‘When practicing Asana, Pranayama and meditation, while cultivating awareness beyond myself, traditional Yoga feels very complete as it stands on its own. I am not overwhelmed with looking, and searching for something else. Great tranquility and relief comes with knowing and experiencing this.’
Curiosity brought me to attend my first Asana when I was eighteen years old.
Although there were many changes in the methods and teachers, the Yoga practice, in and beyond its physical aspect, right away took a firm root in my life.
In 2008 and after 12 initial years of a regular practice, I took a 500hrs. Yoga Teacher Training at Brahmani Yoga in India. This is where I met my teachers: my Asana teacher, Julie Martin, and my philosophy and meditation teacher Emil Wendel. In my heart, I hold tremendous gratitude for their teachings.
Right after the completion of this training, I began teaching classes in Iceland under the guidance of Ingibjörg Stefansdóttir. It is Inga who patiently taught me the completion of the first series of Ashtanga Vinyasa and who recommended Brahmani. I am ever grateful for her insight in my dedication and for her welcoming me to teach at Yogashala Reykjavik.
Knowing there was so much more to learn, I returned to India in 2010 and during the next four consecutive years, Julie mentored me in the art of teaching at teacher trainings.
I am very grateful to Julie for transmitting her great enthusiasm and honed skills. Since then, I have been instructing regularly at teacher training programs modules of Asana teaching and technique and Pranayama/meditation: in India at Brahmani Yoga, in Bali at Intuitive Flow with Linda Madani (for seven years), and at Yoga Arts with Louisa Sear, with whom I still work today.
Attending Emil Wendel’s delightful philosophy lectures, the history of Yoga and his Pranayama and meditation sessions during these many years has not only opened a door to the vast and rich world that Yoga encompasses – from the practical to the mystical – but also given me important tools to perceive the shifting nature of all things: I feel better equipped to dwell in the ebbs and flows of life.
I am very grateful to my first meditation teacher, Shenyen, who showed me the depths of mediation back in 2005 at Tushita, Dharamsala and who like a Tibetan windhorse led me to my heart teacher.
I have also attended courses led by Clive Sheridan, Rolf Naujokat, Richard Freeman, David Swenson, Louisa Sear, Rachel Hull, Judith Laster, Jodi Boone and meditation retreats at Zen monasteries. I honour all my teachers for their generosity in sharing their skills and methods.
I feel confident that I am in a position to share the essential tools and the background of Yoga in my retreats, and teach the aspiring Yoga student the skills to eventually establish a solid self-practice or become a teacher him or herself.
Today, my Yoga is inspired by my heart teacher and life partner Emil Wendel. I feel very grateful to be a student of the beholder of such embodied wisdom and kindness.