Remembering Alicia
Exactly four weeks ago today, I lost one of my most beloved OASIS students — and one of the most relentlessly courageous crusaders I’ve ever known. At her bedside, I made a promise: that her legacy would live on, carried in the hearts of those who were blessed to cross paths with her. Her light will continue to guide me as I walk this path, advocating for healing as a necessary birthright for us all.
She joined the inaugural batch of OASIS, but had to pause her journey for surgery. True to her spirit, she returned later in the year to complete her training, and later stood beside me as a teaching assistant — my right hand, my anchor, always ten steps ahead. She had an almost omniscient way of seeing what I couldn’t, filling every gap with quiet grace, and becoming my extra pair of arms and legs in every class we co-facilitated.
I often shared with my trainees how deeply Alicia longed to teach Restorative Yoga after graduating, yet struggled to secure a regular studio slot due to her many ad-hoc medical appointments. But she never let circumstance define her. She brought the practice to her workplace, hosted a pop-up class to raise funds for the Cancer Society, and volunteered to assist in fundraising classes I taught to support Voices for Animals. Even when her body grew frail, her will to serve remained unshaken. She never stopped living — until she did.
In the two and a half years that I had the privilege of walking beside her through her seven-year battle with cancer, I witnessed how Alicia embodied healing practices so fully that they became a living expression of her love — tender, fierce, and wholly authentic. Every exchange with her was steeped in wisdom. She planned her days as though each one could be her last, and in doing so, she taught me the art of truly living.
Life, as always, has a way of folding back into itself. About a year ago, I wrote an article about Alicia — knowing, perhaps quietly, that it would someday become the prelude to the eulogy I now write for her.
Before she passed, Alicia gave me permission to share a podcast in which she spoke about her journey — how she not only survived but thrived through her experience with cancer. She asked that it be shared with anyone who might need hope, and that those who hear her story continue to pass it forward.
And so I will. For her voice, her courage, and her light deserve to ripple endlessly — through every life she touched, and every heart still learning how to heal.
Much love, Gabrielle
“In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years.” - Abraham Lincoln