Eileen Leslie helps unite the mind, body, and soul
By Lee Hurley
Yoga is perhaps one of the least understood disciplines, according to Eileen Leslie who owns creACTive Wellness Center on Highway 31 in Alabaster. “Some people think it is a religion or cult, but I don’t take offense to that. We are simply about helping people unite the mind, body, and soul.” The word yoga actually comes from yoke which means unite. The premise is that the more you can understand and manage your body with your mind the more you can alleviate stress and concentrate on inner peace and joy. Easily said, not easily done.
Eileen’s journey to owning a health and wellness studio in Alabaster was what you would call circuitous. A journey filled with competing contradictions of independence and work achievement against personal and physical misfortune culminating in an attempt to finally discover what truly fulfilled her. That’s how in 2018, Leslie found herself in Goa, India on the Arabian Sea spending over 500 hours learning how to practice a complicated type of yoga that requires intense muscle training. This experience was a turning point in her life and ultimately how and why she opened creACTive.
Where did you grow up?
Billings, Montana. I was on my own, very young, like 15. I put myself through school. I was very responsible. I went into the Air Force because I couldn’t afford college. But I knew I wanted to be educated. I came in as a technical person and got an electronics technology associate’s degree. I worked on secure communications in the missile field in Wyoming. Those big, deep missile fields are just amazing. Unfortunately while there, I had a brain injury and they medically retired me. They felt I’d never be independent again.
Wow. What happened next?
So, you don’t tell a 22 -year -old who’s been independent all her life that you won’t be independent again. I enrolled in Cloud State College in Minnesota and studied criminal justice. Luckily, I guess you could say, the criminal justice dean was a former FBI agent, so I made it my goal to get into the FBI which I did. I worked for the FBI for a few years and then I got into the U .S. Attorney’s Office working in the civil frauds division looking for people who defrauded our government. For 20 some odd years I did accounting financial investigations as a certified fraud accountant or certified fraud examiner and a certified public accountant.
How did you find your way to Alabaster?
I followed my now ex-husband who was from here. About three and half years in, our relationship ended bitterly and it devastated me. For a while I just kind of wandered around my house, crying.
This sort of got you started on your journey to yoga?
Somehow in my healing of this time period I was like, I want to be on a beach and I want to learn yoga. So I googled it and found this place called Kranti Yoga in Goa, India. It was the best thing for me because I was not around people who knew me, or hardly any Americans at all. I got to drop all my identity of who I thought I was supposed to be. All of our practice areas were open air, right in front of the sea. I mean, it was beautiful. So serene and it helped calm my system and point me toward understanding who I am and what I am here to do.
And you came back to Alabaster?
Luckily, I owned my house and so I asked myself, what does my body want? What does my mind want? What does my soul want? I asked those questions, and my body was like, I need movement. And I wanted authentic human connection. So I attended Phoenix Rising School of Yoga Therapy and became certified to teach.
And that led you to open creACTive?
Well I saw myself opening a place where I get to learn, grow, and live authentically. I would do my yoga, have an art studio and a cafe for healthy eating, and just help build community. I thought that was a lovely pursuit. So that’s where CreACTive came from.
When did this happen?
I opened up in February of 2021 in the oldest standing building in Alabaster. I looked at the property tax, found out who the owner was, and drove out to their house. The wife happened to be out by the mailbox. I asked, ‘do you own this building because I’m interested in seeing if it’s for sale?’ She said, ‘my husband owns it and he’s very interested in selling it,’ but he wasn’t! I just started talking to them and they decided to go ahead and sell it to me. I did a complete remodel on it.
Can you describe a yoga class?
We work on movements, on breath, those types of things. I do groups and one -on –one yoga therapy. I get them embodied so that they can start exploring what’s going on with themselves. So somebody’s like, ‘I feel really heavy in this right shoulder.’ Well, then we’ll start doing some movement and work within that area. Yoga therapy is kind of like a cross between yoga, massage, and talk therapy. I guide you through what you’re experiencing. I give you the space.
So you do massage, yoga therapy, and then regular yoga classes?
Yep, yep. Once people start to do yoga, yoga therapy, and Reiki, it can be life –changing. And we have two absolutely wonderful ladies who do massage. I also have Tina and Mary here who do other types of wellness checks. We’re creating a space of holistic medicine, because really our medical system right now is not a health care system, it’s a sick care system.
Last thoughts?
There’s zero judgment here, it’s just a hundred percent accepting of where you are in your journey, male or female.
For more information getcreactive.com