July 2016 Featured Yogi: Raquel Figueroa

Raquel began her yoga journey in October of 2013 with a Groupon at North Valley Aikikai, where Michelle teaches weekly yoga classes, just wanting to try a new form of exercise.  She didn't know then that yoga would not only benefit her physically, but also spiritually and emotionally.  She explains:

My mother had been diagnosed with cancer and my yoga practice helped me get through the tough journey of being my mother's caregiver through what would be her final year and a half. When I am on my mat, for that hour and a half I don't have a sick mother, a house that is never clean enough, children that are misbehaving, a husband that I sometimes don't get along with.... All the stresses and concerns of every day life.  All I have are my poses, my movement, and my breath. 

Yoga has taught me to be grateful for for all I have around me; my children, my husband, my family, my friends, my health, the vast and great outdoors.... To be calm and not sweat the small stuff. To have a positive outlook on life, because in the end all we leave behind are the moments we share with our loved ones. Yoga has given me an inner peace.

Her favorite yoga pose is headstand, Raquel proclaims, "because being able to stay upside down for sometimes up to four minutes at a time makes me feel so strong and proud to be a yogi!"

She's attended several Root to Rise Yoga activities-- from yoga in the park, to hikes in Malibu, to yoga overlooking the ocean. "Michelle makes every experience feel like you are at a mini retreat. I look forward  to attending many more (events), " she says.

Raquel shares her most memorable insight about yoga: 

For anyone that is starting out their yoga practice-try to be consistent with your practice, do not compare yourself to others. This is your practice not any one else's.  The more you practice, the deeper understanding you will have on the meaning of YOUR life.

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