When asked about the inspiration for her business, Escape Hatch 2 Wellness in Naples, Yvette Sechrist McGlasson answers without hesitation, “Years of observing passengers who went from the embarkation ramp to the guest services desk to ask about the process for debarking the ship on the same day that they boarded,” says the former cruise director turned yoga and meditation teacher, performance coach and public speaker. “The ship hadn’t set sail. The cruise wouldn’t be over for days and they were telling guest services staff, ‘I’ll be happy when I get to my cabin, when I have my first drink by the pool or when I have my first dinner.’ Even though they were embarking on a fun-filled, laid-back vacation and sharing my floating $250 million home where their meals were prepared, their beds made and their every wish fulfilled, they were stuck in a future-based mindset. This signaled to me that I needed to remind them at every opportunity to be present and not count the days, but rather to make the days count.”

Hearing the passenger mantra. “I’ll be happy when...” for the 15 years that McGlasson lived a life at sea onboard Holland American ships inspired her commitment to helping individuals change their mindset and open up to being fully present. “In serving others, helping my clients and my students to be present and give the best versions of themselves to their friends and loved ones and even to their work is where I find my greatest joy. Leaving ships and transitioning to this work was a natural progression of everything in my life. My work in the cruise industry for 20 years and interaction with more than 1 million passengers gave me insights and perspectives on humanity that few people have the opportunity to experience and use in helping others live better lives and be their best self in the moment, and not in some future ‘when’,” advises the Blue Zones-approved entrepreneur. 

McGlasson teaches yoga, yoga therapy and meditation locally at Naples Community Hospital (NCH) Brigg’s wellness center. “After COVID-19, I began hosting online webinars for employees of NCH, which brought Blue Zones to Southwest Florida as a part of an innovative partnership between the NCH Healthcare System and Blue Zones Project by Healthways. Everything about this community well-being improvement initiative is totally aligned with all that I embrace in my life and business,” advises McGlasson, who looks forward to offering her Journey to Authenticity program at other Blue Zones worksites as part of Blue Zones programs and tools offered to inspire employees to be happier, more productive and take healthy habits home. 

For walking her talk and keeping her life in alignment with what she teaches, McGlasson lives yoga off the mat and uses her yoga nidra (YN) meditation sleep-based practice. “It’s been with me since my ship days, but in 2012 while being immersed in a yoga teacher training class at the Amrit Yoga Institute, in Salt Springs, Florida, I made the decision to become a certified teacher. When I learned how to use YN to affect change in my life it shifted me from ‘I will be’ to ‘I am’. It connected me with my internal physical trigger sensations that happened before I externalized my reactions. YN taught me that that I could choose a different level of consciousness in response to my life circumstances rather than reacting to them. It’s effortless, changes lives and allows for recognizing patterns that can be disrupted by using the practice of setting an intention for 11 consecutive sessions. This is how I began rewiring my brain and how I help others bring about change,” advises McGlasson, who recently added the business of selling health insurance to her repertoire, along with the title of author. “I’m published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Be You, a new collection of 101 stories and poems written by women of all ages about how they found their own truths and the best versions of themselves. It was a great way for me to share my story with the world.”

Escape Hatch 2 Wellness is located in Naples. For more information call 615-739-7264 or visit EscapeHatch2Wellness.com. See ad, page 30.