My name is Erin Hopkins. I’m a mama to three sweet little girls and a health and wellness coach.
I have struggled with weight and body image issues my whole life. My weight slowly started to creep up throughout college, and I’m pretty sure that I might have worked out a total of 4 times over the course of 4 years. I was a serious party girl and cigarette smoker. My focus was more on partying than academics, but I graduated on time and got a great job. I had a really hard time adjusting from college to the real world, was in a long distance relationship (with my now husband), and spending my spare time binge eating and drinking. That was the year that I really let my weight spiral out of control.That was my rock bottom.
I moved to Charleston to be with Miles, and we decided it was time to focus on our health. He had also gained quite a few pounds in college. I will never forget the day that we joined a gym and signed up for the Bridge Run (back then, a 10K seemed completely unattainable). I lost about 30 pounds just in time for our wedding in 2008.
I fell madly in love with yoga as a way to work through my anxiety. Miles and I both started running and taking spin classes, and we were both hooked. We ran a sprint triathlon, then a half marathon and then a full marathon. I still can’t believe some of the things that we’ve done. I did my 200 hour Yoga Teacher Training and started teaching yoga before and after work.
I connected with an amazing trainer, and she completely changed my life. What she taught me about nutrition, strength training and cardio had the weight falling off me. I finally got to my 50 pound weight loss goal. I was inspired and wanted to spend my days helping people change their lives the way she changed mine. I quit my full time job as a Marketing Manager and started working at a gym as a personal trainer, yoga teacher and spin instructor.
After a few years working as a fitness professional, it was time to start a family. We were surprised to find out that we were having twins! (The word surprised will never do it justice). We had identical twin girls, Riley and Quinn. I stopped working to stay home with my little loves, and then two and a half years later we had another precious little girl, Tess. I’m living in a pretty crazy, chaotic world these days, but wouldn’t have it any other way.
As much as I love staying home with my little girls, I was missing coaching and helping people. I stumbled across an amazing opportunity as an online health and wellness coach, which couldn’t be more perfect for me at this stage in my life.
4 comments
Erin, your blog is wonderful! Congrats to you and all your success in this new career path. Hope to run into you soon! Maria
Thanks Maria! I would love to see you soon!
This is really inspirational! I’ve been looking into yoga certification as well as a means of health and balance for my anxiety and the obvious goal of weight loss. Where did you get certified and how did you fit it in with working full time?
You should totally get certified! It was a life changing experience for me. At the time, I just wanted to do the certification to deepen my practice and learn more about yoga. I had no plans of actually teaching after it was all over. At the time I was a Marketing Manager for a Real Estate Development company in Charleston. I will say that I have NEVER been that busy in my whole life. It was hard to fit it all in, but it was totally worth the 4 months of craziness. I got certified through Eco Fitness and Blue Turtle Yoga’s YTT program with Kelly Moore. I now hold a 200 Hour Power Vinyasa Certification with the Yoga Alliance. All the studios in Charleston require a 200 Hour Certification. There are a few good programs, but I LOVED training under Kelly Moore. She is one of the most inspiring, amazing people! There are some quick 200 hour programs out there too. My sister in law went to Costa Rica for 2 weeks and got her certification. Also, if you live in Charleston, I think Charleston Power Yoga is doing a quick program this summer.