A life transformed – by Yoga
Marcela Toledo
Staff Writer
ANDREW KUHN WASHTENAW VOICE
When she enters, her beautiful presence illuminates the room. And, in a soft voice and kind eyes, instructs by example the discipline that changed her life. Nobody would imagine how different she was before she encountered yoga.
Her name is Rachel Garcia, and she instructs yoga four times a week at The Health and Fitness Center at Washtenaw Community College. She also will graduate from WCC next winter with an associate’s degree in exercise science.
But 15 years ago, her life was the opposite of what it now is.
“Yoga can be very transforming into your body, your mind and also your personality,” said Garcia, 30. “It is a sort of a metaphor for life; you find yourself in these difficult and uncomfortable positions, and it’s about finding grace and peace in those uncomfortable positions. That’s what we do in yoga.”
And she lives by what she preaches. Yoga transformed her life.
“It changed me in so many ways. In my own personal experience, I had a really different way of going out,” Garcia said. “I got married at 15. I had a baby two weeks after I turned 16. I was a really young mom, and I dropped school in ninth grade. I was severely depressed, and it really helped me work through my depression.
“It helped me to grow up and become a much more mindful person, a sensitive person, and also how to deal with those things.”
And that’s just one aspect of it.
ANDREW KUHN WASHTENAW VOICE
Owner of a beautiful smile, a delineated and strong body, Garcia’s amber eyes shine when she explains that after practicing yoga, the most visible change in her life was, along with an increase in strength and flexibility in her body, the same attributes of expansiveness and steadfastness developing in her mind.
“I had the benefit of practicing under the guidance of many celebrated yoga teachers, and each contributed in their own way to my developing a deep appreciation for the therapeutic value of practicing yoga,” she said.
Everything started in southwest Utah, where she lived before.
She learned yoga when she was taking a massage therapy course while working at a spa. They gave her the classes for free, and she made great friends with the instructor.
“I went to India in November of 2005 and came back in May of 2006,” Garcia said. “I stayed six months and traveled mostly in North India, I stayed at an Ashram called Ved Shala in Dev Prayag, Uttar Ranchal, for the second half of my visit. It was there that I meditated and studied under the guidance of a great Yogi. This man was the Guru of my first yoga teacher.”
But the story of how she got to India is intriguing.
“After falling out of touch for about two years, my former teacher found me and told me that her Guru had told her through a translator that the next time she comes to visit Ved Shala, she would bring with her a dark-haired girl with whom she used to practice yoga.” Garcia said. “She had been planning her trip for the winter, and I was working seasonally at the time, and so it was no big deal for me to take the time and get away.”
Garcia was able to finance her trip due to a very strange occurrence that happened about a month before the teacher sought her out. She was visiting her family in Utah, and had bought a bike to use for transportation while she was there.
“The very first time I rode this bike, I was hit by a car from behind by a careless driver going 30 mph,” she said. “My body incurred some damage that I have managed well by way of yoga; to this day I suffer no pain, and often forget that I have the injuries that I do.”
As a result of this accident, she received a large settlement from the insurance companies, and received some of the money just in time to finance her trip to India.
“All of this seemed too serendipitous to ignore, so even though I had no idea what to expect, I was excited to act in accordance with this uncanny chain of events,” she said. “Upon arriving in India, I was more blown away by my sense of ease and feelings of security than the complete sensory overload.”
Garcia’s mother was a single mother. She has two younger brothers, and her daughter is 14 years old. She has been teaching yoga almost two years at the WCC Fitness Center. She moved to Ann Arbor for love, but the relationship didn’t work out. She liked it here so much that she decided to stay and continue pursuing her dreams.
“I would love to play a role in deepening society’s understanding and increasing the utilization of bodywork as real therapy — not just a luxury,” she said. “I look forward to broadening the scope of my therapeutic skills in order to reach more people and help them in more profound and lasting ways.”
Garcia is planning to finish a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology/movement science at Eastern Michigan University or the University of Michigan.
She wants to be a physical therapist, and if she achieves that goal, it will be because yoga ushered the way for her.
What a great and very interesting and inspiring story!! very inspiring! Yoga Classes should be in my to list as well. Very nice article. Thanks Washtenaw Voice
What a great article but more importantly a great message; in that focusing on relaxation & strenghtening of the body can bring your mind into focus and that can move into other parts of your life. I’ll definitely check at Ms. Garcia’s yoga class on my next visit to the fitness center. Thanks!!!