Local yoga teacher Nikki Grayson grew up in Westchester, New York and came to Mobile in 2009 to visit her grandmother who had retired to the area. “I came down just for a little break but ended up falling in love with Mobile. I have never met more beautiful people than I have in the south. I love this sense of community,” she says.

Over the last three years, Mobile residents may have seen Grayson holding inspirational signs in high-traffic areas. “I call it being a conduit of love,” she says. On a large white board she writes a bible verse, an inspirational quote or a simple message of gratitude.

Her first sign read “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear. ~MLK” and she, along with her daughter in a stroller, held it during a busy music festival in downtown Mobile.

“It just felt so right, like this is what I’m supposed to be doing,” she recalls. A few months later her second sign simply read “I thank God for everything.” As she held it outside Rodgers Barbecue in Prichard, a woman pulled up, handed Grayson $100 and said, “God sent you. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

She began taking her signs to uncomfortable places like outside of the funerals of slain police officers and women killed by domestic violence. She’ll also stand at busy intersections like McGregor and Airport where she held a sign that read: “Those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters.” 

She attributes this kind and gentle way of life to her yoga practice. “I think about what I can be grateful for instead of focusing on the problems,” she says. Even through today’s turbulence, Grayson observes much more love than hate in the world. “The overwhelming reaction has to be love; it can’t be more hate and division.”