Jenna Gallarzo

2010-2012

 

I first began to experiment with meditation in order to calm my mind, relieve stress, and understand why I had astral dreams without trying/wanting to. This eventually gave me the motivation to try a public asana class, which I signed up for at my university because it would make me go so I didn't mess up my GPA... yep that was my mentality back then, but I'm so glad it did it!

 

At that time, I had been struggling with migraines for what seemed like my entire life (my first memory is literally me running down the driveway, having a "crack"- which is what I called them because I was so young I didn't know any other word to describe a migraine aside from my head cracking open). They were so bad and so unmanageable that I had accepted that was life... BUT partway through the first semester, I noticed my migraines/headaches weren't as bad or happening as often anymore. By the end of the semester, I was HOOKED!

 

 

2013 - 2015

 

A few more semesters and I decided to drop out of university and apply for a Yoga Teacher Training because "everyone needed to know about this!"

 

I completed my first Yoga Teacher Training (200hr) under Brynn Rybacek of True Flow Yoga in Newport Beach, CA. I started teaching yoga right away to my family and coworkers! I also first learned about Ayurveda from a fellow classmate and so began my jump down that rabbithole.

 

A year or so down the road, I had been promoted at work and was so stressed out that I would come home and cry myself to sleep, wake back up and go to work, and every weekend I would just sleep because I had no desire to do anything. I was in such a hopeless state, I was attaching myself way to deeply to a job, spending 15+ hours a week just commuting to my 10+ hour day, I was skipping breaks due to the stress of deadlines... I was overworked and under-appreciated, and not at all in line with my Dharma.

 

Unsurprisingly, I had a sudden, unexplainable, and extremely debilitating Sciatic episode (in both legs!) while walking my dog after a long day of work (the crying before the sleep part) and eventually with one step, it felt like someone ran a knife from my back to my knee, and then another step with the other leg and ZING, there it was in that leg too. I call my mom to get me off the side of the road when she gets home from work and then have a panic attack. I only remember seeing the ground get closer to me as black took over. Next thing I know, I'm on the curb, my dog sitting next to me, and my mom running over with her truck parked in the middle of the street

 

Long story short, after an ER visit and months of appointments with every specialist under the sun, no one could figure it out (one doctor straight up said it was in my mind and tried to give me a heavy Xanax prescription). I had to resign from my job because I couldn't do any of my duties and I had excitedly told them that "so-and-so doctor said I should feel better in 2 weeks" ten too many times! Well, I should say I was "lovingly forced" to quit my job from my parents and if it wasn't for them agreeing to support me while I healed myself and encouraging me to make this huge change I don't even want to think about where my life would be right now.

 

Without the stress of the job weighing over my shoulders, I began to do more research into natural remedies because "if yoga could fix my migraines, I bet something can fix this too." I also began to experiment with different forms of healthy eating. With some adapted Yoga Therapy (which I stupidly listened to the doctors and stopped doing), SMR work I learned from one of the PTs I worked with, the dietary changes, and some basic strength training... my sciatica began to resolve itself and I stopped seeing the doctors.

 

I eventually started teaching Yoga classes full-time (15+/wk) as my body could handle more movement. I even designed multiple successful Yoga programs for various gyms, martial arts dojos, and dance studios. Realizing that I loved doing this for a living, but wanted to use it more for medicine and therapy than just "fitness" with meditation, I began to look more into Ayurvedic Medicine and Holistic Doctor programs, which led me to discover that there was a very prestigious Ayurveda program at a university about an hour from my house... and so I enrolled!

 

My first day of school was also my first time attempting to be sedentary anywhere for more than a hour at a time. To say I was scared of aggravating my sciatica and not being able to complete the program would be an understatement... but somehow I did it! Somedays were not easy and I would have to excuse myself to do a little yoga, but I was able to complete the entire program and internship without having another sciatic episode (though my back would still spasm and get mad sometimes, so I wast completely healed either)

 

Halfway through 2015, I graduated as an Ayurvedic Wellness Educator (650hr) with a full Clinical Internship (100hr) under my belt from Southern California University of Health Sciences under Drs Anupama Kizhakkeveettil, Jayagopal Parla, Manjusha and Prasad Vinjamury,and Bharathi Venkatachalapathy

 

To finish the year off with a bang, I was invited to be THE yoga teacher for Puma's grand opening event at their new women's store at the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, California. I was also starting to receive requests to teach about Ayurveda to groups of Yoga Teacher Trainees, which is when I also first began to dabble in combining both practices into my public Yoga classes.

 

 

2016 - 2018

 

Obviously in love with Ayurveda, I signed myself up for the next level program and once again found myself graduating from SCUHS, but this time with two degrees! The first being an Ayurvedic Practitioner (950hr) with another Clinical Internship (150hr) under Doctors Anupama Kizhakkeveettil, Jayagopal Parla, Manjusha Vinjamury, Prasad Vinjamury, Bharathi Venkatachalapathy, and Ram Manohar; and the other being Massage Therapy and Bodywork program. I also passed the MBLEX (massage licensing exam) shortly after.

