Day 6: flow yoga teacher training

I was a ten years old little girl when my mother took me to my first yoga class. At the time it wasn’t a common practice for kids and adult classes weren’t as widespread as they are today; I think she wasn’t really aware of how yoga came into our lives to play such an essential role.

I had a fantastic teacher for a year and a half. He taught Hatha Yoga´s classical poses to a group of eleven children. But one day he moved abroad and classes ended.

Years went by before I had a chance to practice again. I went to Drama School  and became an actress, but deep inside I still felt that seed so strongly planted in my childhood.

I started practicing again in different schools and gyms, until I decided to really delve into yoga and take on the professional field. That day I felt a circle was closed.

My mother took a long time to go back to yoga too. But eventually yoga would knock on her door again, this time through me.

It was her 60th birthday while my first yoga training was taking place. She fell into a deep personal crisis as my sister and I had flown the nest and she had forgotten that beyond a mother she was also a woman.

I decided to arrange a spiritual journey for her with the clear purpose of “Bringing Back Angeles” (Angeles is her name).

Two weeks later she was off to India on her own.

She stayed in the city of Rishiquesh, one of the birthplaces of yoga, for a month and a half, practicing different styles in various schools. Upon her return the miracle had happened: besides my mother I could see her as a woman, with her experiences and tastes, happy and interested in life again.

That deep immersion in yoga had transformed her body, her mind and her life. I was so happy, my plan had worked!

It’s been five years since that trip and she´s been in India three more times. The last one was last year, when she did her first yoga training to become an instructor. My mother is a constant inspiration for me.

Today, I’m writing this post during the breakfast break at the Evolation Flow yoga teacher training I’m doing in Buffalo, NY. My mother is very present in my mind these days because she’s the reason I’m here having this wonderful experience. She took me to that first class in a hotel where we were allowed to use the pool and our teacher played with us, we practiced the tree, downward dog and he sang songs in savasana to us.

Our mentor in this Flow yoga teacher training, Eric Wheeler, also sings songs for us with his guitar, at the end of the practice. I close my eyes, I listen to his beautiful voice and smile…

Another circle is closing.