Daily Inspiration: Meet Gilbert Valenzuela

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gilbert Valenzuela.

Hi Gilbert, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Until a few years ago, I found myself aimlessly checking through the milestones of life. All the while feeling disconnected like life was happening to me.

A change needed to be made, but I didn’t know where to start. I saved money for grad school but didn’t get into the program and felt like I needed something to quit for. A few months, later a friend asked if I wanted to travel to New Zealand and Australia with him. Without hesitation, I quit a stable job as a project manager doing industrial construction in 2014. Spent three years traveling, writing, living, looking everywhere for some sort of direction in life and understanding of myself. Started a consistent yoga practice in 2015. Spent most of my money. Did a yoga teacher training. Dipped into retirement money to stay afloat. I still didn’t know what I was going to do, but I knew I couldn’t go back to what I was doing before. I drove for Lyft and Uber. In 2017, I started teaching yoga in Nashville and have been fortunate to teach an incredibly diverse spectrum of people.

Getting into the practice of yoga helped me reconnect to my body and mind, to myself. That’s what had been missing. I had to learn to listen and that has helped me understand myself on a deeper level. Now as a yoga teacher, that’s exactly what I get to do. I get to lead classes where the idea is to practice self-awareness. In the postures, you get to learn about yourself and in the process, you become stronger and more flexible, mentally and physically. I get to provide a supportive space where students curiously explore life at boundaries of discomfort. They determine for themselves when they need to rest and when they stay long enough to catch a glimpse and/or break through to the other side. Those moments of growth, when students are comfortable being vulnerable and courageous, are powerful to witness.

If you had asked me in 2014 when I left that job what I’d be doing now, there’s no way I could have guessed this. I’m grateful it’s where I got to and where I get to be for now. No one knows what’s next, but I finally feel like I’m on the right path.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road hasn’t been smooth. This whole journey has been an uncomfortable gamble for me. The bumps have thankfully become more manageable. I didn’t set out to teach yoga, but it’s been the most natural unfolding of opportunities presenting themselves as I’m ready to step into them, like teaching, workshops, training, and retreats.

The biggest struggles have been financial. I’m not reckless with money but would have rather been broke than get stuck in a job I didn’t want because I needed it. I selectively applied to jobs that seemed promising but didn’t get hired. I didn’t have health insurance for a few years, there was an underlying anxiety that if some bad accident or medical emergency happened, especially during Covid, that it would ruin me. There was and still is a fear that the places I could afford to live in would get sold, torn down, replaced with something I can’t afford and I’d be priced out of the neighborhood. In 2018, the first year I taught full-time, I made less than my end-of-year bonus from my previous job. In 2019, I taught 766 classes and knew that wouldn’t be sustainable. Driving back and forth across town, living check to check, at times going up to a month without a day off. There’ve been times when I reconsidered the old job, if they’d take me back, and daydreamed about being able to afford a house or a vacation or retirement but even given that security, I’m so much happier with life now than I ever was then.

I’ve had to learn how to love myself in a more supportive and unconditional way. I’ve always put everyone else’s wants and needs before my own and figured I’d get around to mine eventually, but never would. I’ve had to learn to recognize my baggage and habits of self-sabotage, where they came from, understand them, and struggle through mindfully creating new patterns. As I’ve improved my relationship with myself, the better I’m able to connect with whoever shows up for a class.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a yoga teacher around Nashville. Currently at Fahrenheit Yoga in 12 South, Bend and Zen Hot Yoga Nashville in Sylvan Park/Nations, Shakti Power Yoga in Music Row, and for the non-profit Small World Yoga that serves the greater Nashville area.

Though I don’t play any instruments, whether it’s the lyrics or the beat, I’ve always connected to music much easier than other things. In another life, I was a DJ, but in this one, I got to curate playlists that enhanced the experience of our practice. Some days it is more ambient and meditative, some days it’s sprinkled with alternative, electronic, hip hop, classic rock, indie, you name it. Not every day is for everyone and it can get uncomfortable if someone doesn’t like the music, but even when the situation isn’t what they expect or want, I hope they can still get what they need and what’s best for them our time together, that’s what I speak to.

Most of the classes I provide are power flow. These are dynamic, they can be fun and be a challenging workout if that’s what you’re looking for while being accessible to anyone willing to give themselves a chance without any self-imposed expectations or judgments. I do my best to guide everyone along and love moving with them, we are in this together. I’m there supporting those who just want to touch their toes, those working towards a handstand, and those who need a child’s pose or a longer savasana. At the end of each practice, in savasana, I hold space for people to receive rest, a moment in their busy day and life to be still, feel their breath, and observe without engaging.

I’m most proud of sticking this through and grateful I get to share what I’ve learned and practice in my journey with students. It’s beautiful watching us grow together and do things that at one point or another didn’t seem possible, all it took was showing up and giving yourself a shot at something new, we’re just practicing and making progress.

Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was born in El Paso, Texas, the middle child of three boys. A good kid growing up. Didn’t cause or get into too much trouble. Didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself, so I rarely spoke up and wanted to keep the peace. I did as I was told, didn’t talk back, rarely asked questions, and respected my elders. The close family tends to sweep issues under the rug instead of talking about them. We’d go to church and have cookouts at the grandparents with the cousins pretty much every weekend. There was always music playing at home, the family loved to dance and sing. I’d record songs off the radio making mix tapes, did a lot of reading tucked away in my room, or cradled in the branches of a tree in our backyard.

We moved outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan when I was ten. I didn’t realize Hispanics were a minority. I knew white people existed, but I hadn’t traveled too far from El Paso, a border city to Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua Mexico, until then, I mostly saw them on TV. It was an adjustment, feeling different, out of place, not having all the family around to fall back on. I got good grades, had a few honors classes, was friends with pretty much everyone, and was involved with a variety of clubs. Played a good amount of sports, mostly basketball, and ran cross country and track through high school. Eventually would journal and write when online journals became a thing before blogging, that was my outlet for the things I felt like I didn’t have anyone to talk to about.

The move leads to a sort of identity crisis. Most of my friends in high school and college since have been white and I’m not. Going back to El Paso, and not feeling Hispanic enough. A lot of trying to fit in everywhere, often lost, and not sure where home was anymore.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://gilbert-v-yoga.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gilspics/

Image Credits
Jake Visuals, Crystal Martel, and Victoria Huff