Hi there,
Welcome to my side good to have you here.
In my first blog I am going to tell you a little bit about myself and how I got here.
Moving away from home and traveling the world for work.
I was born in a small town in northern Germany.
After finishing school and backpacking in Australia for one year I finished my BA of Arts in Liverpool John Moores University. Afterwards, I graduated with a Master’s degree from Queens University of Belfast.
Even though I enjoyed my studies I felt the urge to travel and see the world before ‘settling down’. I spent the next seven years or so working as a stewardess on chartered and private yachts cruising the world, not a bad gig. But at some point I grew out of it and felt the need for a base and my own home. I moved to Spain since I love the sun and the lifestyle and started working as a VIP flight attendant. I only stopped flying when I fell pregnant with my first son.
How did Yoga enter my life?
Whilst being a student I went to a local gym to hit a casual work out as I normally did. But somehow I decided to try out a yoga class. Little did I know that I stepped into a very advanced power and ashtanga inspired class. I thought I was fit as I liked to work out but I never sweated that much in my life as I did those 60min in that class. Next to me was a mature woman and she was so flexible and elegant doing her poses, unlike me. I had no clue what I was doing and felt rather out of place. I was very stiff, out of breath and the fact that I was not able to touch my feet in a forward fold made me feel slightly frustrated and annoyed. But something must have happened that day as I went back every week after that.
Delving deeper into the world of Yoga
After a few years I decided to go even deeper into the world of yoga and I signed up for a ashtanga yoga teacher training in Florence, Italy. That really kicked off my personal practice and got me officially ‘addicted to Yoga’.
A couple of years have passed before I signed up for yet another yoga teacher training in Barcelona. I finally decided to take the bull by the horns, jump into the deep end and I started teaching yoga whenever I was not flying. https://www.yogabody.com/yb-daily/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=AW-YBDaily-SN-Brand&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwp4m0BhBAEiwAsdc4aGtNC3T9IjEaHldkT7_FgBTrZItWwVI4hU1U6X340CIDFzqK7UDJNhoCsQIQAvD_BwE
A while after teaching power and vinyasa style classes I craved new input.
By then I had completed two ashtanga based yoga teacher trainings but I wanted something different. Next minute, I sat on a plane to Goa, India.
There, I immersed myself into a yin yoga teacher training which was very different to the other two trainings. In India I learnt to many things but two of the most important take away’s for me was how to slow down the body and mind and that less is often more.
Entering motherhood and adapting my yoga practice
Not too long after being in India, I flew to Sri Lanka where I ‘bumped’ into a Kiwi lad. Well, six months later I was pregnant with our first son. Boom, Corona hit and we were in lock down in Sri Lanka.
During this time I completed a pregnancy yoga teacher training online as there was no way I was going to stop practicing yoga only because I was pregnant. Little did I know that pregnancy yoga would become somewhat of an ongoing theme in my life. Right on cue, baby Nr. 2 was due. What a journey this is becoming.
Throughout my two pregnancies I was doing yoga until the last day before delivery. I created a YouTube channel during my pregnancy just because it was fun and I enjoyed it. https://www.youtube.com/@munyogayogabymunja4977/videos
Being pregnant taught me similar stuff I learnt in India; respect and honour your body and LISTEN. Stop when you need to and do not push.
Healing the nervous system with a gentle approach
This year I became certified in teaching Neurogenic Yoga™ and TRE® (tension and trauma releasing exercises). https://traumaprevention.com
https://neurogenic-yoga.squarespace.com
Both approaches are helping to regulate the nervous system and help the body get into equilibrium. I am exited to curate classes that both combine physical and somatic yoga asanas (postures) to reap the most rewards for body, mind and spirit.
So that’s me and my personal Yoga journey so far. I am forever grateful that Yoga has stepped into my life as I think it made a huge impact on how I see myself and the relationship I have with myself and others. More to come next time.
Thanks for taking the time to tune and I look forward to sharing more with you.
Love,
Munja
