profiles / Colorado Influencer
P MORGAN KULAS + AARUNYA YOGA SCHOOL Leading People to Authentic Service
by Kimberly Nicoletti
12
resence over productivity; embodiment as a means to healing; creative and critical thinking; restoring bonds between humans and the earth. These are the principles upon which Morgan Kulas founded Aarunya Yoga School in the Vail Valley. Through both 200-hour and 300-hour certifications, Kulas helps people clarify what they are on this earth to do. Then, she helps them carry out their vision. She has certified over 20 yoga teachers since launching her school in 2019. Her authentic and unique approach to teaching has transformed people, inside and out. “It completely changed the trajectory of my life,” says Jocelyn Laferriere, who completed the school’s 200-hour Yoga and Social Ecology Teacher Training in May 2020, and then completed the 300-hour individualized training in May 2021. “It made me open my eyes to what I want in my life, who I am and what my purpose is.” Laferriere had worked in the hospitality industry for 14 years “doing things for others but pouring from an empty cup,” she shares. Kulas’ teaching style encouraged Laferriere to observe her deeper self, as well as her shad-
ow side, without becoming absorbed by it. “You can’t pull somebody out of a hole until you’ve been there,” Laferriere says. “Without doing your own deep work, you’re kind of a surface-level instructor, and I don’t want to be that, because I don’t need that, and I don’t think the world needs it.” Kulas guided her to discover her own light and shine it; Laferriere already had a side business making herbal remedies, but Kulas helped her jump into her business fulltime by dropping excuses and disempowering beliefs. Now, she owns The Belden Witch and harvests local herbs to create healing salves and remedies. “The training (involved) a deep dive of your shadow, your relationship with yourself and others, why you are doing this, what fills you up,” Laferriere explains. “It taught me to use my path and struggles to help other people.” Kulas is committed to “mindfulness, concentration and insight — the awakening of consciousness in service to a healthier world.” Her 200-hour Yoga and Social Ecology Teacher Training is open not only to people who want to teach yoga, but also to those who simply want to deepen their practice or otherwise benefit their communities. Her extensive curriculum includes meditation, experiential anatomy, neuroscience and social ecology, in addition to asanas, Ayurveda and much more. She individualizes her additional 300-hour program to deeply support students to follow their
YOGALIFELIVE.COM
PHOTOS Courtesy of Morgan Kulas
It’s about how yoga and mindfulness can be the spine of social change, because they can be.
