Yoga Instructor Helping Others Live More Fully After a Near-Death Experience

When I read a social media post from Homegrown Yoga in Warner Robins about local yoga teacher Maria Starlin and the extremely violent crash that changed her life, along with a profound near-death experience, and a long and difficult recovery, I knew I had to interview her. I had no idea how truly profound her story would end up being.

If you've visited Crunch Fitness or Homegrown Yoga in Warner Robins lately, you may have already crossed paths with Starlin. She has a friendly smile, kind eyes, and a pleasant voice that is sometimes too low to hear over the noise of the busy coffee shop.

Starlin is a yoga and barre instructor as well as a stretch therapist. She moved here with her husband from Florida about two years ago.

What most people who meet her couldn’t guess is that she had a horrible car accident at the age of 19 that almost killed her. The lessons she learned from that experience, and from her life as an athlete before the accident, have helped her become extremely skilled when helping others overcome difficult obstacles and reach goals.

Life of a Military Child and Judo

Starlin was born in California, where her Marine father was stationed at Camp Pendleton. Like many military children, her father’s career meant her family moved regularly. His next assignment was at North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune.

After her father retired, they relocated to live near Disneyland, since she was still a little girl. She then grew up in the Orlando area, the daughter of a Marine who raised her with a strong emphasis on discipline and physical toughness.

At the insistence of her father, who wanted her to be able to protect herself, she started working out in the gym at a very young age. Then she started judo at age five, and she soon proved to be a strong competitor.

Starlin had competed at the Junior Olympics level in judo by the time she was twelve, where she won a bronze medal, competed in multiple elite tournaments, and participated in the Disney Martial Arts Festival.

Her father signed her up for boxing, which she again excelled at. After a period of cardio boxing and kickboxing, she discovered she enjoyed group fitness classes like TRX more. She enjoyed it partly because she was no longer the only woman in the class.

Starlin was on track for a long career in judo, but repeated falls and injuries led her to look for a path that didn’t involve constant painful mat burns.

At the same time, Starlin’s father did not want her to miss school as she traveled to compete in judo. He was especially cautious about sending his young daughter to travel with coaches he didn't know, which was completely reasonable given the current news of sickening assaults on young judo students. He ultimately made the call to keep her home.

Starlin learned many valuable lessons from that period in her youth.

“You can overcome things in your life, like different challenges, just keep trying your hardest at what you put your mind to…Once you have your mind set on something, don’t give up. Keep going. Be the best that you can be at what you’re good at.”

Since she wasn’t having to constantly train anymore, Starlin tried out many other things, including multiple high school electives, modeling, and trying to figure out what she wanted her life path to be.

At 19, Starlin was working as a server in a restaurant in Sanford, Florida. She was scheduled for late shifts, just living a normal life, when a near-fatal accident completely turned her whole world upside down.

The Devastating Accident

It was around 11 p.m. on an ordinary night. She and her boyfriend at the time had been driving to pick up dinner on the way home after her shift had ended. Getting back into their neighborhood meant a left turn at a construction site that included concrete barriers so tall you couldn't fully see oncoming traffic, no matter how far forward you pulled.

She inched forward, trying to get a better look. She didn't see the small, dark car that was quickly driving straight towards her until it was too late.

The car slammed into the front passenger side of her vehicle, sending her small Nissan Versa spinning into the barrier wall. When it finally came to a stop, her vehicle was crushed in like an aluminum can on the front passenger side.

The damage from the crash left Starlin's car disabled (Photograph courtesy of Maria Starlin)

Her boyfriend was her passenger, sitting behind where most of the damage was. He walked away with only a minor scratch.

Starlin, fueled by adrenaline and concerned about a possible explosion or another vehicle collision, got out of the car and moved a safe distance away. She then collapsed due to incredibly intense stomach pain.

What she didn’t know then was that her intestines had been torn in half by the force of her seatbelt cutting into her while her car was spinning.

Thankfully, a good hospital was nearby, and an ambulance quickly rushed her there for an immediate emergency surgery.

That surgery was followed by another surgery, and then two more, all attempting to repair the severe damage to her body and intestines.

“I have a scar that’s running up and down…It took four surgeries to be able to put me back together. I coded all four times. They had to revive me after each surgery,” Starlin said. 

Her Near-Death Experience

After her fourth surgery, when she once again coded, she had a near-death experience. Also called an NDE, a near-death experience is a “profound personal experience associated with death or impending death.”

She found herself surrounded by enormous entities that appeared to represent the light and the dark. A battle between the two began, and it seemed like the dark, storm-like beings might win the fight. Somehow, even after one of the light entities crashed down into darkness, the light ultimately won.

Like many who had experienced an out-of-body experience, Starlin found her outlook in life had positively changed. In fact, she still feels protected by the light beings who fought against the ominous darkness.

Starlin has had many people with opinions about what her experience meant. She has also heard about other near-death experiences with very different descriptions and interpretations.

