Inspiring Conversations with Crystal Valentina

Today we’d like to introduce you to Crystal Valentina.

Hi Crystal, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I fell in love with yoga while attending Chandler-Gilbert Community College in Arizona. Yoga and meditation helped me cope with my emotions in a healthy way after years of dealing with depression, anxiety and trauma. Once I became a mom to my beautiful little girl, Xyla, I felt like I needed to rediscover my true Self. Feeling the healing power of yoga in my life, I decided to pursue an advanced Yoga Teacher Training program to help others obtain peace on their journey as well. I am now registered as a 500 hour Experienced Yoga Teacher and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Practitioner. I continue to study and teach at the Southwest Institute of Healing Arts and Spirit of Yoga in Tempe, AZ, where I completed my first training in 2015. I assist in teaching SWIHA’s Fast Track Yoga Teacher Training program, teach weekly studio classes, private sessions, and facilitate special events and workshops all over the East Valley. I am passionate about integrating Sound Healing, Reiki, Yoga Nidra meditation, Herbalism, Nutrition and Environmental Regeneration throughout my teachings and life. I truly believe in making yoga accessible to every BODY at any stage in life and creating a space for students to feel safe and supported as they explore how to utilize the mind, body, and breath to create a strong sense of well-being.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Luckily the yogic path includes building the capacity to remain present and practicing self-observation without judgment. There have definitely been times where I had felt challenged in my ability to hold space when everything went online and studios closed down because of Covid. I am not the most technologically savvy and it was a learning curve at first to figure out how to deliver something many regards as sacred over a computer screen. Furthermore, I pride myself on my ambition to learn new things and will be offering more online sessions in the next year.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I strive to support others in healing, wholeness, and spiritual renewal through movement, breathwork, sound healing, guided meditation and energy work. I love to utilize gong, singing bowls, flow chimes, tuning forks and other therapeutic instruments to provide ambient soundscapes that evoke lucid states of consciousness. I specialize in Chakra balancing, Yoga Nidra meditation and sound therapy. My favorite offering is Lunar Sound Healing, which I have been facilitating for four years as a special event every month on Sundays closest to the new or full moon. We always have a special guest who brings their offerings on the cello, violin, ngoni, kora, handpan, didjeridoo, harmonium or other various instruments.

Lunar Sound Healing is a way to connect to the natural rhythms of the lunar cycles by working with intention and vibration for maximum manifestation potential. Most recently, I have begun to work on a side project at my home studio called Radicle Sana. Radicle means root and Sana mean healing. We are hosting collaborative community kirtan, sound healing and yoga events combined with other modalities such as acupuncture and herbalism. I love plant medicine and have been formulating and sharing elderberry elixirs, fire ciders, custom tea blends, tinctures, salves and other natural remedies for a few years now. My intention with Radicle Sana is to provide a space to share these healing practices in a much bigger way in the year to come.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is the well-being of our mother earth and all life that sustains her. I am constantly looking for ways to create ripples of loving-kindness through the practice of yoga as well as bring awareness to environmental issues. In my personal life, I have made it my intention to create as little waste as possible and approach life in a less commercial way.

Pricing:

• Private Sessions $120 plus $10 per person for groups of 2 or more

Contact Info:

• Email: CrystalValentinaYoga@gmail.com
• Website: https://www.crystalvalentina.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/crystalzenlove/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CrystalValentinaYoga/

Image Credits
Tracilynn Krohn Elaine Kessler