Yoga has been in my life longer than I realized. The more I’ve learned about yoga and meditation, the more I see that some poses and desires to meditate innately came to me as a child. My first yoga class was lead by a sweet soul named Chris Prewitt at Foothill Technology High School my freshman year. Although Mr. Prewitt is no longer with us, I am forever grateful for his yogic influence in my life. My affinity for metaphysics took root in my first philosophy class with Kevin Bortolin at Ventura College. At the same time I started hatha yoga classes with Sally McNally at Tu Vien An Lac Temple in Ventura, and as an athlete I was hooked! Enamored by how she said what I needed to hear right when I needed to hear it, I felt a calling to become a yoga instructor. At the time I was so invested in college that my dedication to higher education remained my priority. Still dedicated to healing, I chose landscape architecture with the intent to create places for people to feel at peace by connecting to art and nature. In the meantime I continued to study eastern religions and Za Zen meditation with Kevin.
In 2016 my brother and I chose to do a sibling trip to Northern California for the Enchanted Forest Gathering Festival. It was there that I was first introduced to Kundalini Yoga. Captured by its mysticism, I immediately felt changed. A year later while living in Santa Barbara I sought out Kundalini classes. I had an awakening at Divinitree in Mitsuko’s class and again, felt called to do a teacher training. This time it was different, it was a much stronger pull as I realized what I wanted to accomplish with it. The alignment had begun when my plans to move out of the country suddenly changed. Shortly after, I found a teacher training in Ojai with Tara Matthews, Adarsh Kaur, Nam Joti, Hansu Jot, and Mehtab Benton. Although I originally did the training for myself, I felt that teaching Kundalini Yoga was something I needed to share. So here I am, teaching at Soul Body on Tuesdays at 7, volunteering at Fire Camp once a month, hosting Sadhana every other month, and teaching at The Space Ventura on Thursdays at 6:30.
In addition to teaching Kundalini Yoga, I work full time in landscape design-build for Landscape Development Inc. I continue pursue my dream of creating sacred landscapes for people with my company, Omni Grace.
Thank you for investing your time in getting to know me a bit. I am looking forward to seeing you in class, or even helping you design your desired place of peace.
Sat Nam, Love, and light,
Rachel – Deg Sita Kaur
