Yoga

is my second passion and joy of my life.

I came across yoga at a time when I just wanted to do something for myself every now and then, without the kids. Precisely, I was thinking of relaxation when I went to my first yoga class, seeking that sense of wellbeing I had felt two years earlier during my third pregnancy, when spontaneously trying a yoga pose from a magazine for pregnant women.

It seems the things in life we are attracted to immediately feel good or simply right.

In this first yoga class, where I happened to be the only participant, I equally felt that way. Something inside me has been touched and awakened and I’ve never wanted to stop practicing yoga since.

Today I know this is the essence of yoga. It penetrates the surface and goes deeper than physical feeling or movement, if you allow for it.

My first five years of yoga I spent exclusively practicing ASTHANGA VINYASA YOGA, a very dynamic yoga style with a fixed sequence of poses. It made me physically very strong and allowed to create a routine in my yoga practice which I will always be grateful for.

Over time, however, I was looking for more variation and also gentleness in yoga and hence needed to get a better overview as well as deeper understanding of yoga in general.

So I tried out, practiced and learned about different styles.

In the midst of my personal yoga exploration I successfully completed the YOGAWORKS teacher training, which makes me a certified yoga teacher.

Many years of practice have led me to find my own, preferred style of yoga, which can be described as an exactness of alignment influenced by Asthanga and Yyengar - nonetheless more variable and adaptable to the needs of the body in the very moment.

I believe modern yoga should contain many different elements.

An example for that would be: Yin and Yang - tenderness and stretching (yin)  alternates with strength and stamina (yang). Sometimes I set a bodily focus rather than engaging the entire body in one session, and let the asanas (postures) circle around it. This enables individual access, for everyone should be able to experience within their own possibilities what yoga has to offer and literally stands for:

the interplay of body, mind and soul.

The breath, as the central element in yoga, helps to focus on the body and prevents from wandering mentally, which allows the soul to unwind.

In my early yoga years I often was amazed at how certain issues, big or small, seemed to have resolved when I returned from my yoga practice.

Yoga has taught me that letting go has its way of bringing life back into balance. Giving yourself fully over to something that brings you joy, even if it is just for an hour or two, can allow certain tensions to dissolve, no matter in which field of life.

Yoga comes with a great number of advantages I am convinced. It is a sensible and body appropriate exercise and can improve your sleep. It deepens your breathing and therefore has a calming influence on the nervous system. It makes you more flexible and strong at the same time and  helps to burn physical and mental slag. Yoga relaxes you after the physical exercise and, most importantly, clarifies your mind.

The list goes on.

I teach yoga privately and in open classes.

In both cases my instructions are considering the students’s physical needs and their level of practice. 

Beginners as well as advanced yogis will always find variations to go as far as they choose to.

Every yoga session is different as I combine elements from different styles whilst always following a physically meaningful concept.

Namaste,

Marisa