 

Later that year, I met my now-husband and began to dabble in bodyweight strength training.. which was the missing piece I needed in my quest for a full-spectrum healthy lifestyle. With his knowledge of fitness, I began to implement what I learned and my has sciatica stayed away for good ever since!

 

My now-husband (then-boyfriend) began to receive job offers in various locations around the world to either host workshops or live/train at their gym. By then, I had him trapped under my spell (lol) and he said he would only go if I went to... which took absolutely zero convincing from me! I had been dying to travel and did not even comprehend how he could get this chance so easily.

 

My first international trip (because a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico doesn't really count to anyone in Southern California), we traveled to Bahrain, a tiny island off the coast of Saudi Arabia, where we both got to teach workshops on the topics we loved!

 

I wouldn't say I had a culture shock, as much as, my eyes forced wide open to such a beautiful and peaceful way of life- once that I had not grown to think as possible.

 

After a few weeks there, we went back home and again, he was being offered jobs and opportunities abroad. We were toying with an offer for both of us to live in Saudi Arabia for a year, but we would have had to get married (which we already knew we were going to to at some point, but being forced into it was kinda meh to us), so decided to opt for going back to Bahrain instead. We lived there for about 9 months and if you ask me if I would go back, my answer would be 100x YES!

 

While there I was introduced from a woman (who also became a good friend!) to the practice of Pranic Healing! I had heard about Reiki before and dabbled in it, but I was blown away that they used "Prana," something that Yoga and Ayurveda also recognize and utilize greatly. I eventually completed the Pranic Energy Healer program at GMCKS Pranic Healing and Arhatic Yoga Center in Sar, Bahrain under Masters Muneera and Maria, which taught me how to protect my energy as someone who worked with a lot pf people on a regular basis

 

We were invited to teach more workshops over those months living abroad and I ended up teaching about Yoga and Ayurveda in 5+ countries, including Bahrain, Dubai, UK, Guatemala, Mexico. Eventually the travel was getting us restless and we missed our families A LOT, so decided to take a break and do something more stable back home.

 

I think we also got engaged this year or next!

 

 

2019-2020

 

I started leading my own in-person 250 hour Ayurvedic Yoga Teacher Trainings in Brea, California and it was my absolute most favorite "job" I could ever have.

 

My husband and I brought full-spectrum corporate wellness programs to 2 Sysco locations.

 

We were doing good... until COVID hit and everything came to an abrupt stop. I began to move my trainings online and took advantage of the down-time by enrolling in a lot of different courses, such as

• Advanced Panchakarma series with Doctor Manjusha Vinjamury

• Nectar of Nidra with Kaya Mindlin

• Kaivalya Yoga Teacher Training (300hr) with Alanna Kaivalya

• Advanced Ayurvedic Gynecology series with Dr Manjusha Vinjamury

• Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training under Julia Forest of Awakened Spirit Yoga

• Prenatal/Birth Doula training under Stefanie Antunes of Doula School

 

Despite all this new room for opportunity and learning, my life still felt stagnant. I was searching, no, I was CRAVING to grow into the person I knew I was capable of becoming, but I just couldnt figure out what was going to project me down that path. My desire to feel the expansion I felt when discovering Yoga for the first time, and then again when I found myself deep in Ayurveda studies was becoming an annoying itch. One that I just could not scratch away.

 

 

 

2021 - Present

 

Shortly after completing my Birth Doula course, I found out I was pregnant. While my husband and I didn't necessarily plan for the pregnancy, we were also not actively trying to prevent one either so it was a pleasant surprise. We were overjoyed with the thoughts of being new parents, however, about 9-10 weeks into the pregnancy, I had a spontaneous miscarriage. Devastated and feeling empty, my husband and I actively built ourselves up again. A few months later (sooner than I would have liked), I was pregnant again. with a bad case of HG (hyperemesis).

 

Not only was I still healing from my first pregnancy loss and basically living and sleeping by the toilet, but my now-husband and I also decided we wanted to finally get married before the baby arrived. With the push from, I mean help by, my mom, we planned a beautiful wedding for 100+ people in just a few months.

 

A few months later, I gave birth to my perfectly healthy little rainbow baby... (and wow, writing this down really puts into perspective why this year of my life is a blury memory that I don't even want to recall.)

 

Now, I'm discovering myself as a new person- a mother, a wife, and somewhere in between, a business owner... and thoroughly enjoying the process of relearning how to work with the ebbs and flows that this new life brings to me!

 

It has been quite a wild ride so far and I’m really looking forward to just how much more wild it can get. It’s almost as if, when I brought my beautiful baby girl earthside, I also birthed a new “me” - a woman more refined, powerful, (and dare I say it) sexier than the girl who hadn’t yet met the depths of matrescence.

 

This also came with a deeper understanding and integration of everything I had studied, practiced, and worked on over the past decade (which I will list at the end), as well as, a sense of humbleness as rediscover the many layers of mindful living once again as this new person.

 

I’m excited to allow this transformation to also amplify the full spectrum of what I have to offer ... I am my brand and I invite you to follow along as I continue to discover myself.

​

​