How a Yoga Practice Changes Over Time
Evolation co-founder Zefea Samson has had quite the dynamic yoga journey. She had her first experience with yoga at age 4, when her parents practiced with renowned teacher Angela Farmer in the Iyengar tradition. In her twenties, Zefea started practicing Bikram yoga in her hometown Amsterdam, and graduated from Bikram's Teacher Training in 2005. Following her teacher training, the next chapter in her life focused on competing. She represented the Netherlands as the Dutch gold medalist three times in the International Yoga Championships, finishing in the world's top 10 not once, but three times!
Later, Zefea and Mark founded Evolation Yoga in a desire to evolve the way the Primary Hot series is passed on and to focus on a collective and community approach. Almost ten years, 2 children, and 100 trainings later, it's safe to say Zefea's practice has changed over the years. Change is inevitable, in life and on that mat. What we have more control over is how we choose to perceive those changes; whether good, bad, or simply something to embrace.
Zefea is currently in Berlin training our yogis in their 250-hour certification. Saturdays during trainings are reserved for something we call "expand class"; a chance to explore the full 84-posture series, from which the regular 26-posture class was born. These classes are a way to have fun and expand on the basic practice with other sequences and routines. Zefea shared her thoughts on this week's expand class, and in particular, her experience with full-cobra pose...
International Championships, LA 2008
New York Regional Championships 2009
Leading Berlin Yoga Teacher Training, 2018
'Some postures were once a given. Now, ten years and two children later, sometimes my legs feel like rocks and my hips often cry. And on other days my spine sings and my heart smiles and I am pleasantly surprised this is still accessible to me. I'm grateful for every posture and take nothing for granted.
"With yoga you are practicing your wholeness. Your wholeness includes your scars, your weakness, your mood swings, the days of your life you'd rather pull the covers up over your head and stay in bed. Yoga is the practice of peeling away labels of good and bad an embracing whatever form of beauty you bring to the mat each day." -Liz Huntly'