Today we’d like to introduce you to Bethany Garvin
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was pushed into yoga when I cracked a vertebra and ruptured a disc in my back when I was 15. I did classical Ballet in the Arvada Civic Ballet Company and was heavily into drag racing with my brothers and friends. I hated yoga initially; it was slow and I considered it boring. I loved a challenge and adrenaline, so the shift to more mindful movement was very difficult. After a few years, I found a style and teacher (Thank God for Oprah interviewing Rodney Yee) I really felt good practicing even though it was in videos, I still connected to my body in a beautiful way. I practiced through the years but in 2016 I was preparing to leave a very unhealthy marriage and I knew I needed more yoga… not the asana… but the mental practice. I was lead to Devanadi School of Yoga and Wellness in Minneapolis and I thank God for that. Through that training, I gained the strength and support to leave my marriage safely. I began teaching in 2016 and I fell into the flow of teaching, I had found my calling… I can’t describe the joy I receive from helping people on their journey to connect to themselves and their spiritual journey. My style is more directed by the mental practice of yoga. The asana is pivotal, but I’ll be honest, any instructor can help you find a pose… but a true teacher helps you embody a pose. I took a workshop from Lauren Toolen, she worked with Rodney Yee for years. She told a story of Rodney stopping a class to show how an older gentleman embodied a pose. His body could no longer fall into full wheel pose, but that his backbend captured the movement of prana that the pose needed. I knew at that moment that I wanted to be that kind of teacher. I wanted to empower people to find poses that moved prana (energy) powerfully but still met their personal needs. I am now An Ayurvedic Wellness Practitioner and help people heal their bodies through modalities like yoga and shifts in lifestyle.
My yoga practice has gotten me through so much over the past years. I dealt with the suicide of my father in 2000, shortly after I found my desired style of yoga… the timing was beautiful. It saved me. I survived my marriage, a brutal rape, and the trial of the rapist (he took a plea deal which sucked 2017- 2018), Car accidents, single motherhood, and the losses through Covid. BUT during COVID I would go on long car rides. My friend and I would drive through small towns near me and I would look at 100-year-old brick buildings and say, “Wouldn’t it be absolutely amazing to have a yoga studio in one of these old buildings!”
In 2024 I was going back to teaching full-time. While looking for jobs, I had two separate business owners who interviewed me to ask how and why I didn’t own my own studio. I explained it would take three things; Support as a single mom, money to get started, and I would need reasonable rent and the space to fall into my lap. I went to lunch with my friend and we talked about those conversations, She said, “Let’s just ask/ pray for those things!”
I was set to start working for my dear friend Dawn, but I received a call from her she said she was going to sell the space/ rent it out. I had just recently received money as a gift from the death of my Grandparents, and the rent was affordable, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I also had friends support me and the care of my sweet daughters… My daughters are my biggest champions. Even if one person joined a class at first, we celebrated. We toasted our milk and tea over our dinner plates and thanked our Creator for the life that was being brought into our little studio. Raw Emerald Yoga had it’s grandopening on the Fall Equinox of 2024. We were rained out… truly a mind-blowingly dangerous storm… for our yoga class so I taught online, but the kid’s yoga class went off without a hitch with 20 participants. I now have several members and our community is so strong. I am beyond blessed. My dreams are coming true. I have the most amazing women who teach for me. I have an amazing partner who toasts and celebrates every win with me as powerfully as my daughters do.
The studio name: I am from Colorado and when I was young my dad collected rocks and minerals. I also have a love for rocks and minerals. I received a Raw Emerald Gem when I was young as a gift from a Sunday school teacher. there is also Emerald lake at Rocky Mountain National Park, I love hiking that trail. It’s absolutely beautiful. The outdoors were a huge part of my life when I was young. My birthstone is also an emerald… and emeralds are used in Ayurveda for balancing our Dosha’s. I had planned to change the name, but the studio opening changed that. So I feel it is here to stay and I’m okay with that.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I have dealt with many shifts through the transition. I wrote most of them in the text I typed up. There have been a lot of personal losses in my life, and especially since COVID, but I have always found peace in my practice and focused on my personal growth. I am far from perfect but I constantly work to better myself… not just for myself, but for my girls. I must be whole and healed to support them and be a good mom. I want to leave the world a better place for them. Starting a business in a small town has had bumps, especially with the majority of the local population being in the baby boomer generation, but word is traveling and we are growing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have worked in a ton of fields. I have done management in retail and in food service (wedding venue) I have been an assistant insurance claims adjuster. I went to school for broadcasting. I’ve worked as an office manager at a physical therapy office and I now own a Yoga studio and work with clients one one-on-one as an Ayurvedic Wellness Practitioner.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’m on the board of Gathering Hope a Non-Profit to support women leaving domestic abuse
We don’t pay our yoga teachers enough. I try, but I wish I could pay more. as time goes on, I will pay them well above market rate.
Pricing:
- $35 two weeks unlimited classes intro offer
- $18 Drop- In
- $83 for a 5 pack of classes ($16.60 per class))
- $72 for contracted 5 pack per month
- $125 for contracted 10 pack per month
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rawemeraldyoga.com/#
- Instagram: https://www.threads.net/@rawemeraldyogastudio
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethany.j.garvin/
