This post is written by Kelly King, co-founder of Bliss Farm and Retreat.
Charting the Course to Bliss Farm and Retreat: The Early Years
Raised on a farm in Georgia, the majority of my childhood was spent outside in the sun with animals, being creative with my mother (who certainly passed her artistic genes down to me), working in the vegetable garden, and visiting construction job sites with my father. Little did I know how valuable these skills and interests would be in co-founding a yoga and meditation retreat center.
As a child, animals captivated me and stole my heart. I’ve always had many cats and at least one dog and was known in my family for sneaking additional animals into the house when my parents weren’t looking! I have an older brother and was the biggest tomboy you’ve ever met...until puberty, that is. I grew up mud wrestling with my best girlfriend, Lesley, and you can see the photo documentation of this extravaganza. At three years old, I started gymnastics, a practice that continued for almost 12 years and became an outlet for my abundant energy. Along with participating in gymnastics, I cheered competitively and played soccer like an overly aggressive boy throughout my early childhood. I was always naturally flexible, energetic, outgoing, competitive, and aggressive.
Business, Art, Design, and Budding Entrepreneurship
When I wasn’t in the sunshine enjoying the company of the farm creatures, or participating in extracurricular sports, I was immersed in the world of my father’s commercial construction business; my memories are defined by the business office and the simple, boundless joys it sparked in me. Believe it or not, office life inspired my childhood play and felt gratifying. I was the child running around my parents’ office making 200 copies of my “cursive” and delivering it to the staff as memos. I’ve just always loved paperwork and still do, which says a lot about me! I may even be a tad resistant to our modern, paperless world, though I do have a fascination with technology. Ultimately, our family’s business office is the place where I learned about systems, honed my organizational skills, and cultivated my love of efficiency. It was in this environment where I learned all about the principles and processes of commercial construction, too. It makes sense then that in my career leading up to co-founding Bliss Farm and Retreat, I helped small start-up businesses with systems, processes, and procedures. It’s just in my blood.
For as long as I’ve had a “business brain,” I’ve also flexed my creative muscles. Art was always my favorite class in school. My parents were inherently creative and had many artist friends who nurtured the little artist within me, admiring my work and encouraging me to continue with my passion. Somewhere along the way, prior to college, I decided that I really was interested in and sensitive to space. It wasn’t a conscious decision initially, but I continued to think spacially. Before too long, I was “re-doing” my rooms every year and even developed a design process from a very early age that I still use today in creating spaces at our retreat center and for Bliss Design and Interiors, our newly-launched full-service interior design firm. There was a natural progression that took me from revamping my room to working on the remodel of my childhood home with my parents, and finally to designing their new retirement home from top to bottom with my mother. This project was a blast as it inspired and challenged my mother and me while allowing us to be creative together and enjoy one another’s company. If I haven’t mentioned yet, my mother and I are very close; we are the best of friends even to this day.
Becoming a Global Citizen, College Student,
and Yoga Teacher
Later, I went to college at Auburn and studied art, graduating with a Bachelors of Art and just one credit shy of also achieving a minor in Art History. I primarily studied ceramics, and also took courses in printmaking, painting, sculpture, and drawing. My creative knack bloomed from there. I discovered yoga in college and I began practicing regularly. Practicing led to becoming a certified yoga teacher group fitness instructor and leading classes at a local gym. At the same time, I became highly aware of and interested in the spiritual realm and studied world religions. I dove into the wisdom of Eastern philosophies and religions, including Buddhism and Hinduism.
So many nights of my college years were spent marveling and processing philosophical theories about society and mankind. This was the stuff that fired up my soul; when combined with the wisdom and mindset of yoga, my mind was truly blown.
My universe opened metaphorically and literally because these new interests led me to my intense passion for travel and adventure. By senior year of college, my travel bug was in full swing. I traveled with my mother to Hawaii and Jamaica, and I just could not get enough. I wanted to volunteer in Costa Rica on a turtle restoration project and planned a trip to Thailand, Bali, and Malaysia with my mother (which ended up never happening, but eventually Frank and I went on this trip of a lifetime in 2018). My life will never be the same without the places I have been and the things I have seen and experienced. Travel is a huge part of my soul and such a transformational experience for me.
My college years were marked by successes as well as failures; I did plenty of stupid things in college, as most of us do. One of those things? I rejected an opportunity to study Art History in London… because I didn’t want to be apart from my boyfriend! :::Insert double eye roll::: These are mistakes we make when we are young that teach us lessons and become parts of our journeys.
