Renowned for combining a classical ballet background with extensive and diverse training in yoga, anatomy and physiology, Martia Bennett Rachman, E-RYT 500, is a licensed massage and bodywork therapist, as well as a certified Ayurveda practitioner.

Martia discovered yoga as a teen and used the practice to cope with her father’s passing and her mother’s debilitating health struggles. After fracturing her spine in two places in a car accident in 1999, she discovered not only the spiritual aspects of yoga, but also the therapeutic value. She utilized meditation and pranayama to slow down and shift her focus inward, and she used asana in lieu of surgical intervention to heal her back.

Martia has become known for her signature “slow flow” classes, which are flowing, deep and intimate practices that combine her dance background in the form of vinyasa yoga with the principles of alignment.

Having witnessed the power of touch firsthand in her classes, she became a massage therapist and soon was combining asanas with therapeutic touch as a way to help clients heal their conditions and injuries.

In 2007, Martia and her husband, Dr. Brad Rachman, a holistic physician with more than 25 years of experience teaching yoga and meditation, opened Black Mountain Yoga, in the mountains of western North Carolina. The studio, which offers a Yoga Alliance certified therapeutic yoga teacher training program, is a center for yoga, meditation and spiritual practices. In addition to group classes for all levels, both the Rachmans offer one-on-one yoga therapy that combines asana with gentle, hands-on muscle and structural therapy to assist those dealing with challenging health conditions and injuries. The Rachmans’ unique, individualized sessions have been featured in The New York Times.

Martia is the founder of the YogaTouchMethod℠, a system of yoga therapy that utilizes the transformative power of touch to free the body, clear the mind and release (unblock) the emotions.

Today, Martia directs the Yoga Therapy and Teaching Program at Black Mountain Yoga and travels across the country leading YogaTouchMethod℠ alignment-based workshops for yoga students and adjustment courses for teachers.

Her first book, Yoga’s Touch, Hands-On Adjustments, Alignment & Verbal Cues, was released by Sacred Nectar Publishing in 2014. The book is already being lauded for its stunning visuals and depth of information.