Nick Freitas, owner of Ohana Yoga, in Jacksonville, believes everyone deserves to be happy, feel joy, create peace and have an abundance of love for life. “Yoga brings our minds and bodies back to our most natural state (the state we are meant to be). Yoga creates a union of the mind with

the body by focusing on conscious breath and pursuing mental clarity. Our yoga postures expressed during our practice helps the body promote balance and flexibility. Our conscious breathing exercises our minds and helps us control our emotions, boost self-esteem, self-love, and help us to live healthier, happier lives,” comments Freitas.

Freitas has been practicing yoga for 20-plus years and has been teaching for more than five years. He is familiar with many styles of traditional yoga and will teach accessible ways for everyone to experience what he terms as an “enlightening challenge.” He received his 500-hour RYT Certificate from the Longwave Yoga Studio, in Wilmington, in 2017.

Raised in Hawaii, Freitas has always believed in the connection between a healthy lifestyle and a happy life. He earned a black belt in Taekwondo at a very young age from the World Taekwondo

Federation, in Korea. After graduating from Kamehameha High School, in Hawaii, he attended the University of Miami (UM), in Coral Gables, Florida. Freitas became the first person of Hawaiian

descent to ever play NCAA Division 1 baseball for the UM Hurricanes and was drafted into 2009 Major League Baseball by the Minnesota Twins as an outfielder. The team and Baseball America magazine rated him as the “fastest runner” and “most athletic” of all players that the team  drafted that year. Freitas credits his success to his yoga practice, family, coaches and teachers

that helped him along his way.

Location: 231 Western Blvd., Jacksonville. For more information and to register for a class, call 808-342-8744, email [email protected] or visit OhanaYogaNC.com.