5min with Elli

Tell us a little bit about you:

Im Elli, a yoga teacher, german with persian background, 37 years old, mother of two boys,6 and 2 years old, living here in AD. I studied computer science and worked also in that field after my diploma. It felt like wearing a jacket which is not fitting, it felt wrong. After the discovery of yoga, I wanted to teach and deepen my knowledge. During my prenatal teacher training I got pregnant with my second son and had my first contact to KGhypnobirthing, which is a method that guides and prepares women to enjoy a satisfying, calm, and stress free pregnancy and birthing experience. KGHypnobirthing and Yoga are fitting very well together. Thats why i decided to do also A KGHypnobirthing teacher training to be able to support pregnant ladies even more. Additionally i received the Reiki level 1 attunement, which is a wonderful add on.

Tell us about your yoga journey, how it all started, why it started:

After the birth of my first son I discovered yoga, because of my back pain, which also was related to my scoliosis. I started practicing regulary. I still remember I was counting the days until the next yoga session. During my two years stay in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, I attended my first teacher training, this was a life changing decision for me. Finally I could teach this wonderful practice to other people. Since then I’m teaching and now i wear a perfect fitted jacket:)

How did it change your life:

First of all I felt good in my body. The chronicle back pain was gone. I could hold my baby again without pain. Then I realized also that Im more stable emotionally and more resilient. I lost a little bit of my drama queen role and could enjoy more the present moment. This is still an ongoing process, but a regular yoga practice helps me to achieve all of these. I like the phrase, yoga is like coming home.

How did it change the way you think and the way you view life?

Yoga is helping me to be more aware. Ram Dass, a wonderful spiritual teacher, describes it very good:

If we imagine that our mind is like the blue sky, and that across it pass thoughts as clouds, we can get a feel for that part of it which is other than our thoughts. The sky is always present; it contains the clouds and yet is not contained by them. So with our awareness. It is present and encompasses all our thoughts, feelings, and sensations; yet it is not the same as them. To recognize and acknowledge this awareness, with its spacious, peaceful quality, is to find a very useful resource within. We see that we need not identify with each thought just because it happens to occur. We can remain quiet and choose which thought we wish to attend to. And we can remain aware behind all these thoughts, in a state that offers an entirely new level of openness and insight.

Another big effect of yoga in my life is, that Im loosing fears. I.e. I always was afraid of spiders. Now this fear is gone. I was afraid of driving a car. Now I’m driving everyday without fear. I was afraid of giving birth. The delivery of my second son was wonderful.

The yoga practice helps me to trust and to follow my intuition.

What type of yoga do you practice and why:

I dont have a favorite kind of yoga type. For me its important if it feels right in your body /mind/soul or not. We are not always in the same mood, one day i like to practice vinyasa to have a little more cardio included, the other day I’m holding the poses long in my yin practice to target deep connective tissues. The only thing every practice has in common is that I try to have the feeling to be during practice in a long moving meditation.