We don't all follow a straight trajectory

Written by Charles Agar

A physician, yoga instructor and jazz singer, Gaila Kenneally, the covergirl for this month’s edition, doesn’t like pigeonholes.

Originally from Los Angeles, Kenneally studied in France during high school, holds an undergrad degree in Spanish and Portugese history from UCLA and came to Texas on a temporary move to take electives during med school.

“I just kind of fell in love with Austin,” said Kenneally, 45 and a mother of one.

After med school Kenneally switched gears and earned a law degree before returning to medicine, finishing her rotations to become a family practice physician.
Along the way she started practicing yoga, becoming an instructor in Bikram and Vinyasa Flow, something she says informs her current post as a clinician for Texas State University in San Marcos.

“Yoga reminds me about how the body has an inherent ability to heal itself,” Kenneally said, adding that it is the job of a good physician to stay out of the way of that process. Just spending time with oneself each day, Kenneally says, is “a gift.”

She recently rediscovered her own gift for music, as she’s taken up singing jazz standards at clubs in Austin where she belts out the tunes she says are “so poetically and simply presented that they’re genius.”

Kenneally loves working with students and not only has a chance to steer them to the good choices that comprise a healthy adulthood, but reassures them when they change course or stumble on the road to a dream.

“We don’t all follow a straight trajectory,” Kenneally said.