YOGA IN THE HEART OF WORKING AND SHOPPING IN BERLIN MITTE-
my first Blog post for BeSomuchmore
My Yoga Journey started 10 years ago, after giving birth for the first time. I realized that being a young mom is not only awesome when it comes to faster recovery, but devoting yourself can not only be totally fulfilling but it can be stressful as well. Especially if you had just moved to a huge city like Berlin, like I did, with no family or friends around whatsoever. I was taking care of my baby daughter basically all alone and unfortunately that was exactly how I felt.
I desperately needed to take care of myself. Today, on my wallet it says TREAT YOSELF, back then, the only thing I had in mind was sacrificing all of my energy to this tiny magical human being that I loved endlessly. I had lost the urge to be good to myself. At one point my body felt so old, my mind was so tired that I knew I had to change my attitude which led me to my first Yoga Class. I had thought about Yoga for a while, but my weird, ill informed prejudices (I was imagining Yoga was a scented room filled with people in linen pants involving singing or farting of some sort) had kept me from trying. Luckily I overcame those cliches, tried Yoga and loved it from the start. I was smiling loads because of the oddness of the situation, but the room was packed and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and so I gave it a shot: I enjoyed myself with no bad conscious that I was having fun without my baby girl.
A couple of months went by and I visited different studios until I arrived at Spirit Yoga, which is pretty much in the heart of Berlin Mitte, close to the Hackescher Markt. I remember the first class that I stumbled into, it was an advanced Level 3 class taught by Patricia, the owner who later became the Guru of my TT in 2009. The class was kind of out of my league- if a Level 3 is like playing on the National Team, I was still on the Kids team. But I was welcomed nevertheless and encouraged to keep working on the physical aspects that I was so curious about. I felt at home right when I entered the studio, because of the colours, the ambiente, the loving details like hairbands at the front desk, Chai tea and fresh fruit after class. I was totally captured by it, not only because it was challenging my body. I would never have thought that you could feel so relaxed, so loved and totally NOT in shopping mode amidst all of the coolest, hippest stores. Every time I leave the studio, even today, I am amazed by the feeling of contentness, of not wanting to buy or needing anything, because I am sooo at ease. From the start I dreamt about teaching at Spirit Yoga, and since 2010, after finishing my Teacher Training I finally started sharing my interpretation of Vinyasa Flow Yoga with happy students of all ages with various backgrounds.
If you would like to feel the Spirit too, you can visit my classes @Spirit Yoga wednesdays at 8:15 pm for a 90 Minute Level 1 and thursdays at 1pm for a short but intense Level 2 Powerlunch.
Namacray, (Namaste plus a healthy dose of Crazy-ness)
J