Her own intuition assures her that her NDE was deeply meaningful and spiritual. She now feels she has gained knowledge and appreciation for the hidden mysteries of life that she did not have before her accident.

Regarding those who might question the meaning or significance of her NDE, Starlin said that everyone will have to find out for themselves one day.

A Long Recovery

Starlin spent a month and a half in the hospital, most of it in the ICU. She was on a ventilator, with a long tube stuck down her throat, which helped her breathe because she couldn’t do it on her own.

She developed sepsis, meaning fluid in the lungs, and had to relearn to breathe.

After some time, when she was finally given a walker and allowed to move, the goal for the day was simply to make it a little farther down the hospital hallway than the day before.

One afternoon, she realized she couldn't reach up to brush her own hair because of how much it pulled on her injured lat muscles, which was a particularly disturbing discovery for the lifelong athlete.

She spent weeks in the ICU, then moved to other floors as her treatment progressed.

Her long recovery process included physical therapy, as well as doing exercises like rolling on her side in the hospital bed, sitting up, and, finally, standing.

Starlin realized that she wouldn’t be able to work out in the gym, lifting weights and doing cardio, for a long time due to her injuries, which was difficult because of how much she enjoyed those activities. Thankfully, her physical condition was improving with her daily exercise regimen. 

One particular moment drove home the fact that she was making real progress.

”The minute I was able to [brush my hair] again," she said, "it was like a mental breakdown of emotions. Like, wow, this is crazy, I can do this again."

She still thinks about it every time she brushes her hair. She now finds appreciation in many activities she had always taken for granted before nearly dying.

Finding a Yoga Practice that Helped her Heal

Once she was released from the hospital, Starlin was restless.

She wanted badly to get back to being an athlete, but lifting weights and cardio were still off the table while she healed. She decided to try a senior yoga class at the YMCA, thinking it would be easy. She figured yoga was basically just stretching: her first session proved to her that it was way more than that, and it left her sore and exhausted.

But she went back. She started doing breathwork, a controlled breathing technique meant to balance both mind and body, as her injuries left her struggling in that area. Her experience with sepsis had taught her the importance of taking deep breaths.

She started doing yoga movements on the floor, first with easy stretches, and took it completely at her own pace.

She had declined therapy after the accident because she just wasn't ready for it, and yoga quickly became the thing that perfectly fit what she was searching for in her recovery.

“I was like…this yoga thing is actually working. It’s helping me clear my mind, getting me into that mental space I want to be, [and] helping me physically [and] emotionally.”

Because she had to rebuild her core strength from nearly nothing, she started with the most basic modified versions of every pose.

A full plank was a long-term goal, and it took a lot of time and hard effort to get there.

Ten years later, and now you can often find her doing a headstand while she teaches yoga in Warner Robins. 

From modified plants to headstands, Starlin credits yoga, self-discipline, and self-motivation for her recovery from the accident (Photograph courtesy of Maria Starlin)

Starlin now has her 200-hour yoga certification and teaches multiple classes: barre at Crunch Fitness, yoga at Homegrown Yoga. Starlin also provides stretch therapy, which is her primary full-time work, coaches fitness clients online, and runs her own candle business.

Starlin still lives with chronic pain, which didn’t go away after her recovery. She's learned how to manage it by figuring out through trial and error what works for her body, and trusting in herself to know what works for her.

“Yoga…helped me heal. It also changed my lifestyle and diet, and helped me ease my chronic pain,” Starlin said, “Nothing I have experienced is like practicing the art of yoga…[it] just gives you [a chance] to take a break for yourself, physically and also mentally. Yoga is a never-finished journey. There’s always something to learn, something to grow in,” Starlin said.

Her Yoga Journey Continues

Starlin wants everyone to know that yoga isn’t for one kind of person. She gets why people are hesitant; maybe they think it conflicts with their faith, maybe they assume it's not for them, maybe they just think it's too hard. Her response to all of that is pretty simple.

“I…had to rebuild her core strength from nothing. When I started yoga, I couldn’t do a plank. I had to do the modified plank version, which is on your knees….It took me so long to rebuild my core strength, to be able to hold the plank, to be able to do mountain climbers…For people that are overweight or have a medical condition of anything like that, it’s just a process,” Starlin said.

Starlin has also been writing a book about the whole experience, starting the night of the accident, her grueling recovery, and her life since. She's been working on it for a few years, journaling to capture her memories and raw experiences on paper. Recently, she has started to type it up. She plans to publish it one day. The title of the book will be Alive, a nod to Starlin’s maiden name, Ali, and the fact that she survived an accident that could have easily killed her.

She also plans to continue her training as a certified yoga teacher, which includes hundreds and hundreds of more hours of yoga practice, teaching, and training.

If you want to take one of Starlin’s classes, even if you thought yoga was for someone in a different physical condition than you, check the schedules at Crunch Fitness or Homegrown Yoga.