Pre-Bliss Career and Finding My Soulmate
After college, I decided to leave graduate school and get to work. I was ready to be in the “real world” and tired of being under my parents’ wings. I was always a bit of a rebellious young adult and very independent. So work I did, starting my career in downtown Atlanta living the city life, a la Sex and the City... the ATL version! During this time, I set my sights on Asheville to continue my yoga teacher training and certifications. As of now, I have been studying yoga for over 13 years. As for Asheville...well, I knew this was the place I wanted to live. The energy was so different. The town was filled with wilderness, art, culture, compassion, and acceptance for all. Asheville was the place for me. I moved here, started working 3 part-time jobs, rented out all the rooms in my house, and went to school full time to get my teaching certification to become an art teacher. I was living the quintessential yogi life, immersed in health and wellness, yoga 7 days a week, workshops all of the time, meditation in the park, and a practice that spanned the whole town. I once again tired of school and decided to get another “real job” to get my career going. Then, I met Frank. This was a life-altering point in my journey. I had no idea that upon meeting this man, we’d join souls and that the real adventure had only just begun.
Co-Founding Bliss Farm and Retreat
In the last five years, the transitions that have taken place in my life have been dumbfounding and astonishing. We were unhappy living a run-of-the-mill suburban life and working careers that didn’t inspire us, so we set out to build a business model that was unique while offering a more fulfilling, intentional life in service to others and ourselves. And then… the idea of Bliss Farm and Retreat was born. This business has been life-changing and nourishing, but also challenging in ways we never anticipated.
What is interesting about me is that I used to be an extrovert, a social butterfly. I have spent a lot of time contemplating what in my life has changed and what has caused me to morph into the form that I currently hold. I wonder if adulthood, with the added responsibility and stress, has transformed me into more of an introvert. I have spent time working with shamans, diving into the depths of my soul, its history, studying past lives, and developing in-depth relationships with friends who share the same level of consciousness and curiosity of what our souls’ purposes might be, all the while considering the nature of our experiences and how it has molded us into who we are.
I have been in multiple women’s groups over the years, working on being vulnerable and sharing these deep parts of myself, facing judgement, criticism, and assumption of who I really am. But, what I have learned is that allowing myself to show vulnerability is what provides connection and love with othering beings. I connect with individuals who are dedicated to a similar journey of self-work, and who spend time grappling with and discussing existence, energy, our universe, and its mysteries. These are the sorts of people with whom I share an affinity and who light my soul on fire these days. I honor those on a similar journey of transformation and consciousness. Primarily women, these individuals have nourished my soul and helped me to develop myself into who I am today. The last five years have required a deep dive into this journey toward self-awareness and improvement. I’ve examined my traumas, experiences, my inner child, shadows, and how I relate and communicate with the world today.
Founding Bliss Farm & Retreat with Frank was much more than opening a business, for us, it was a deepening of our spiritual practice and life work. The challenges I have faced on this journey have been unforeseen and have often felt earth-shattering. As a recovering perfectionist who is sensitive to criticism due to formative childhood events, I’ve found that offering deeply personal experiences through our business can be all-consuming and make me feel vulnerable, and while the vulnerability is so important, it can be scary. What I know now is that, striving for enlightenment is beautiful and honorable, but accepting myself for who I am right now is a more important step in the process than anything else. Finding compassion for me, now, with all my flaws and imperfections, is my current work. Like many, I have a deep desire for acceptance and approval and to make every customer thrilled with their experiences. While many customers have become loyal brand ambassadors and are deeply satisfied with the retreat experience here, I cannot always control outcomes or others’ judgments, try as I might. I run my business with integrity and have had to learn to accept that I simply cannot make everyone happy, despite the work ethic and joy I bring to Bliss.
Through this venture, I am learning that I am enough, I have achieved great things, and that what we have created at Bliss Farm and Retreat is beautiful and powerful. It provides an opportunity and space for others to nourish and heal themselves while finding peace and mindfulness from within. My personal challenge is to bring forth and protect the energy needed for humans to feel safe and inspired to do the great work of connecting, sharing, and healing. The beautiful, symbiotic relationship I have with this work is that I find a deeper connection and growth as I nourish others around me.
If you come to Bliss Farm and Retreat for a retreat or a vacation, know that I am a learned introvert and that each day I am striving to put my best foot forward to grow and be exactly who I am meant to be. A large part of my practice is showing love and compassion rather than judgment for myself while honoring my strength, resilience, compassion, and love for other humans.
