Is not a hobby
When I came home saying I wanted to be a Yoga teacher, my parents tried to dissuade me. Because his dreams were for me to attend university, and if possible, study a proper course, such as law, medicine, or political science. Something that would be respected by others, and that would somehow reward the enormous effort they made for my brother and me to study at one of the best schools in the city.
Furthermore, my parents had no idea what Yoga was and what it was for. At the time, there were no Yoga teachers and schools around every corner, nor hundreds of training course options. There was little information, and Yoga tended to be seen and devalued as a hippie thing.
Despite their lack of knowledge, they gave me permission to continue doing Yoga as a hobby, and demanded that I attend a university. And I, even that I was 16, on my way to 17, understood their concerns, expectations and dreams.And I continued practicing, with the purest conviction that one day I would be a teacher and have a Yoga school.
The years passed, and after many practices and classes, it was my parents who helped me when I started studying in India, and later in opening the first Ashtanga Cascais house. Because despite the fear and uncertainty, my parents were, and are, my biggest supports and inspiration for me to remain dedicated to my path. And by then they had already realized that I didn’t practice Yoga as a hobby!
Yoga is still not a hobby.Yoga needs consistency, rigor, dedication, persistence, and love. And these characteristics are learned in class with a teacher, and then through practice itself.
Yoga is to be done with the connection to the inner place where you experience silence, space and humility. Yoga is meant to be done by connecting to your breathing and respecting your body to gradually open your path towards your deepest self.
Yoga is not a hobby that you practice when you feel like it, or in phases that you define as perfect, but then interrupt in delicate, complicated or difficult moments.
Yoga implies continuity and consistency, to be able to know yourself without fight, flight or distraction, and to welcome yourself, respect yourself, and honor yourself by taking a consistent, honest and simple path.
Yoga is an internal experience that activates our best, and as it is not a hobby but a practice, it should be nurtured at every stage of your journey.
BOAS PRÁTICAS
