My Yogajourney
To be honest, I can't really remeber the first time I got into contact with yoga. I was young, that much I know for sure. My mother was following tai chi classes at a small centre and I would come with her every now and then. While she had her tai chi classes, there were also yogaclasses and while I can't recall much of it now, I think that is where my fascination started.
When I was a child my mother used to do a guided meditation with us before going to bed. A ritual I would go back to myself when I was a little older. When I couldn't get to sleep, was angry or too bussy in my head. During the day my Mom would only need to say the words "grounding Eva" to have the switch go on in my head. “Oh yeah”, coming back for a moment, feeling for a moment.
I was about 13 or 14 years old when I decided to follow yogaclasses. My parents wanted me to do some sort of sports activity, something I absolutely did NOT like. And they were okay with yoga. Great, at least that didn't feel like a sport. A yogateacher in our neighbourhood started a new teens class just for me, since I was too old to do the childrensyoga and too young to enjoy attending the grownups class. Unfortunately that little class didn't last long, too little interest from others.
I was about 18 years old and attended the artacademy. STRESS. It felt like I was being pulled from all sides and most importantly, though I enjoyed it, like I was being pulled away from myself. I had to do some kind of exercise again and I also had to find something to get back to myself. I downloaded a yoga app. 15 minutes twice a week quickly turned into a little bit 5 times a week. I started browsing on youtube for yoga classes and found The Journey Junkie and Boho Beautiful. I consistently picked up my meditation practice this time and started doing more and more yoga. I didn't use the app anymore, these two channels on YouTube became my go to for my yoga practice. I started to delve deeper and deeper into the background of meditation and yoga and my yogapath became more and more clear.
“Why not a yoga teacher?” several people wanted to know. “Well, don't you have to be super good at yoga first and be able to do all those difficult postures?”
In art school I started to realize more and more that that was not the path I wanted to follow. There was more and more frustration and pain and eventually I dropped out for the 2nd time. Probably burned out and super frustrated I signed up for a meditation teacher training. Which led to a lot of surprised reaction. “Why not a yoga teacher?” several people wanted to know. “Well, don't you have to be super good at yoga first and be able to do all those difficult postures?”
During my second year of meditation teacher training, I decided to try a yoga class again with the same teacher I had followed classes with as a teenager. This time, old enough to join the adults. That class was a total flop. When asked how often she practised yoga herself by a fellow student, she replied "Every day, all day." I already understood back then that that was not exactly the best answer to give, especially not during an introduction class. And certainly not without explaining that you are talking about the yoga path and that student was probably referring to the asana part, the postures. There is one thing that class did bring me, the confidence to enroll in a yoga teacher training. “Because if she can teach and has completed a teacher training, then I certainly can do so too.” I went to yogapoint and almost immediately signed up for the 200 hr yoga teacher training.
"I can sweat! Well, I guess it's what you are happy about right..."
During the training my love for yoga only grew with my growing knowledge about the background and the postures. I also found out relatively quickly that hatha yoga is not necessarily my thing and that I was strangely enough more attracted to the more active vinyasa and ashtanga yoga. "Strangely enough?" “Well, because I hated sports, remember?” Something about not being able to sweat properly and feeling overheated. Oh yeah and getting out of breath and stuff. Bleghh. That has also been sorted out thanks to yoga. I can sweat! Well, I guess it's what you are happy about right...
"Even if I spend 5 minutes in childs pose or do a few sun salutations and call it a day. At least I'm doing something. "
Is it just love with yoga? Well no. Over the years, but certainly in the last year of the teacher training, I have noticed that there are periods in which I am super motivated and others in which I really don't feel it. The trick? Step on that mat anyway. Even if I spend 5 minutes in childs pose or do a few sun salutations and call it a day. At least I'm doing something. It is very interesting to observe what is going on on the insde at such a time and to react accordingly. Also, I always, without exception (okay except maybe the few times I fell and didn't cut my nails in time and managed to hurt myself through yoga. Well done Eva, well done…) get off the mat in a better state of mind, and body, than when I got on it. That alone makes it worthwhile to get onto that mat, or lie down at the very least.
Of course there are also times when I have more inspiration and more energy. I am on the mat every day for an hour to an hour and a half without a problem. That's especially where ashtanga yoga has turned out to be very interesting to me. By practicing the same series of postures every day, you can clearly see the differences from day to day. In the performance of the postures, “hey, I'm suddenly getting much deeper”, or in my concentration “why doesn't my head stop babbling! Hmmm, maybe I should water that plant a little more. Gosh, there is so much dust under that cabinet, I need to clean that… Oh yes, yoga, breath!” It's nice to notice the differences and it's nice to see my growth. Because at those times I definitely take bigger steps.
At the moment I really enjoy teaching classes, both meditation and yoga, live though. I now only teach on Tuesdays, but would like to expand that. I get a lot of pleasure from sharing my knowledge and helping people on their path. Both through meditation and yoga and in the form of aromatherapy as a naturopathic therapist. I would very much like to do an intensive ashtanga vinyasa training of one month. I think it would be wonderful to be completely immersed in yoga for a month and get away from everything else. And I might just teach vinyasa and ashtanga classes afterwards. But ehh... Let's save some money first.
That was it for today. Do let me know where you are in your yogajourney and if this inspired you to set you next step. For now, goodluck with the next steps on your bridge and I wish you all the happiness and an amazing rest of your day.
❤ Eva