Today we’d like to introduce you to Bonnie Wallace.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up in a musical family. My mom played the piano, and my dad collected records. I took lessons on the piano, trumpet, voice, and guitar in school. During my senior year of high school, I found out about the field of music therapy. It seemed like the perfect way to combine my desire to help others and my loves for singing and playing the guitar. Yes, I’ve been part woo-woo hippie for a very long time.
After graduating with my degree in music therapy and becoming a board-certified music therapist (This involves 1200 hours of clinical work and a wicked long, involved board exam after your degree. It’s not some made-up thing you say if you play music for your great grandma whenever you visit her.), I started out working with developmentally disabled adults. I then had opportunities to work in a short-term hospital unit for adults with mental illness, in nursing homes, with brain-injured adults, and with autistic children.
Eventually, I started having children and decided to stay at home for a while. For better or worse, I’m not the type of person who stays home without getting super antsy. When my second son was six months old, he was still nursing all day, and my then toddler was a very, very active child. I was simultaneously feeling very blah (I was still in my maternity pants) and going stir-crazy. I decided to start taking one fitness class per week.
The type of fitness that I wanted to take was called The Nia Technique, and I had been taking it when we lived in Boston. When we first moved to the Worcester area, there was no one teaching Nia close by, so I began driving to Connecticut to take classes. I went every Saturday morning at 9 am, and I lost all of my pre-baby weight in a short amount of time.
Eventually, I decided to get certified and teach. Teaching fitness was by far the last thing I ever expected to do, as I was a total band nerd voted class klutz in high school. For years, I taught Nia, a fusion of fitness inspired by dance, martial arts, and yoga, part-time so that I could be home with my kids during the day. I eventually began to add on all kinds of other certifications in music therapy, healing, and fitness, including my yoga teacher training.
Over time, I felt called to create my own brand of fitness which helps people who have been through injuries, illnesses or other tragedies rebuild their relationship to their bodies and renew their joy. The first class I created is called Renew Body Sequence, and it is a yoga-based class for people at all levels. The second class I created is called JOYasanAH, and it combines both yoga and dance, and it is a more challenging workout.
People of all fitness levels have been taking both classes for a few years now. I have witnessed many benefits with both programs including improved relaxation, increased strength, increased flexibility, increased confidence, improved body image, and actively seeking joy in life at all times.
Recently, the owner of the studio where I first started taking classes decided to retire. I wound up buying the studio and renaming it JOYasanAH, LLC. The Sanskrit word, ‘asana,’ means ‘to sit or settle into.’ So the goal of the class and the studio is to settle into our joy, so much so that we say, ‘ah.’ I never thought I would own a studio, but I just kept following the path I was guided on, and I’m hoping to release the online program very soon!
I still work as a Reiki practitioner and music therapist for a local hospice one day per week. Bringing my guitar into nursing homes and singing with hospice patients brings me more joy than I can put into words.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My road has been bumpy af. Can you say that in your publication? Name a setback, and I have faced it. Injuries, surgeries, hospitalization, kids with extra needs, a surprise set of twins. The list goes on. It seems like whenever you decide to do something, the universe goes, ‘Really? Let’s see about that.’
My younger self would give up easily. When I had kids, I realized, ‘There’s no giving up here. I’m in this, and I have to figure it out.’ Raising four very active boys with a husband who works long hours has made me a much more resilient person. Without that challenge, I’d still be a happy quitter.
Since purchasing the studio and re-opening in a different location, I have had many bumps. Plumbing, flooring, air conditioning – it all takes time to renovate in an old mill. But little by little, it becomes the healing sanctuary that I imagined, and seeing people happy makes it all worth it.
We’d love to hear more about your practice.
No matter where I am or what I am doing, I specialize in three things:
- I tell jokes. They are pretty bad, but people laugh anyway.
- I help people relax so much that they almost fall asleep. Ok, truthfully, some people do fall asleep, but in a good way. As a society, we really don’t sleep enough anyway.
- I let people cry. We all know that tears are just as healing as the laughter, but most people are very uncomfortable around it. Not me. I say, let it flow.
Now don’t get me wrong, my classes are not a sob fest. In fact, it’s not every class or every music therapy session that people might cry. Yet, we do laugh in most classes. Sometimes it’s because I confuse my right with my left, and sometimes it’s because I’ve realized that my yoga pants have a gigantic hole in them. But hey, that’s life. I tell my students all the time, “It’s not yoga perfect; it’s a yoga party.”
What sets me apart from most people is this very simple thing: I’m as real as you get. I’m a little woo-woo, a little raw, a lot optimistic, a crapload of enthusiasm and maybe sometimes sarcastic.
My mission with JOYasanAH is to bring people home to themselves and the place within them that is pure joy — through moving to fantastic music and connecting with a rad tribe of other real peeps. Or maybe we are an eclectic group of misfits who are more focused on making the world a better place than we are about what others think of us. Idk. It’s one of those.
What were you like growing up?
I was a wild, awkward, nerdy, little girl who always wished I could be a cheerleader but never made the team. I got in trouble for talking constantly. I am someone who has always been in a constant state of awe and wonder. I am literally fascinated by everyone and everything.
Pricing:
- New student trial offer: 13 days of unlimited classes for $13. at JOYasanAH
Contact Info:
- Address: 915a Riverside Rd. North Grosvenor Dale, CT 06255
- Website: www.joyasanah.com
- Phone: 860-315-1511
- Email: joyasanah@gmail.com
- Instagram: @joyasanah
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joyasanah/
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