from car accident to yoga instructor – why I practice yoga

I was teaching yoga for 3 years before I started a hot yoga practice, I was getting deeper in my ashtanga practice every day and falling in love with myself each and every time my body was on the yoga mat. The healing process after a severe car accident was very slow, but I was very happy with every step forward.

life changing accident

I had a car accident that, NOW, I call it a miracle in my life. The car accident hit my head, and I can´t remember some days of my life, my family and friends said when I was in hospital I was talking nonsense, and they were really worried I would be like that forever. The first image I remember after that accident was me lying in my parents’ house, I was not able to walk as I had a broken ankle, I was not able to properly see as the nerves of one eye were swollen, and I could not remember what happened or why I was there. Many nerves in my brain were swollen and damaged.

It was a process I can tell you. A process where I was feeling very depressed as I could not get on with my daily life, I could not even walk to the kitchen to have a glass of water. Then slowly, as time passed by, and I could begin to move again I began to realize how good this accident was for me. The day I was able to put my feet on the floor, and I could see with both eyes, I felt so happy and I started to appreciate life as I have never before. I know before the accident I was taking my life, my feet, eyes and breathe for granted, so now I am too busy being thankful to them.

practice yoga to heal

These injuries and a new appreciation for life lead me to yoga. I was feeling super happy and I knew I needed to connect more with myself, I was looking for space to just breathe and also to heal my broken ankle, which after many months was still not healed, and my right eye was not working properly; but the doctors said my eye was never going to be 100%.

I began to practice yoga every day, and each day I was feeling better. Every day on my mat I was so thankful for those eyes, for those ankles and the breath that helped me to do anything I wanted to, that helped me to move and create things. I decided to become a yoga teacher, so I flew to Asia to learn as much as I could about yoga and its traditions. After lots of teacher trainings I felt I still had so much to learn, I was feeling I was not ready to teach yoga yet. But, every day I was on my mat learning, practicing and smiling at my feet in every pachimottanasana, yoga was bringing my ankles back to life.

I will never forget the first day I did Hot yoga in Australia, Oh my god! I was feeling I was going to die in that room. I was just praying for that class to be finished and when the teacher opened the door I felt the biggest breath I had done during those 90 minutes, it was a breath of relief.

real life miracles from my yoga practice

Even though the class was torture, I felt something magical happening in my body, so I went back the next day, and the next and the next, after 5 classes I was feeling my ankle was moving in a way it never had before, after 5 days I could jump up and down and before this was impossible.

I was doing hot yoga every single day seeing miracles within myself and in the friends I was making in the hot room. Suddenly after a year of practicing I realized my right eye was working normally again, even though doctors said it will never be a 100% again. This is when I knew I wanted to share this practice with as many people as I could. I wanted to bring this yoga practice to the people who needed to heal like I did.

A yoga teacher in Madrid told me about evolation yoga, which had some of the best and most experienced teachers in the world, it was very accessible and they were going to host a hot yoga teacher training in Madrid. I began to read everything about evolation, and I contacted Mark Drost, who happily called me via skype. That first approach gave me the energy I needed. In that very moment something inside me told me “this is the way”, he was so positive, so inspiring, and so enthusiastic that I felt he just wanted to share this practice with the world, the same as I was feeling.

The teacher training came to Madrid and I was enrolled. During the training I learnt a lot about the anatomy of the postures, the correct alignment and benefits of the postures, all the information I needed in order to begin to share with everyone. The evolation teachers were great, and every person in evolation has made me feel part of something bigger, a big yoga family; and have encouraged me on my yoga path, to share this practice and to spread love.

alive again

This practice changes my life every day, when I look in the mirror with my feet together, my toes and heels touching and I begin to breath, I feel grounded, I feel everything is ok, because I am alive, with my two eyes, my two ankles, lungs and my capability to love.

I decided to open a yoga studio in Helsinki, and I am on this path. With the support of my family, friends and yoga family I am creating a yoga community in Finland. A place where people can get into and breath, heal, and find that love inside of them.

thank you

I am writing this to all the people who have been part of this journey, the ones that were with me during my healing process, or at the hospital, and especially to my parents and to my friends who I met in Asia who were also learning about yoga, to my evolation teachers, all the evolation support I have had, which is huge and last by not least to all my students who give me energy and love in every savasana every single day.

Ana Lopez

After dedicating her full attention to hot yoga for two years in Madrid, Ana fell in love with hot yoga and its benefits. She got certified with Evolation Yoga in 2014 and now she is teaching yoga in Helsinki, Finland. Ana owns a hot yoga studio there as she has discovered that Finns can really benefit from yoga with the hard climatic changes that surrounds them. She truly believes in healing the human body with the energy of asanas and correct stimulation.