The power of passion

They say “Go back to your office job and leave these silly yoga things”. They say “It’s impossible to make a living out of yoga. You gonna starve and you’re not gonna be able to pay your bills”. They ask me “Why do you complicate your life?”. They wonder “Why is this girl posting these weird yoga pictures?. Let’s hide her posts! ” 🙂 bla bla bla

Once upon a time I used to listen to all these and first get the approval from others before deciding for myself what works best. I used to be the good girl that works hard to accomplish her dreams, but also the one that used to follow the path already established for her by  others. I am still the good girl who works hard, but now I first listen to what I need and I am the one who decides for my own life. So I stopped doing  what others expect me to do or to say and start questioning more before accepting something already said by someone else. Staying true to my principles of life and being myself have always been two things that I aimed to do even in the moments when external factors interfered with my plans. So in moments like these, I know I must be strong and be myself no matter what the circumstances are. It is chocking to be yourself and be straight forward in a world that most of the times prefers to hide its own opinions instead of supporting its point of view. BUT it’s a risk that you must take in order to live a meaningful life. Be yourself and as long as what you are doing or saying it’s not harming others, do what makes you happy!

Teaching yoga is something amazing that finally allows me to put my personality into something and build it myself from scratch. One cannot be a teacher if one is not true to himself/herself. In the end it’s all about being yourself and loving what you’re doing. Once my teacher told me: “I believe there is no such thing as a good or a bad yoga teacher.”

Indeed there is no good or bad teacher. Or maybe being a good teacher it’s all about doing something with passion?

The biggest compliment that a student can make me is to see her / him leaving my class with a calm and smiley face. That’s all that I need to motivate me to continue my work and follow this path that I chose for myself.

“Fait-le avec le coeur” ( Do it with your heart!), these are my teacher’s words that became like a mantra I say to myself every time I am about to say “Namaste! Welcome to the class” and my heart beats like crazy and my hands are sometimes shacking of all the emotions I experience looking around and seeing my students impatiently waiting for me to guide the class. I never thought I will become a teacher and moreover a yoga teacher, but here I am on my way of becoming myself 🙂

Thank you all for your support, messages of encouragement, smiley faces and hugs! Thank you for being close and supporting Unfold your mat! Thank you for understanding what the weird yoga pictures are all about! “Merci de tout mon coeur” to my teacher who believed in me even before knowing me too well! Without her constant support, I do not know if I  would had had the courage to grab my backpack and go to India to do my teaching. Thank you to my husband who supports me and inspires me every day to be strong!

Big hug to you all,

Lavinia ( aka the girl behind the curtain of “Unfold your mat”)