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TheUncagingwith Gloria Baraquio
Gloria Baraquio in white, a hand on her heart, before the golden stupa at Ratna Ling.

About

Gloria Baraquio.

Teacher for twenty years. Student for life.

Gloria as a small child in a red muumuu, a school portrait.
Gloria as a child in Hawaiʻi.

A story from Gloria

The Day I Stopped Being Impressive

It must have been my sophomore year in high school. I was still adjusting to my large public high school after attending a small Catholic school for my entire life up to that point. I was the youngest of 10 impressive children, all or some who were honor students, champion athletes, student government, prom queens, skilled musicians, churchgoers, and community service volunteers. My reputation preceded me, and I, myself, was team captain of both my basketball and cross country teams. Naturally, I was confident, cute, charismatic, and good at most things I tried.

It happened that my basketball team during my 10th grade year was not the most talented. Our coach was a loud, abusive Korean man who terrified all of us young girls. After many years of loving basketball, that year, the sport became lackluster for me. Our JV team lost half of our games, and quite honestly, I had no motivation to play. I wasnʻt bonded to my teammates, and I felt zero respect for my coach.

My parents were always busy with work, and they tried their best to make it to my games, as they did for my champion siblings before me. But after one too many games of losing, my mother became absolutely livid with me. I remember her screaming at me in the van after the game, telling me I was the Captain of Losers and that she would never come to any more of my games.

It must have been that day or shortly thereafter. It hit me that Iʻd been playing basketball, running cross country, learning piano, doing good in school, and going to church only because I was following suit of my 9 elder siblings. Even if I loved basketball, I had no attachment to my JV team. I definitely hated running. If it was up to me, Iʻd be in gymnastics, cheerleading and theatre!

Seeing my mother so angry and irrational that day, I decided to quit both basketball and cross country, which was a rebellious act after 8 years of my family being committed to both sports. At age 16, I made an inner resolve to not do anything for my motherʻs approval anymore, because after watching her behavior with all my other siblings: NOTHING would ever make her satisfied or impressed. The only person I wanted to make happy was me.

I feel lucky that I got that lesson at age 16. So many choices have been made since then, that may have seemed rebellious to others, but simply felt right and true for me.

You may not have been 16 years old when you stopped trying to make your parents proud. You might still be doing it. The elders whose disappointment you have been organizing your life around, are you still letting them run your life?

The story

The youngest of ten.

Gloria is the youngest of 10 children, raised by Filipino Catholic immigrants. Born and bred in Hawaiʻi, she had the luxury of observing her 9 elder siblings do life, whether it was obeying their parents and the church, dating, getting into trouble, playing lots of sports and music, trying new jobs, exploring other religions, or living in different cities. From a young age, she learned to celebrate the multiplicities and possibilities of life.

Gloria has been teaching vinyasa yoga since 2006 and studying Tibetan Buddhism since 2004. She trained in India under Raghunath Cappo and Radhanath Swami, has sung devotional music since childhood, and has practiced inside traditions that do not usually sit in the same sentence: indigenous Hawaiian, Catholic, Christian, Baha'i, Agape, Vaishnava, Hindu, Zen, Tibetan Buddhist, and more.

She currently serves as Director of Programs at Ratna Ling Retreat Center in Cazadero, California, and as Director of Shivakali Yoga School. She is based on the Big Island, and she travels regularly to host retreats around the globe.

The Uncaging is the next chapter of her work, her sharing of expertise and understanding of archetypes and human psychology. It is her way to use spiritual teachings as the medicine for each woman's specific suffering. Armed with eternal truths, distilled from many spiritual traditions, Gloria helps women hear their truth, see their power, remove their masks, and step into the freedom of their authentic selves.

Gloria in white, seated in meditation in a dim shrine room, practitioners behind her.
In the shrine room.

In her own words

The practice I built for them.

I have taught yoga and contemplative practice for over twenty years. I've trained instructors and healers who work all across the globe. I've hosted countless circles, workshops, and retreats for women who were starving for something else, something different.

Most of the women who came to me were not seeking transformation. They needed someone to listen. They needed clarity, a map, and clear guidance. They needed permission to take off the mask they had been wearing so long that they had forgotten that it was one. The Uncaging is the practice I built for them.

Timeline

The long road here.

  1. 1998

    Leaves Hawaiʻi for California.

  2. 2000

    Studies abroad in England and becomes Baha’i.

  3. 2003

    Starts practicing yoga in Honolulu.

  4. 2004

    Moves to the Big Island and begins studying Tibetan Buddhism. Becomes Co-Host and Producer of the Living Local TV Show.

  5. 2006

    Starts teaching yoga. Her brother dies by suicide.

  6. 2008

    Starts teaching grades 7 to 12 at HAAS Charter School. Pursues acting in theater and film.

  7. 2011

    Completes 200-hour Yoga Alliance Certification at Yoga Hawaii, Honolulu.

  8. 2012

    Leaves Hawaiʻi to study theater in Boulder and Los Angeles.

  9. 2014

    Opens The Springs DTLA and Shivakali Yoga School in Los Angeles.

  10. 2016

    Completes 300-hour training with Raghunath Cappo and Radhanath Swami in India.

  11. 2018

    Becomes Director of Programs at Ratna Ling Retreat Center in Sonoma County.

  12. 2026

    Launches The Uncaging, a coaching practice for women who want more.

How I work

Five masks. Five phases.

The Uncaging brings ancient wisdom teachings and contemporary thought into one practice. Yoga teaches daily discipline and self-reflection. Buddhism brings awareness of everything in front of you, behind you, and ahead of you. Hawaiian wisdom holds our connection to nature and to each other. Alongside these I use ancestral patterns, inner child work, IFS parts, relationship and communication techniques, and finance tools for the life you are actually living.

Most women who come to me are wearing one of five masks: the Hollow Achiever, the Performing Believer, the Cage-Dweller, the Almost-Awake, or the Quiet Seeker in Hiding. The Mirror names yours in six minutes. Whichever one it is, the work moves through the same five phases.

  1. The Mirror

    We look at what has been eating at you and find the root under the thing you walked in with.

  2. The Threshold

    We dismantle the habits and stories that are not true, and practice the ones that are.

  3. The Claiming

    You have the hard conversations, start the new habits, and build the rituals that help you not forget.

  4. The retreat

    Seven days away from family, work, phone and home, living the practice hour by hour with a small circle.

  5. Integration

    We see which tools and habits actually stick for you, and we keep the ones that do.

Gloria smiling at the harmonium, string lights on the wall behind her.

Trained in India under Raghunath Cappo and Radhanath Swami. 200-hour at Yoga Hawaii, 300-hour continuing education, devotional singer since childhood. Director of Programs at Ratna Ling Retreat Center, Director of Shivakali Yoga School.

None of these is the method. The method is what happens when you start listening to yourself, again and again, through every change in your life.

Two ways to work with me.

Take The Mirror

The Mirror is a six-minute quiz that names the mask you are wearing now.