Valerie Starr

I am not sure if Yoga found me or I found Yoga. I began my journey in a baggy shirt and sweatpants at the local community center in Santa Clara, CA, invited by a dear friend. I remember the dark room, the kind teacher, and the first time I ever tried meditation at the end of her class. At 16 years old, I had never heard of psychedelics and had no idea that the mind was capable of going anywhere but in the small corners where I felt confined and trapped. Without any effort, I was on my first journey that involved colors, lights, space, and freedom from the mind of a teenager who had developed an eating disorder as a way to cope with stress in my family life.

Over the years I would drop in here and there at other community college yoga courses. I remember walking across the quad of the community college in Santa Cruz, CA, having another moment in time when everything felt open, spacious, and connected. I was taking a course on Eastern Philosophy trying to find my way towards what I was so desperately wanting to know: my self, healing. This was my first taste of what an awakening felt like.

The next time I really fell into the hands of the practice of yoga was in Ubud, Indonesia. After finishing holistic nutrition school in Berkeley, CA, I worked at an Integrative Hospital called the Institute for Health and Healing. My boss at the time was an intuitive medium who shared with me in a reading that in my travels I would find something that would direct me onto my path. After traveling to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the last part of the trip was in Bali. I took a yoga class at the Yoga Barn where I found my teacher, Widya. She was authentic, funny, and radiating light that I knew I also had within myself. What went from taking one class a day turned into two, what went from wanting to be in Bali a week turned into a month. I started to learn subtle details like what feels good, what feels challenging, where my mind goes in forward folds, and how I can meet the edge of discomfort and stay in it without getting distracted. More than anything, I began to hear and sense my own voice that was trying to make its way through for years.

On returning to San Francisco, I immediately went on the search for my first 200-hour training. Through this journey I've come to believe in the magic of creating sacred containers—whether that's a retreat in the mountains, a ceremony with intention, or a breath-led practice in the quiet of your living room. I'm here to hold space, ask questions, and move with you toward truth, beauty, and liberation. Grateful to my wonderful teachers: Keith Borden, Jasmine Tarkeshi, Joy Ravelli, Katie Silcox, Jane Austin, Annie Carpenter, and Hannah McLane MD.