I’m Stephen Kantola, born in Boise, Idaho. From a young age, like many, I grew up in a split household, where I received both love and unhealed trauma. Without adequate tools to fully process my emotions, I coped by overachieving—immersing myself in sports, studies, and a busy social life.
In May 2001, just before graduating high school, two siblings of my siblings decided to take their own lives, which led to me being overcome with grief. I suppressed my pain, which led to me dimming my inner light where I got caught up in partying and staying busy through college. I developed a codependency on drugs, alcohol, and a need to be around people too much. It was the most disconnected period of my life.
I fortunately met my future partner and mother of my lovely daughter in 2008, and she suggested I read a book by Indian spiritual teacher & mystic Osho on Buddhism. I soaked it up like a sponge, starting a meditation + self-awareness practice that has given me benefits up to this day. However, there was still darkness that needed to be fully felt and healed.
In 2021, I joined Aaron Doughty’s 21-day Raise Your Vibration Challenge and experienced a powerful 90-minute breathwork session that left me eager to explore more about myself and breathwork. I continued with various practitioners, releasing trauma, stress, and pain while deepening self-connection.
In late 2023, inspired by completing the Rise Above the Herd self-development program, I sought a vocation aligned with my passions and vision for holistic health for myself and for others. The breathwork school Somatic Breathwork kept appearing on my path, and when Aaron Doughty became certified there too, I took it as a sign. By mid-2024, I became a certified trauma-informed Somatic Breathwork Practitioner after completing my practicum, guiding 10 breathwork sessions. While there are many paths to healing, I hope you find what brings you the healing you need, whether through Somatic Breathwork or any another way.
About the logo
With my vision to live a holistically healthy life and helping others do the same, I wanted to have a logo that encapsulates ‘holistic health’.
Often when I’m meditating and at times during breathwork Journeys I see a 6-line, crystal-like shape with a vertical line down the middle & lines that look like an X that run through it.
In March 2024, I attended Veda Austin’s talk at Confluence in Bandera, Texas. Her research on flash-freezing water after speaking to it is fascinating. During her talk, she showed an image that appeared when she asked water, “What is health?”—the same image I’ve seen in meditation and breathwork journeys!
I’ve intuited that this not only means ‘health’ but also ‘God’, ‘Source’ or the ‘Holy Spirit’ coming through because of the connection this Divine Energy has with everyone to elicit elevated states of emotion, such as joy, bliss, peace, freedom + everything else one can hold dear in your mind, body, spirit + soul, and of course, the essence of your heart, who we all TRULY ARE!
As noted above, I was born and grew up in the state of Idaho, the Gem State. In school I was taught the state gem is the star garnet. Recently I looked up the star garnet again to see what it looked like since it had been a long time since I’d seen one, and what do you know – that image popped up again!
I merged all of these elements together along with purple, the color of the star garnet, which to me symbolizes the union of masculinity and femininity and that’s how this logo came to life!
“Stephen comes across as confident and grounded from the moment he begins. The highlight for me was the chance to simply take a break from the “busy-ness” of life and lay down and breathe, accompanied by a well curated musical selection. Stephen’s calming voice and his genuine presence made me feel honored and respected throughout the experience. The post-session sharing was seamless, and I felt deeply heard and seen. Stephen is a wonderful person who clearly cares about the well-being of those he supports.”
Yerasimos