Today we’d like to introduce you to Alma.
Alma, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story started in Guatemala, where I was born. When I was five years old, my mother brought our family to the United States. I still remember arriving at LAX on Halloween night in 1982. I remember looking out the airplane window at all the city lights and feeling completely amazed and excited. I had no idea then what that journey would eventually become.
As an immigrant family, finding our footing in the United States was challenging. My mom had us kids with her, and she made the courageous decision to stay and build a life here. My childhood was pretty simple: school, helping my mom clean houses, and churches, and doing what we needed to do as a family to get by. we found little moments of joy. I remember going to the park, and I remember my stepfather playing guitar and teaching us to sing. Music and singing became a big part of my life and my connection to myself .
When I was 15, we moved from Long Beach, California, to a small town in South Carolina. That was another huge adjustment. I went from being surrounded by many different cultures to walking into a small high school where I felt like I didn’t quite fit anywhere. I remember people looking at me like I was an alien and someone actually told me they thought I was from the circus! 😂
I got married young and had my child, but that marriage eventually ended. After a lot of trials and tribulations, I met my second husband, and throughout those years I was still trying to figure out who I was and what my path was. There was a lot I needed to work through internally.
Then yoga came into my life.
At first, yoga was hard, really hard, but somewhere along the way, I fell in love with the practice. It became much more than physical exercise. It gave me a way to connect with myself, to heal, to grow, and eventually to understand who I was becoming.
After years of practicing, my dear friend and teacher saw something in me that I couldn’t yet see in myself. She encouraged me to become a teacher. It took me years to get there, but eventually I completed my teacher training.
And here I am today.
I am a yoga teacher, a wife, a mother, and now a business owner. I recently opened Freedom House, a wellness collective, where my hope is to create a space where people can come exactly as they are, feel welcomed, and find connection, healing, and community. A place where everyone belongs.
When I look back, I realize that every chapter, the little girl arriving in America, the teenager trying to find where she belonged, the woman searching for herself was leading me here.
Today, I feel incredibly grateful. I finally understand that finding yourself isn’t always about discovering who you are. Sometimes it’s about becoming who you were meant to be.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It’s definitely been a road with a lot of bumps, some detours, and a few potholes along the way.
I grew up in an immigrant family, so I learned very early what hard work, sacrifice, and resilience looked like. Then, as a teenager, I had to leave everything I knew in California and start over in a small town in South Carolina, where I struggled to fit in and find my identity.
As a young woman, I experienced the end of my first marriage and had to navigate motherhood, relationships, and a lot of personal challenges while still trying to figure out who I was. For a long time, I felt like I was searching for my place and my purpose.
Yoga became a huge turning point for me. It gave me a way to work through some of those struggles not just physically, but emotionally and spiritually. It taught me that the hard seasons aren’t necessarily something to run from. Sometimes they’re the very things that shape us.
So no, it hasn’t been a smooth road. But when I look back now, I wouldn’t erase the difficult parts because they’ve helped make me the woman I am today.
We’ve been impressed with Freedom House, a wellness collective for evwryBODY, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Freedom House is a wellness collective for everyBODY, created with the belief that everyone deserves a place where they can simply come as they are and feel that they belong.
I’ve been practicing yoga since 2005 and teaching since 2012. I received my yoga teacher training certification through Asheville Yoga Center, and even after all these years, I continue to take classes, to keep learning because I believe that as teachers, we should always be students. I’ve honestly lost count of how many classes I’ve taught, but what continues to inspire me is seeing how the practice can positively impact people’s lives.
Freedom House is the next chapter of that journey. As the owner, my vision is to create more than a yoga studio. Freedom is a wellness collective where people can explore different ways of caring for their mind, body, and spirit. Along with yoga, we offer and host a variety of wellness experiences, including Pilates, strength training, tai chi, sound baths, meditation, workshops, gatherings, and other offerings from our growing team of wellness practitioners.
What sets Freedom House apart is the feeling we want people to have when they walk through our doors. There is no perfect body, age, fitness level, or experience required. You don’t have to have it all together. You don’t have to fit a certain mold. You can come exactly as you are.
The name Freedom House represents that philosophy. Freedom to just be. Freedom to move, breathe, grow, heal, connect, and discover what wellness means to you.
What I’m most proud of brand-wise is that Freedom House isn’t just my vision anymore. It’s becoming a community. I’m proud of the team we’ve created, the people who believe in this mission, and the space we’re building together.
Our hope is simple: that Freedom House becomes a place where people feel welcomed, seen, supported, and connected and that when they leave, they take a little bit of that freedom with them.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Honestly, it’s the simple things. Slow mornings with a cup of coffee with my husband, morning walks, being in nature, and hearing my cats purr. I’m grateful for our health and for having the opportunity to enjoy these everyday moments that can so easily be taken for granted.
My kids bring me so much joy, and so does the community I’m building around Freedom House. I’m incredibly happy watching my team come together and seeing the vision for Freedom take shape. There are so many possibilities for what it can become, and that genuinely excites me.
And perhaps most of all, I’m happy because I’m surrounded by people who show up. My friends, my community, my family, and my Freedom team have all shown up to support what we’re building. There’s something really special about creating something that is bigger than yourself and watching other people believe in it, too.
At this stage of my life, happiness feels less like chasing big moments and more like being present enough to recognize how much I already have to be grateful for.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Freedomhousebl.wixsite.com/classes
- Instagram: https://Instagram.com/freedomhousebl
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/freedomhouse
