I’ve been doing yoga for about 6 years now. It all started as mere curiosity – I am a very active person, and I was looking for a way to stretch my body in a structured and safe way.
I remember it was around autumn 2019. I went to my gym in Stockholm, Sweden, where I was living at the time. One of the many gyms that offer yoga classes. I stepped into the room and went straight to the teacher:
It is my very first time doing yoga, ever – I said.
She looks at me, smiling, and says: “I’m glad you came. Just follow along, and if there is anything you don’t want to do, don’t do it”
That… shocked me. I was used to rigid gym classes like spinning, body pump or HIIT workouts, where you are not only encouraged, but almost forced to follow along and push your body through exhaustion. Classes in which not being able to do an exercise is seen as a failure. So that openness, that invitation to surrender unsettled me, in the best possible way.
I remember very little of what we did in that class. But I do remember how I felt afterwards. Physically, it is exactly what I was looking for: my muscles felt relaxed and stretched, and I felt I’ve been moving in ways that felt natural and weird at the same time. I think what that means is: I was moving in the way my body is supposed to move, but because of our modern lifestyle, it had become a foreign movement pattern.
The more interesting part (or at least the most unexpected) was how I felt mentally. I felt… calmed. I felt at ease, and I left the class with a smile.
I continued going to the same class for a couple of weeks, and then COVID happened. Gym closed as everything else, and I felt the universe had taken away from me something I just started discovering. As everyone else, I tried youtube videos and online classes and, while it filled the void and kept me learning, it was not the same. There’s something special about going to a studio with other human beings, and a teacher moving through the class, giving cues and occasionally assisting students. It feels more like a community.
Time passed and when studios opened again I started taking classes regularly. I tried different studios, different teachers, and different styles.
Life eventually brought me to New York city. Here I also tried several studios, and in a lot of them, I found a very different vibe than that I’ve found in Sweden. Classes with music so loud the teacher had to scream to be heard, a constant sense of rush, and generally little involvement with the students.
One day, through some friends, I found Abhaya Studio. I will always remember my first class, when Tara, the owner of the studio and teacher, came to me to ask for my name and if there was anything she could help me with. It brought me back to that first class in Stockholm, and it immediately made me feel safe and seen. This time, I do remember the class. There was no music, the energy in the class was strong yet present and calmed. I remember Tara talking about the muscles involved in the asanas, about how rotating your arms one way or another makes a big difference on how your joint feels. I remember a story of a sage that she explained throughout the class, keeping us engaged and attentive. I knew, from day 1, that I wanted to learn from her, and that I wanted to make Abhaya my home studio.
After almost three years of regularly going to Abhaya, I decided I wanted to do a YTT (Yoga Teacher Training). During the last year, I have been seriously considering this, but it was never the right time: too much work, too much travel, etc. In September 2024 my mum passed away. She was an incredible person full of thirst for life, and she always wanted to do so many things she ultimately did not have the time to do. That was, of course, a hard time for me, but it also brought a new perspective: a sudden awareness that time moves on and that we are finite. I decided that, from now on, if I really want to do something, I’ll do my best to start now, and not wait for the perfect moment. Because let’s be honest, the perfect moment never arrives. There’s always going to be something.
I have learned so much from this training. I have learned anatomy, philosophy, history, meditation, and made a bunch of new friends.
Nowadays, I continue going to Abhaya, and I started teaching regularly too. I find teaching yoga rewarding in so many ways, and I often learn more than I teach. I will share more on that in the future. For now, I will leave you with one reflection:
We are finite, and our time in this world is limited – so try to live with presence and intention.
With love, Guillermo