Rachel Wilkins
How would you describe your teaching style?
Intuitive, empowering, awakening, non-linear.
Was there a moment when you knew that teaching yoga was for you?
After developing a personal sadhana that felt authentic and true to my experience and going on my own transformative healing journey, I felt the call to teach. There was some fear and doubt, but I knew I had something to share and a desire to hold accessible space where people felt seen, supported and held exactly as they are.
What is your favorite class to teach at HAUM, and why?
I love love love my vinyasa flow classes, but there's something really special about creating a more intentional container through workshops and special classes. My current favorite has been my Flow, Reiki & Sound quarterly special classes with Caitlin Ryan. It's a weaving of the more subtle, energetic practices that move and inspire me: a fiery kriya flow practice to move through stagnation, then time to truly rest, receive and ground the nervous system. It's divine.
What is your favorite class to take at HAUM?
You can't beat a Janet Stone class.
Is there a moment from teaching at HAUM Studios that has stayed with you?
I remember my first class back after my maternity leave. There was a fear I wasn't ready. There was a fear I'd forgotten how to teach and hold space. I showed up in my fullness, exactly as I was and shared from the heart. The theme was the journey of metamorphosis and rebirth, and what it's like to still be in the gooey, liminal phase of dissolution. Seasonally on the wheel of the year, we were in the early spring phase, before the first blooms of the year. In my life I was still rebuilding and figuring out who I was as a new mom. I'll never forget what it was like coming back to my beloved Saturday morning 11am class at Mission, being greeted with hugs and love, getting raw and real with them in the first 3 minutes of class, exploring unrushed transitions, and knowing that I was exactly where I needed to be. We hold each other through all seasons of life.
What can students expect when they walk into one of your classes?
A spread of moon oracle cards. I love to use them both as consent cards for adjustments, and as a way to connect with the higher wisdom held within. So much of yoga is a practice of unlocking, remembering who we are, trusting our intuitive self and lived experience. Pulling cards is a powerful and tangible way to tap into that from the get go.
Rachel Simone Wilkins, E-RYT 500, YACEP, and Reiki Master, offers classes that are an invitation to reconnect with your own inner wisdom and reclaim a sense of embodied self knowing. Her approach to yoga is inspired by seasonal energetic shifts, lunar cycles, the radiance of the sun, the steadiness of the mountains, the fluid churning of the waves, the cleansing flow of the wind, and the wild dance of the heart flames. Teaching since 2011, Rachel has completed over a thousand hours of advanced trainings and mentorships, from non-dual Tantra and creative prana vinyasa with Shiva Rea, to bhakti with Janet Stone, pre and postnatal yoga with Jane Austin, and biomechanics, anatomy, and injury management with Jason Crandell. She is the founder of Intuitive Vinyasa Flow RYS teacher trainings and Ritual & Renewal retreats, and she loves leading Moon Circles around the Bay Area. Her special classes weave fiery kriya flow with time to truly rest and ground the nervous system.
Certifications
200hr White Lotus Foundation
500hr Prana Vinyasa + Apprenticeship w/ Shiva Rea
300hr w/ Jason Crandell
Pre & Postnatal w/ Jane Austin
Reiki Master Program
Thai Massage w/ Phoebe Diftler
