First Article in Molokai's Newspaper The Molokai Dispatch

I am excited to introduce myself and share my story with you. My name is Ayda Ersoy, and I grew up in Istanbul, Turkey. Almost all my life I've been very active, playing many different types of sports. I became a trainer almost 20 years ago. I'm a personal trainer, sports nutritionist and circular strength training instructor (a type of joint mobility exercise). I also teach Pilates, yoga, and total body shape classes, and I hope to share this experience on Molokai. I love helping people reach their goals and seeing the smiles on their faces when they do! So what brought me to Molokai? Eight years ago, I was living in Turkey when I read Dan Millman's book “Sacred Journey of the Peaceful Warrior.” It describes meeting a wise sage on the island of Molokai. I didn't know anything about Hawaii but I felt a strong energy from this book, so I started searching. And I couldn't believe my eyes, it was just amazing! I started dreaming almost every day about how beautiful, how strong spiritually and how amazing Molokai must be. I decided to live there. Yes, I was living in Turkey, on the other side of the world, and I didn't even have a passport. But once we make a decision, all things will come to us — we just need a strong connection to our inner selves, and we need to believe. It was not an easy journey. First I moved from Turkey to Vancouver in Canada with my son. He started school there, I started working, but I never forgot my dream. And now here I am, living in Molokai, and it is magnificent! Everyone here is so friendly, with great, open hearts. I'm so thankful and grateful to be able to be here, and I want to give my energy and help to everyone here as much as I can. I am really excited and look forward to sharing my experience and education with you for a healthy lifestyle, a good relationship with food, exercise and more with regular articles here in The Molokai Dispatch.