MAURICE’S STORY
In life we all have opposition. We all have obstacles that stand in our way. One of mine came at age 9, in the Summer of 1991, when I fought for my life after surviving a car accident. I was hospitalized for months, my mouth wired shut, most of my front bottom teeth knocked out. My injuries scarred me inside and out, changing who I was from that moment forward.
I was a chubby kid. I had low self-esteem before and after my accident. My fitness journey began when a neighbor took me to a track one day. He had me run 5 laps with a sprint at the end. During that sprint I was no longer the slowest kid, the fat one, or the least athletic of everyone. During that sprint I heard the wind in my ears and everything changed. My fitness journey began. That moment sparked an obsession in me for fitness that led to me becoming a fitness professional, a second degree black belt in mixed martial arts, a natural bodybuilder, a powerlifter, and an obstacle course racer. I dedicated my life to fitness and motivational speaking. I began telling my life story through my signature group fitness format- Superhuman: The Class.
Superhuman: The Class drew a loyal following and my personal training business was reaching new levels of success. Yet I felt empty. I realized that anger and insecurity drove me to build my physique and strength, and insecurities led me to make poor decisions in my personal life.
At 35 years old I realized that the only place I could search for the true version of myself is within. I decided to challenge everything I believed in, and went into solitude. It was during that time that I finally began to practice self-love and find my way to my true self. Self-love became the foundation for which my life was rebuilt.
JEN’S STORY
I have the fondest memories of my childhood, specifically with my siblings. I was 18 months old when my twin siblings were born. I don’t remember life before them, and never wanted to. We had the best times riding our bikes, on camping trips, and going on imaginary adventures.
Ask my mom and she will tell you that I was [still am] always on the move. I prided myself on being able to multitask, to hold multiple jobs and keep an active social calendar. I thought I didn’t need much sleep to function, so I didn’t sleep much. Besides, coffee solved that! That way of being seemed to serve me well in law school. When I started practicing law in 2012, I continued coaching figure skating on the weekends, because having a day off didn’t even occur to me as something I needed.
Those same years, I suffered from headaches and migraines, but didn’t link my lifestyle as the cause. Three years into practicing law and I was running on fumes. I was spending more time working and less time doing or seeing anything or anyone I loved. My weight ballooned and the frequency of my migraines increased. I remember feeling like I killed myself to bill 220 hours one month for the firm. I felt depleted and unfulfilled, and yet at the firm I was praised. Never had more people come by my office to say “hello” then when after the billable hours report came out that month. The thought of not being worthy of a “hello” unless you performed at that high level made me cringe deep inside. At that moment everything changed.
In 2015, I stopped practicing law. I couldn’t afford my apartment so I moved back in with my parents. I became determined to find a career that I loved and that loved me back. Yoga, which had played a small role in my life prior, became front and center after a particularly devastating break-up shortly after my career-change. I became a yoga teacher in 2017. I benefited from the practice physically, emotionally and mentally, and learned about self-love and self-acceptance. Self-love became the foundation for which my life was rebuilt.
OUR STORY- JEN & MO
“Love yourself always; always love yourself” was how Mo ended his Superhuman class the first time Jen took it. Jen looked down at the tattoo on her arm, which reads, “Love thy self” and paused. She thought, “Who is this guy and why is he teaching yoga and calling it Superhuman?”
They became friends instantly and bonded over their respective journey towards practicing self-love and wanting to spread that message through their teachings. A yoga-Superhuman collaboration class, which they called Superhuman Flow, displayed the undeniable chemistry between the two. It even sparked rumors that they were dating, which were pre-mature only by a little. The natural progression of their friendship led them into a relationship with self-love serving as the foundation.
Mo says that he needed to become whole in order to attract a whole person. He dislikes the phrase “other half” with regards to relationships and refers to Jen as his “other whole.”
On June 1, 2019, Mo proposed to Jen at Saxon Woods Park in White Plains, NY. Before asking her to marry him he said, “Do you love me?” and “more importantly, do you love yourself?” She said “YES!”
Sometime thereafter, Superhuman Soul was born. A platform to share their teachings, and also the home of their SELF LOVE CLUB virtual hangout/discussion group, which serves as the foundation for all the rest.
We believe that we can all elevate ourselves. We are worthy, therefore, we are all Superhuman. - Maurice Johnson
