For me yoga has always been, first and the foremost, a connection to my inner self. On my yoga mat I was finding a rest from the busy pace of the day by becoming aware of my own breathing and clearing my mind of seemingly never-ending thoughts.
My twelve-year yoga practice had its highs and lows, and at each stage I was learning something new about myself. Throughout those years I couldn’t help but notice that each time I did not feel like doing yoga, I did not really enjoy myself and my current life situation. When I would finally make an effort and return to my mat regularly, I would find stability and calm inside any emotional storm taking place in my life.
I started practicing yoga weekly during my first pregnancy, and that really helped me to tune into my new state of being: a cosmos for another little person inside of me. After giving a birth and living on my baby girl terms for a year, I was more than eager to return to my practice only to find that after a year of virtually no yoga, one “mat a week” was simply not enough. I began to do a bit of yoga every day.
I continued practicing throughout my second pregnancy and up until the birth of my baby boy. Having my yoga teacher, also trained as a doula, by my side at birth was a heart and a womb opening experience. The yogic breathing that we did together during my labour helped me to remain at a place of calm and gratitude, which was noticed by the hospital personnel. After both births, I was very quick to recover in health and in spirit and never had a postpartum depression.
Keeping my body in sound health and connecting me to my inner self, yoga also became a spiritual discipline that allowed me to make healthy lifestyle choices and even change my outlook on life. Feeling more patient and forgiving, less judgmental, I was becoming happier and more at peace with my own body and mind “as they were now”. I started feeling deeply connected with my very own source of joy and wisdom. And the life from that place was so sublime. What greater gift could I give to myself and to others?
After experiencing firsthand the benefits of yoga on physical, mental, and spiritual levels I decided to further expand my practice and continue my learning. Therapeutic Yoga Teacher Training allowed me to turn my passion into a career. That is how Peace Yoga was born.
Today, my daily yoga practice keeps me aware of the state of my own body, mind, and spirit, and serves as a basis for further exploration in the field of self-development and self-healing. Practicing in a variety of yoga styles shapes my own eclectic approach to this discipline that I now share with you, my clients.
Love to all, Light to all, Peace to all.
Namaste!
Irina