Kaja
I took my first yoga class ever back in 2007 in Duesseldorf/Germany. My body and my mind both enjoyed the movements and the breathing.
Towards the end of the class I felt more grounded and calm. And so I practiced with this teacher for 2 more years until I decided, that I wanted to dive deeper and applied for a 4-year teacher training (800 hrs) with the "Yogaforum Duesseldorf".
My style of yoga has evolved and changed quite a lot within the years after having completed my teacher training in 2013.
Yoga personally helped me deal with panic attacks and a diagnosed anxiety disorder, which I had been struggling with since my late teens.
Through yoga I learned how to be more in touch with myself, my body and my feelings - experiencing that sensations as well as thoughts and emotions come and go and that now of them harm me. Basically the opposite. If I surrender to them, allow them to pass through me and not fight with them, they disappear much more easily.
I am a very sensitive person, meaning that I can empathize with my students and can support them in transforming certain patterns.
The most important thing for me in yoga though is to meet ourselves lovingly and with a lot of self-acceptance.
Our practice is different every day, as we - our body, our mind - are different and fluctuating every day.
A few words on Laghavam
….. and why I chose it.
Laghavam in Sanskrit means “lightness”. Something that I find essential in life. But why and what does it actually mean for me?
Lightness for me describes a state of mind rather than a quality in terms of weight. It is something which I find very useful, when it comes to practicing yoga and meditation. As for me it means being gentle with myself, allowing a kind view on all my actions - taking it light instead of taking it heavy.
It also means being cheerful and going through life and my yoga practice with a sense of humor, not taking everything so seriously. For me lightness transmits something uplifting, something illuminating.