Hello! My name is John Quirk and I’m the founder of SoCal Wellness Retreats. I appreciate you taking the time to be here, it’s no coincidence!

My journey into my best life was born out of my own struggles and challenges and it’s my honor to have the opportunity to. share what has helped me along the way. As someone who has struggled with crippling depression, addiction and social anxiety, my rock bottom came in 2014 when I lost the job and identity I had devoted my entire life to. I was a journalist in New York City working 60-80 hour work weeks trying to scale the corporate ladder and taking very little care of my mental health. At the time, yoga, meditation and playing hockey were the only things bringing me any sense of joy or peace so when I left corporate life I decided to simply do more of those things.

I jumped into a yoga teacher training at a small studio called Atmananda in Manhattan and after completing 500 hours of training began teaching 20+ classes a week all over the tri-state area, hustling to try and make the ends meet. I began teaching classes wherever I could and I loved the feeling of helping people feel healthier and more empowered. Watching a group of people work towards a goal of self improvement awakened something in me. Teaching yoga was the love of my life. I had never taken a vacation and yet here I was traveling around the world and I even got to teach yoga to some pretty big names like Jennifer Lopez, Russell Simmons and Ashley Olsen.

Retreats for me were born out of a desire to go deeper with my students and introduce them to things like breathwork, meditation and even things like metaphysics and quantum mechanics. In a yoga class I felt like I could change someone’s day but after having people tell me that my retreats had changed their life, my purpose became clear.