Gloria Baraquio, a yoga trainer from Hawaii, discovered yoga in 2003 and realized that the breath and mindfulness could relieve so much of her stress--and all of human suffering. After years of self-study and practice, she began teaching vinyasa in 2006 in schools, colleges, gyms, and studios. Since then, she has continued to teach thousands of hours of yoga and meditation to various populations.

Gloria completed her 200-Hour Teacher Training at Yoga Hawaii with Rupali Embry and Tania Jo Ingrahm. In 2012, she spent eight months at Naropa University, studying Contemporary Performance and Meditation.  There in Boulder, she learned from close disciples of Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. In 2013, she discovered Kundalini Yoga in Los Angeles with Tej Kaur Khalsa and Gurmukh, tapping into the technology of kriya and naad yoga.  In the same year, she began to study and chant regularly at the Los Angeles Bhakti House with Shastrakrit and Kumari Gopi and continued her studies with Tukaram Prabhu at the Long Beach Temple. In 2014, as Yoga & Wellness Director, she helped to open The Springs in Downtown LA, an urban oasis with a vegan restaurant, yoga studio, and a wellness center. She founded the Yoga Program there, taught free daily meditation, and managed the Wellness Center. In 2015, she co-led the first Shivakali Yoga Teacher Training with Serge Bandura and taught vocal movement at festivals like Lightning in a Bottle and Symbiosis. In January 2016, she completed her 300-Hour Advanced Teacher Training with Raghunath Cappo and Radhanath Swami in India at the Govardhan Eco Village. On this sustainable farm, she chanted everyday, analyzed Vedic scriptures, and listened to the pastimes of Krishna. She went on pilgrimage in Vrndavan, where she met other swamis, gurus, sages, and monks, and performed parikrama (a meditative circumambulation) around Govardhan Hill.

Gloria has taught yoga retreats with Yogascapes in Nicaragua, Iceland, and Zion.  She & Serge have taught twelve 200-hour Yoga Teacher Trainings in locations like the San Diego Desert, Los Angeles, Sonoma Redwoods, the Big Island, and Costa Rica.  They graduated their first 300-hour class in Bali in August 2017.  

Gloria was the Director of Programs and Lead Teacher at Ratna Ling Retreat Center from 2018-2020, where she was able to deepen her practice in Tibetan Buddhism.

Gloria is a bhakti yogi living a life of celebration through song, sangha, and service.  She honors her most beloved teachers: her parents, her siblings, her partners, her students, the land, Chogyam Trungpa, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Krishnamacharya, Srila Prabhupad, and Rev. Michael Beckwith.  Her greatest wish for others is that they know their Highest Self and live with courage and compassion.

She is currently living in Hawai`i, serving as the Co-Director of Shivakali Yoga and offering mindset coaching for teachers, healers, and artists.