FROM LEFT: SHANE GROSS/STOCKSY; PATRICK NEREEannounced in March of the following
year—and OMNoire as we know it
was born.
YJ: What dream destination did you
choose for your first retreat?
CR: Grenada, and it was our largest
retreat to date! More than 50 women
attended from all over the world—the
UK, US, Canada, and Nigeria.
YJ: Why Grenada?
CR: I took my first solo trip there
in September 2015, three weeks
before I started my 10-week yoga
teacher training. There’s an amazing
underwater sculpture park there.
You can snorkel it, but I wanted to
get over my fear of open bodies of
water. So while I was there, I took
my first scuba diving lesson. Many
of our fears are rooted in physical
actions or things: heights, swimming,
standing or speaking in front of large
crowds. If we conquer those types of
fears through adventure—hiking up
mountains, scuba diving, etc.—we can
conquer anything.
When I did my first dive, in an
extremely deep part of the ocean,
I was terrified. I panicked at around
10 feet and shot back up to the
surface. I took out my regulator—
which you’re not supposed to do—
and accidentally took in some water.
So there I am, basically choking,
trying to catch my breath, and
I used my practice. I paused, taking
deep breaths and quietly speakingMagic in the Making
confidence in myself, until I was ready
to try again. That day I ended up
doing two successful dives for a total
of 89 minutes under water. Thanks to
my yoga and meditation practice, I’ve
continued to grow and stretch over
the years. I’ve found my happy place
internally—both under water and
above ground.
For this, Grenada will always carry
a special place in my heart, and it was
an easy choice to host our first retreat
there. Two years after my first dive—
four days before the ladies arrived for
the very first OMNoire retreat—
I received my scuba certification with
the same Grenada-based dive team
I took my first dive with.
YJ: Back in January, we kicked off
a conversation about new leadership
in yoga. Since then, conquering
fears has come up quite a bit. Do
you consider yourself a leader in the
evolving yoga space?
CR: It wasn’t until recently that
someone told me I was a leader and
I thought, Oh—I guess I am! Since
then, I’ve embraced that title and
responsibility. At OMNoire, we’re
clear and direct with our messaging:
You don’t have to fit in a certain box.
Our work with the women in our
community is helping them discover
their own wellness journey, and to
own it, and to be leaders themselves.
I consider it one of my biggest
responsibilities to be transparent
about my own journey. Anyone who
follows me on social knows that I’m
very transparent—about wins, losses,
struggles, fears, and surviving
a toxic relationship that brought me
to yoga and OMNoire. It’s a leader’s
responsibility to allow people in their
particular community to understand
that they don’t have to be perfect.Yoga Journal: You were running
a successful PR business when
you started OMNoire. What made
you want to be a yoga teacher and
retreat leader?
Christina Rice: I attended yoga
teacher training because I wanted
to go deeper into my practice.
I actually wasn’t sure if I wanted to
teach, because I was afraid of public
speaking! But by the third week,
I thought, I’m going to teach. There
were very few people of color in my
classes, and once I started teaching,
a lot of black women would reach out
to ask for my class schedule. Women
of color felt more comfortable
being taught by a woman of color.
That’s where the idea of OMNoire
came from.
YJ: That was at the start of 2016.
How did you get OMNoire up and
running—and gain such popularity—
in such a short amount of time?
CR: The lack of representation for
people of color in the yoga and
wellness space means we are really
hungry for it. That’s where OMNoire's
success and growth have come from.
I started it as a simple social media
page to highlight women of color
practicing wellness in different cities.
I came up with the name, started the
Instagram account, and attracted
a lot of followers right out of the
gate. In November 2016, someone
approached me about leading
a wellness retreat, which I officiallyYoga teacher and former public relations maven Christina Rice started
OMNoire, a wellness platform and retreat company specifically for women
of color, because she found it impossible to ignore the lack of diversity in
Western yoga. Now, she’s stepping away from her gig as CEO of Luxelife
Media to merge travel and wellness full time. We caught up with her to talk
about her burgeoning business and why Grenada will always be her baby.
BY LINDSAY TUCKERLearn more about
Christina and OMNoire
at omnoire.com and
@OMNoire.68 YOGA JOURNAL