Six and a Half Years Later: The Heart Behind Stella Maris Yoga

Six and a half years ago, I opened the doors to Stella Maris Yoga with a dream that was far more personal than simply opening a business.

Yes, I loved yoga. It had helped me heal in ways I never expected. Through movement, breath, and stillness, it helped me reconnect with myself, find strength when I needed it most, and begin finding my way back to myself. Sharing that gift with others felt like a natural next step.

Practicing and teaching yoga wasn't the beginning of our story.

The inspiration for Stella Maris began with my mom.

The name Stella Maris, meaning Star of the Sea, was chosen to honor my mother, the late Officer Janice Cunningham.

My mom spent her life serving others as a police officer. She quietly devoted herself to helping people through some of the most difficult moments of their lives, never asking for recognition. She simply believed every person deserved compassion, dignity, respect, and hope.

Watching her taught my brothers and me something we still carry with us today:

The greatest impact we can have on others often comes from the quiet things no one else will ever know about—the small acts of kindness, compassion, and love given without expecting recognition, simply because someone needed them.

When I opened Stella Maris, I simply wanted to carry her legacy forward in the best way I knew how. Teaching yoga and opening a yoga studio planted the seed on how to do just that.

More than teaching poses, I wanted to create a place where people felt welcomed, accepted, encouraged, and cared for.

Over the years, I've watched that hope become something I never imagined.

Students became friends.

Teachers became family.

A room full of strangers became a community.

From the very beginning, my late husband, AJ, believed in that vision. As he faced his own illness, he made one thing incredibly clear to me:

"Keep going. This matters. Long after I am gone, you need to keep this going. Promise me."

When AJ passed away, I wasn't sure what the next chapter of my life would look like. Then the very community we had poured our hearts into became the community that quietly carried me through one of the hardest seasons of my life.

Since then, life has brought new loved ones and friendships that have continued to encourage this dream, reminding me that kindness has a way of finding its way back to us.

Stella Maris is shaped by every teacher who has shared their gifts, every student who has trusted us with their practice, every friend who has offered encouragement, every act of kindness, every helping hand, and every person who has believed in this dream and supported it along the way.

That has always been the heart of Stella Maris.

As I reflect on these past six and a half years, my heart is filled with gratitude.

To every teacher…

To every student…

To every friend…

To every person who has walked through our doors…

Thank you.

Together, you've helped keep my mom's legacy alive, honored AJ's belief in this dream, and helped Stella Maris become so much more than I ever imagined.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

With gratitude and love,

Traci