KELSEY STOLL Noticing What We’re a Part of
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People ask me often how I had the courage to start this by myself, and honestly, I didn’t overthink it. I just did it. I think that mindset allowed me to reach where I am right now,” says Kelsey Stoll, yoga teacher and founder of Compass Retrats. Founded in 2016, Stoll’s global retreats are based on three pillars: mindfulness, nature and plant-based nutrition. Stoll is a certified 500-hour yoga teacher with over 10 years of teaching experience
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and a certified wilderness first responder. She currently teaches full time in Denver at CorePower Central Park and LifeTime Fitness Cherry Creek. Stoll is particularly passionate about connecting with individuals who are overcoming challenges and have experienced trauma, domestic violence, incarceration and eating disorders. She was awarded Lululemon’s Here to Be grant for I-Grow Chicago, which accelerates the work of community-led organizations around the
globe that are creating inclusive access to innovative well-being practices. Stoll is particularly passionate about connecting with individuals who are overcoming challenges and have experienced trauma, domestic violence, incarceration and eating disorders. “I realized through working with these individuals that even if, in the moment, we aren’t able to reach for the external things to help us, we can find this internal sanctuary to come back to that can help move us forward,” she says. Stoll was first introduced to yoga in middle school and started teaching in high school. “Since I was a kid, I wanted to explore deeper questions and yoga really filled that bucket,” she says. Although, over time, she felt like a piece was missing. There was a period when she wasn’t able to practice yoga due to health reasons, but she felt so drawn that she still went to the studio to watch the students. “What I noticed was that, at the beginning of class, people muscled their way through, and then, there was a beautiful softening that happened, almost like a spiritual acceptance of themselves,” she shares. “The class became a beautiful symphony of everyone moving differently, but still being very connected.” She realized that rather than just a physical practice, yoga was something so much more profound. “When you're able to just breathe and surrender, people’s authentic power begins to shine through, and they remember they are part of something so much bigger than themselves,” she says. The perspective she gained from sitting in the back of class reinforced a lesson she had learned from her dad, who instilled in her gratitude and slowing down to notice what we’re already a part of.
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Photos by Jeffery Anderson/GreySpot Photography
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