As I said in the previous post, I haven't started yoga and loved it straight away. It took time, practice and taking steps back before getting to love it and not seeing my life without it.

It's not the destination that matters, it's the journey to get there
The beginning
At first, I was doing yoga once a week, in a packed gym without a "real" studio, we were practicing next to the free weight section, so a lot of noise and people passing by.
It was a time where I was only fitting a yoga session to my gym agenda to stretch out the week. I was going to gym a lot, probably to forget everything that was wrong in my life. I thought: at least, I can control my body.
It worked well and allowed me to keep a tight gym schedule, not feeling guilty because I wasn't going but not feeling too sore the next day when I'll come back for a different session.
Moving to the studio
I still remember the first time I set foot in a "proper" yoga studio. It was in Dublin, a couple of years after starting out at the gym. At that time, I had a more stressful job and started to feel it on my body.
As I entered the studio, I was a bit lost and not sure about what to expect. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing, so I just followed. I also remember checking out how the people around me manage the different poses and copying them.
It can be quite daunting to set foot in a yoga studio for the first time. We all have a competitive side, so seeing others being able to go deeper in X or Y poses just made me frustrated.
Upon leaving the studio and walking back home, I did notice that, for an hour, I had completely forgotten about work, life, troubles, things to manage... I was just myself and I loved it. So I kept coming back to the studio, between once a week and once a month, just to get this hour of quiet brain (which is quite exceptional for my busy mind). My body felt better as well and I felt less stressed out.
Then 2020 happened
2020... It feels so far out, and like yesterday at the same time. As a new year resolution, I wanted to practice yoga at least once a week. My office was providing on-site classes and I still had the studio close by. But that was before Covid.
In March, the whole of Europe went into a lockdown, yoga studios closed down and we ended up staying home. With my busy mind and need of outdoors, I was in a weird mental and physical state. I am living in Ireland, but my whole family is in France and I felt useless for them. I had worked from home in the past and knew how challenging it can be, especially for someone like me. I was full of mixed emotions and needed a quiet time to forget about all that, more than ever before.
After sticking to the studio's online classes, I found many more yoga teachers running those classes and tried many different ones until I found Clio Pajczer. She's a French teacher, and from the first class, I loved her style. Thanks to her, I went from practicing once a week to once a day. I was feeling so good in my body, becoming more flexible and my busy mind was quiet. And finally, I was able to go to one of her retreats in France.
During all these months in lockdown, I started growing the idea of becoming a Yoga Teacher, but as I always doubt myself, I never thought I could ever go through with it.
I chatted with Clio during the retreat and she encouraged me to look into doing a training, that my body seemed ready and it could only be beneficial for me, even if it is only to create my flows and grow my own practice.
The teacher training
Life got in the way and unfortunately, I had to wait until 2022 to be able to do the teacher training. I chose to do it in January which is quite a depressing month, especially in Ireland because the days are so short.
I went to Portugal and trusted Charlie from Indiv Yoga to be my guide. I chose a training with a small group, as I know I need time to open up to strangers.
I can't really explain much about it, it was magical, mystical and life changing.
Doing this was probably the most important thing I did for myself in my whole life.
Since I am back in Ireland, I was lucky enough to find a studio where I could teach and am now looking forward to keep on giving classes.
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