Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Finally, a yoga center nearby....

In May of this year, a new yoga center - Yoga Vida -  opened in the town next to where I live... I went to the opening days to get a sense of what to expect from this place.

The yoga teachers are two young women, both trained by the same instructor in Antwerp. The place looked nice and it was all a matter of jumping in .... which only happened just yesterday.

The center had organized a free yoga session which was supposed to take place on the banks of a small river that runs through the town. Unfortunately, weather in Belgium is not always your best friend when it comes to organizing outdoors activities in the summer....
Forecasts of rain moved the event inside - this meant you would not get wet unless you sweat....

And what a good session it was. The trainer surprised me with her approach to teaching yoga - really good flow, not too "it's yoga so we need to include a lot of spiritual links" kinda session, not too hard but challenging enough to get me sweaty .... totally the kind of yoga practice I am looking for as a "yogi from mars".

Just to be clear, I don't mind the spiritual approach to yoga, but at this point in my life I really look for the physical challenge more than the spiritual challenge. Not saying I don't value it - I have great admiration for Alberto, the first yoga teacher I spent a decent amount of time with and for whom yoga is a way of life. His knowledge and approach to life surprise me a number of times. For me, yoga at this stage is a physical practice with some values that make me think about life in general. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anyway, they will most certainly see me again at Yoga Vida as I felt zen the entire day yesterday.... I defenitely want more of that....