Interview with Rachel Krentzman, PT, C-IAYT, MBA, author of “As Is: A Memoir on Healing the Past Through Yoga”

In As Is: A Memoir of Healing the Past Through Yoga, Rachel documents her experiences. conversion. She tells the story of how she was forced to confront inherited personal beliefs about herself and her family and find her own way through a heavy legacy. This is a frank and heartfelt true story with some surprising developments, including a family crisis that shattered her worldview. In her quest for healing and self-discovery, Rachel finds sanctuary and inspiration in the practice of yoga and comes to understand the powerful connection between mind and body. Set in Montreal, San Diego, and Israel, this is a fascinating story of deep self-awakening.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Rachel about her inspiring book, her creative journey, and how her own revelations led to her powerful and innovative therapy.

Interview questions:

1. Your father went from being a respected Orthodox rabbi to being arrested. Can you describe that pivotal moment and how it shattered your family, your faith, and your understanding of yourself?

I remember that moment as a kind of implosion. Overnight, everything I thought I could trust – my father’s integrity, my family’s reputation, my faith – collapsed. It wasn’t just his arrest that hurt me. I realized that so much of my life had been built on respectability and denial. The world I grew up in taught me to suppress my doubts, submit, and appear perfect. When that illusion was shattered, so was my sense of self. It forced me to start over and question everything: What is truth? love is? What is fearless faith? Although it felt like complete destruction at the time, that rupture marked the beginning of my awakening.

2. You write about how trauma can become embedded in the body and remain hidden for decades. How did you discover the fear and self-doubt that was stored in your body, and what was the process of releasing it?

I discovered it slowly and painfully, literally. My back pain and herniated disc at age 30 were my teachers until I understood the concept of embodied trauma. Every twitch, every contraction contained a story I hadn’t yet told myself. Through yoga and later Hakomi therapy, I learned to listen instead of prioritize. My body spoke words of tension, exhaustion, and collapse, revealing years of bottled up fear, guilt, and sadness. The release process wasn’t dramatic. It was gentle and intentional. With each breath and each pose, I learned to let the sensations I once avoided exist. As time passed, my body became more flexible and my heart also opened up. Healing came not by “curing” my pain, but by becoming befriended with it.

3. The transition from a strict orthodox upbringing to embracing yoga and a more compassionate spiritual path is a big change. What was the hardest belief to let go of? What did you discover about yourself in the process?

The beliefs that were most difficult to let go of were that love had to be earned, that one had to be good, obedient, or self-sacrificing to be eligible to belong. That message shaped my faith, my relationships, and even my first yoga practice. Letting it go required dismantling the entire structure of fear that was keeping me safe. What I discovered instead was something surprisingly simple. It meant that I was already complete. God is not outside of us to judge or reward. It is within us, silently waiting for us to listen. I have learned that true spirituality is not about control, but about presence, honesty, and compassion for our own humanity.

4. You have developed a specialized treatment that combines yoga, box massage, and physical therapy to help people with scoliosis and chronic lower back pain. How did your own experience with scoliosis and disc injuries lead you to this approach, and why is it effective when other treatments are inadequate?

My own scoliosis and disc injury were the biggest catalysts for my professional evolution. Traditional physical therapy taught me anatomy and biomechanics, but it couldn’t explain why my pain always returned. Yoga provided a mind-body connection, and Hakomi gave me the missing piece: the emotional roots of my physical holding patterns. My approach works because it respects the individual as an integrated system of structure, sensation, and story. When you uncover unconscious beliefs that cause tension, such as fear, control, and shame, your body begins to reorganize itself. It’s not just spinal alignment. It’s about self-regulation. But one cannot exist without the other.

5. Can you explain the relationship between fear, anxiety, and physical pain? How does dealing with emotional trauma actually change physical conditions such as scoliosis or chronic lower back pain?

Fear and anxiety activate the nervous system, causing muscles to tense, breathing to shorten, and the body to prepare for danger. When this becomes chronic, the pattern becomes etched into your posture and movements. With scoliosis and back pain, your body literally shows signs of fear. It holds one side and crushes the other, protecting the heart. Once you deal with emotional trauma, your body’s threat response begins to calm down. The nervous system relearns safety. Through consciousness, touch, and breath, we force our bodies to feel things that were once unbearable. That’s when real change happens. inside out-When your body remembers what peace feels like and your soul begins to trust life again.

6. What do you think is the first step toward healing for readers who are dealing with painful childhood legacies or family trauma? What does it mean to embrace who you are while striving for change?

Healing begins with honesty, the courage to stop running from your story. The first step is not to turn away from your pain, but to look at it and witness it with compassion rather than judgment. As is It does not mean resignation. It means standing exactly where you are, without shame, and facing yourself with kindness. True change comes from acceptance. It cannot happen before acceptance. Change rarely happens all at once. It unfolds slowly through patience, consistency, and a willingness to start again. Even if you go back to old patterns, you’re still on that path. Accepting yourself doesn’t mean giving up. It’s about taking responsibility for your own healing, one honest time at a time.

For more information, see Rachel Krentzman. happy back yoga.