always find a gym or even have time to work out when your call time is 4am, so i would work out in my hotel room or bedroom. That’s when yoga became very crucial for my mind and body. Modeling is not an easy job , mentally or physically, and when anxiety would creep up or the insecurity of not being good enough…I needed to find some sort of Grounding. That is when I started created my method to help me keep my balance, clear negative thought patterns, and empower my inner self to keep pushing forward.

I later met my husband and he also was in the Fitness and Wellness business, so we merged together and created our company V ART OF WELLNESS. We create luxury Wellness Experiences for Hotels, Residences, Retreats, Corporate Events….etc. We still travel a lot so we have to keep and DO WHAT WE PREACH. We teach retreats globally, so clients can come and energize themselves with feminine and masculine energy. We use Breathe Work, Movement and Sound and create a safe space to create your future and empower yourself for change and clear the barriers so you can manifest your true destiny. We like to call the experience a ReBoot Camp. Reboot your bodies circuitry and rebalance so you can embrace the change or the changes to come in your life. And since we focus majorly on outdoor Wellness experiences, we select beautiful locations to ReBoot and also have some fun in the process!

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I believe what helped build our reputation within our market was consistency, loyalty, being innovative, delivering Exceptional service and hiring an Exceptional TEAM!!

Being honest with your clients and team helps create a great dynamic and they recommend you forever and more. We have had many growing pains but the most important part of being an entrepreneur is go over and beyond and to SHOW Up, do your best, be knowledgeable and excel in your Industry.

How’d you meet your business partner?

I’m going to combine two questions, how i met my business partner and was there a big pivot in my business.

Since I was my own entrepreneur at a young age , I learned how to survive and have GRIT. I woke up early, iIworked long days, I slept ..not as much as I should have. But I loved to work, especially when it was my passion. I said earlier I was a model with Elite, so that was my passion for many many years. I travelled the world and slept on trains and airplanes, and sometimes in taxis. When your call time is 4am….you try to sleep anywhere.

Modeling was my passion and I did everything I could to be excellent. I had a great track record, I traveled the world, I lived in amazing cities like New York, Miami, LA , Chicago, Munich, CapeTown…etc. But when it was time to pivot that business after I would call a ” tough time,” my other passion, Yoga, took the lead.

Like I said, “tough time’…I will explain more in my upcoming Memoire to be released in January 2024. After the “tough time” came a decade of Exuberance! It was a Love Story…I met my Life Partner and my future Business Partner in the same day!

My future husband at that time was a celebrity trainer in Miami Beach to the luxury clientel and I had become the Yoga instructor of the Stars….and we met of course, doing what we do. I dreamed of a fit business man and he dreamed of a yogi model that could hold her own. It was the perfect combination …and i am completely serious about this!!

My husband Christopher would take clients out to the beach to do this { animal} style bootcamps and mobility movements with a touch of Tai Chi and Chi Gong. I was blown away!!!! He saw me teaching my Method and he was vibrationally elevated! So as we merged together as a couple….our modalities merged together as a business . Creating our Vlaun Method and thus creating our business V ART OF WELLNESS. The V stands for Vibration, as well as ‘ Vlaun” and our Mission is to Raise Your Vibration.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.v-artofwellness.com
• Instagram: @tracievlaun

Image Credits
@scott.teitler @zachstovallphoto