As a Mindful Movement Educator, Rachel's primary mission is to help people feel loved, valued, and cared for.
Rachel Glowacki is a true difference maker throughout Eagle County, and her passion for connecting youth and parents to healthy living positively impacts people of all ages. Rachel was born and raised in White Plains, New York, in a family with a lot of adversity. Eager to move away from her childhood, she began working with youth as a nanny and a college student at Charleston Southern University. She didn't have a typical college experience, as she was responsible for balancing her work as a nanny and school. Her studies began with youth ministry and later shifted to liberal arts. After college, her love for working with children led her to teach 5th grade in Honduras. While in Honduras, she realized she had left something behind in Charleston that she needed to pursue. She asked Casey if his offer stood to "sweep her off her feet." He quickly fled to Honduras with an engagement ring to bring his girl back to Charleston. She and Casey got married, began opening restaurants, and became parents to two boys: Liam (senior at BMHS) and Grey (junior at BMHS). When the boys were in middle school and wanted to simplify their busy lives, they sold seven restaurants in Charleston, sold their furnished house, and left beach life for mountain life to open the Drunken Goat in Edwards. Thriving as a mountain family, they opened two more businesses in the valley: Cut and Wild Sage.
In addition to supporting Casey's businesses and parenting, Rachel joined the Mountain Youth team in 2020 as our WE HEAR U program facilitator, designed to help families communicate and connect. She continues to practice as a yoga teacher, writer, and leader in the kid's yoga field. Since 1999, she has specialized in mindful movement for all ages and abilities. Rachel is an award-winning author of the Kids Yogaverse storybook apps, a keynote speaker at Mindful conferences, and has trained hundreds of teachers and students how to incorporate mindful movement in schools and at home. She hopes that one day, mindful movement will be taught regularly in schools like math and science! Rachel believes that a calm brain is a learning brain and a healthy body is a happy body, principles she shares with her students, young and old.
Rachel's dedication to supporting the youth in our community is evident in her work. She wants to teach youth how to take care of their minds and regulate their bodies so they can control their nervous system. As a Mindful Movement Educator, Rachel's primary mission is to help people feel loved, valued, and cared for. For Rachel, everything she does is about ensuring that people feel these things. Whether it's teaching yoga, spending time with friends in nature, or parenting her children, Rachel believes that parental connection is the most significant need facing local youth, and that everything starts at home. Rachel encourages the youth in our community to respect others and themselves, to use dignity, consent and protection in all aspects of their lives, and to recognize that they have the right to change their minds and decide what works best for them. Her gentle approach is to ask youth what they are excited about after graduation rather than where they are going to college. This is just one example of how Rachel values the individual and emphasizes personal growth. She provides a safe and supportive environment for the youth in our community, where they can learn and grow. Rachel's dedication to supporting the youth, parents, and even the elderly is genuinely admirable, and her work inspires us all.
Written by Cat Stone, Prevention Specialist for Mountain Youth. cstone@mountainyouth.org